Memories from days of 0ld.

[Lee Whitsel]

My first shooting memory was around 1970.

My older brother and I would stick the old "light on ANYTHING" wooden matches in holes he had drilled in an old worn hitching rail we had.

The idea was we'd use old Remington .22 short gallery guns my dad got from his Uncle Ralph in Palo Pinto Cty Texas and shoot to light the matches without breaking them at 10 yards.

Now and agin we'd touch one off.

55 yrs later I'm still trying to light matches without breaking the stick.

Great idea. Only difference was we shot at the flame on a candle and tried to snuff it out.

 

[Lee Whitsel]

I've always been fascinated with guns from age 7 when I shot my dads .22 pistol. I had a lot of mis conceptions along the way about accuracy but sometime in the 80's I met a guy that had a shop across the street from where I worked. That was Firearms development corp. and later American arms and ordnance. The owner Charlie Poff built rifles from scratch. Mostly .50 cal sniper rifles. Carved actions out of bar stock ,cast stocks from aluminum. he pretty much made everything but barrels and triggers. The best part was he let me hang around and learn. I tried to soak up as much knowledge as I could. When he retired he made me a .308 barreled action on one of his actions and gave me a laminated blank to make a stock. I had to learn to reload to enjoy the full effects of that rifle and after I shot a 1 hole group at 100yds I was hooked and I haven't been right since. Charlie taught me a lot about guns, reloading, machine work and accuracy. Today I make my own actions and am on the never ending search for .22 accuracy.

great story.

 

[357Mag]

Started reloading in 71 under oversight of an older man who took me under his wing. I don't remember what year it happened but when I got 5 shoots into an 1" group for the first time with a 6mm Rem. in a 788 i thought i had the hottest gun out there as a young guy. What was your thoughts of long ago?

Lee -
Howdy !

Great story of yours, and a great gun from back in the heyday of Remington bolt guns.

I started reloading first on 16ga back when I was 18 ( 1972 ), and then got into handgun reloading for .38Spl & .357Mag immediately thereafter.

By 19y.o. I was into reloading for rifle calibers, to support my groundhog shooting.
My first varmint rifle was a custom .22-250 N.W. Ohio gunsmith C.L. Mericle assembled on a War Trophy M-98, configured as a single-shot. Straight bull barrel, double set triggers; outerspace lookin’ heavy walnut target stock w/ pronounced Monte Carlo roll over butt stock.

Next bolt action varmint rifle was a custom .22-250 Interarms Mk X ( M-98 ), that originated out of P.O. Ackley’s shop in UT. 24” tapered varmint wt barrel, super blued; beautiful American Walnut stock w/ various colors present in the grain.

At age 21.5 I designed my first wildcat, .35 Remington necked-down to .224” calibre;
to provide myself w/ the ultimate anti-groundhog gun 500yd and under.
Local accuracy riflesmith Fred Sinclair assembled the rifle on a Wichita WBR1375 single shot benchrest action, M700 trigger converted to 2oz by Ken Burns, Hart 24” SS 1-14;
Bishop Walnut/Walnut target style stock, bedded by Tom Meredith; and finished by
local gunsmith Dave Schwarze. First scope I put on it was a B & L “ Balvar “
2.5 - 8X, in B & L rigs w/ Weaver bases.

After jumping right in to custom accuracy rifles, I also ventured into customized handguns; provided by Schwarze.

In the intervening years, I kept engaged w/ custom guns, and wildcatting; while my
precision reloading equipment and capabilities grew.
Today, custom accuracy/varmint rifles still garner there share of my attention.
I have a Bartlein.224” cal gain-twist barrel due to be received this August. And, I’m going have it chambered in my “ .22-35 Remington “… again.


With regards,
357Mag

 

[M-61]

In 1959 I lived in Nova Scotia with a doctor who raised me. He was my grandfathers age. In WW1 he was a field surgeon.
What a man. He gave me an over and under 22rf with a 410 underneath. And a 12 gauge double barrel exposed hammer shotgun. He taught me how to shoot, stalk, actually everything. There was always some boxes of ammo on a table for me. Any time he wasn’t working (house calls in those days) we’d be hunting for deer or down on the beach hunting snipe.
The best part was I actually realized that all those years I was with him were fantastic.
No he wasn’t my biological father but he was the best father a kid could have. What a childhood!

