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Did you grow up with firearms or get interested later in life?

  • Since I was a kid.

    Votes: 391 86.7%
  • Later in adulthood.

    Votes: 60 13.3%

  • Total voters
    451
We had rifles in an open gun case in my house, along with ammunition stored in a drawer, in the bottom of the case since as early in my life as I can remember! I was taught never to touch one and I never did. Both my father and older brother took me shooting as early as 6 and 7 years old and taught me respect firearms! While in high school, some of the boys carried their rifles in the back window of their pick-up or in the trunk of their car and hunted groundhogs and crows on the way home from school. There were no school shootings and nobody had a fit about seeing a rifle in the back window of a truck!
I WELL remember people who had use of a car coming to school with a gun to shoot/ hunt after or show off the latest thing they got to others. Amazing how we had never even heard of such a thing as a school shooting with those evil guns all over. :confused:
 
Yeah, growing up mostly in Coeur d'Alene, I'm well acquainted with the back window gun rack, but I didn't keep my rifles there when I was not around since I wasn't rich enough to buy new ones in the event that some wonderful thief grabbed them. I learned to shoot very well at a young age & only improved in USMC.
 
I had little to no interest in firearms growing up. Once I started going to target practice with friends and co-workers in my mid-twenties, I developed a great interest, and I'm continuing to develop skills/knowledge to be a responsible enthusiast. Glad I got into it!
 
Now this is another "Growing Up In Montana". The fellow on the right is my best friends oldest son, the youngster with the nice first Muley is his oldest Grandson. Grandson took his first Muley with Great Grandpas 257 Roberts this year. A good ranch family.

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Guns is my middle name I grew up around guns. I get a lot of enjoyment out of my guns now there's a new gun law how would I do for fun I don't know i'm sad depressing they are aching all of my life of fun away from me this is no fair but life is no not fair I do not know what else to say I am a member life member NRA!!! And I am sad😩☹️😭😳😔🥹🧐😕😟🙁😟😤😤😤
 
Now this is another "Growing Up In Montana". The fellow on the right is my best friends oldest son, the youngster with the nice first Muley is his oldest Grandson. Grandson took his first Muley with Great Grandpas 257 Roberts this year. A good ranch family.

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There's a round you don't hear much about anymore.
Congrats to your friend's grandson. Looks like he got a fine trophy.
 
Been jerking the trigger since I was too small to hold the rifle up. We used to go to a small quarry out in the sticks and shoot tin cans . . . back when cans were still tinned, using a single shot .22. Later I learned how not to jerk that trigger and became fairly competent; but I still stuck with the single shot rifle. In high school, when all my buddies had repeaters / semi auto .22's, I was always the one who brought home more game.
 
how did we ever survive ?. There was 500 folks in Butte Falls . We would walk to town and collect enough beer cans in the ditch to trade in for a box of 22 at the gas station and go shoot them all on the way back home....the entire time Remington Speedmaster 22 in hand , even in the gas station while collecting ammo. Set me up real good for scrounging ammo for a shtf situation lol
Butte Falls, I was guessing Prospect where I spent a lot of summers and shooting .22's
 
Prolly posted this already, but that was a while back.

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This rifle, a Walther Model 2 Sport, was bought by my dad in 1930, and I learnt to shoot with it some time later. At 6 I used it as a single-shot bolt action. At 7 I was let use the five-shot magazine, and at 10 I got to shoot it as a semi-auto.

I was shooting it last Sunday at 50m and even tho' the scope is but x2, I was getting ten-shot groups under an inch. Mind you, I recall that's all it ever did. :)
 
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Apropos my post above, about fifteen years syne I started getting failure to reload in semi-mode. I figured that after 60 years of whanging back and forth it might just be that poor old recoil spring, so I cast about me to find a replacement.

I was betabed to find one in Numrich's spares and had it sent over a great expense - $15 for the spring and the same for shipping. I installed it, and got the same results. :(

I set it to one side - after all, I have six other .22 rifles to use as the urge takes me. Then our LGS posted a notice up about a certain lot of ammunition having a lot of failures in semis due to lack of propellant. I'd been shooting it in my other .22s, which were all manual and not noticed.

I went back to using my favourite - GECO Standard - and behold, all was well!! So I put the old spring back in, and the new one in the spares box - just in case. ;)
 
Apropos my post above, about fifteen years syne I started getting failure to reload in semi-mode. I figured that after 60 years of whanging back and forth it might just be that poor old recoil spring, so I cast about me to find a replacement.

I was betabed to find one in Numrich's spares and had it sent over a great expense - $15 for the spring and the same for shipping. I installed it, and got the same results. :(

I set it to one side - after all, I have six other .22 rifles to use as the urge takes me. Then our LGS posted a notice up about a certain lot of ammunition having a lot of failures in semis due to lack of propellant. I'd been shooting it in my other .22s, which were all manual and not noticed.

I went back to using my favourite - GECO Standard - and behold, all was well!! So I put the old spring back in, and the new one in the spares box - just in case. ;)
Geco standard truly is great stuff. Someone may have bought 2-3 lifetimes worth during the shortage of .22lr. You couldn't buy reasonable amounts, but I found a place with it in stock if I ordered a truly unreasonable amount. Which I then proceeded to do. I bought it because it was available, but it quickly became my go to.
 
