How did you start shooting ?

[John]

I had my son shooting a K-38 when he was three. I put him between my knees held the gun with my hands and his pulled the trigger. My daughter was shooting a Mark 1 Ruger at 10 but has no love for shooting, nothing against it, it just doesn't do much for her.

 

[BBerguson]

I had my first BB gun when I was 5, a Daisy 99. I think I shot enough bb’s through that thing to build a Sherman tank... Got my first rifle when I was 12, a Remington 788 in 22-250. Dad bought me an RCBS reloading set for it too because ammo was too expensive to shoot as much as I wanted to. I still have a couple of those original rounds.

 

[HIGHRPM]

I don't know if a thread like this has been posted before.

But how did you start shooting ? How old were you ? What gun/caliber did you fire first ? Who was with you that very first time ?

I'll start off:
4yrs old
Winchester 67 youth model .22 Rimfire, don't know if it was shorts or LR ?
My Dad
Shot sitting backwards, on an old kitchen chair. Resting forearm on a padded cutout on the chair back, think I shot a tin cans. Maybe 25ft

For me it was around 10 years old, on my uncles farm hunting for Ruffys in the bush with a single shot .22 Coey.

 

[Matt]

I cannot remember not shooting. Growing up every holiday family gathering involved shooting. The first gun I ever fired was a Winchester M88 .243 that belonged to an older cousin. I was immediately hooked. I don’t know how old I was but my Dad and uncle decided I was old enough to try. The target was a tin can on a fence post about 50 yards away in my uncle’s pasture. I was small enough that I shot between strands of barb wire fence. I hit it much to the surprise of everyone present. After that I shot everything offered, didn’t like my Dad’s shotgun (still don’t). Spent many Saturday afternoons with my Dad shooting his Remington 550-1 .22 semi auto. I remember when CCI Minimags came out in the plastic 100 round box and we’d shoot a whole box! Great topic! Lots of memories have flooded back. Thanks

 

[Petrol & Powder]

I can't remember my exact age but I was young. My dad had several long discussions with me about safety and the consequences of being careless.
Then we cleaned guns together. He used that opportunity to go over nomenclature and safety again.
When it came time to shoot, he took me out with a Marlin 39A and a box of 22 shorts. I was hooked.

I remember one day when several adults were working in an old barn. I was provided with some targets, that Marlin and a whole bunch of ammo! I was told where to sit and shoot. I shot for hours while the men were working. Best day ever.

I look back now at how responsibility was earned. You were instructed, supervised and when you proved you were responsible; you were trusted. Tools, trucks, tractors, motorcycles, wood stoves, camp fires, camp stoves, knives, fuel, etc.; when you proved you were responsible, you were given that responsibility.

 

[todd]

i was 6 or 7 yo when i got my red ryder bb gun. i shot that until my dad gave me marlin m25 and a savage pump in 20ga(i was 11 or 12yo). when i reached 14yo, my grandpap gave me a win m94 top eject in 30-30.

 

[oscarflytyer]

I cannot remember not shooting.

DITTO!

 

[dale2242]

Red Ryder Daisy BB gun at around 6.
Stevens 22 lr. single shot and Stevens single shot 410 at 8.
Dad also bought me a Benjamin pump-up 177 caliber pellet pistol at around 8.

 

[Cherokee]

I came from a non-gun family. I had no one to give me safety instructions except "be careful where you shoot". Made some mistakes along the way but didn't kill anybody and I'm still here. I learned all the safety stuff from gun writers as I got older.

 

[Murphy]

I truly can't recall at what age I started. Very young though, 5 or 6 years old maybe. My father grew up in a small rural area of Oklahoma and moved to Oklahoma City where I was raised until the age of 13. It was during one of the visits 'back home' to my grandparents place where it all began. When dad and his brothers would gather up, a little target shooting was always involved. My father took on a new job the summer of 1967 and was free to live where he chose. He chose to move back home in the country. I found myself among a lot of cousins and friends who all hunted. My father owned only a deer rifle as he called it. Some years it was a 30-30, others a 30-06. I was constantly borrowing a .22 LR or shotgun from a relative or friend. Finally when I turned 18, I purchased my first .22. The good ole' Remington Model 66.

