For my son...

[Neeco]

What rifle did you grow up shooting?

I am looking to get a .22LR for my oldest boy. My Grandfathers .22 was stolen a few years back, and I regret not protecting it better...

I have heard the Winchester 190 was a decent plinker, and there are certainly tons of choices now days, but I am diggin the old 190 for some reason. Found a few locally for under $150.

What did you grow up shooting?  Any suggestions?

Thanks for reading.

[RobertH]

i grew up learning on a Rossi Model 62 or 62A.  exact copy of the Winchester Model 62A.  awesome and accurate 22 pump.

let us know what you pick and post pics of your oldest boy's successful range trip.

[ckspeed]

Mossberg Model L, purchased new by my grandfather in 1929 or 1930 at Montgomery Wards in Fort Worth, Texas.

My father learned to shoot with it, as did my older sister, myself, and now both of my daughters.

[JimP]

Mine was a Marlin-Glennfield Model 60, bought at the Coast to Coast store on Spruce Street  in Ogallala .....  my brother got the carbine version with the detachable mags ....  though we called them "clips" back then .....  I think I was about 10 or 11 when I got that.

My own kids start off with a single shot when they are 8.

Thus far, they have chosen 2 Marlin 15y's, a Savage Cub, and a (stainless) 15ys.

Of the 4 guns, I like the Cub.

[Neeco]

Mossberg Model L, purchased new by my grandfather in 1929 or 1930 at Montgomery Wards in Fort Worth, Texas.

My father learned to shoot with it, as did my older sister, myself, and now both of my daughters.

This is the part that hurts the most.  I learned on that gun (the one stolen from my closet, in a locked room, in a house I rented with my best bud), and so did a few others in my family. 

I need to restart the tradition as I have three boys.  May have to get one for each to pass down. 

[ckspeed]

This is the part that hurts the most.  I learned on that gun (the one stolen from my closet, in a locked room, in a house I rented with my best bud), and so did a few others in my family.

I need to restart the tradition as I have three boys.  May have to get one for each to pass down. 

Yep, I'd advise it. Something simple like a single shot or bolt action that wont become an AR or whatever. Take 'em with you to buy it too, it's something they'll remember forever. I certainly remember my first shotgun buying experience with my dad, a Savage .410 double barrel from Burden's Surplus Center, still have it today.

I've had some sneers at my old "L" as it's not tacticool on the range, but it'll still shoot dimes all day long. Had some offers to buy it on the spot too, but it's not for sale, never will be. 

If that gun could talk.... it would tell some stories.

[bigmountainskiercfg]

I got a lever action henry .22.  I loved it and still love it.  Can't go wrong with a .22 IMO

[abbafandr]

I remember using an Ithaca lever action single shot 22 rifle and an H&R 922 revolver.  My current one is a sweet Remington 572 pump action

[gsd]

My dad taught me on a glenfield model 60. You can buy marlins version still for about 180. And thats at scheels.

[Mudinyeri]

The first rifle I ever bought, at age 14, was a Marlin 39A Golden.  Still have it.  Great rifle.  A little heavy for younger kids but they'll grow into it.  Before I bought the Marlin, I had a steady diet of Winchesters and Remingtons.  My uncle had a Nylon 66.  Sure wish I had the foresight to buy that on his estate auction. 

Neeco, perhaps for nostalgic purposes you could buy a rifle similar to the one that was stolen.  In my mind, there isn't a much better way to pass on the shooting legacy by passing on a firearm that's been in the family for generations.  Absent that, pass on a firearm like one that was previously in the family.

While you're passing on the shooting tradition make sure you take lots of photos like this (one of my all-time favorites).  This is my uncle (not the one with the Nylon 66), me and my son shooting clays with a bolt action Mossberg .410 that's been in the family for four generations.  Sure wish my granddad had still been around to be in the picture.

[kozball]

Started off with the Winchcester 190. Still have it. Can't remember how old I was when I bought it, but it was back before permits.      I remember getting on a bus and going to JC Penneys in the Southroads with cash. Rode the bus home with my new rifle and nobody even gave me a funny look. Still has the original POS scope on it. It was always very accurate but I really don't care for the tube mag.

