"Ol' Number 1"

[Conductor]

My first "milsurp" was a US Model 1861 contract musket made by Bridesburg. I got it in 1959 for $55, and shot my first deer with it in 1960. I didn't know anything about lubing or sizing bullets, and just used plain soft lead minie balls that I bought from a guy who was one of the first members of the North-South Skirmish Assn. DuPont FFg powder was $1.25 for a one-pound can, and could also be used to make some interesting home-made explosive devices.
I sold the musket for $60 when I started college. Money for dates more important.

[John Kepler]

My "First" is a L/E Fazackerly No.5 bought in 1965....yes, I've still got it. FWIW, my last (to date) mil-surp bought back in April is an 1901 Enfield Lock MLE "Long Lee".......the end of nearly 50 years of looking!

[phil441]

In about 1958 I bought a No. 5 Mk1 off a rack at a department store in down town Fort Worth TX. $12.50 as best I remember. Being a teenager I immediately took a belt sander to the stock to "customize" it and tossed the hand guard and front band. Still haven't been able to replace the damage I did back then......
Guess I was stupid even as a kid............

[Col. Colt]

As memory serves, I ordered two milsurps at the same time as a kid, back before the 1968 Gun Control Act. My primary interest was in the No.1MkIII*, a 1916 BSA, and an 1874 St. Etienne GRAS single shot. Both were outrageously cheap - I believe the Enfield was $19.95 and the GRAS was a "wall decoration" at $14.00.

I remember how horribly expensive I thought the M1917s were at $29.00, or the M1903 (what I really wanted) at $39.95!! CC

[smle-man]

Mine was a Spanish M43 8mm mauser for $35 in 1971 complete with bayonet that I bought when I was 17. I soon sold it and bought a #1mkIII* BSA 1917 date. Both are long gone and were the first and second of hundreds of surplus arms purchased and traded/sold over the decades.

[dogtag]

My first was a Rolling Block in 43 Spanish. I still have it and shoot it regularly.

[John Sukey]

First one was a type38 Arisaka given to me by a friend of the family. Never fired it since back then I was too young. He got it from someone who NO LONGER needed it.

[androck14]

Vetterli Vitali 71/87/16. From a yard sale back in the early 70s. Got a belt buckle from Louie's Little Forge, a two foot wooden level, and the Vetterli for $40. Still have the rifle and the buckle. One of very few firearms I own that I've never fired.

[Shooter5]

(Coincidentally, the Inglass was my first high-powered pistol -- although purchased some 33 years after the Enfield)

Got to see the Inglis factory buildings in Toronto before they were torn down. It was a huge complex.

[Shooter5]

Ishapore 2A1; an India arsenal made copy of the No1 updated to fire the 762 Nato cartridge and a No4 in 303. Paid about $75 for each twenty years ago.