What firearm have you owned the longest?

My oldest firearm and the firearm I have owned the longest are not the same gun, but they are both rifles and each is interesting.
When my dad retired from the Navy we moved back home to Northern Ca - behind the redwood crtain. I had been saving and at 14, I had enough money to buy my first rifle. My mother and I went to Grunert Sporting Goods in Fortuna, Ca. I picked out a Savage/Stevens Model 34M in .22 WMR. My mother did the paperwork (much less than today) and we were out the door for less than $40.
My oldest firearm is a 1896 Krag chambered in .30 U.S. (.30-40 Krag). I think it is a DCM Krag because the barrel has been shortened and it has a Springfield front sight. A receiver sight has been installed, but it has the original stock, minus the handguard. It is the first rifle I used to hunt deer. Some years later my maternal grandfather gave it to me.
I still have both rifles, although it has been quite a while since I shot either. Time to correct that.

S&W Hand Ejector, 2nd model .44 special

I'm 53, I bought a used 1200 winchester 12ga when I was 12 for $75.00, still shoot it sometimes. I still have my Marlin model 60 I got for my 13th birthday. I've won several local turkey shoots with the winchester & unknown rabbits, squirrels, & just plinking with the Marlin. I got my dads 94win when he passed in 2012. My mom got it for him as a Xmas present in 1968-69,

RustyW said:

I'm 53, I bought a used 1200 winchester 12ga when I was 12 for $75.00, still shoot it sometimes. I still have my Marlin model 60 I got for my 13th birthday. I've won several local turkey shoots with the winchester & unknown rabbits, squirrels, & just plinking with the Marlin. I got my dads 94win when he passed in 2012. My mom got it for him as a Xmas present in 1968-69,

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Glad to hear your 1200 is up and running. Buddy had one bought around 69 new. Walnut and high polish for short money. Still got my Win.1300 Upland from 99. Never seen another with that straight english grip and prefer a pistol grip stock. Goin bye-bye soon for a Rem. 870.

Still have my 'first gun'; my father bought it for me around 1956 +/- at a Sears store.
J.C. Higgins .22lr bolt gun; I shoot it several times every year just because.
Thanks Pop.
J.

Remington model 17 300H&H bought it out of a barrel of them at Sears and Roebuck in 1960 for 29.95.......

I would say my Browning 22 Mag pump I bought in 1978 while in the Air Force. I had others that were older and had bought them before but like a dummy I sold them.

Recall the Sears near me downtown had those bolt action 22s advertised for $20 eons ago. Too young to buy back then but drooling as a 10 year old. Always had a polished bolts.

41Dude said:

I do not mean oldest firearm.
I mean the oldest you have personally owned.
Here is mine. 40+ years of. 44 joy.View attachment 45143

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I bought my first weapon in 1965, a Ruger .357 Mag 6.5" blued. I still own it, so that IS 59 YEARS AGO! I use to quick draw with it also.

A H&R 929 in 22LR. Not my oldest since I have a C&R license but my 1st revolver that I bought a little over 50 years ago. Still locks up fine and I shoot it every once in awhile.

Mauser9 said:

Recall the Sears near me downtown had those bolt action 22s advertised for $20 eons ago. Too young to buy back then but drooling as a 10 year old. Always had a polished bolts.

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YUP, there's the "polished bolt" on mine.... It's been a long time, but I seem to recall that pop paid about $28 for mine... Great memories come alive each time I load mine up again... Here she is ( refinished the stock a few years ago):


J.

Marline 39a built in 1953 with original furniture and still shoots lights out. Makers mark and one owner. Purchased by my Dad in a hardware store, new in 1953, for my oldest brother. From him it was passed down to my next oldest brother and then finally to me, the youngest. It's a gun that will be passed down.

One I have owned longest is my Marlin 39 Century carbine, my Christmas present 1970. My oldest firearm is probably my 1952 S&W K-22.

Remington 1900 12 gauge Damascus passed down by my great uncle in 1975 I was 14. Still had a handful of all brass loaded cartridges. Wish I had the balls to shoot it! LOL!

Both of these.

Remington Model 33 .22lr rifle.
My granddad gave it to my father who gave it to me and I gave it to my grandson.
It's a single shot & bolt action.
My granddad was the town's chief of police and, evidently, he confiscated this rifle, a .410 pump shotgun and a 38 Special revolver from ner-do-wells. After acquiring these firearms from the department, he gave them to my father and 2 uncles. My father took the Model 33. He used it during grade, middle, and high schools to shoot small critters and sell these critters to the local butcher.

In 1971 my biological grandmother was killed in a auto accident just yards from my childhood residence in a 65 model impala.
Motormount recall never got fixed.
I was 8 years old.
Still remember seeing the delta 88 station wagon ambulance riding by with the blood covered sheet covering her up.
Then the neighbor and Preacher came to tell my dad what happened.
Fast forward to 1973.
Grandfather marries a lady I'd been cutting grass for in town.
My grandfather was basically the father figure I respected growing up.
Anyhow,
She had never married before.
Lived in a big house by herself.

He father had 3 guns left in the house that she was deathly afraid of.
A 1917 Colt revolver.
A Remington model 11 12 ga.
And a Winchester 1873 Deluxe sporting edition made in 1893 with 3xxx walnut, color Case frame and crescent butt plate, and a marbles peep sight on the pistol grip tang in 38WCF.
She told me the day they married in the church auditorium, that those guns would be mine upon her passing.

In 1974 she passed of a malignant brain tumor after less than 8 months of marriage to my grandfather.
I still have all those guns to this day.
I really need to get a factory letter for the Winchester.
I have no one to really pass them down to that would fully appreciate the quality and historical relevance of the Winchester.
So I'm now at a crossroads as to what to do with it.
I guess those are the ones I've owned the longest.
Not necessarily the go to guns for my use or practicality.
But that Winchester is a local legend among my fellow firearms enthusiasts.
I was born in 63.
Owned that gun by the end of 73.
That's a lot of years to focus ones faith in a precious gift.
I'll try to get pics up tomorrow

In October of 1963 I awoke on my 12th birthday to find a Remington Mod. 121 .22 pump rifle on my dresser. My Dad had purchased it 12 years earlier for my older brothers 12th birthday. According to Remington it was manufactured in July of 1937. In December of 1984 I passed it on to my oldest son on his 12th birthday...

Picked this up in 1964.