[GreyGeek]

The first firearm I bought for myself was a Western Field  .22LR with an "assault" tube feed which  held 15 rounds.  I put a 4X scope on it and could knock pheasants out  of the sky with it.   A little while later I purchased an 1894 Stevens falling block .22LR with an hexagonal barrel.  The rifling was so worn out that it was  barely visible.  I used it primarily with .22 bird shot cartridges and practiced on grass hoppers.  When I went off to college my brother sold it and my other rifles for spending money.       

[UPCrawfish]

my brother sold it and my other rifles for spending money.       

Do you still speak to him...??

[shovelhead69]

22 carnival rifle. Was my GPa's/dad's/mine and now my son's. Old beat up and fire's/function's like the day it was made.

[unfy]

I was taught on a Winchester 22lr of some sort.  Sadly, thieves took it from my Dad some years ago.

6 years ago or so, I picked up a bolt action Marlin 981T for $150 new to teach my kid on as well as to play with myself.  I probably should have gone with something with a magazine, but owell.  At 17 rounds in the tube this is more practical.  Thing shoots nicely as well.

[bkoenig]

Mine was a Marlin-Glennfield Model 60, bought at the Coast to Coast store on Spruce Street  in Ogallala .....

Same here, but mine was bought at the Coast to Coast in Neligh.  That was the first "real" gun I ever bought with my own money.

First gun I ever had was a Daisy BB gun given to me by my parents, I can't remember the model but it was basically a Red Ryder with a plastic stock.  I saved up my pennies and bought a Crosman 66 after that.  With that gun I decimated the local sparrow population and really learned a lot about shooting.  Back in the days before teh interwebs a country boy had to rely on Guns & Ammo and American Rifleman to learn anything about shooting that his dad didn't know, and I remember spending hours trying to perfect the techniques I read about.  I shot tens of thousands of rounds of pellets and BB's through that thing, and used it in 4-H shooting sports competitions.  That gun won me the Tri-County shooting sports trophy, but only because the guy who won the Pierce County match didn't go to the other two matches.  I was good, but he really whipped my butt.   

My dad had (actually still has) a Coast to Coast .410 bolt action and a Coast to Coast 12 gauge pump (seeing a pattern here?) that was just a rebranded Winchester Model 20.  I remember him taking me on what seemed like countless pheasant hunts before I finally brought one down with that little .410.  He was always more of a shotgun guy, but ever since I could hold one up I've been obsessed with rifles, so when I was probably 13 or so I scrimped and saved to buy that Marlin.  My mom worked at the S&S store (Bomgar's now) and I used to get 500 packs of Winchester Wildcat for $5.00 before her 10% employee discount.  I have no idea how many tens of thousands of Wildcat rounds went through that Marlin, but I shot it until it was just plain wore out.  It's still sitting in my parent's basement.  One of these days I need to fix it up and get it running again.

[GreyGeek]

Do you still speak to him...??

Actually, my dad kicked me out of the house when I graduated hs and I took my weapons with me.  A year later, when an opportunity to go to college arose, I took it, but I didn't want to take the guns,  so I left them at my dad's house.  My STEP brother was probably paying me back.  We had a long running feud and the last thing I did after I was kicked out was to pound a mud hole in his face.  I still have a scar on my right forearm where it hit a light bulb and broke it, putting a gash in my forearm, during one of my swings at his face.

Much later, when we had both grown up, we realized that we were both victims of a broken home.  We are good friends now and communicate regularly, along with my remaining full sister.  While he was a spoiled brat growing up, he realized that he was damaged as much as I was, the son  of  woman who left my abusive dad, but didn't want to take me.  I was 7 at the time.  Her last words were "shut up and  go back to sleep".  I never saw her again for  40 years.  Her first words were "don't ask me any questions and I won't tell you any lies".  It was strange meeting a woman you never really knew.  After she got back  on the train and went home she wrote to my older sister and said she didn't want any further contact with any of us.  That was alright by me.   My step mother, was a better mother to me than she was.    As I told the kids my wife and I were house parents for at the children's home we lived at for three years, "you parents are the ones who raise you, not your sperm or egg donors".

[RobertH]

*snip*
First gun I ever had was a Daisy BB gun given to me by my parents, I can't remember the model but it was basically a Red Ryder with a plastic stock.
*snip*

im going to guess it was a Daisy Model 25.  i used a Model 25 for years.