I remember when .22 ammo was as easy to purchase as a bottle of Coke, and very commonly at the same store. I remember buying .22 ammo while I was still in 7th or 8th grade. Of course I also remember when gasoline was about 57 cents per gallon; those Cokes were a dime, and the cartridges were between 50 and 75 cents a box.
 
I remember when .22 ammo was as easy to purchase as a bottle of Coke, and very commonly at the same store. I remember buying .22 ammo while I was still in 7th or 8th grade. Of course I also remember when gasoline was about 57 cents per gallon; those Cokes were a dime, and the cartridges were between 50 and 75 cents a box.
1974, I needed gas for the church lawn mower and got a quarter from Dad. Regular had taken a HUGE hike and was 44 cents a gallon! That quarter's worth of gas was enough to mow the church lawn, front and back, four more times!
I think a 50 round box of 22LR at the local hardware store was 49 cents.
I still shoot the 22 rifle I was shooting then. Well, I have. Guess it's time to take that ol Marlin out and bust some cans. :D

@tac , being in possession of and shooting the guns that were Grandpa's and Dad's is one of the best ways to honor them. Being a good person is the other. 👍 That's a nice 22 you have.
I was born to a forester and his wife. By the time I was a toddler and before we moved to the Portland area in '74 (when I entered 7th grade) we lived in a
couple of small Central/Eastern Oregon towns. Dad started me shooting Grandpa's .22 rifle by the time I was about 5, the Ruger pistol a year later. Before those two .22s I remember having cap pistols that looked like nickle plated, engraved Colts.
Before I entered high school Dad started giving me a brick of 22s for Christmas. They were always wrapped in underwear. He loved the idea of Long Rifles wrapped in Shorts. :D
I still have the rifle and pistol. The ammo and underwear are long gone!:s0073:
I went back thru this thread to make sure I hadn't posted this pic before. Along the way I checked on members names from ages ago. It was nice to see most are still poking around here. :)
@tac , and everybody else, this is the first firearm I shot. It had a different scope on it then, the old 3/4" 6x Weaver. I have that scope tucked away. This is one of the most important guns in my life. Grandpa bought it new. Dad carried it as a teenager. I shot it at age 5, or maybe 6. I was able to carry it on my solo walks through the woods as a pre teen. This WILL be the last gun to leave my possession. Marlin 81DL.

81DL d.JPG
 
1974, I needed gas for the church lawn mower and got a quarter from Dad. Regular had taken a HUGE hike and was 44 cents a gallon! That quarter's worth of gas was enough to mow the church lawn, front and back, four more times!
I think a 50 round box of 22LR at the local hardware store was 49 cents.
I still shoot the 22 rifle I was shooting then. Well, I have. Guess it's time to take that ol Marlin out and bust some cans. :D

@tac , being in possession of and shooting the guns that were Grandpa's and Dad's is one of the best ways to honor them. Being a good person is the other. 👍 That's a nice 22 you have.

I went back thru this thread to make sure I hadn't posted this pic before. Along the way I checked on members names from ages ago. It was nice to see most are still poking around here. :)
@tac , and everybody else, this is the first firearm I shot. It had a different scope on it then, the old 3/4" 6x Weaver. I have that scope tucked away. This is one of the most important guns in my life. Grandpa bought it new. Dad carried it as a teenager. I shot it at age 5, or maybe 6. I was able to carry it on my solo walks through the woods as a pre teen. This WILL be the last gun to leave my possession. Marlin 81DL.

View attachment 1318809
I worked at a gas station for my first job '72-'75ish. I'll confirm that gas price! But that included all the checks..oil, tires, windshield wash, etc. At the four full service pumps that is.

I've got someone's Dad's/Grandpa's .22 rifles. An old Mossberg and Savage, including a labeled "Mauser" single shot trainer that someone was shooting in 1929/1930. I do have Dad's 2nd Model Ruger Match Target .22 though.
 
I worked at a gas station for my first job '72-'75ish. I'll confirm that gas price! But that included all the checks..oil, tires, windshield wash, etc. At the four full service pumps that is.

I've got someone's Dad's/Grandpa's .22 rifles. An old Mossberg and Savage, including a labeled "Mauser" single shot trainer that someone was shooting in 1929/1930. I do have Dad's 2nd Model Ruger Match Target .22 though.
Dang, you guys got lucky when the gas prices went up.
We went straight from 35.9 to 50.9!
That was August of '73. Picture of the Jackpot Gas sign on the front page of The Bremerton Sun.
...my dad had to ask my mom for more money because he didn't have enough to fill up the car every week.
She was pretty mad. :s0108:
 
Dang, you guys got lucky when the gas prices went up.
We went straight from 35.9 to 50.9!
That was August of '73. Picture of the Jackpot Gas sign on the front page of The Bremerton Sun.
...my dad had to ask my mom for more money because he didn't have enough to fill up the car every week.
She was pretty mad. :s0108:
And they had that refinery up that way didn't they. Back then? Anacortes wasn't it? Where I grew up, just South 12 miles of Salt Lake City, there was a small refinery in North Salt Lake. That may have kept our prices down a bit. I never gave gas price much thought at that age. I worked and we chipped in for gas for the cars when us kids were out and about. I didn't have my own car 'til I got out of high school in.
 

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