The first Automatic shotgun that I purchased was a Remington 1100 from a Hardware Store for 225 dollars out the door including Tax. I was with my 2 uncles who were buying one and they asked if I would like to have one and I said yes, yes please... I was just a youth and they loaned me the money for my first Remington 1100 and over time I paid them back the money from mowing yards and doing odd jobs for people in the neighborhood etc... I still have that old Remington 1100 and it has never failed to go bang in all these years ....
I bought an 870 Express in the mid 90's for $200 on sale at K Mart. Never rusted, was a fine gun. Moved to an A-5 Stalker 3" when I found it for $400 at a gun store a few years later. I let a friend talk me out of that gun when I shouldn't have.
Belgium Browning A5 Sweet 16 new in the box from a store getting out of the business of selling guns. This was 1972 I believe-$150.
1980 Remington 1100 Magnum. Herman's Sporting Goods. $214.00 on sale.....
I was always a pump guy, first new gun was an Ithaca model 37 for $235. My first auto was a Browning Gold 3.5" black synthetic stock for $700. It was a great gun and I wish I still had it. Z
Around 1999 I was 14 got a 870 express 12 from Walmart for $250ish out the door.
I was 14 or 15 yrs. old...1975-76. Coast-To-Coast Master-Mag.....Mossberg 500. 30" fixed full choke, 3" 12 gauge. I believe it was $140. It was a duck killing machine. I still have it and occasionally take it out Pheasant hunting.
it was 1963 and I was 15 years old. I mowed grass all summer for two years and ordered a Browning Auto 5 with a gold trigger and a 28 inch modified barrel. My uncle worked at a hardware store in North Carolina and he ordered it for me, It cost $150 plus tax, I still have this gun and it was hunted hard but never failed to go bang,
Winchester 1200 pump in 1979 for $169
Winchester 1400 semi (for pheasants over my Britts) don't recall the price.
Winchester Super X2 3.5" in 1999 or 2000 for $775
870 Express, 12 gauge in 1999--$219
I don't remember the year but it was an 870 with the nice walnut stock for $249. Regret the day I ever sold it.
Mossberg 500 $189 that was in 1994
I purchased a 870 Wingmaster with a 26" IC barrel (all fixed chokes in those days) with money earned in a tobacco patch. I bought the gun and a case for $156 and change. Of all the guns I've bought, sold, and traded, I wish I had that one back.
Stevens 67e pump in 1979. Mowed lawns and spent right at $85. Still have it. Not a great gun but will pass it down to son one day.
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I bought a Mossberg 9200 in Mossy Oak for 400. It wouldn't cycle 3 inch magnums. Sold it bought a Browning. Never owned another Mossberg.
Remington 11-48, 16 gauge, $75. Still have it.
2001. 870 express 12 gauge. Academy sports $219. I still have the gun and still shoot dove with it.
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Remington 1100 2 3/4 modified barrel $185. Local TG&Y was selling their guns out. I sold the mod barrel to a good friend who had a IC and Full barrel and got the 26" screw in choke barrel with 3 chokes and dove hunted with it for years.
I killed my first turkey with it, with an extra full choke and 1 1/2 oz #5 lead reloads at 30 yards. Plenty of history with this gun.
Mossberg 500 20ga. Was either 159 or 189 at Kmart.
Around 1990ish
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I remember like it was yesterday. My first gun was a 410 single shot, and when it was time to upgrade I begged my mom to take me to a pawn shop we passed from time to time. They had a nice looking Western Auto Revolution 20ga pump (rebadged mossberg 500). I still have that gun to this day, and it would be the last gun that I would ever get rid of.
1997 870 20ga from Walmart for $200 and change. I used chore/lawn mowing money and my dad bought it. That gun has killed everything from rabbits to deer and everything in between.
My dad owned a gun store so my first gun was a Christmas present - 20 Gauge Win 101.
First gun I bought: took a police 870 as payment for a dog surgery in 1991. Added $50 and bought a 12g 26" barrel 870, matte finish stock. Replaced the stock years ago and the gun is still going strong, but has been confiscated by my son. He shoots it better than me now anyways.
His first gun that was all his was an 870 he won at a skeet shoot at 15.
My Father made all of us boys cut our teeth with a single barrel that was used to murder a man that he bought from the local District Attorney. The DA had kept the gun after an important murder case locally (my father bought it for 5 dollars). My father took the sawed off barrel off of it and put a 30 inch full choke on it. The gun was missing the spring in the action, so every time you shot it - it sprang open and would cut you on the nose.