Murphy

 

[Heelerau]

I started shooting and riding at the age of 5, my late father managed a sheep and cattle station in South Australia. I started shooting black powder at the age of 12 with an old Pat 53 Enfield rifled musket which I still have and shoot. I was expected to bring a rabbit back with ever cartridge I used in my mothers' Lithgow single shot .22. Dad started me off with a Gecado .177 air rifle I hunted spoggies , parrots and rodents with it. At the age of 6 I was allowed out on the station on my own with the .22. At the age of 10 I was allowed the use of Mothers Brno .22 5 shot bolt action, at the age of 14 a .25 303 but my passion has always been muzzle loading rifles. Thanks to your Danial Boone series of the 1960s

 

[Matt_G]

I was probably 7 when I started shooting.
First gun I ever shot was a Remington 514 single shot bolt action in 22LR.
Wasn't long after that Dad let me shoot the H&R 660 Gunfighter 22LR revolver.
Pestered him till he let me try the 12 gauge once, I was probably 8.
That Savage Model 267 pump was a bit much for me.
Not so much the recoil but the length of pull of the gun...it was a mite big for me.
He told me that if I saved up my paper route money he would buy me whatever shotgun I wanted.
So I worked my butt off for a summer and saved up enough money to get a used Winchester Model 37 in 20 gauge.

Single shots are great for teaching kids how to shoot.
No second chances!
I got pretty darn good at hitting doves with that single shot 20 gauge.
When Dad passed in 2016 my brother didn't want any of the guns.
I have every gun mentioned here in my safe right now with the exception of the Model 37.
Gave that to a very good friends Grandson a few years back.
He was 8.

 

[Ian]

To this day a Model 37 is the only shotgun I can hit anything with. Last couple times I went bird hunting I took the 16-gauge.

 

[RicinYakima]

Need to find a pre-1917 Ithaca SxS, same stock dimensions. Model 37 was the first shotgun I bought with my on money, a 12 gauge for $20 in 1958. Kicked like a mule, but it shot the same place as my Dad's Ithaca.

 

[Ian]

I hope you still have that one Ric. Even my .410 kicks like a mule with 3" shells, but even as a kid I never felt the pain when downing little flying sandwiches. Well, until after the ride home and discovering how difficult it was to lift my arm.

 

[RicinYakima]

I hope you still have that one Ric. Even my .410 kicks like a mule with 3" shells, but even as a kid I never felt the pain when downing little flying sandwiches. Well, until after the ride home and discovering how difficult it was to lift my arm.

No, given to my next younger brother when I went into the Army. And yes, it left a lot of bruises and left a flinch for shotguns that lasted until I got a 20 gauge Ithaca model 37, that I still have.

 

[L Ross]

Need to find a pre-1917 Ithaca SxS, same stock dimensions. Model 37 was the first shotgun I bought with my on money, a 12 gauge for $20 in 1958. Kicked like a mule, but it shot the same place as my Dad's Ithaca.

Got my first pheasant on the fly when I was 9 with a .410 single shot. Dad traded into an old Climax 20 ga. single shot that became my first deer gun. That old 20 sat behind the kitchen door for years until I got a well worn 870 in 1968. My Mom had a spot on the edge of the field where we dumped the kitchen scraps and pheasants would scratch around in it for squash seeds and such. In the morning before the school bus would arrive, I'd hear my Mom sing out, "Lynn, there's a pheasant in the slop hole!" The spring on the old kitchen screen door made a zinging sound, the rooster would either look up or fly. Didn't matter much, a load of 4's would bring him down. Ground swatting was totally acceptable when Supper was the goal.

 

[CWLONGSHOT]

No 410's for me until I was grown! But I love them now!!! my first shotgun was a 20 ga Ithica xl300 "auto".
Handguns came first. Unsure of my age but it was young probably five ish as the memories are fragmented and I know now where it was was before I was in school. So Im gonna say '69?
CW

 

[Rick]

In 1969 Uncle Sam was supplying me with ammo for the M14 he also supplied.

 

[CWLONGSHOT]

In 1969 Uncle Sam was supplying me with ammo for the M14 he also supplied.

I THANK YOU FOR YOUR SERVICE!!
Well what can I say, some of us "started" before others.

Like I tell folks, the good lord created so few perfect heads... The rest he gave hair.