Where I got my first handgun

[maxwelhse]

Nice try...



If I did own any handguns, they would have all been purchased through private sales.

One buddy of mine in particular would just get ants in his pants and go buy a new gun on his credit card. He'd pay interest for a few months, almost always never fire it, then decide to get rid of it. I'd buy it a discount from new, but above dealer trade-in. So other than his initial bad decision, we both won.

 

[led4thehed2]

Flat Creek Range in Lafayette, IN. Been gone about 12 years. At some point Applied Ballistics took over.

 

[COOPADUP]

Ordered a Sig P250 from Buds. Wasn't my cup of tea, so sold it to Bradis and picked up a G17.

 

[Jaybird1980]

Caudill's Fishing and Firearms in Toto.

Second was from Fetla's.

Still have both of them.

 

[Fixer]

My first handgun...and MANY more to follow in the years after, was Lengel's Gun Shop in Wabash! I loved that store, awesome family, and still miss it today! First handgun I bought there was a Ruger Security Six .357. They would give you a handful of ammo to go stand on their back deck and take some shots with a used gun purchase before you bought it. Just my all time favorite gun shop to this day and I miss it AND the amazing family!

+1
Picked up my first handgun from them. Taurus PT101. By far my favorite gun shop back in the day. Made a few purchases there over the years.

 

[NKBJ]

45 years ago
Deep River Amory, Houston, TX
1861 model Colt wabbit slayer

 

[DeadeyeChrista'sdad]

Caudill's Fishing and Firearms in Toto.

Second was from Fetla's.

Still have both of them.

Still have an old pair of cowboy boots that I bought from the shoe store there in Toto.

 

[deingy]

My 1st was a S&W Model 18 TH,TT .22 that my dad and I shared ownership in 1964. By sharing with me he could get around mom by claiming it was for me. The 1st of several guns "shared". Still have it.

 

[LtScott14]

My first was at Blythes(Griffith). Actually bought 2.
Mine was a S&W M10, 4in, blued, with tapered(skinny) bbl. 38Spec. Was a trade from US Steel Security.
Was basically brand new internals, little wear on barrel, front of cylinder. Wooden grips were covered in grime, but had a set of Pachmayr Radials in used box for $5.00. Still own it.
#2 was a Beretta 25acp. Cant recall name(Jetfire?), not tipping barrel model. Wifey carried for years till we upped to another S&W revolver.(M49 Bodyguard, blued).
Sold off Beretta. Was a really decent gun though. Anyway, had 2 with common ammo, easy to shoot,
The M49 got stolen from my house in 1990. We should have taken it on vacation like the M10.
Insurance replaced it, with a Blued M36. M49 was never found.
All from Blythes.

 

[Kernelkrink]

My first handgun was one I made when I was 13. Found an old Crossman C02 powered bolt action single shot airgun in the bottom of a box of "miscellaneous" Dad got at an auction for a buck. It was missing the bbl assembly on top but most of the lower part was there. Made a set of grips for it out of some wood I found and converted it to fire .22LR through the original valve and striker assembly. I had to remove the rear grip frame screw to extract the "striker" to load it, but it went bang when you pulled the trigger and even hit large objects from 10 feet away!

I had it about a week and a half box of CCI mini mags through it before it was confiscated. Dunno what Dad did with it.

The first one I bought was a Steyr GB from Northern Guns in Marion for what I thought was a great price. Got it home and the damn thing had hammer follow on every shot! Took it apart and found the "trigger job" attempt by the previous owner had left too little engagement and the slam of the action closing knocked the hammer off the sear. DAO was fine for some but I wanted that decent single action pull and had RD's in Van Buren work on it. A hundred bucks later for a new hammer and sear and my "bargain" was no longer a bargain but functioned normally. Still have it, carried it every day for a couple decades.

Another Fetlas fan here. I used to visit my sister up at crown Point a few times a year and always stopped in on my way. I remember walking down the grocery aisles and guns zip tied to pegboards above the racks were everywhere! Had a good selection of gun magazines too, some of the less popular titles I discovered there. They had a couple minty looking AMT .44 Automags there at "reasonable" pricing for the time. Then that damn Dirty Harry movie came out and prices doubled!!! Always wanted one since reading the old Mack Bolan Executioner series.

