Poll: Who else literally grew up with firearms?

[rdb241]

I had a Daisey Winchester BB gun at age 9. Took my hunter safety course and was deer hunting with a 30/30 at age 12.

 

[oli700]

I feel bad now about all the birds I killed, but didn't know better.

I was just thinking this.....and any other small mammal in reach of a 22 rocking a 4x
but I can tell you the terminal ballistics on most all 22 ammo based on my own forensics reports

 

[surevaliance]

I was born and raised in the USSR.
As little boys we were always playing with homemade wooden toy guns. Later we started making muzzleloaders out of steel 3/8 hydraulic tubing loaded with matches' heads (or a gun powder if we were lucky to "obtain" some, lol) and cast lead slugs. Not to mention handmade "grenades" made out of pieces of aluminium sky polls.
Basic military training was mandatory in a high school. Firearms' safety, design and maintenance; shooting .22's; throwing dummies hand grenades; practicing with gas masks and chem hazard suits, WMD drills...
99% of boys and many girls were obsessed with guns.
On summer breaks we were scouting local Military polygon for used brass - not to reload but to fill up our personal collections. Sometimes we traded cheap booze for live 7.62x39 or 7.62x54R ammo.
My wife told me that when she was in a middle school she had a great collection of live cartridges at home, including 37mm for anti-aircraft gun.
Because of mandatory draft for all men of 18 y.o., the gun culture was huge in the USSR among kids, although almost everything but smooth bore shotguns was banned for civilians. Every boy wanted to be a soldier, a marine, a sailor, a pilot, a tanker, etc.
Every high school had a few live .22 guns - mostly bolt action rifles - for shooting at the range and few disabled AKMs - for the field strip practicing.
And Yeah! The BB guns! Those were not legal to own for civilian individuals, however almost every city park had a booth with rental ones - chained down to the countertop, lol!

 

[WAYNO]

My Dad was not into guns, but he was a farm boy and WWII Veteran, so teaching me to shoot at a young age was important to him.

I received a single shot .22 rifle at 10. A single shot was the natural progression, and I truly believe we learned to shoot better because of it. My Dad took me shooting a lot. And when we weren't in the woods shooting, I'd shoot in our basement.

When my Dad got sick and was no longer in the picture, there was an old neighbor guy that grew up in Montana that took me under his wing. He continued my shooting instruction, shooting a lot of different guns, and teaching me a great deal.

In Portland, long before it was weird, it was common for boys to bring a gun to school for show and tell.

A short story about this .22 rifle, which I still own...
My Dad took me to pick out a .22 rifle from one of the local 2nd hand stores. We found one for $3.50 . Took it home and it wouldn't shoot. He returned the gun to the 2nd hand store, and the guy switched us up to a really nice J.C. Higgins that cost $5.00 . My dad was upset cuz he thought he got baited and switched.

 

[308]

I was born and raised in the USSR.
As little boys we were always playing with homemade wooden guns. Later we started making muzzleloaders out of steel 3/8 hydraulic tubing loaded with matches' heads (or a gun powder if we were lucky to "obtain" some, lol) and cast lead slugs. Not to mention handmade "grenades" made out of pieces of aluminium sky polls.
Basic military training was mandatory in a high school. Firearms' safety, design and maintenance; shooting .22's; throwing dummies hand grenades; practicing with gas masks and chem hazard suits, WMD drills...
99% of boys and many girls were obsessed with guns.
On summer breaks we were scouting local Military polygon for used brass - not to reload but to fill up our personal collections. Sometimes we traded cheap booze for live 7.62x39 or 7.62x54R ammo.
My wife told me that when she was in a middle school she had a great collection of live cartridges at home, including 37mm for anti-aircraft gun.
Because of mandatory draft for all men of 18 y.o., the gun culture was huge in the USSR among kids, although almost everything but smooth bore shotguns was banned for civilians. Every boy wanted to be a soldier, a marine, a sailor, a pilot, a tanker, etc.
Every high school had a few live .22 guns - mostly bolt action rifles - for shooting at the range and few disabled AKMs - for the field strip practicing.
And Yeah! The BB guns! Those were not legal to own for civilian individuals, however almost every city park had a booth with rental ones - chained down to the countertop, lol!
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View attachment 544944

Cool story...thanks for taking the time to tell it

 

[11Charlie]

This is a great thread and what NWFA is all about!! Thread stuck!

 

[11Charlie]

I grew up rural all my life. Was born in Kansas and moved to Washington at a young age. Got my first BB gun at the age of 8 and started using my dads .22 at the age of ten. By the age of 12 I got my first lever action 30/30 and damn I wish I still had that rifle.

Carried my dads .22 and my 30-30 in my truck all through high school. After school we would go coyote hunting on the local dairy farms and the farmers would pay us $5 dollars a pelt. Thought we were rolling in money when we would get one. If we weren't shooting or hunting we were fishing or water skiing on the river.

 

[SIG34]

Got my first Ruger 10/22 on my 12th bday, been shooting sense 8years old

 

[Gassyman]

From the time I was 8 years old I had a BB gun. This happened when we moved from Vancouver to the Battleground area. At that time there were woods to explore and lots of opportunity to plink with our BB guns. By 10 I was shooting a Benjamin 22 pellet gun that my Dad owned as a boy. The first "real gun" I shot was an early Ruger Single Six 22 revolver. At 11 I shot my first high power rifle. It was a sporterized Mauser 98 chambered in .257 Roberts. That was my first hunting rifle and I shot a doe with it at 12 years old. That was nearly 58 years ago now and I am still going at it and have been a firearms enthusiast since. And the Mauser 98? My brother has it and it was rechambered to 25-06.

