Did you get....

jnyork · Post by **jnyork** » Fri Dec 20, 2013 4:00 pm

...a .22 for Christmas when you were a kid? Growing up in Wyoming the 40's and 50's, if you had not found a .22 under the tree by the time you were 10 or so, you were considered by your peers to be socially deprived.

rjohns94 · Post by **rjohns94** » Fri Dec 20, 2013 4:03 pm

I was socially deprived

However I have more than made up for it.

Mescalero · Post by **Mescalero** » Fri Dec 20, 2013 4:06 pm

Turned 10 on the ship back from Germany ( old man was Army ) had a Marlin clip fed bolt action .22 under the tree that year.

jeepnik · Post by **jeepnik** » Fri Dec 20, 2013 4:47 pm

No, my first Christmas gun was the inspiration of that great Christmas movie about the kid that got the BB gun. Without all the angst. My first .22 rifle was received on my birthday. Still have it, although the boys seem to be arguing who's going to get it. It will be the eldest, or more correctly his son when he is old enough.

Borregos · Post by **Borregos** » Fri Dec 20, 2013 4:57 pm

rjohns94 wrote:I was socially deprived However I have more than made up for it.

Me too

earlmck · Post by **earlmck** » Fri Dec 20, 2013 6:24 pm

Yes, single-shot Remington bolt: I must have been 8 yrs. old. Shot a cottontail later that day -- kept shooting over it until dad got me convinced that 22 bullets didn't drop like BB's and so didn't require hold-over for the 20 yard shot. I was most impressed with my flat-shooting new weapon!

Mescalero · Post by **Mescalero** » Fri Dec 20, 2013 6:38 pm

Sadly, today; your parents would probably get a visit from Child Protective Services for that.

2ndovc · Post by **2ndovc** » Fri Dec 20, 2013 7:05 pm

Not sure but I think it was for my birthday when I was five. Wasn't allowed to keep in my room until was
@ 10 or so. I got a Savage "Stevens Favorite" .22lr falling block. Still have the original box!
Ironically I wasn't allowed to have a BB gun until I was 12. Old man knew I'd get in trouble
with it.

jb

AJMD429 · Post by **AJMD429** » Fri Dec 20, 2013 7:11 pm

2ndovc wrote:Not sure but I think it was for my birthday when I was five. Wasn't allowed to keep in my room until was @ 10 or so. I got a Savage "Stevens Favorite" .22lr falling block. Still have the original box! Ironically I wasn't allowed to have a BB gun until I was 12. Old man knew I'd get in trouble with it.

Same here. Age 5 I got a Stevens bolt-action 22 LR hand-me-down, and shot mostly feral cats and dogs with it. Learned to shoot edible game around age 10, and shot only groundhogs (not enough meat on squirrels, and rabbits not that numerous those years (tons of them now). My first pellet gun I got at age 26, and my first BB gun I got around age 32.

horsesoldier03 · Post by **horsesoldier03** » Fri Dec 20, 2013 7:32 pm

My dad was a firm beleiver that a .22 carried to far to give a novice who would frequently be unsupervised. I received a 12 ga single shot as my first real firearm. I will state that I had several GOOD pellet guns prior to that time that would kill any rabbit, squirrel, snake or turtle I could find!

mark08 · Post by **mark08** » Fri Dec 20, 2013 7:55 pm

My first was at about five. a $3 Remington single shot from a pawn shop, found that out later. Then at about eight a moss berg, 16 ga, three shot clip, bolt. At 10 got a Red Ryder BB. My Dad thought BB guns were too dangerous because everyone thought them harmless, needed to be old enough to know they really were dangerous. That first 22 came with a brick of shorts. When that brick was gone I could shoot.

JayF in AZ · Post by **JayF in AZ** » Fri Dec 20, 2013 8:35 pm

Not when I was that young, but at 16 I found a High Standard Double Nine under the tree. Still have it too

RIHMFIRE · Post by **RIHMFIRE** » Fri Dec 20, 2013 11:46 pm

yep...early 70s ..and i still have them both...
one from my dad...Savage/Stevens model 87D semiauto
and one from my uncle...mossberg model 342K..bolt action

Mescalero · Post by **Mescalero** » Fri Dec 20, 2013 11:51 pm

Is'nt that bolt action a Mag?

