Who Taught You How To Shoot?

[SGW Gunsmith]

My Dad spent 54 months in the Pacific Theatre during World War II, and his three brothers also spent lots of time during that war in both theatres. All four were schooled in the very short training they had at the start of war after Pearl Harbor.
When I was 10 my Dad got me involved with the local VFW Junior rifle team and we shot at the local armory. Our rifles came from the DCM, and involved several brands of .22 training rifles, such as those from Remington, Mossberg and Winchester. The one I was issued was the Remington 513T. Quite a rifle for a skinny ten year old kid.
We learned all the skills involved with position shooting and that's exactly where my :addiction for the smell of burning .22 rimfire gun powder began.

 

[BlueWater]

Decades ago when I was a little squirt, cousins had a farm and on their "back 40" introduced me to a 10ga hammer-fired shotgun. Knocked me on my butt, but it was loads of fun. Shot .22 rifles in Boy Scouts, plus the occasional revolver. (The den dad was a hunter and firearms geek, so with the approval of the parents he passed along basic safety and handling of light arms.) Never had them around the house, so it was years before I'd finished college and picked up my first couple of defensive pistols. Didn't get into rifle shooting until the mid-2000s. Better late than never.

 

[Dub]

My dad and his brother. Great memories

 

[CA_Shooter]

My dad would take me to a local range, gave me a brick of .22 and I'd shoot until it was time to go

 

[spencerhenry]

Me, not too much shooting the my family.

 

[rebel]

Taught myself I guess. Parents finally consented to get me a rifle at 16. Had a bow at 12 and killed all kinds of game with it. Mom put up with me cooking it in her pots and pans. Lots of trial and error. My mentor and best buddy and I would shoot walnuts out of his Momma's tree at 65 yards with CB longs. Great practice for squirrels.

 

[farmerjohn]

Grew up in a family established in central Arkansas since the early 1800's, Great Grandpa fought in the civil war, row cropping and cattle, whole family hunted to eat. Was taught not to waste ammo growing up so I was in high cotton when I got to college and saw those 55 gallon pasteboard barrels of 22 standard velocity shells in the ROTC armory. Joined right up and made the rifle team. Later on got into bulls eye pistols and had a national guard pistol coach who was good. Already knew how to hunt, they taught me how to shoot... John

 

[TheOtherZilla]

My Dad, Boy scouts, ROTC. US ARMY.

 

[hpshooter]

My dad, small bore club that was short lived in my home town, scout camp, ground hog hunting and several High Power clinics at Quantico in the 80's.

 

[M-61]

A medical doctor and WWI vet who was a physician in France during that bloodbath. He raised me.
It was a 22LR over a 410 shotgun. I can not remember the make. Somehow he taught me to block everything out except the target. In those days I thought I could think the bullet into the target. I still believe it works to a certain extent.
He was old enough to be my grandfather and a great teacher. There was always a box of Whizbangs and some 410 slugs on the counter when he went out on calls.
What a man.

 

[Downeast]

I had an old uncle who gave me a beat up POS H&R single shot 12 gauge when I was 12 and a box of high brass #6's and a hand full of buckshot. He took me out in the back yard where there was a fallow field with small 2 or 3 inch diameter pine trees. He took the shotgun, loaded it with buck shot and at 10 foot or less proceeded to literally cut one of the pines in half at knee height. He then loaded one for me, handed me the gun and told me to pick one out and do the same thing. I picked one, aimed, pulled the trigger and cut that little tree in half. I remember having to choke back a few tears since that old gun kicked like a mule. He then bluntly told me that if he ever saw me point that gun at anything that I didn't want to shoot he would tan my hide and that would be the end of me keeping the gun. He also explained that those cut off little pine stumps could just as easily been my best friends leg or maybe one of the dogs. I still remember looking at those trees and the damage that was done and thinking about me doing that by accident to a friend or dog. That was my introduction to firearms and my first hunter/gun safety course. He then set me lose and the squirrels and the occasional rabbit became my personal trophies and a bit of challenge in the kitchen for my poor mother. A few years later I met a kid in the neighborhood who also had a single barrel and we started hunting together. No grown men in our family hunted and they figured that as long as we were running around the woods we couldn't get in much trouble. Fifty some odd years later my childhood buddy and I are still friends and still hunt together when we can. And I never forgot those little pine trees.

 

[gambleone]

My Dad taught me. He started me off with a Daisy BB gun, then a 22 and then a 6.5.
He also started me shooting archery and drove me to practice at YMCA. He passed a while back
but he's with me when I shoot.

 

[jelenko]

Probably 50% self taught but with lots of reading books.

The other 50% came from a few sessions with a retired major who ran the USMC shooting teams and the rest from advice in the National Match forum over on US Rifle Teams. Advice from Dick Whiting about getting the support arm well under the rifle helped prone a lot.

 

[KMart]

My Dad. He grew up poor, living in the river bottom. He made a few cents providing some of the locals with squirrels, coons and rabbits. When he got paid he would go to town and get 10 cents worth of 22 shorts so he could hunt again. He also helped to keep the family fed.
When I was about 5, he started taking me squirrel hunting. I learned shooting the same 67 Winchester single shot he had. I didn't even have a BB gun yet.
Hunting and fishing was in his blood and we did a lot of it together.

 

[jelenko]

He also explained that those cut off little pine stumps could just as easily been my best friends leg or maybe one of the dogs.

Great way to make a lasting impression!! It really is no shit extremely dangerous.

 

[300_whisper]

Dad primary, friends, friends dads, 4H, Army (kind of), competitions.

 

[caihlen]

Boy Scouts, me, me, police academy, me, competition, me. Lots of learning and rounds down range an hunting.

 

[wbm]

Me first. Then USMC.

 

[Twicepop]

I was introduced to shooting by my two older brothers, and then I was pretty much left to my own (my dad never owned a gun). The first gun I ever shot was an old Iver Johnson Champion, a single shot 16 gauge (I still have it).I was about 12 years old and like most 12 y.o's I thought I knew a lot more than I actually did. I'd seen people shoot shotguns and saw the recoil rock their upper bodies when the shot. With my 12 whole years of accumulated knowledge, I was sure that if you held the gun out about 3 inches from you shoulder this wouldn't happen, I was wrong. I also wasn't smart enough to not do it again. After getting belted in the shoulder a second time I turned around and both brothers had the "is he really that stupid" look on their faces. I said, is that supposed to kick that hard, my oldest brother said "you dumbass if you put up against your shoulder it will only rock you a little bit, it won't beat the snot out of you like you did it".

 

[Bill Norris]

I don't know if I know how yet or not but I kind of started on my own as a teenager with whatever I could get my hands on. It's been a process but I'm still enjoying learning.