I guess I didn't state whether "...started..." meant 'started shooting' or 'started shooting shotguns'. Actually, it really doesn't matter as this thread has inspired sharing early shooting experiences of all types. All good.
Just for my part, I started hunting as a 'flushing/retrieving dog' at age 6 in 1962, for my father while living in Glasgow, MT. I started shooting about the same time with a brand new Stevens .22 singleshot that my brother and I shared. We used mostly .22 shorts, but when hunting cottontails out by Porcupine Creek or over on the east side of the Fort Peck reservoir, we used longs or long rifles. I didn't get a shotgun nor shoot one until, at 18, I was able to buy a nice late Belgian A-5 Light 12. I still have the Stevens, but the A-5 is long gone. I didn't get a .410 until I traded that A-5 for a 3200 with Kolar tubes. My next .410 was a K-80 with tubes, and the tubes got sold and replace with individual barrels of the same weight as the 12g barrel. My first real hunting .410 was the Nitro below. I now have 4 .410's and I'm considering another.