Dave

 

[slidecreek]

70 yrs old and had a gun in my hands since I can remember. Trapper since 1961. Never wanted to harm anyone with a firearm. I thank my parents and the good Lord for my up bringing.

 

[KKG]

Dad had a Winchester Model 94, .30-30 but we didn't shoot it much. He had stored inside a case under his bed for a while and it didn't fair well. So, I sold it to somebody who was going to use it to Hunt with.

after I went into the Army I purchased my first Smith and Wesson. A Model 10-5 that was to have gone to the Shah of Iran. 50 years later it's still a part of my Collection, which has grown a bit. It's getting to the point that I kinda need to figure out just where it's going. In 2005 I had it appraised and it was said to be worth $13,000.00 $$$.

I'm just guessing but I would start it at $25,000.00 and let it go up from there, who knows??? It's believed to be the only one that still exists. Another local guy said he had a Model 36 with the same markings but he kept saying that for 25+ years and then suddenly Sold it without ever showing it to me. I have to believe it was just so much Bull.

 

[Andy54Hawken]

@KKG
So Mike... Good Buddy , Dear Friend , Pal of mine ...
Any of your collection could find a place in mine....

Just kidding...it can be difficult to find a place for a gun or collection when the time comes...I do hope that you find a new owner , who both knows just what they are getting and appreciates you and the gun itself.
Andy

 

[tac]

On summer breaks we were scouting local Military polygon for used brass

Polygon = training area.

 

[titsonritz]

View attachment 544928
I don't even remember learning to shoot , thank you Dad for bring me up as an American patriot

Same here, I have no memory of my first shooting experience other than what I've been told. And yes, thank you Dad.

 

[No_Regerts]

Grew up with guns, raising livestock, farming, all that crap.

 

[Joe13]

Grandfather started me at age 4 with a crossman pump rifle, Ruger Standard (now called Mark 1's) and a 9mm S&W 39-2.

Been shooting ever since.

 

[Mark W.]

Started shooting at age 5 was wandering the neighborhood hunting squirels and Nutria by age 10-11 started Deer hunting at 11 (I turned 12 opening weekend) got my onw .22 at 14. Bought my first handgun at 21.

 

[Mikej]

1 of 4 on the poll. It was 2010, at 55, when I dove into the firearms community. Dad was apparently into guns when he got out of the navy in 1947 as he went into a gun shop biz with his brother in SoCal. That's all I know, dad very seldom spoke of that. We had guns hanging around the house, literally. OLD rifles hung in the basement from the brick fireplace and on a wall. I mean old, 1866, 1886 Winchesters, 1871 Mauser, 1883 Burgess, 1891 Remington rolling block. I'd pull them down and work the actions from time to time. Had some old handguns stashed too. I don't remember dad saying much about the guns.

My first experience shooting was Boy Scouts, at East Fork of the Bear summer camp in NE Utah. I must have been 13? Then in high school, or just out, buddies that grew up with guns/hunting were going rabbit hunting in the desert and invited me and I borrowed someones .22 rifle. And when I was older dad let me take his 2nd series Colt Woodsman. Down the road a few years the first wife got me a Ruger 1022, still have that, but didn't get much use. In '83 I moved to PDX. In 2009 Dad, still in Utah, told me I should have his guns because he knew my younger brother didn't care about them. Only four of those old guns were shooters, the rest were likely pulled from barrels as surplus for a few dollars. I presume dad got them to sporterize them. He only did that to one of them he used to shoot one deer before I was born. A, what I believe to be, P14 Enfield. The only way I can tell it's a P14 is the position of the safety as he sporterized it to the nth degree!

With those guns was his stepfathers, natural dad passed when he was young, S&W K-38 Target Masterpiece. Grandpa was in law enforcement in the Los Angeles area in the late '40s-early '50s. The gun had very few rounds through it, but has holster wear typical of riding a bunch in a holster. I also have the belt/holster combo common for the late '40/early '50s. I wish I had the stuff that went with belt/holster too!

Being as the only guns that were shooters was the K-38, deer rifle and Colt Woodsman, I chose to shoot the S&W. That is what brought me into NWFA. I wish I had found this place before I sold the Mauser. THAT was more than likely a shooter too. Being as all those rifles were true beaters and would have required well more work than I would ever want to do to make them shooters I've since turned them into other guns, that I can shoot. Some new, some old and some new-old.

I feel as though I am a juvenile in the firearms enthusiast world. I'm where you were when you were 18-20 years old. I'm feeling the excitement, I imagine you felt in your late teens and twenties, at 63!

I figure people here that don't know much about me think they're dealing with someone in their 20s with the questions I ask.

 

[TTSX]

You all were lucky. I grew up in a household where "gun" wasn't even in the dictionary. Took me until I graduated highschool and then some to even see a gun in the flesh, much less shoot one. Shortly after, I bought my first which happened to be a Mossberg 500. As far as I know, I'm it for gun ownership across the whole tree.

 

[Wombat of Doom]

My grandfather started me shooting at 4 I think. My dad owned no guns. I got my 10/22 and SKS at 13. I had them and my dad is still pretty unused to firearms, but I kept my guns and had control of them. Never misused them, but my first firearm SD episode occurred at around 14. I had an SKS on the guy trying to break into our house. (I grew up in a craphole, essentially 3rd world neighborhood)