My first "gun" was a double barrel shotgun "pop-gun" that opened like a real DB but pulled two plungers back. I have a photo of me at almost three years old at Christmas holding it after I unwrapped it.
My first "real" gun was age 6 when I spotted a derelict Crosman 760 laying in the backseat of a junked car in Wolf's Junkyard, Freedom PA. Wolfie let me have it free. Dad wouldn't let me have BB's so I used little pebbles. Then it was two 881 Powerlines which I wore out. A Win 67 was my first 22, and I got a RWS/Winchester 450 177 air rifle at 12. I was such a rifle looney that I refused to be part of the Boy Scouts because I could not comprehend camping without a gun.
My first centerfire was a barely used (likely hot) Remington Varmint Special (1967 serial)in 222. I was too niave to know how sketchy that sale in 1978 was...
Since then it has been 40x's, Winchester 88's, 1884 Trapdoor, Remington 700's, a BAT SV and my favorite of all, a couple Superior Rifles of Dryden NY (Ross Sherman made) BR rifles.
I also have a slew of Remington shotguns, mostly 870 and 1100, as well as a lovely Win 42, a BSS, and some real turds too. I had a nice Knight ML, and a couple browning rifles and shotguns. Except for a nice Mark 2, and a very early Single Six, every Ruger I ever owned either shot terrible or didn't fit (even the nice Red LAbel 28 I had for a while).
I shoot Contender and carried a Glock, had a few 1911 and several DA revolvers (miss my 686 badly) but in the end, it comes back to my rifles. I still have the Winchester 450 underlever 177, a Marauder, a 722 222 and almost all my varmint rifles are still with me.
And it all started when I was 2, in my PJ's at Christmas with a popgun.