p8riot

PgSqlQuery's thread, "Getting my 5 year old daughter a rifle... Opinions on the crickett?" got me thinking and reminiscing.

My wife and I were talking about teaching our 4 yr old son Sammy to shoot after he turns 5 in February.

The gun he will be using was my first rifle too. It is a Marlin Glenfield 10 bolt action .22 (will shoot shorts, longs, and LRs) that I went to the corner hardware store with my father to buy during the summer of 1963. I was six yrs old at the time, and had saved up lawn mowing and car washing money specifically for it. I think it was around $25, but am not sure. I still remember walking home from the store with my Dad. I was carrying the rifle at "shoulder arms" the whole six blocks. We lived in Orange, California at the time (how times have changed).

In the intervening 43 yrs it has taken about 1,000 tin cans, roughly 250 squirrels, about half as many rabbits, dozens of pigeons, one turkey, and numerous other varmints including a Boy Scout merit badge.

With the exception of some scratches, and my initials carved into the stock with a Boy Scout pocket knife (which I also still have), it looks and functions as good as the day I bought it. I estimate that it probably has over 50,000 rounds through it.

I am proud to pass it down to him. If I instill the same respect, and sense of responsibility in him that my father did in me, he may be able to pass it on to his son.

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"You can get more with a kind word and a gun than you can with a kind word alone." - Al Capone

The second amendment is the reset button of our Constitution.

swiftyjuan

My brother gave me my first .22 rifle, from J.C. Higgins, on my 11th birthday. Shot it for 10 years, gave it to my brother for safekeeping when I went into the Air Force; he still has it. I do, however, have 18 replacements in my .22 rifle safe! My original will return home someday...

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John
Assault is a behavior, not a device.

"Don't never take no shortcuts." Patty Reed, Donner Party

Lifetime NRA member

P95Carry

Well I must admit - my very first - a (too small) Browning pump - got sold due to dimensional limitations - I was too big for it and it too small for me That was followed by a suppressed Rem' semi - forget model but that went too.

I did tho many moons ago follow that with a Mauser Obendorfe bolt .22 which I still have - and hope my son will inherit along with other guns. So sorry - that was #3 . It dates back to the '20's I believe.

It is built like the Titanic and the chamber area would take at least a .270!!! Heavy gun but a joy to shoot. It took 134 rabbits one season when helping out a farmer with an infestation!

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Chris - P95
NRA Certified Instructor & NRA Life Member.

"To own a gun and assume that you are armed
is like owning a piano and assuming that you are a musician!."

If a BG dies as the result of pointing a gun at me, then he has merely succumbed to an occupational hazard of being a thug

swiftyjuan

Now that is a classic rifle Chris! It should last several lifetimes...

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John
Assault is a behavior, not a device.

"Don't never take no shortcuts." Patty Reed, Donner Party

Lifetime NRA member

Dakotaranger

I never got a .22 (I'm holding on to the family airloom .22/.410 combo until my cousin is responsible enough for it) But I still have my Daisy BB gun

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"[T]he people are not to be disarmed of their weapons.
They are left in full possession of them."
Zacharia Johnson (speech in the Virginia Ratifying Convention,25 June 1778)"The best we can hope for concerning the people at large is that they be properly armed." ~Alexander Hamilton

farronwolf

I still have my first .22. It is a Marlin Model 60, it is about 25 years old now, but still looks exactly like the day I got it, even though it has had thousands of rounds threw it. It still shoots well, have it sighted in for shooting shotgun shells at 100 yds.

It will not be the first gun my 3 year old shoots though. He will start out with my wifes great grandfathers springfield bolt action .22. It is still a good shooter, but spends most of its time in the back of the gun safe just waiting for the little one to give it some use in a couple of years.

After a couple of years with the bolt action, he will get to move up to the pump .22, then the semi-autos a couple of years after that.

Teach them slow, steady and with consistancy and they too will grow into good shooters and responsible owners.

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Just remember that shot placement is much more important with what you carry than how big a bang you get with each trigger pull.

Lizard

Yep, still have my Sears Model 43-103 I got in 1965. Bolt action, 18 rnd magazine, shoots all .22 cartridges. Never use it anymore, but wouldn't part with it either.

hsuCowboy98

Yup still got that antique Winchester-Savage .22 single shot bolt action, and it still cuts the stalks down on weeds, and still takes a rabbit or two every year.

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Fear No Evil.

Leadslinger

Yes i still have mine. J.C. Higgins

Single shot bolt action. It shoots as good today as it did when I was a kid.

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A LTTLE TRAINING IS A DANGEROUS THING ....

nn

I bought a rem nylon 66 when they first came out, cannot find a serial number, I guess latter ones have them. It had an olive drab stock and it slipped out of the unzipped case and hit the garage floor when the temp was about -20 degrees F. True to their word, Rem restocked it free. It now has a brown stock. The no serial number thing has always caused some concern at mil pass & id; but they get over it.
I, also, have my Dad's Savage model 3B' it is a tack driver within peep sight ranges.