Not counting pellet and BB guns, the first "real" firearm that was "mine" was a NEF single shot 20 gauge shotgun with a fixed modified choke that dad bought me when I was 10. I don't have it anymore, and can't for the life of my remember what ever happened to it. I remember the day like it was yesterday. Dad used to take my younger brother and I out and we'd take turns shooting clay birds hand thrown by dad with his Remington 870 Wingmaster 20ga. that was dad's first gun (he'd saved and bought it new when he was 16 years old in 1967). Well, one fine Saturday long ago we'd gone out to shoot like we often did. When we got out to the range dad opened the trunk and we expected to see the familiar leather case holding dads shotgun, but instead found two boxes containing brand new NEF single shot 20 gauges! I don't know who was happier, my brother and I because we now had our very own guns, or dad for seeing the looks on our faces when he opened that trunk. Dad told us that he thought it was time to take us pheasant hunting for the first time, and we couldn't share his shotgun for that.
My first hunt I shot a rabbit with it at too close a range and felt soooobad that I destroyed it.
Don't feel too bad, my brother did the very same thing the first time we went pheasant hunting. We were walking a patch of prairie grass between two corn fields. Patrick spotted a cottontail about 15 feet in front of him in a little open area and got a little too excited. He let it have it with field load of #6 shot and cut the poor rabbit in half, the only thing recognisable was the head, hind paws and tail! He felt bad too, but looking at the bright side, at least the rabbits didn't suffer!
Mike