After I had killed a few the old single barrel, he surprised me one day with a Belgium Browning A5 12 gauge. Trust me, I paid for that gun so many times as we worked on the farm from bed time to bed time. LOL
That gun was the demise to many a critter including Turkeys.
Much later on, bought my first designated turkey only shotgun on my own - around 1990ish, a Remington 870 12-gauge with the 21" barrel and paid right at 180 dollars for it. Have killed a pile of turkeys with that gun (with nothing but lead) and just semi retired it two years ago. Still have it and thinking about taking the scope off it and putting an extra red dot I have laying around on it and placing it back into the rotation this spring.
Thanks for the thread Greg - great topic!
My first semi-auto was a 12ga. Benelli Montefeltro purchased in 1988 for $640.00
A black synthetic 870 28" barrel on sale at Walmart for $209. They had the wood ones on sale but I asked about the black one that was listed for $269 and they sold it for the sale price. Still hunt with it today
The first shotgun I bought was $305. I worked hard all summer and saved for it. Still have it.
My first shot gun Is a Mossberg 835 Ultra Mag 12 gauge pump. A buddy bought it new for me and said just do 3 antler mounts for him in trade. This was in the early 90s.
Bought a Mossberg 500 12 ga thinking I paid about $200. The one I really remember though is a new/used Browning Gold Hunter 12ga in 2000-2001 for $300. Some lady one it in a raffle at a gun shop. Lady won it at a raffle but didn't want it so she sold it back to the gun shop. They said they had to sell it as used bc it being a raffle. Still have it and use it for sporting clays.
Went into a local small sporting goods just to look around. After spending 3 years looking for a Winchester 1400, 12ga plain barrel with full choke. There it was hanging on the wall of used guns. $125 and they offered lay-away. That was in 1977. Its still in the gun safe.
My first shotgun was a Savage model 949C. (Single barrel 20g w/fixed mod choke) When my dad got the news he had a boy, he left the hospital and bought the shotgun for me. ;D I believe I recall him saying it was under $100. Killed my first turkey with it at age 8. 2 3/4 in lead 6s.
74.00 it was a single shot made by JC Penny and another company I do not recall, I want to say Steven's but I am not sure. It was a single shot 20 that kicked harder than any 12 Guage I have ever fired by a long shot.
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Quote from: PalmettoRon on February 01, 2024, 09:49:10 AM
Belgium Browning A5 Sweet 16 new in the box from a store getting out of the business of selling guns. This was 1972 I believe-$150.
I have the same gun. First shotgun I ever fired...I remember how loud it was.. target practice..stupid kid, no earmuffs, quickly learned my lesson. Nice light, I think well balanced, little gun! The cost of that gun... hearing loss, as it was a "family" gun and I didn't purchase it.
My first shotgun was a WesterField 12 gauge my Dad bought for me at Montgomery Wards in 1963. I do not know what he paid for the gun. The first shotgun I purchased was in 1967 a Belgium Browning Light 12 auto which I still have in the safe. I think I paid $175.00 but that was so long ago I am bot sure but I do remember the sporting goods store that I bought it from was called Army Navy Sporing Goods
In late 80s got a NWTF 1300 for 269 hunted it quite awhile went to 870 yth i won got the 1300 out this past fall with federal premiums 2 3/4 shot one with it
My first gun was a Colt pump 20 g that my dad bought in the mid 60's. I bought a Rem 1100 after I graduated from HS in 73. I think it was around 275.00. I gave gun to my dad who gave to one of his grandsons.
Pawn shop used SKB XL900, beautiful gun and absolutly BOMB proof. $250
That gun never once missed a beat and was never cleaned beyond wd40 spray and wipe down.
30yrs later it's still going. Looks terrible as hurricane katrina flooded it and it sat in marsh mud for months. Never had a part replaced still to this day
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$379.00 for my 870 special purpose mag in bottomland. Purchased it at Bass Shops Duluth GA 1996. I started turkey hunting in 1987 and Before this purchase i was using my dads model 12. I had been promoted at work the previous December and with the additional funds I figured it was high time to purchase my own turkey gun. This gun is still my dedicated turkey gun and will be until I am gone.
Yep remember that day like it was last week - was $140 Mossberg 20 ga and I still have it and recently had it reblued....back then you even got a box of shells thrown in
1971 Browning A5 12 gauge magnum.... $195. It has been my duck gun for 52 years...shot 15 boxes of shells through it this year. I figure 15,000-18,000 shells shot through it... two firing pins broken over the years, that's it.
