Where did you learn?

L

LASur5r

Moderator
Just curious....where, when, and how did you learn to shoot?

I was raised on a small farm in Hawaii and most of the valleys were our playground. (In fact, I just took my 15 year old daughter and my wife this year to show them where I played, and they think it is a jungle.)...I'm 53 now.

Being born right after "the War", I was raised being made aware of the Japanese sneak attack and the need to be ready...every Good Friday, we had air raid drills with the real air raid sirens going off....so as kids, we played "Army" a lot in the jungles. My Grandpa was good at whittling wooden rifles....so I was always picked to be "pointman" of a jungle patrol because I had a kewl rifle....paid off when I went to 'Nam.

How about you guys?

Oh, by the way, my granpa's farm? we learned to shoot feral animals with a .22 bolt action rifle....usually in the dark.
 
Still learning. That's why I go to skul. If I knew anything about shootin' or fightin', maybe I'd open my own skul. We would serve good foo-foo coffee and have a quality staff of Range Babes at least.:D

I first remember shooting, a Stevens .22 with CBs, at about 5 (so about `74 or `75) on my great-grandfather's farm in western Indiana.
 
My daddy bought me a Daisey Model 99 BB gun at 4, and then a .22 Springfield Bolt-Cocker single shot at about 5...

I got all kinds of lessons about safety and whatnot for as long as I can remember...

and started to learn shooting at about 4...

Dad drilled that stuff into my head ALL the time (thanks Dad)

and he is still teaching me things... (thanks again Dad)
 
I will try and keep this short..... kinda funny though.

I grew up on a farm. I wanted to go hunting with my father and his friends. I was young and didn't like to kill animals. :eek:

My Dad taught me gun safety and how to shoot. Unfortunately I was an embarressment to him around his friends because when they gave me a shot at a squirrel (or whatever) I ALWAYS missed.

After more and MORE intensive training with targets I could barely see, I got to be a very good shot. Perplexed as to how I could hit tin cans consistently at 50 yards using a rifle and then miss a squirrel at 10 yards using a shotgun, I got even MORE training - until the one day when my Dad "caught me".

Dad: "There he is ... you take him." (Squirrel at close range)
Me: "OK" (I shoot and miss) "Looks like I missed!"
Dad: "No, you hit the tree branch you were aiming at. I watched you as you aimed. You missed the squirrel on purpose. You don't like to kill animals do you?"
Me: "No, but I was afraid that if I told you that you would stop taking me hunting with you."
Dad: "You are still welcome to go hunting with us!"

- Last time I ever hunted with him.... he never invited me again.

Every father should teach their children gun safety and how to shoot. I suppose that should go for mothers too. I just happened to get a few "extra lessons"! :cool:

Logistar
 
My dad took me shooting with a Ruger 10/22 a few times.

Then I bought a pawnshop SKS years later and took it to a local range and basically just shot it with no skill or theory behind it.

Then my boss talked me into taking a tactical handgun glass from an ex navy seal guy that owns a private range. He teaches classes similar to gunsite, etc.

Everything changed from that point on, and I mean EVERYTHING.

I can handle a handgun well now, Im more alert, I am pro self defense, etc.
 
GrandPa Knows Best

My Grandfather taught me to shoot out on his farm in western Oklahoma. Learned with a BB gun then .22, and .410g. I hunted quail a lot growing up so a shot gun was nearly all I shot as a kid. I had my first formal rifle training in the Boy Scouts.
 
I learned from my Dad, before I could tie my shoes. My earliest memories are of target practice. We used to shoot cans off of a log behind the barn with "my" .22 (Dad still has it).
 
BB gun at 7. No instructions except "Don't ever even point it at anybody or any animal, and be careful."

Self-taught through several rifles, shotguns, and handguns until Basic Training and later Army instruction.
 
Well let's see...I was a teen and I was at a friend's house. We stacked a bunch of phonebooks in the corner and let go with a 22LR. Upon removing the phone books, we found all kinds of chunks of wood raised under the carpet. That was hard to explain. Never aim down indoors.
 
I got my first BB gun at 8, a Ruger 10/22 at 10, and a Remington 870 at 15. I also borrowed my grandfather's 1903 Springfield to deer hunt at 15.

My father (also former Marine) taught me gun safety and how to shoot with my BB gun. I'm glad he did. Being Series high shooter in Boot Camp got me my PFC chevron and shooting high Expert (235-241) every trip to the range looked good in my SRB.

Wasn't much of a pistol shooter though. Best I could do was Sharpshooter with the Beretta (Possibly another reason I despised the thing).
 
Phase 2 of basic training, Camp Pendleton, CA (M16A2). I ended up getting an Expert rating, but barely. I got the distinct impression that the instructors had an easier time teaching people who had never really done that kind of thing before. "Kentucky windage" was a great evil to them.

A coworker of mine a few months ago thought it was impossible to hit anything past a couple hunderd yards without a scope, until I brought my range book in for him to see...I told him the 500 meter line was the easiest part of the course.:)
 
I was still a pre-elementary I am already shooting airguns. I was raised in the Jungle too, and educated in the City. Thus I know what is to be a farm boy and work in the "Wall Street (financial District)" of my country after college.

I learned to shoot my colt, S&W, revolvers and my M2 carbine in the jungle. Only I got formal target shooting on pistols 9mm DA & .45 SA when I was at the city because of socializing joining Gun clubs and sometimes participate in IPSC Level IV competition.

Serious training is from my Marine Basic Class in the 80's.

I AM STILL LEARNING HOW TO SHOOT UP TO NOW.:)
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top