 

[butchlambert]

I've always been fascinated with guns from age 7 when I shot my dads .22 pistol. I had a lot of mis conceptions along the way about accuracy but sometime in the 80's I met a guy that had a shop across the street from where I worked. That was Firearms development corp. and later American arms and ordnance. The owner Charlie Poff built rifles from scratch. Mostly .50 cal sniper rifles. Carved actions out of bar stock ,cast stocks from aluminum. he pretty much made everything but barrels and triggers. The best part was he let me hang around and learn. I tried to soak up as much knowledge as I could. When he retired he made me a .308 barreled action on one of his actions and gave me a laminated blank to make a stock. I had to learn to reload to enjoy the full effects of that rifle and after I shot a 1 hole group at 100yds I was hooked and I haven't been right since. Charlie taught me a lot about guns, reloading, machine work and accuracy. Today I make my own actions and am on the never ending search for .22 accuracy.

You had a great mentor.

 

[scasa]

You had a great mentor.

Did you happen to know him ?

 

[butchlambert]

Did you happen to know him ?

No, But I have followed him for many years.

 

[1K6BRA]

I got into reloading in 1977 I believe. I wanted a RCBS junior press and all the goodies for Christmas but my father ended up getting me a Lee loader hammer die set for my 30-30. It worked, along with its plastic scoop full of IMR 3031 and some type of 150 grain slug screwed in. I look back now and wonder how I didn’t have any issues but I followed the directions. As I got a part-time job in high school I upgraded to the RCBS equipment that I really wanted. I still use the same press and I have the scales it came with although I don’t use them. I also still use the Lee plastic powder scoops just to get me fairly close when dropping a charge onto my FX 120i scale and then let the auto trickler do its thing.
I have loaded many tens of thousands of rounds with that press for myself and other others over the years. When I got into long range shooting disciplines, I upgraded to all the latest and greatest fancy equipment. It certainly is fun to use. I will always remember my roots with that Lee loader I got for Christmas years ago. I think I still have it somewhere, but not sure where. Oh yeah, if I remember right powder was three dollars a pound and primers were $.70 per hundred!

 

[WileyG]

My first memories of shooting are from about 1966 or so and I was about 9 years old. My grandaddy had a pistol that he called a 'lemon squeezer'. It was the first pistol that I ever shot and I have no idea of the make or caliber but 32 comes to mind. Then the rifle pictured below. It was my grandaddy's, then my Daddy's and at about age 12 it was mine. Ranger Model 103-8. It was a junker back then and very unreliable but I had it reblued and the stock repaired and refinished sometime around 1995. It's priceless!

 

[tred1956]

I believe it was 1974 when my Best Friends Dad got my Best Friend and I into reloading. We loaded for revolvers mostly and some 30/30 for hunting. My first center fire revolver was a Smith model 19. Had the firing pin on the hammer. Man I loved that revolver. Saved a Long time to buy it and WOW. I thought I was all that and a bag of chips. LOL It didn't take me long to realize trigger time was the KEY to successful pistol shooting.
Also learned real quick to get that amount of trigger time I HAD to both cast and reload. Now I am not saying we were POOR but I tell the kids and grandkids now that when I was there age and we went to McDonalds we had to put the french fries on Lay-A-Way.
Local car crusher owner gave us all the wheel weights we wanted to pull for free. Primers were less than $10 per 1000. Powder (Bullseye) was less than $10 a pound. Once we rounded up enough brass we were set. Our total cost per 50 rounds of 38 SPL was less than $1.50
Now at that price I could afford the trigger time needed to become an OK shot. Come Saturday my brother and I would take 1000 plus rounds and head to our favorite shooting spot. We loaded the 38's so light that we developed good trigger control with almost no recoil. We both shot 4-inch open sight 357 revolvers. We got pretty good and could sometimes hit a Boss Pepsi Cola bottle filled with water at 75 yards. These Boss Pepsi bottles were made of glass and covered in a thick foam label (I know some of y'all remember these). The part of this story that sticks out the most in my mind, is hard for some to believe, but it did happen several times. At the crack of the shot, the bottles would just wiggle or fall over and when we checked them you could see the impact ring from the cast semi-wad cutter bullet. The glass wasn't broken at all.
It was a simpler time and we were lucky to get to enjoy it. Now those were the good old days
Safe shooting
Doug

 

[WileyG]

Blast(ers) from the past.....

