How did you start shooting ?

[Missionary]

I grew up in SW Michigan among the fruit farms. 1st arm I can remember was a Remington 514 .22 single shot when I was about 10. That was my rifle for well over 6 years and it served me well.

 

[RicinYakima]

Ric,
What Century were you born in ? 18th or 19th ?

Well, I started shooting in about 1953 when Uncle Charlie came back from Korea and before Uncle Jimmy went to prison. We didn't have water in the house until 1957 and a flush toilet until 1965. Folks never had a telephone until I went to Viet Nam in 1968. Folks moved from place to place looking for work. In 1965 Dad got a permanent job at Aeronca Aircraft in Ohio.

 

[Hawk]

I started hunting with my dad when I was probably 3 years old and not carrying a gun. By the time I was four, I was carrying a Red Ryder BB gun and by the time I was six, I was carrying either a single shot 22 long rifle or a Savage Fox side by side 20 gauge.
Hunted with my dad my whole life, he never left me behind. He always took me with him. Graduated up to a single shot 30-30, break over, for deer. Then at 12, a Remington 760 Gamem Master Pump in 270 Win.
I still have all those guns in the back of the gun safe, but, like a few others here, I have no son to pass them down to.
On the other hand, I have taught my daughter how to shoot. She lost several boyfriends in junior high and High School becuase she was a better shot than them, and they just couldn't take it.
I really miss my dad he was my best friend growing up.

 

[Bret4207]

Well, I started shooting in about 1953 when Uncle Charlie came back from Korea and before Uncle Jimmy went to prison. We didn't have water in the house until 1957 and a flush toilet until 1965. Folks never had a telephone until I went to Viet Nam in 1968. Folks moved from place to place looking for work. In 1965 Dad got a permanent job at Aeronca Aircraft in Ohio.

Wow! There's a nme I hadn't heard in about 40 years. A guy in my hometown had one of their airplanes IIRC, I think it was a Lima or something like that maybe? He was a WW2 Navy fighter pilot. He finally flopped that thing into the tag alders off the end of the runway when he was about 75.

 

[Walks]

I miss My Dad too. He taught me everything. Was My Hunting Buddy too. Went probably went hunting about a dozen times without him. he's been gone 32yrs come June 6th, my 6th wedding anniversary.

 

[RicinYakima]

Wow! There's a nme I hadn't heard in about 40 years. A guy in my hometown had one of their airplanes IIRC, I think it was a Lima or something like that maybe? He was a WW2 Navy fighter pilot. He finally flopped that thing into the tag alders off the end of the runway when he was about 75.

They made an L-3, L-7 and L models. First two were WW2 high wing observation planes, L (lima in military parlance) was low wing.

 

[JonB]

A lot of things started when I was about 8 yrs old (1973).
That's when I was allowed to drive a snowmobile by myself, I also got to drive my Dad's Honda Trail 90...shortly thereafter, He bought me a older Honda 50 (street version) ...and we started 22lr target shooting, after his trap league. I think it was a semi-auto Springfield rifle.

 

[Maven]

I started with a .22 at a shooting gallery in Coney Island, maybe in 1954 when I was 10. Graduated to a Daisy [pump action] BB gun when we moved to Wantagh, NY in '56. Otherwise no guns in the house until I came back from my 1st yr. of college with a J.C. Higgins .22 and a Stevens break open 16ga. shotgun.

 

[jsizemore]

I was 5. It was 4th 0f July. Firecrackers had been going off most of the day. My dad squatted down and put his Winchester 20 gauge pump's butt pad on the ground and held the forend so the barrel pointed straight up in the air. Told me to press down on the trigger. My ears are still ringing.

 

[freebullet]

Great stories fellas.

I shot Canadian geese from a goose pit while standing on an upside down 5 gal bucket with my rubber bb shooting plastic shotgun at 3 years old. Was 5 or 6 when tasked with keeping critters out of the garden with my pellet rifle. Somewhere between 10-12 I got handed a late 50's A5 with 2 barrels. The original & aftermarket for steel shot. Shortly thereafter great grandad's last new rifle, a 760 in 270. Then dads colt trooper in 357. All addictions finalized before 15. Was hunting ducks, geese, & pheasant all over grand island to st Paul any chance I got by 12.

