What caliber was your first handgun??

My first handgun was a 9mm Makarov (9x18). Bought it cheap around 2000-01 when I was almost broke and just old enough to legally buy a pistol.
 
Well, my first was a Daisy BB pistol when as about 9 or 10 years old. Then same the Daisy CO2 .177 pistol when I was 12 years old. Then there was the FIE .22 when I was 15.
There have been many more since.
 
My first handgun was a J C Higgins 9 shot 22 pistol that my dad gave me when I was about 10 years old. I carried it around at the camp in an old holster made for a 38 and lashed it to me with one of his old leather belts cut off about a foot. My dad could shoot a gnat off a fence post with that thing........ I buried him this Tuesday after a long fight with Parkinsons Disease. Still have the pistol and the memories that go with it. Would trade everything for one more day at the camp with him......
 
Bernardelli .22 short. A mousegun if ever there was one, but I felt like the
cat's meow owning it. Bought it in Biloxi, Ms when I was stationed at Keesler
AFB in 1963. Another airman had to sign for it since I hadn't turned 21 yet.
How the times (and laws) have changed.
 
First one I ever shot was my dad's double-9 in .22LR . First handgun that I personally owned was the .357 BH. Then a .22 Mark II.

Personally, the .22LR is really the first gun anyone should learn to shoot with... then move on to the bigger bores.
 
You might want to also find out along with these answers, "what caliber did you start out with and have you ever been able to hit the broad side of a barn with a handgun?"

Certainly there are outliers and freaks but anybody who tries to learn with a big caliber is doing it wrong. You have too many potential (hell, likely) bad habits to pick up with handgun shooting as it is, why the heck would you want to increase the problems?

[ETA] First was a new S&W Model 17 K-22 Masterpiece 6" bought at Mainz Kastel, West Germany in about 1982.
 
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The first handgun I ever owned is a springfield xd 45. I think I am a decent shot with 8 inch groups at 100 yards. I started on a ruger 22lr pistol shot that for several years then moved up to 25acp for a year or so then 9mms, 38/357,45acp,and up into big bores like 44mag and 500 s&w. All before I bought my first handgun. If you are starting out I would start working from small to large. Shoot as many different models and calibers as you can.
 
I bought a Sigma 40ve. Didn't know anything about guns so the "snappy recoil" didn't bother me at all.

That was four years ago and I'm now up to 15 handguns and one rifle. Ain't guns fun.
 
.22 LR -- High Standard Sentinel, 6" bbl. Carried it on the tractor with me while farming, as a teenager. Accounted for several groundhogs and a fox (I still have the pelt).
 
.22LR - Ruger MKII, I was 15 years old or so, I guess. I still have it and shoot it regularly. I'd love to know how many rounds it has through it, I wouldn't even hazard a guess.
 
.357 S&W

My first handgun was and still is a S&W model 65-1. It shoots anything and everything I have tried in it, and you cannot beat the silky smooth trigger. It still goes with me on every trip to the range, and is my first choice for home or self defense.
 
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