How did you get introduced to firearms?

[joshb]

Grew up in a family with a long heritage of hunting. We lived in the country and watched a LOT of Westerns

 

[K22]

Like most, my dad. He was purely a hunter, small game and big game. He wasn't a target shooter but was a really good field shot with his open sight Model 94 30-30 Winchester. He was good with a shotgun also and rarely missed a pheasant or rabbit. He was also an avid fisherman. Those times I spent in the woods and streams with him are gold!

My best friend and I love to shoot our 22 rifles. Shooting empty shotgun hull was one of our favorite past times.

Growing up in the 50's I was a huge western TV fan, especially Gunsmoke and Cheynne but I watched all of them. That got me interested in pistol shooting, revolvers of course. But it wasn't until I was in the Army that I really learned how to shoot a pistol. I joined the post pistol team, and our instructors were absolutely first class. We shot the NRA precision (bulls' eye) rimfire and centerfire courses with semi-auto's, Hi-Standards and accurized 45 1911's.

 

[V35]

I grew up with them. My grandfather was an avid hunter that had hunted all over the world, and was determined to take me in as his son since he only had daughters and never got to share the outdoors with them, they just were not interested. I started out as a 5 year old kid in 1978 with my dads old single shot Stevens 22. I would sit at the stock tank by the house and shoot turtles for target practice. A couple of years later I started hunting with the Winchester 43 chambered in 218 Bee. Killed my first few deer with that rifle and then it was on to a Savage 99 in 243 Win. That carried me for couple of years and I started looking for more precision when I was in High School. We broke out the 308 Win, it was a Rem700. My grandfather had a machine shop and mechanics shop, and he taught me how to chamber between centers, and we put a new barrel on it, bedded it and got a new Leupold 3-9 scope. That rifle carried me for the next few years and then the addiction started. I went to shooting 257 Roberts, 25-06, a 7mm-08, 22-250, and 300 Win for the most part. Now days, I am passing that legacy to my son. He is 20, and in college, but loves shooting and hunting is his favorite pastime. He is learning how to chamber and build his own rifles, and is a good handloader.

 

[hoosiermike]

My dad was not much of a hunter but I did tag along a few times. The main hunting event was a Thanksgiving day rabbit hunt. In 1956 Grandpa thought that I was tall enough in the britches (8 years old)to go along with the men folks- Grandpa, Dad and his three brothers. I got to see quite a bit of action that day
and was hooked but never got to carry a gun until I was 14. I continued the Thanksgiving hunt until to old and beat up to do it anymore (4 years ago) but my son still carries on the tradition.

 

[Shooter13]

Red Rider LONG before Ralphie!!

 

[snert]

My first "gun" was a double barrel shotgun "pop-gun" that opened like a real DB but pulled two plungers back. I have a photo of me at almost three years old at Christmas holding it after I unwrapped it.

My first "real" gun was age 6 when I spotted a derelict Crosman 760 laying in the backseat of a junked car in Wolf's Junkyard, Freedom PA. Wolfie let me have it free. Dad wouldn't let me have BB's so I used little pebbles. Then it was two 881 Powerlines which I wore out. A Win 67 was my first 22, and I got a RWS/Winchester 450 177 air rifle at 12. I was such a rifle looney that I refused to be part of the Boy Scouts because I could not comprehend camping without a gun.

My first centerfire was a barely used (likely hot) Remington Varmint Special (1967 serial)in 222. I was too niave to know how sketchy that sale in 1978 was...

Since then it has been 40x's, Winchester 88's, 1884 Trapdoor, Remington 700's, a BAT SV and my favorite of all, a couple Superior Rifles of Dryden NY (Ross Sherman made) BR rifles.

I also have a slew of Remington shotguns, mostly 870 and 1100, as well as a lovely Win 42, a BSS, and some real turds too. I had a nice Knight ML, and a couple browning rifles and shotguns. Except for a nice Mark 2, and a very early Single Six, every Ruger I ever owned either shot terrible or didn't fit (even the nice Red LAbel 28 I had for a while).

I shoot Contender and carried a Glock, had a few 1911 and several DA revolvers (miss my 686 badly) but in the end, it comes back to my rifles. I still have the Winchester 450 underlever 177, a Marauder, a 722 222 and almost all my varmint rifles are still with me.

And it all started when I was 2, in my PJ's at Christmas with a popgun.

 

[Lee Whitsel]

A man by the of Ronnie Williams f Elyria, hi worked with a family member. Ronnie was introduced to me and bingo a father son kind of a friendship came about. He got me shooting more than a few rounds a year. He changed guns as often as he changed cloth's he was a shooting fool you might say. He taught me t mold bullets and reload. Tk me t a sporting goods store and helped me buy a Bair Reloading press. I still have it today. Great guy........