 

[Bret4207]

They made an L-3, L-7 and L models. First two were WW2 high wing observation planes, L (lima in military parlance) was low wing.

It was a low wing. Sort of vaguely resembled a reduced P51 if you squinted and were 12 years old.

 

[popper]

Low wing would be Ercoupe. Neat little twin tail fast plane for the time.

 

[RicinYakima]

Low wing would be Ercoupe. Neat little twin tail fast plane for the time.

Are you sure you are not thinking of ERCO Ercoupe, 1940-1969? They only made 65 "L"'s before 1951, I think.

 

[oscarflytyer]

"only" 57 - but honestly can't remember when I "started!" I DO remember THE very first real gun I got. I was in 2nd grade/~7-8 yrs old. Dad and I walked into the old hardware store in the little town we had just moved to (and he had bought the funeral home there), and they had rifles hanging on the walls high up over everything. I picked out a Remington 582 tube feed 22 rifle. I still have that rifle. killed many a squirrel and paper and cans with it. No clue how many hundreds of rounds thru it. Prob redone the stock 3 times!

 

[Rally]

Can’t honestly tell you when I pulled the first trigger, but pretty sure I was four and my dad was holding the rifle. That’s how old I was when I started hunting with him. He left me home one time when he went hunting because I had an ear ache. Mom said I was mad at him for a week.Was five when he gave me a Daisy Red Ryder, which I carried for several years with my dad chasing rabbits, pheasant and squirrels. i got to shoot whatever dad was carrying when hunting or target shooting at the time. I bought my first shotgun at age 10, from my grandfather. It was a Mosberg bolt action .410. Paid him $25 of my nightcrawler hunting money for it and also got 2.5 boxes of shells in the deal. I most often carried Dad’s Century sxs 20 after I turned twelve to hunt pheasant. I bought a single stage shot shell press to load for .410 at age 12. It was a Herters press but we adapted Mec dies to it. Dad loaded on a Mec 600 jr. For 12, 20, and 28, but I had pretty much taken over loading by age 15. Started loading metallic at age 16. Both .222 and .264 mag on Lee loader kits. Boy was that an education!

 

[Cherokee]

My starter was Daisy LA BB gun, followed by a pump action Daisy, all before 9 or 10. About '52 a neighbor invited me out to the Everglades with his 45 Colt SAA. I shot 12 or so factory rounds, my first real gun shooting. I was hooked. Dad (not a gun family) did buy me a Sears SS 22LR, at my request that I still have today although the trigger mounting ears broke off the receiver years ago. Then in High School ('56) we had a shooting club and I acquired my first Ruger, a SS 22 LR, which I also still have today. Took the gun to school once a week and we went to an indoor range for last period. Later came DCM 45 ACP 1911 and M1 Carbine. Been building inventory and shooting ever since.

 

[popper]

They made the Ercoupe under license. Was a ww2 prop fighter like the p51 but had a cannon in the nose, mid engine. Lost contract to p51 air cobra IIRC.

 

[CWLONGSHOT]

My first shots where with my dad, On some power lines behind out home. The date was about 1968/69. Gun is a RUGER, Flat top, 5.5” barrels Single Six.

I own that gun still today.

Sometimes the wafting smell of a RF shell being fired brings me back to that deep rich green conifer lined moss covered rocks of that access way.

CW

 

[Charles Graff]

I started shooting before my memory kicked in. I spent the summers on a family ranch in Coleman County Texas and I used an old Marlin bolt 22 that my grandfather has picked up as part of his attorney's fee in a murder case. Yes, it was the murder weapon. Anyhow, I turned in to the area jackrabbit exterminator among the various family and friends ranches. I could get all the ammo I wanted at Leston Cozarts one room store in Trickham. I never knew who paid the bill. The family could not keep me away from guns, so they turned me over to my Great Uncle Ed Featherston, who had been a Marine in WWI to be taught gun safety and basic marksmanship. He taught me how to hold the rifle, sight picture, breath control and trigger squeeze, lessons that have stood me well all these years.

 

[Cherokee]

Charles - I wish I had had a mentor in my early days of shooting, I'm sure my ability would have been better....David