Poll: Who else literally grew up with firearms?

[Mikej]

Thank you.

Dad was down in Medford (I grew up down there). Florence is a great place to be but you have to enjoy being at the end of the road, not a lot of shopping but Eugene is a doable drive for Costco etc once a month or so. The club here has a great range, I am a member but need to get off my posterior and renew my dues for the year, have a few new to me guns to wring out. We are just up the road from Green Trees. Hope to be welcoming you to Florence permanently soon!

Cherish that place. The range I belong to here in potland takes about 20 minutes to get to if traffic isn't bad. It's an indoor range with ten lanes pretty close together. No walls between lanes, screens to keep brass under control. You can only shoot at 50' and no high velocity/magnum ammo. 22lr okay in long guns/hand guns. It costs $175.00/year. I'm really looking forward to the Florence range, doing work parties/watching the various disciplines and games.

 

[Astoria9mm]

My Grandfather was WWll Army Vet
My Real Father was a Recon Marine in Nam.
My Stepfather was Police Officer that worked his way from Patrolman to Captain as well as an avid hunter.

Yeah, I was around a gun or two when I was a kid.....

 

[turq]

Grew up fly fishing and 22shorts for 25cents at Walt's Sporting Goods.
Used my Grandfathers Rem 131

 

[turq]

Grew up recreating around Sisters.
Fly fishing M. River shooting my Grandfathers bought in the 1930s, 22lr Rem 341(?)S,L,LR tube fed.
22Shorts were .25$ bought them at Walt's Sporting Goods.
Walt was in a wheelchair and owned the store. He allowed us kids to look at used rifles in the rack IF, IF we asked him for permission. It only took once to get it....ask...
We always went to Walt's to buy fish hooks, Flys, and 22lr (or shorts) Before the family went camping.

 

[DeanMk]

turq, here's a list to jog your memory - Firearm History (scroll down to rimfire history...sorry, no pics)
Which one was it?

 

[turq]

It was the 341 Speedmaster
I'll look again I thought it said Sportsmaster on it.
One sturdy fine firearm.
I get caught calling these things a 'toy'
Adult learning, not what I was taught as a kid.

Edit now I must look into C.C. Loomis inventor.

 

[cookie]

On the ranch there was always firearms . We as kids would fish and hunt when the chores were done.

 

[Idaho44]

Collected pop bottles for the deposits to pay for .22 ammo, mostly shorts. Starlings feared us!

 

[DeanMk]

On the ranch there was always firearms . We as kids would fish and hunt when the chores were done.

Sounds like a nice life...or at least a place to grow up in.

 

[Rem725]

I was shooting 22 rifle prone about age 8. Had a 30-06 at 10, a 270 at 13. Was loading my own at 10. Dad taught me well.

 

[MarkoJ]

First memory was before I even started school. Dad took me to an old quarry we shot at. Had an old kitchen chair I would sit on backwards to rest the gun on. I enjoyed the .22 so much he let me try his .22 Jet S&W. Then another had a 1911. That started a life time love of the 1911. Can't keep track of how many toy guns I had that were modeled after the 1911. They were always the toy gun I would gravitate too. So sad so many kids are now made to totally fear anything to do with guns.

As a kid, i loved the 1911, and still do. Whenever we played , instead of using one finger to form my "gun", i would use two fingers because it looked like a 1911 to me. It confused all the other kids but i knew my "gun" was better.

 

[MarkoJ]

I grew up with guns. We always had guns in the house, guns in the truck, guns at our hip, guns in my mother's purse. My parents were from the country and my grandparents were from the Balkans, a place where there had been a lot of war. I had a little .410 i kept myself busy with and then when i was 10, a .357 was put in my hand. Having guns was how we fed ourselves and how we protected ourselves and our neighbors. For us, having guns around was like owning a car; it was just something normal for us.

 

[Ozarkmac]

I grew up in the city but spent some of the time out of the city in the woods and on my uncle's farm. My first experience with a gun was in 1968 when MLK JR was killed and the riots began. My dad and older brother ran down the alley shooting a shotgun and a 1911 at a group of rioters who caught our garage on fire and pelted our house with rocks. I actually didn't even know we had guns in the house. LOL. My first actual shooting of a gun was an original Thompson MG our neighbor owned. Talk about kewl for a little kid. A couple years later my uncle had me try and shoot a racoon in his corn crop with a DB 10 gauge. That was not kewl. Shot a few weapons after that but not enough to become proficient. Then I joined the Army and was exposed to a whole host of weapon systems and I was hooked.

 

[USAF Medic]

I grew up with firearms in SW New Mexico.

 

[Turbone]

Seeing how I was born in LA, I didnt start out handling guns (Ironic eh?) But that was 1954 and times were different
At a early age (5) my dad moved us north to the Trinity River area, in between Redding and Eureka. We lived next to the river in a primitive setting while he worked on the other side driving a Cat for a timber company. This is when I had my first experience with a gun, a 22 single shot. Never had a gun to call my own until my dad bought me a Winchester model 94 30-30, I think I was 13. Then at 16 he got me a Mauser 98 8mm, which I still have. I dont think theres ever been a time I havent owned a firearm

 

[DeanMk]

Turbone - you say you're from "LA". Just to clairfy, Los Angeles or Louisiana?
I was just looking at my Dad's 98 last night.
I think if I were to sell of all the rest of the guns, that might be the one I'd keep.
Beautiful arm. I'll have to post some pics of it some time.
Is yours all original or sporterized?

Dean

 

[dhklaus]

Got a Daisy BB gun at 11. A .22 at 13, and a Marlin 336 at 16. Grew up in Yoncalla, Oregon. Hunting and fishing were a part of life. Wouldn't trade it for all the money in China!

 

[skywag]

When my parents gave me my first BB gun.............. I wasn't strong enough to cock it. I had to shoot and run back in the house to have my mother cock it! I finally figured out how to lodge it against a tree and use two hands.

 

[EPS]

When my parents gave me my first BB gun.............. I wasn't strong enough to cock it. I had to shoot and run back in the house to have my mother cock it! I finally figured out how to lodge it against a tree and use two hands.

 

[EPS]

We have to cock it for her