 

[gary0529]

Day-umm guys, you are making me realize how old I am and not how old I THINK I am. LOL

I started with a Lee shotgun loading set in the early to mid-60's and my first CF loader was for my '67 Win 30-06 (yeah, I know it was poor timing by one year but that's when I turned 16 and got it for a birthday)

I, too, remember those prices and how I saved my nickels and dimes and part time job money for powder and primers - I guess the closest thing to a mentor was the guy(gunsmith) who owned the local shop and set me up and showed me how to do things - pretty basic stuff but I do remember the cardboard 1# containers of powderer under 10 bucks and 100 primers in the 70 to 85 cent range but then again I think I remember seeing my folks income tax form with $3800 as total income and I don't remember ever missing a meal or thinking we were not well off

Anyway, thanks for the trip back in my memories

Gary

 

[HillbillyLongRifle]

I learned to shoot a rifle at a very young age!

Started out on a Remington 514 22LR.
Also a Winchester Model 67 of my granddads.

My first Centerfire rifle and the first cartridge that got me into reloading was a Remington 788 chambered in 222 Remington!

A friend of mine helped me get started into reloading that 222 remington and than several others really helped me along the way with reloading and working up super accurate handloads!

I have been so fascinated with small caliber rifles and shooting Groundhogs that i ended up learning how to build my own rifles and make them shoot little bughole groups.

Its been a long process but im very happy with how i got into shooting, reloading, and finally doing my own RifleSmith Work and seeing the results on paper and out in the field shooting Groundhogs and Coyotes!

All this obsession and learning something every day has been Priceless to Me!

 

[Lee Whitsel]

I learned to shoot a rifle at a very young age!

Started out on a Remington 514 22LR.
Also a Winchester Model 67 of my granddads.

My first Centerfire rifle and the first cartridge that got me into reloading was a Remington 788 chambered in 222 Remington!

A friend of mine helped me get started into reloading that 222 remington and than several others really helped me along the way with reloading and working up super accurate handloads!

I have been so fascinated with small caliber rifles and shooting Groundhogs that i ended up learning how to build my own rifles and make them shoot little bughole groups.

Its been a long process but im very happy with how i got into shooting, reloading, and finally doing my own RifleSmith Work and seeing the results on paper and out in the field shooting Groundhogs and Coyotes!

All this obsession and learning something every day has been Priceless to Me!

Glad I put this ??? up as a post enjoy reading all of your past memories.

 

[K22]

I learned to shoot from my dad, a WWII era vet, starting at age 12, using his 22 LR. My first firearm was a hand-me-down, bolt action tubular magazine, Mossberg 22 LR from my uncle, a WWII, USMC, vet.

My first centerfire rifle was the great 243 Win, Model 70 Winchester in the mid 60's equipped with a simple 3 x 9 Redfield scope. I took all manner of critters with this rifle: deer, groundhogs, and foxes, albeit with factory ammo at first. I became quite a proficient field shooter.

I got into reloading sometime after September 1970. The motivation was to obtain a constant and affordable supply of 357 Magnum pistol ammo. I still have the same press, an RCBS Jr. and same dies, RCBS.

After a 2-year hiatus from civil shooting while serving in the Army (1970-1972), I resumed reloading. However, it was in the Army that I really learned to shoot a pistol, albeit semi-auto when I joined the post pistol team. I become hooked on NRA Precision Pistol competition.

When I returned to civilian life, I resumed shooting eventually getting into civilian NRA precision pistol shooting competition then Hunter's Small Bore Silhouette competition. Inspired by Jeff Copper and Bob Milek, I also became an avid pistol hunter, roaming the hayfield fields of Greene County, PA on groundhog search and destroy missions. These were some of the greatest hunts of my lifetime.

When I decided to start reloading for rifle after I got out of the Army, I discovered this was a far different challenge than pistol reloading. Fortunately, I had a great mentor at the local gun club, Frank Shuster (RIP), who taught me the basics.

I've been a lifelong participate in the shooting sports. The discipline, enjoyment of achievement, mental toughness, comradery of fellow shooters, deer camp experiences, the adventures experienced in the outdoors while hunting are just some of the rewards I gained in this sport. Too bad anti-gun people don't understand what this sport has to offer. I think being proficient with firearms is in the American DNA of my father's and my generation.

 

[Downhill]

In the mid 70's, my cousin, a friend and myself would often set out on shooting expeditions. Often turtles on various ponds or a few spoons we would "sneak out" of my grandmother's restaurant. We tied our single shot .22's to the handle bars of our bicycles with cotton rope or whatever was handy. A stop was always made at Whites Home and Auto. Leaned the armed bicycles on the wall of the store near the door. A dollar each got us a soft drink, candy bar and a box of 22 LR. The owner always said "You boys be careful" and we replied in unison with a courteous "Yes Sir." Then off we went. Three "armed" 12 and 13 year olds to hone our marksmanship and outdoor skills.
All three of us remain friends, avid outdoorsmen and competive shooters. Best part is teaching kids the things we learned mostly on our own.