.Dirty-.Thirty · Post by **.Dirty-.Thirty** » Fri Dec 20, 2013 11:56 pm

My first rifle when I was 12 or 13 came on Christmas, it was a beautiful, used Winchester model 67, looks as good now as it did then....

Post by **Ysabel Kid** » Sat Dec 21, 2013 12:30 am

Sure did!

I gave Y2K one for his first Christmas - when he was only 6 months old!

You all remember this picture of him several years later (and many years ago) shooting his first .22.

wolfdog · Post by **wolfdog** » Sat Dec 21, 2013 12:32 am

No, but I did get a brick of 22s for the Marlin bolt action I had bought for myself when I was 10 or so.

gamekeeper · Post by **gamekeeper** » Sat Dec 21, 2013 3:59 am

I had a couple of Webley air guns and a single shot BB gun by the age of 10 but had to wait until I was 13 before I got a real gun, a s/b .410.

Gobblerforge · Post by **Gobblerforge** » Sat Dec 21, 2013 7:02 am

Christmas, about 72, I received a Remington 572 and a Kentucky rifle kit gun.

I still have both and the double 20 that I got when I was 9.

Gobbler

PaperPatch · Post by **PaperPatch** » Sat Dec 21, 2013 8:41 am

Being a city boy...I bought my first .22 (with Dad's consent) while in the 8th grade from another student (with his Dad's consent). I learned just last summer that Mom did not approve of this. I still have that Ithaca 49.

Canuck Bob · Post by **Canuck Bob** » Sat Dec 21, 2013 10:48 am

Sure did at 9. Cooey bolt tube fed, 11 got a used SXS 12 gauge bought from the neighbor (hacksawed off the goose gun barrel to a 20" bunny gun, my second gunsmith job, first one best forgotten), 14 got a CIL 30-30 bolt action (rebadged Savage). Christmas and my birthday are days apart so these were for both!

jnyork · Post by **jnyork** » Sat Dec 21, 2013 10:55 am

mark08 wrote:My first was at about five. a $3 Remington single shot from a pawn shop, found that out later. Then at about eight a moss berg, 16 ga, three shot clip, bolt. At 10 got a Red Ryder BB. My Dad thought BB guns were too dangerous because everyone thought them harmless, needed to be old enough to know they really were dangerous. That first 22 came with a brick of shorts. When that brick was gone I could shoot.

I never did get a BB gun for the same reason. My dad always stressed if you are going to have a gun, then it will be a GUN and you will treat it like a GUN, with all the responsibilities that go along with it. Always have, always will.

Mescalero · Post by **Mescalero** » Sat Dec 21, 2013 11:15 am

Canuk Bob,
Why am I not surprised it was a Cooey?

Post by **Chuck 100 yd** » Sat Dec 21, 2013 11:21 am

I bought my own first .22 ($19.95 new Remington) with money I earned from delivering papers.
I delivered 11 papers every day for a summer to earn it.
I did get a 20ga. bolt action shotgun for Christmas when I was 10 though.

Griff · Post by **Griff** » Sat Dec 21, 2013 11:54 am

Borregos wrote:
rjohns94 wrote:I was socially deprived However I have more than made up for it.
Me too

Me three!

North Country Gal · Post by **North Country Gal** » Sat Dec 21, 2013 11:58 am

Got a Marlin 56 Levermatic 22 LR in 1964 from an adult cousin in that year for Christmas, much to my mother's shock and disapproval. My first gun, ever, and oh was I excited about it. Will never forget it. Guess I'll have to blame him for still having the Marlin bug, forty plus years, later.

bubba15301 · Post by **bubba15301** » Sat Dec 21, 2013 12:03 pm

not for christmas but i got a Marlin model 25n when i was 11. it was $39.95with a scope.Dad bought it at Kmart

Canuck Bob · Post by **Canuck Bob** » Sat Dec 21, 2013 1:28 pm

Mescalero wrote:Canuk Bob,
Why am I not surprised it was a Cooey?

always on the rack at K-Mart and Canadian Tire with Whiz Bangs and Dominion ammo.