 

[Outrider27]

My grandparents had a farm in Cameron County PA, and a model 94 Winchester and an Ithaca 12 gauge double gun, both of which intrigued me no end, but both too powerful for me to shoot then. At age 6, while I was spending the summer with them, my grandfather borrowed a 22RF from a gentleman up the road and started me shooting. I was hooked, so that Christmas, on their way down to visit us, my grandparents stopped at a gun store in Williamsport and got me a used single shot peep sight Winchester 22RF for Christmas. They then took it home with them, and I had a 22 to shoot every summer I spent with them.

How about a shooting a whole box of ammo 5-6 nights a week for a whole summer for about 6 years? My grandfather cemented my interest in shooting, for sure. Last year, I sold the rifle (at a bargain price, $20, twice what my grandfather paid for it used in December of 1950) to a friend for his children to learn to shoot. They love it as much as I did.

 

[corning]

My family moved to NY in 1963. The company my dad went to work for had a recreational facility, which included both an indoor and outdoor pistol/rifle range. As kids, we would go spend time at the recreational facility. Basketball, bowling, and other sports. One afternoon, I went down to the cafeteria. The NY State Police were using the range. I was mesmerized watching them. That evening, I talked to my parents about taking up shooting. A couple of calls later we learned that I had to be 12, and participate in a junior beginners class. I started at 12 years old (1966) progressed through the junior programs, got some good smallbore instruction and experience. I've been regularly competing since then, and have really enjoyed the sport. Took to high power (xtc) around 1980, and went full into long range around 1993. Been at it whenever I can. Great people, and a lot of great memories.

 

[leakeyjohn]

My father took me and the church scout troop which he was the scout master to the shooting range and we got to shoot targets at 50 feet. My interest has not decreased in the the last 60+ years

 

[nakneker]

Lots of good stuff. Just goes to show how firearms are a tradition in many families, a heritage so to speak. Lots of memories come back reading through the comments, many common threads.

 

[majohnson]

My father passed it down to me. Taught me to always check to make sure it was empty. After BB guns it was Ruger 10/22, which served me well.

 

[lb-ft]

For me it started with a magazine I shouldn’t have been looking at in an aisle where I didn’t belong at a bookstore in the rough part of town.

The magazine was VARMINT HUNTER and I’ll never forget the centerfold that issue (Summer1998).

For me it’s been straight downhill ever since.

 

[LHSmith]

First gun was a Daisy from my dad around my 7 th birthday. Next was a Crossman .22 cal. pellet which I NEEDED to control the chipmunks from my grandmothers place . The BB's just weren't cutting it. Next was a JC Higgins single shot .22 that was my grandfathers and I refinished the stock. I remember you could insert the whole cartridge up to the rim down the muzzle. Next a 640 K chuckster in .22 Mag. Those were the glory days.

 

[jonbearman]

My Dad and My Grampa used to go out and buy armloads of percussion/ flintlocks so I took an interest at about 5 years old. I started on a Daisy Spring gun which I still have . As I got older my Dad promised me all the firearms. Two were Remington Zouave rifles and one is like new. I have an experimental Trapdoor etc. I have had a love for the mechanism's since I first took a 22 rifle apart.

 

[chop house]

daisy model 25 pump with 50 bb magazine. velocity was about +100 fps over red ryder, accounting for (gasp) giving many sparrows, chipmunks, and even a coot or two heartburn.

and then (gasp again) winchester 52 in the lunch room of the local high school while on the rifle team. age 14 or so shooting 4 position smallbore.

my, have not times changed...

 

[GWY]

This is a interesting and enjoyable thread.

A common theme is having been introduced by a family member, friend or mentor. This is a lesson we all need to remember to get new people into shooting

 

[358WCF]

Thinking I was about 5 years old. My dad took me to a small quarry down by the creek by the old paint mill & showed how to shoot a 22 rifle. Cans at 20 feet or so. An afternoon well spent.

The quarry is now part of a city owned nature conservancy. No shooting. I am sitting here looking at the old JC Higgins/Marlin rifle standing in the corner. Both of my kids & the oldest grand daughter shot for the 1st time with that same rifle. It still shoots minute of can even beyond 20 feet.

 

[COLT45SA]

I sat next to my dad on my grand-parent's back porch and watched him knock squirrels off the telephoned with a Model 1890 Winchester made for .22 short only. I was in the third grade.
Dad belonged to the NRA and took me to an NRA shoot one time.

 

[Forum Boss]

Cub scouts, shooting .22s at a scout camp in Southern California. It was just what boys did in the '60s. My county had some of the best schools in the country then, with a Republican Congressman. Good roads, and no crime -- my parents left the doors unlocked and keys in the car.

How times have changed...