 

[Indy574]

Ahhh Fetlas. Bought my first handgun there. Beretta 92FS Compact. Sold it many moons ago though.

 

[farmdog]

My first handgun was an H&K USP45 at the New York Shoe Shop in Crawfordsville, Indiana. John Gianakis was one heck of a guy.
Technically, my mother bought it (my money), and it was “hers” until We transferred it when I turned 21. I could carry it on loan legally, but not own it or buy ammunition. The carry law vs ownership and purchase laws are odd in that regard.

 

[Hulberr]

My first was a Stainless Ruger SingleSix that I got at a pawn shop in Killeen Texas in 1984. All it had was a 22 mag cylinder, so traded it a couple years later for a blued SingleSix with both cylinders.

 

[Timjoebillybob]

My first handgun was a 4" Smith & Wesson 586 purchased at Blythe's in Valparaiso in 1992.

Nothing else in my experience compares to Fetla's. I still miss that place.

First handgun came from the same. Ruger P95.

Miss that 686...


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First firearm came from here. H&R single shot 12 ga.

Bought my fist gun, a new S&W Highway Patrolman 357, 6” blued, at a gun shop on the south side of Ridge Road about 1/2 mile west of Cline Ave., just N of Griffith, around 1979. That gun shop is long gone. Of course the gun is not!

I'm pretty sure I know where you're talking about. Had a range upstairs? That's where I fired my first handgun. After the store/range were gone it was a Christian bookstore for a while iirc.

 

[Bugzilla]

I'm pretty sure I know where you're talking about. Had a range upstairs? That's where I fired my first handgun. After the store/range were gone it was a Christian bookstore for a while iirc.

I believe you’re right. Now that you mentioned the Christian book store, that jogged a brain cell or two. I recalled at the time thinking it was ironic that a gun store turned into a Christian book store. Not sure about the range. Was only in there one or two times.

 

[Timjoebillybob]

I believe you’re right. Now that you mentioned the Christian book store, that jogged a brain cell or two. I recalled at the time thinking it was ironic that a gun store turned into a Christian book store. Not sure about the range. Was only in there one or two times.

Yeah, turning into a Christian book store seemed a bit different to me as well at the time. Had a good sized range upstairs, the bays ran iirc from the front of the store to the back and just about the full width of the shop. 20-25 bays, maybe more. I'm a bit foggy about the details, it's been 30 years or so.

 

[bigretic]

Miss that 686...


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Got my 2nd one there. An AMT AutoMag III.

 

[r3126]

(Showing my age here). 1958. Univ of Idaho, Moscow, Idaho. Talking to a fraternity brother. He had a box of loose parts; a .22 he had taken totally apart and couldn't get back together again. I gave him $3.00 for it (why, I don't know). Talked to friend working at a hardware store later that year. He told me to contact High Standard and see if they could help me. I did so and the rep I talked to told me to send it to them and they would see what they could do. Long story short. About a month later I got the gun back, assembled and test fired. No charge. In my gun safe today. With .22 birdshot, a great snake gun.

 

[ancjr]

My first was a West German P226 police trade-in from Keisler's. Wes always gave me the best deals. The tritium sights were assumed dead, but I cleaned them up and they were ok. Had all kinds of fun with that pistol and many miles traveled with it. Things sure have gone downhill since those days....

 

[drillsgt]

I got my first handguns from Guns Galore in Fenton MI where I grew up. I got my first one from my dad when I was probably around 15 or so, a LNIB Colt Trooper 6 inch nickel in .22 mag, I think it was around 300.00 then, wish I had it now as they are 1500.00-2K! Second was a S&W 6 inch 686, then a Taurus PT-99. The 686 and Taurus went with me to Fort Carson to my first duty station and we'd shoot up in the mountains. I remember once taking a bus back to MI and had both in my carry on.