92&94 · Post by **92&94** » Sat Dec 21, 2013 3:11 pm

Not for Christmas, but I did get a .22 when I was in the 4th grade. Levergun too

Maybe a year later a friend of my dads gave me his late wife's 28 gauge H&R.

Lucky kid

fox · Post by **fox** » Tue Dec 24, 2013 5:23 pm

Yep, about 10 sounds right. A Marlin Glenfield, with the Glenfield scope...still got it, 40 some odd years later.

Blaine · Post by **Blaine** » Tue Dec 24, 2013 5:45 pm

I never got a gun, BB, pellet, or otherwise that I didn't earn and pay for my own self....

fordwannabe · Post by **fordwannabe** » Wed Dec 25, 2013 12:03 am

I must have been deprived....I didn't get my own first 22 until my 13th birthday. Now in one of my gun safes is a pair of 22 semi auto rifles -one a J. C. Higgins that my Dad gave to his Dad for Christmas, and a remington that my Grandfather gave my Dad for Christmas... the best part is it was the same Christmas either 1958 or 1959.
No you can't have em and if you try to take them bring friends you're gonna need the help. They mean that much to me.

barbarossa · Post by **barbarossa** » Wed Dec 25, 2013 12:12 am

I got a CIL 410 single shot shotgun for Christmas when I was a kid.

RIHMFIRE · Post by **RIHMFIRE** » Wed Dec 25, 2013 7:39 am

Mescalero wrote:Is'nt that bolt action a Mag?

if you were refering to the mossberg model 342K....no.. its 22 short, long, and long rifle

bdhold · Post by **bdhold** » Wed Dec 25, 2013 7:43 am

mine was a Mossberg 351c autoloader
Christmas before last, my daughter got a Henry H001

Sixgun · Post by **Sixgun** » Wed Dec 25, 2013 8:51 am

Funny thing, my dad did not want to start me on a 22. At eight he got me a Thompson, but I gave it back because it was semi auto. I did not get the "fun switch" until I was 10.

At 12, I got a BAR and the magical age of 16, I got my first M-60.

Heck no, my dad did not even buy me a BB gun. He was old school and says, "you can use my guns" or you can "buy your own", which I started doing at 13.

madman4570 · Post by **madman4570** » Wed Dec 25, 2013 9:47 am

Marlin semi-auto .22 at age 10 saved from growing and selling potatoes to Acme Grocery Store.
1St grade got a BB gun and when in 4th grade got a Winchester M37 Red Label 12 ga from Gramps! So guess that would be ages 6 & 9
Mother thought I was to young for shotgun but dad said "stay out of it"

Boy did I kill a lot of stuff.

I treasure this gun!

Old Ironsights · Post by **Old Ironsights** » Thu Dec 26, 2013 9:10 am

No.

I had to borrow until I left home.

(Shot lots of .22 in school (got the Letter Jacket even) but we were a "non-gun" (not anti, just non) home...)

shooter · Post by **shooter** » Thu Dec 26, 2013 2:04 pm

Got my first .22 when I was 4. Didn't really shoot it much until I was 6 or 7. My dad gave me a few guns over the years, but early on he told me that shooting is an expensive habit, and if I'm going to have expensive habits I need to learn to support them myself.

I've got a kid on the way, and I've already got its first .22

44-40 Willy · Post by **44-40 Willy** » Thu Dec 26, 2013 7:30 pm

Got my first 22 on my 7th birthday from my Grandpa. A used Remington 514 bolt singleshot that he later said that he paid all of $5 for. Every birthday and Christmas after that I'd get some boxes of 22 shorts. Gramps seemed to think that 22LR was overkill on small game and killing hogs to butcher.