First Christmas Firearm

W

whippoorwill

New member
The fact that Christmas if fast approaching caused me to think back to the Christmas hopes and desires of my youth. I clearly remember the first firearm that I ever made a big push to receive for Christmas... it was a Winchester 9422 in .22 LR. If I remember correctly, I even put out an Outdoor Life magazine open to an advertisment with the kid saying "Gee dad, it's a Winchester!" after opening his present.

Does anyone else remember hinting, pleading, or begging for a particular firearm for Christmas?

By the way, I never did get that 9422 for Christmas. I suppose I'd been too naughty. No, actually, looking back on things, my folks probably didn't have the cash as they were busy trying to keep shoes on the kids and keep us fed. The 9422, however, was the first rifle I purchased for myself!
 
Christmas 1956......


sixshooters.jpg
 
I never begged pleaded or even asked for a firearm for Christmas.

A high school classmate begged for a BB gun. His father refused saying "they are dangerous."

Under the Christmas Tree that year was a Bolt action single shot 22.

His father was a very wise man. He knew that we considered BB guns toys and would not have treated them with the respect they deserved.

He did understand that a 22 was a tool and would be treated with the respect it deserved.
 
Rembrant.... Range Riders or Kit Carson and Toro? What a great photo!!

I love how the legs of jeans back then were cut so that you could grow into them. I never understood, however, why John Wayne had those cuffs. I mean, I'm not sure he could have done much more growing!!
 
No first Christmas gun yet, but my brother did purchase me a PF9 for my last birthday. I DID give him recently prior to that his first gun, an old .38 I had. My plan is to buy myself an AK-47 this year. I think I deserve it.
 
My first real gun was a Christmas present from my Father. Circa 1970. It was a single shot 20 gauge shotgun. If memory serves me, it was a Montgomery Wards brand.

Matter of fact, it has been the only Christmas gun I have ever gotten.

In a moment of insanity about 10 years later I sold it to my brother. Dumbest thing I have ever done. I never saw that shotgun again.
 
I was given several guns over the years as Christmas gifts. They are a S&W 59, Beretta 92F, Colt Gov't Model Series 70 MK IV, Winchester model 70, Sig SP2340, and a Ruger Vaquero in 44 Mag. I asked for each one.
 
Unfortunately Christmas will be a little bit like Charlie Brown's Halloween

charliebrownrock.jpg


I'm getting a rock. Not even a Good RIA kinda rock. :mad:
 
First Christmas after my Dad had passed away (in the spring), Mom bought for me my first ever handgun. She very nearly purchased a used High Standard from a great guy at our local Sportsman's club, but he said it recently had been showing some "issues" that he was sure he could iron out, but given the situation, he made my Mom pass on the purchase.

So she ordered from our kitchen table FFL friend a new Smith & Wesson model 17-6, blued of course, with six inch barrel, target sights, serrated target trigger and wide target hammer.

I felt like the King of all the world when I showed up at the Sportsman's Club on the first Saturday morning after Christmas for the pancake breakfast. I was able to show my revolver to all the PPC shootin' cops in the basement range and all the 60 & older guys that frequented the club and the skeet fields.

It was that day that I was taught not to snap my revolver closed with one hand... even gently. :p Great advice back then just as it is now and delivered nicely and thoughtfully and not yelled at me like many old gun curmudgeons might do to a dumb kid that "should be taken down a notch." I was 16 years old and just started shooting that year. (though I had many years of BB guns and air rifles in the basement that I had gotten fairly skilled at)

I did not see this present coming, no way. :eek:
 
In 1940 when I was 8, my grandfather gave me his 12ga. Hopkins&Allen shotgun. I still have it. In 1944 my uncle gave me a mod.1892 Winchester cal 32-20, and I still have it. I was one happy Christmas kid both times.
Rog D
 
When I was 11 years old 'Santa' brought me a J.C. Higgins model 101.13 .22 bolt action rifle ordered from Sears, Roebuck. 'Santa' would have brought it when I was 10 but, foolish child that I was, I insisted on an electric train. I still have the gun. The train is long gone.
 
My daughter is getting a M&P 15-22 for Christmas this year. I hope she enjoys it as much as I enjoyed my first .22 rifle.
 
Christmas present

I bought me a NM Springfield Armory M1A for Christmas this year. Best present I ever bought me. The wife agreed.
 
Christmas was strange for me as far as guns went,,,

I never got a practical firearm for a Christmas present.

Mom and Dad were antique/junk dealers,,,
They were "pickers" loooooong before the TV show was around.

I believe it was my 13th Christmas,,,
I got an early 1700's smoothbore flintlock musket.

Our friend who was an antique appraiser,,,
Said it was a Belgian Trade Gun,,,
Whatever that meant. :confused:

My ex mother-in-law (who I miss way more than the ex-wife),,,
Was a big time Colonial American History buff,,,
I gave it to her for her mantle piece.

For my 16th Christmas, Mom and dad gave me a Drilling,,,
Double-Barrel 16 gauge with a 9.3 x 57 underneath.

Not incredibly fancy but with a small amount of engraving,,,
The trigger guard was some kind of horn,,,
The canvass case was disintegrating,,,
But it had 12 rifle rounds in it,,,
I shot three of them.

That was the only rifle I've ever sold off out of necessity,,,
In the mid 80's I got laid off and had no income,,,
The drilling made three car payments,,,
And two house payments for me.

My grandfather gave me Uncle Banties WW-II bring-back 8mm Mauser,,,
It was not really a Christmas present but happened around the date.

Santa has been very nice to me in past years.

Aarond
 
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