I can't remember what I paid for my first turkey gun, but it was a used Mossberg 500 12 gauge. No camo just wood stock and full choke. The first NEW turkey gun was a Mossberg 9200 auto in Mossy Oak Treestand camo and was in the $400 or so range. I bought it in the mid 90s.
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Sure do remember, it was only a couple years ago. I have used a pump gun since 1989, bought a M2 for my son 5-6 years, then 3 years ago bought myself a Tristar 410 auto. Paid 602 OTD for the Tristar
I prefer the pump guns still today but am and have been, looking at the Retay Gordion Turkey. It seems to be calling to me!!!
1976 I got a 12 ga. Mossberg 500 with a 28" fixed modified barrel. My parents bought it because I was 15, but I saved the money for it. I got it on sale for $99.00. I later bought a 30" full barrel with a vent rib for hunting ducks. It was stolen when my house was robbed. My first semi-auto was a left handed Winchester 1400 I bought in 1979. It shot high brass shells fine, but wouldn't cycle field loads. Sold it less than a year later, after duck season.
Jim
Just realized I misread this, my first semi-auto shotgun is my only semi auto shotgun. Remington 11-87 I think it was between 700-800 with a bird barrel with a vented rib and Sabot barrel with cantilever scope mount.
The lst shotgun that I paid for was a 870 12 ga . 3 inch .
Paid 199 from a little store in liberty ms . If I would have put a notch in the stock every time it made one flop ?
It wouldnt have a stock left ..
In 1968 I paid 100 dollars of my tobacco trucking money for a new Remington 1100 12 gauge vent rib modified barrel. My Aunt and Uncle paid the rest, around 115 dollars I think. This gun went on to harvest everything from doves to deer and at least a train car load of waterfowl. My Wife in 1980 gave me, for Christmas, a new 1100 in 3 inch Magnum. I still use it a lot today for resident Canada's. Never killed a Turkey with the first gun because we didn't have Turkeys in my hunting grounds when I was growing up. I did kill a Rio Turkey with the 3 inch when I went to Texas on a Whitetail hunt. Second time in Texas I didn't shoot my Rio, because I didn't care about Turkeys and I had already done a tail mount of the first one. Paid for the Rio and didn't even shoot one! Boy, has my life and priorities changed since then!!!
20 gauge 870 from J.C. Penney's in Morgantown WV back in the 70's for $140
Yes, J. C. Penney's sold guns back then.
I purchased a Remington 11-87 Special Purpose with 26" barrel in 1987. I believe the price was around $225. This was when the Special Purpose had a parkerized finish. It's still the shotgun I use while hunting.
The first shotgun first gun really i bought for myself was in 1977 i just turned 18. I went to Greens Hardware store and gave $160 for a 870 Wingmaster 30" full choke. I used that shot gun for years and years well up until i was in my early 30's. Then i bought a 835 when they first came out it was a goose gun back then. At least that was what i was told lol. Boy that sucker would kill a Turkey.
My first pump shotgun was a 12 gauge Winchester Ranger 120 on sale at Oshman's Sporting Goods in Houston back in 1986 or 1987. Shot alot game with that gun before selling it to get a Remington 870 Express in 12 gauge a few years later.
Bought my Mossberg 835 Ulti-Mag brand new at Walmart in Realtree Hardwoods in 2004 for $295.00. After 20 years of busting heads, I retired it and will be heading into 2024 with a 20 ga. BTW: Shot 3.5" the past 20 years and did not whine about it one bit. :popcorn:
My first gun was a single shot 20 that I think my father bought me and hunted with it until I was 15. For Christmas one year they had some kind of Remington auto on sale at Kmart and my parents bought it for me that sucker would jam and we took it back for a refund. Then my grandfather took me to Bob's Boat Mart and he bought me an 1100 LW 20ga 28" barrel. The whole time he was trying to talk me into to getting a double barrel but, I had to have an auto like every one else. I have hunted with it since. I killed my first turkey with it in 2006. Then I thought I needed a 12 ga and bought a Winchester SX2 for I think 700.00
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My first pump was a Mossberg 500 in 2003. 150$.
My first auto was a 1964 Belgium Browning Auto 5 Magnum 12 that I had dreamed of owning since I was a kid. Paid 750$ for it in 2019.
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