When did you start shooting?

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PegTheLeg

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This is sort of just me being curious. I'm 26, and I really just got into shooting this year. I'd always been kind of intimidated by guns before. I didn't have a problem with them exactly, I was perfectly fine with people owning them as long as they were good with them. But it was when I started getting interested in hunting and the hunting culture here in Wyoming.
Now I'm going on my first hunt this year, but I know a lot of people start pretty dang young! Before they can even drive sometimes.

Anyone else start a little later in life?
 
So much of society has moved to urban/suburban life and lots fewer people hunt now (especially small game). We have also seen a big shift in how guns are perceived and the types people prefer. I would hazard a guess that most people these days get their first exposure as a young adult now in the service or out shooting with friends as late teens/early 20s rather than hunting as a tike with relatives.
 
I was very fortunate to have a father who like me loves guns. He would bring me and my siblings to the range as far back as I can remember. He would teach us gun safety and the proper way to handle guns. When we became of age to get a junior hunting license my father signed my brother and I to a hunter safety course. I still enjoy getting range time and think of my father when I am shooting. He doesn't shoot anymore due to multiple surgery's. I myself have brought friends into the fold of hunting. Any age is a good time to start.
 
Being in my 60's I'd say everyone I know started when we were kids usually in grammar school still. We lived in a large city too. Young teens back then could walk down the street with their rifle and nobody would bother calling swat on them or give it a second thought. There used to be competitions between high schools using .22 rifles. My step daughters high school had a range in the basement of one of the buildings which no longer is used. Imagine a school that allowed kids to bring their guns!
People were taught to be responsible and considerate and we knew if we ever did anything with a firearm we weren't supposed to meant losing all privileges with them until we were adults. Myself and my friends would regularly grab guns when we were in high school and go to the country where it was safe to shoot. There were people who kept their deer rifles in their vehicles in plain view so they could go hunt right after school. I'm sure glad I didn't have to wait until I was an adult because we had a lot of fun. What must be weird to younger people is that it never occurred to us to ever point a gun at someone much less shoot anyone. It is puzzling to me how sick our society has become.
 
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I just turned 59 really got into firearms 2012 when quit driving OTR and started driving local . First pistol was a S&W 469 and interest grew caused by enablers on gun forums. Early days was tagging along squirrel and rabbit hunting with dad , relatives and shooting BB Guns , .22 cal. and .410
 
Started with BB guns at about 8 years old and never slowed down. Been a gun nut my whole life.
Started both my son and daughter by age 5 and they both started their children earlier than that. I guess we have a very strong gun culture in our family.
My new daughter in law never shot before coming into our family and now is interested in shooting rifles competitively. She was a fast learner at age 30.
 
Grandma bought me a bb gun for Christmas when I was maybe 10.....not sure mom and dad knew, they seemed suprised.

Bought my 1st 22 at 16 ( dad filled out the 4473) with money I Earned mowing the local cemetary.

I am 50 This year.

I STILL have both the bb gun and the 22, and would not let go for ANY amount of money!!
 
Got a bolt action 410 handed down to me from my dad when I was 10. Took a lot of squirrel, dove and rabbits with that thing. Still have it and use it on our farm. Got a Marlin bolt action 22 for my 12th birthday. Still use it as well. I’ll be 50 in a few months.
 
Got a bb/pellet rifle at 10. Moved up to a 410 a few years later. Then a double 20. Then a pump. 12. When I turned 18 got my first SKS. Still wish I had that old single shot 410. Killed many squirrel with that thing. Thinking of buying my kids one for Christmas. Even tho we live in the suburbs. I'm sure I can find a place to take them squirrel hunting. And build some memories and skills.
 
Started pretty young, gun's were a part of the family culture from as young as I can remember. Started shooting 22's @ 6-7? Had a paper route and bought my first mossberg 500 at 13.

