How old were you when you started shooting?

W

Will Beararms

New member
I started deer hunting on a stand by myself with a Winchester Model 1400 20 gauge semi-auto at age seven. I hunted with my father starting at age five. To this date, I have haad no desire to use a firearm in an unlawful manner. However, as a child, I was not allowed to watch violent television garbage. I hear so much about children and weapons these days. What about decency, personal responsiblity and the Hollywood cesspool?


------------------
"When guns are outlawed;I will be an outlaw."
 
I was 5 when my folks bought a farm...so shortly thereafter. No big deal was attached to it, just was a thing to do. By 10/11 one of my daily chores was varmit control...unsupervised, I walked around with a .22 and shot rabbits and the satanic, heinous & vile ground squirrels (ya know I had to get that in there :)).

------------------
"Quis custodiet ipsos custodes" RKBA!
 
me i started shooting with a 10/22 when i was 10 and moved up to a 12ga. the next year
and have been shooting ever since ok so it hasent been that long 9 years
------------------
oneshotonekill

[This message has been edited by zip (edited October 16, 1999).]
 
5, my dad had a Remington .22 of unknown origin or model #. My first gun was a Marlin single shot bolt action .22 which I lost in a housefire :(

------------------
DOCSpanky
"Walk softly and carry a big stick, perferably one of the 12 guage variety!"
 
Age 5. Remington model 34, .22lr bolt gun. 1200 acres of cattle ranch and nearest neighbor was 2.5 miles away. Dad bought the .22lr by the bricks so I could decimate the troublesome armadillo population; their holes a plague to cattle & machinery alike.

By age 9 I had a 7.62x54mm Russian Mosin-Nagant which I mail-ordered from Sears for $13. The first 500 rounds of surplus ammo cost about $7.

My next set of really big grins were direct from Uncle Sugar's arsenal...

------------------
Mykl
~~~~~
"If you really want to know what's going on;
then, you have to follow the money trail."
$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$
 
About 15, though I didn't start getting serious until about 17.

------------------
Vigilantibus et non dormientibus jura subveniunt
 
Daisy Red Ryder around age 6; Granpa's .22 bolt action around age 7 or so...Since it's been almost 60 years, and in those daze it was no big deal, I never really thought of "when" as all that important.

One thing: Most of my friends had guns or access to guns. I cannot recall any real violence during my k-12 years. (I don't count the usual after-school fistfights. These were one-on-one "fair play" challenges.) No knifings, no shootings, no gang wars...

Ah, Progress!

Later, Art
 
First shot, 22short at a NRA sponsored summer camp range at 6. I remember that day very well. It was pretty magic.
 
Had a Crosman BB gun at about 12. Shot Dad's and Uncle's shotguns in early teens a few times. M-14 in Navy boot camp 1968. Didn't start shooting on my own till I I was about 21.
 
Like Art, my first was a Daisy Red Ryder BB gun. Not sure how old I was, around 7 or 8. It seemed very big to me. A couple of years later my parents gave me a Harrington & Richardson model 422 slide action .22. That was also my first gunsmithing job. I kept getting misfires, about 1 out of every 20. They had a big round firing pin! I removed the pin and filed it to a nice little rectangle on the end and it never burped again.
 
Was about to reply 11, but then saw the Daisy Red Rider! - about five I guess, or less, lost in the mists of time. I do recall mischief making and getting into considerable amounts of trouble... felon potential? incredible that I would have to edit this - pretty innocent then, but sniping the neighbors cat or dinging the school bell from cover wasn't considered 'politcally incorrect' or whatever :)

From age 8 my Old Man (RAF vet, just back in Argentina with a beautiful Westley Richards 12) would take us kids on his 'partridge shooting' with his buddies ('chums')... tweeds and all, they would walk the fields behind the dogs: We had to pluck the birds as they fell and the retrievers brought them to us - a tactic, I discovered later, that would keep down the competition putting other dogs off the scent. Age 10, allowed to carry a BSA .410 bolt - for one whole season unloaded but following all the proper procedures on safety and handling. Next season - age 11, allowed to shoot. Age 12, following season, after proper ceremony and solemn oaths - the gun was mine :)

Peter Knight


[This message has been edited by Elchimango (edited October 16, 1999).]
 
Benjaman pump .22 pellet rifle at 5 or 6. Dad would pump it up and hold it so I could shoot.

Now, the person that should be answering this question is my Gunsmith's son. He is 11 but started shooting a beltfed machine gun when he was 3 or 4. Stand behind the gun and his Daddy would help him work the trigger of the 1917 Browning. Beat that, boys (and Gals.) Now he is into archery (long bow) and likes flying targets. Still likes rifles, machine guns and pistols.

The little rat. :D




------------------
Ne Conjuge Nobiscum
"If there be treachery, let there be jehad!"
 
Sometime between age 3 and 4. I started off shooting a Winchester 190 .22cal semi-auto rifle. I was to small to hold the gun by myself so my dad would stand over/behind me and hold it for me so I could pull the trigger. A true Parent! :)
 
When I was 14 or so, my dad took me plinking a few times with his bolt action 22LR and his 410 shotgun. I haven't touched a gun since then until about a couple of months or so ago when the guy who taught my wife's hunter safety course let us borrow a couple of his guns. (She just wanted to learn about guns, so she took the class.) I shot a whole 6 rounds. Now I own a 9mm semi-auto. I shot my first 100 rounds from it about a week ago. Once I stopped flinching, I shot 20 rounds in a 4 1/2 inch group from 15 yards, half of them into a 1 1/2 inch bullseye. My wife is taking the 9mm to the range this week. I'm 40, she's, Uhm, younger.

[This message has been edited by sbryce (edited October 16, 1999).]
 
Got my 1st and only BB gun in 6th grade.

Started shooting rifles/shotguns/pistols around 16. Shot my first Hi Power rifle match at 17 with a M1 Garand and I won the M1 Thumb award, was so pumped never even felt the dang blasted thing till I saw all the blood!!!!

Our 6 year old daughter has shot a M1 Garand, 12 Ga Mosberg, Beretta 92FS 9mm, Colt Government .45ACP, S&W 442 and a few others that I've forgotten. Will be getting her a 22 for Christmas.
 
I started hunting before WW2 when I was so small I couldn't pull the firing pin back on the Model 33 Remington single shot 22 rifle. The rifle is still in my safe. I was about 7 I think I notice that most on this post started young. I started my boys at 11 or 12 and my grandson at 12. The world is changing and there is nowhere a boy can wonder off by his self and be safe and not have to worry about him getting in trouble. I wish all boys had the chance I had to grow up with a rifle in his hands.
 
Hmmm...THE Gale McMillan on TFL...wow. By the way, Gale builds some of the most impressive long guns in the world today. Thought I would throw that in just in case some of you didn't already know that.
 
I was about 7 when Dad and my uncles would let me shoot their duty handguns.

Dad would take me hunting with my old Mossberg .410 for rabbit and squirrel when I was old enough...about 10 or 11 I think. Also got to shoot his M1 Carbine and an old 1917 Enfield in .30-06 quite a bit. I still have the carbine...

Mike
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top