 

[Lee Whitsel]

About 2016 I took my grandson whom was around 14 to a local 600 yard match, he had zero experience but on a old wooden bench shooting a Tikka T-3 308 he put ten shots on paper measuring 5.5 ish using factory ammo and won the sporting class.

Go figure.

You just did the best thing to keep your grandson as your shooting buddy I'd say.

 

[Fred Bohl]

Started reloading in 1959 with second hand Lee tools. A nice old BR shooter watched me practicing for a 22lr gallery match and talked me into converting to BR and taught me reloading and BR shooting. He was a wonderful mentor.

 

[snert]

I believe it was 1974 when my Best Friends Dad got my Best Friend and I into reloading. We loaded for revolvers mostly and some 30/30 for hunting. My first center fire revolver was a Smith model 19. Had the firing pin on the hammer. Man I loved that revolver. Saved a Long time to buy it and WOW. I thought I was all that and a bag of chips. LOL It didn't take me long to realize trigger time was the KEY to successful pistol shooting.
Also learned real quick to get that amount of trigger time I HAD to both cast and reload. Now I am not saying we were POOR but I tell the kids and grandkids now that when I was there age and we went to McDonalds we had to put the french fries on Lay-A-Way.
Local car crusher owner gave us all the wheel weights we wanted to pull for free. Primers were less than $10 per 1000. Powder (Bullseye) was less than $10 a pound. Once we rounded up enough brass we were set. Our total cost per 50 rounds of 38 SPL was less than $1.50
Now at that price I could afford the trigger time needed to become an OK shot. Come Saturday my brother and I would take 1000 plus rounds and head to our favorite shooting spot. We loaded the 38's so light that we developed good trigger control with almost no recoil. We both shot 4-inch open sight 357 revolvers. We got pretty good and could sometimes hit a Boss Pepsi Cola bottle filled with water at 75 yards. These Boss Pepsi bottles were made of glass and covered in a thick foam label (I know some of y'all remember these). The part of this story that sticks out the most in my mind, is hard for some to believe, but it did happen several times. At the crack of the shot, the bottles would just wiggle or fall over and when we checked them you could see the impact ring from the cast semi-wad cutter bullet. The glass wasn't broken at all.
It was a simpler time and we were lucky to get to enjoy it. Now those were the good old days
Safe shooting
Doug

Until you mentioned them, I did not recall those bottles, but now I sure do! That memoriy must have been filed in the WAY BACK bin.

 

[snert]

I have a photo of me, age 2, Christmas morning 1967, sitting in my footie jammies, big smile on my face because in my hands was a "real" break action pop gun that when cocked, pulled back two pistons and when fired, made a loud "pop" sound.
At age 5 I got my first "real" gun...1969...a Crosman 760 with a broken stock I spotted at a junk yard when I looked in a delapidated old car and saw it there. The owner let dad have it free. It would fire at pump number three, no matter what. I shot pebbles out of it cause dad said no BBs.
I got a Winchester 67 from my grandad (still have it) when I was 9.
I subsequently wore out two 881 Powerlines before getting a Winchester 450/Diana 45 Underlever 177 air rifle at 12. I also got a Winchester 42 that year. At 14 I got a Remington Varmint Special in 222 with a Lyman 8x and an 870 12 ga with money I earned from age 12-14 mowing lawns. For Christmas my dad bought me a RCBS jr with scale, uniflow, dies for the 222 and 308 (his rifle) and some IMR4198 and 50 grain sierra bullets. I learned to load from the Sierra manual.

I went on to own a slew of varmint guns, shotguns, eventually owning some old retired BR guns. My hobby sent me into law enforcement, teaching firearms. I lived in Cortland NY where I also worked PT at Redding reloading. Became a fan of Ross Sherman, who had a long history behind the scenes making rifling buttons for Hart. Got to meet many great people especially the Harts in Apulia, Jim Carmicheal, Richard Beebe, and Jack Sutton.
I was paid to shoot and paid to learn. I shot piles of groundhogs, hunted rabbits and grouse, shot the occasional turkey and coyote. Ive been to the west to shoot PD three times. I found AS and though Ive only met a few in person, I have guys here that have become comrades. ive tried to help people and have been on the recieving end of many acts of kindness. I am blessed. Who would have thought it started out with a little double barrel, break action pop gun?