We used to ride the bus in Fresno out to Clovis to hunt Pheasant and Quail in middle school. We often paid our fair home in rabbit or fowl. (yes we transported our firearms on the public bus)
We also fished the rivers and cow ponds. I'm sad that this generation will never enjoy the freedoms and experiences we had.
We truly live in a diminished world...
Childhood was truly blessed in the 70's and 80's I can only guess the magnificence of earlier generations?
OK bout to get all political and radical, raise your young'uns free!
 
Started when I was pretty young with an interest in toy guns and guns in general. Had older brothers who shared that interest as well. Had a friend whose family owned property out in the country side and used to go hunting and shooting with them (they had quite a few rifles and shotguns for that which they let me borrow) Bought my first rifle when I was 21 (still have it too, a Ruger 10/22), and have been enjoying shooting and collecting them ever since.
 
My father was an ffl and I grew up with a gun shop in my house. Trap was his life. don't know exactly when i first started shooting but got a 22 rifle for my 5th birthday.

my first job was a trap boy setting birds on a launcher in the trap house. 50 cents a line.

Strange thing is after I got out of the Army, I lost interest in shooting for about 20 years. Fly fishing became my thing.

About 10 years ago my son wanted to shoot so I dove back in with both feet and started getting into military rifle collecting.
 
I have had a pellet rifle since I was about nine. Well loved.
I shot an uncle's rimfire pistol once when I was twelve.

I had not owned or shot a centerfire until I was thirty. My grandfather's 760 pump rifle.

I bought an inexpensive .22 pistol at thirty four years of age. Trading a less than stellar wife for my children and a hobby. Best trade ever, cost me one minivan, gained my and my children's entire future.

Five years later, I now have over thirty firearms and a hunger for the next one. I have a press and dies for ten different cartridges. I fear no man, nor shortage of ammunition.

I turn the big "four oh" next year. I think I'll celebrate with a .429DE barrel for my Desert Eagle, and a new die set.



It doesn't matter when you start, just that you did.:)
 
Back about the time Kennedy was assassinated. Spent a lot of time in very early age hunting with my Dad who was a avid hunter and career Marine. When I turned 12, he sent me to a NRA Hunter Safety course and to a NRA training Course. Then into NRA 22.cal competition shoots for my age category. Also got into the world of Air Rifles and pistols, a very underrated sport. I have been shooting every since. Started my Son off the same way. First gun a Bolt Action 22.cal rifle. On shot, One Kill. Take your time, get to know the wind, the sun, get into the zen with the gun, become one with the gun and don't waste ammo. Still what I believe to this day. Those are my roots. And Part of those roots are gun safety.
 
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I can't remember when I first shot a gun. I was shooting NRA indoor small bore at age 10. Been shooting every since.

I just turned 59.
 
Started shooting at age 5, Daisy bb gun and a .22 rifle. Strict supervision, Dad was very big on safety due to an incident that took place when he was younger.
 
I was about 7 or 8 when my mom let me and my older brother get a BB gun. I was hooked. A couple of years later I got a pellet rifle and started hunting squirrels with my friends.
My mom and dad got divorced before I was one. They didn’t get along so, it wasn’t till I was about 11 before I got to know my dad. Dad picked up my older brother and me one weekend and when he brought us home we bought had our first real guns. My brother had a Remington 552 Speedmaster and I had a Winchester 9422 XTR.
Boy was mom pissed, but my dad drove off with a smile that I remember to this day.:D:evil::D
 
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I started shooting a .22 when I was six. Since we lived in the city limits my parents gave me a Crossman BB gun to practice in the back yard. I grew up embarrassing young and old in informal shooting contests. I just turned 60 a few months ago.
 
It was a while ago, but I think I was about 7 yrs. old, with the first BB gun, but .22 was long after that. I remember the first Win model 12 shotgun, I shot, more than anything else, when 10 yrs. old. Boy did that thing kick, with the old slugs I was shooting. It was my dad's fox gun.
 
We learned on an old .22 Steven's Favorite when we were kids, probably 6, 7, 8 years old - not exactly sure. As an adult, maybe shot 3 times at ranges until a couple years ago at 45, now trying to go a little more.
 
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