My first rimfire is a Remington Speedmaster that I inherited from my brother. It's in the safe, I haven't shot it yet, but I did buy a scope for it. Someday...
When my dad passed, I got his Walther PPK/s in .22, a Derringer .22 (High Standard?) and a Savage take apart .22 over 20Ga single shot break barrel with a leather carrying case.
All of these were new in the early '70s.
We used to shoot pellet guns in the early '70s in the back yard, but once in awhile dad would bring out the .22/20ga and let me shoot it. I was probably 10 years old or so. That 20ga had a lot of kick for a 10 year old.
The first gun I bought was a S&W 686 6" in the mid '80s. (had it for a year before I told my parents about it) Back then, we could just walk out the back door and blast away as much as we could afford. Unfortunately, we started to get neighbors and the backyard shooting went away.
Gerry