When did you start?

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reteach

New member
How old were you when you first started shooting guns?

Starting in the mid 1950's - I had a BB gun at age 7. My uncle and father taught me safety and responsibility with it and I was allowed to go out on my own with it after a few months.

They taught me how to shoot a Mossberg Model 46 .22 rifle just as I was turning 8. I could only handle it when supervised by one of them for a couple of years, but by age 9, I was carrying that rifle when hunting with them.

I was introduced to shooting a Ruger Single Six on my 10th birthday. Still had to have supervision to use the handgun, but later that year [so at about the age of 10 1/2] I was hunting squirrels and varmints with my buddies of about the same age with our .22 rifles, without adult supervision.

What was your experience?
 
S

Snyper

New member
I can't remember not having guns to shoot.

My Granddad and several Great Uncles were hunters and my Dad was a certified rifle and pistol instructor, competitive small bore rifle shooter and part time LEO, which gave us access to the local Sheriff's Dept range as well as having lots of private land to shoot and hunt.
 
C

Chainsaw.

New member
Five years old. My Dads 30-30 winchester lever action which I now have. On our modest 5 acres in the ranch lands of mid Texas. Dad pulled the rifle up and rested it on the fence. I did my best to aim down the sights (pretty sure Dad was helping :eek:) aimed it at a small Live oak tree, BOOM! All I recall id yelling "I hit it!" I remember Mom's face of, "uh oh". I was hooked.

Many years later when I was legal to own rifles of my own at the tender age of 18 I took Ma into the back 300 acres of their new place to go plinking. That was then I knew She knew I was hooked and that it was a thing of enjoyment and not the kind of thing that Moms worry about when they see their Sons with firearms.
 
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NateKirk

New member
Around 7 or 8, shooting my dad/ grandpa's BP rifle, then small game hunting with break action single shot shotguns, then handguns, surplus rifles, etc after that...
 
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lefteye

New member
My dad wouldn't let me have a BB gun, but taught me how to shoot when I was 7-9 years old. He gave me a single shot .410 to hunt with him and my grandpa (his dad) before I was 10.
 
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jimbob86

Moderator
I shot my dad's BB gun around 6 ...... had my own by age 8..... a farmstead free fire zone and a BB gun...... then an arms race measured in feet per second with my brother for about 3 years until we both got .22 rifles ...... and got a japanese Winchster knockoff .410 single shot and killed my first pheasant at age 11 ......... I shot my first deer with a new to me .243 Remington 788 in 1984 at the age of 14 ..... started in with pistols much later ..... started reloading about the same time ....

My kids all started much earlier .....eldest fired a muzzleloader when she was 3 ...... the deer permits are much more liberal now ..... 3 of my kids have killed more deer than I had at their age .......
 
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upstate81

New member
I recieved a red ryder when i was 5 for Christmas and ive been helplessly spiraling out of control ever since!
 
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Targa

New member
My dad bought me a 880 Daisy for Christmas, I think it was around 81' and I was 8 years old. I felt exactly like Ralphie, the best gift I ever got or would ever get. I shot that thing often well into high school.
 
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Skans

Active member
8 years old at camp. Started out with bolt action using .22 short. We got to shoot 10 rounds twice a week.
 
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g.willikers

New member
Eight years old with a Daisy.
Twelve years old with a .22 at summer camp.
In the woods behind the house with Dad's .22 pump.
But only after he knew I was safe and responsible.
And on and on.
Can't imagine living anywhere without at least a gun or two.
God Bless America and the freedoms we take for granted.
 
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rickyrick

New member
I don't remember my age, first gun was a shotgun of some type my much older cousin thought it'd be funny to watch a little kid shoot. He did pretty much hold it for me. So situation was probably safe, I wasn't old enough to know either way.

Still very young, my father took me shooting .22lr, some semiauto don't recall the brand. After that I went down to the quarry any time I wanted. I used lunch money for ammunition.
Always had air rifles at the house, where we regularly attempted to hit tiny objects. One activity, not particularly proud of but it happened all the same, me and my brother would set up shotgun shells with the ends facing us and we'd shoot the primers with a scoped air rifle. Made noise, that's about it. Sometimes for safety we'd cut the shot out of them. A few times police came by. They would leave with a "be careful" after they figured out what we was doing. Funny, that fireworks would have gotten us into trouble.

I've always shot, to make s long story short.

There was a few years while in the army, I had no guns. Mainly to avoid hassles.
 
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TailGator

New member
I was seven or eight when we visited my uncle's farm, and my dad brought a .22 rifle along. I steadied it on a fence rail and my target was a rusty old can on a stick. I was terribly impressed that my dad and uncle could hit the can so reliably.

That was over 50 years ago. My dad gave me that rifle, a Winchester 69A, a year or so before he died. He was a fine fellow, of sterling character, beloved by all who knew him, and I cherish that rifle along with many wonderful memories.
 
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kraigwy

New member
Excluding BB guns, I was quite young. I think I was in the third grade and got kind of a rocky start.

I knew my father had guns, but I didn't know where he kept them. I did find a box of 44 Russian shells for my grandfathers Model 3 S&W so I decided I wanted to do a little target practice. Not one to be discouraged by not having a gun, I took the shells and got started.

We had a basement, so I set up a target. Stepped back and set the shells on a chopping block. Aimed them at the target and commenced to whack them with a hammer. It wasn't very accurate.

I got caught and got my butt beat good. Then my father took me out with the revolver and taught me to shoot it properly.

I've been hooked every since.

I didn't fair much better with my first BB gun. I got it Christmas Eve and had it taken away Christmas morning.

We didn't have indoor plumbing and my aunt had her chamber pot hanging on a fence post to dry during the day.

What makes a better target then a white porcelain chamber pot for a BB gun. It chips and you can see when you hit it.

Anyway my aunt got her feet wet some time during the night and I lost my BB gun the next morning. Wasn't tell summer before it was returned.

I have to confess, I wasn't a very smart kid.
 
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ranchito457

New member
I was raised in a anti-gun house so I never saw a gun in person or held one until I turned 18.First thing I did on my birthday was apply for my FOID card(ILLINOIS).Right after I received it I went out and bought myself a shotgun and then when I turned 21 I bought myself my first handgun. I had no one to show or teach me so I was on my own. And 25 years later I'm still at it buying every couple of months or so and shooting at least once a week!!!
And I've converted most of my anti-gun family to pro gun...
 
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Evan Thomas

New member
My father taught me to shoot when I was 9, using the classic "starter" rifle, a Sears bolt-action, single-shot .22. My mother wasn't too happy about it. A few months after that a friend who lived near our cabin wanted to teach me to shoot his revolver -- that was when my mother put her foot down and said "No."

I took it up again about 15 years ago, after my parents died. I shouldn't have waited that long!
 
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psyfly

New member
When I was eight years old my Aunt took me out with her Winchester 62a and taught me the fundamentals of safety and shooting. She then said, "go shoot some stuff; don't kill anything you don't want to eat unless it's a rattlesnake or something eating our chickens". I would take a pocket full of .22 shorts and wander around the countryside. I seldom saw another person and occasionally came home with a cottontail, quail, or even a dove.

I sharpened my skills shooting cicadas out of the trees in the back yard (The cicadas didn't seem to fit my aunt's allowed categories, but their racket annoyed the h*** out of her and it became one of my chores).
 
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