When I lived in WI, I did the whole hunter's safety thing, killed some deer, squirrles, rabbits, etc., but always wanted a pistol.

So, when I was 21, I bought a Browning Buck Mark .22 at the Ace Hardware in Sauk City, I think I spent a whole $180/200 for it. After about three times of shooting it, I figured it was a useless self defense weapon and bought a Bersa .380 from The Ammo Box (the old location, near the beltline). After shooting the .380 for about a year, I sold it to a friend that was a guard at the Portage Prison (Dahmer time!!) and bought a Star BKM 9mm (that is the light-weight alloy model) from some hardware store/sporting goods place in Baraboo. The Star was by far the most fun pistol of the bunch.

Since those three purchases, years ago, I've built quit a collection of pistols.