Do you remember the very first time you went shooting?

[oldfool]

not truly the 1st, but first enough.. over a half century ago

my favorite uncle when I was a not yet teen, Iowa pheasant hunting, his to- die-for-beautiful Savage 410 SxS, like new, perfect for a short slender young lad like me, good fit, pointed just right

he never shot it that I know of, maybe bought it just to try it out, ex-WWII paratrooper, one arm, always shot a Stevens 20 gauge SxS, never saw him shoot anything else but, and a pretty fair wing shot with it, too
(one great thing about learning to shoot with those guys was not having to be told do it right twice, 'cause you knew you were only going to be told ONCE)

remember my 1st pheasant with it, too, nice crossing shot thru some sparse trees, real proud

never got over it, still have a special fondness for 410s, own four, even though rarely shoot 'em
never quite got over not asking him when I was 20-something if he still had that Savage, and if I could buy it from him, 'cause no doubt whatever he would have (probably just would have handed it to me and said "go hunt")
two of the four 410s I do own are proper made, not cut down, "kid size" and "petite lady size", and have done right by close family, for a lot of years now

same guy bought me my set of Mattel "Fanner 50's" a couple of years before that... and one of my 1st two firearms...
a 20 gauge bolt action shotgun and a 22 auto-loader, one from him, one from my folks, best ever Xmas of my young life

have a real nice Savage 410 pump, and a nice O/U 410, also
need to get 'em out of the safe this weekend and do something about all that
all them revolvers & carbines & pistols & rifles need a rest anyway

THANKS for the memories !

 

[dagger dog]

Was 1955, I was 9 at the time, pap drove us out to a make shift range on Black Canyon highway on a Saturday afternoon.

He had fixed up "my" Remington 511 Target Master, it was a pawn shop buy. He had modified it so I could shoot it, by drilling a small hole in the fore end tip and adding a screw eye and tying a long leather shoelace to it , the other end was tied in a large knot.

I was too small to hold the rifle up, and the knot in the shoelace was so I could clamp that in my teeth and that helped hold the rifle so I could line up the sights when shooting off hand.

The old man had qualified expert during his stint in the feild artillery in WWII, so he could shoot! He coached me on breathing, sight alignment, trigger control, in all three positions,standing, sitting and prone .

I can remember him standing on my left and to the rear,coaching me in his soft monotone voice ,take a deep breath, let out half ,keep your front sight at six o'clock, if your sight picture moves, , don't try to stop the movement, take up the slack and time your trigger squeeze to let off at the six o'clock as your sights swing through.

I did my best and was rewarded with another round to slip into the breech of "my" rifle.
It seemed like time stood still that afternoon, 50 rounds of .22 longrifle went a long way that day.

That first smell of Hoppes #9 solvent was pure ambrosia! He showed me how to remove the bolt, and helped me clean "my" rifle,a straightened coat hanger for a cleaning rod, with some old torn up white tee shirt for patching material, then a wipe down with 3 in 1 oil, an old blanket served as a case.

Once home "my" rifle was returned to the closet, with the standing rule that it was not to be taken out of the closet with out permission. There was many a night after supper, that "my" rifle received an extra buffing just to make sure it was ready for its next outing.

I gave "my" rifle away, to a friends son in 1987, it was "his" rifle then, you should have seen the smile on that boys face!

Yes I can remember shooting for the first time!

 

[deadhawg]

I remember it very well, although it was over 50 years ago. The family went to visit my grandparent's farm in North Carolina. My grandpa and my dad took me and my sister out to the field behind the house and we all took turns with a .22 shooting at cans set up on a fence rail . I was about 11, sis was about 7. I remember how excited I was when I hit a can, and how disapointed I was when grandpa said not to shoot up all his ammo, save him some in case a bad dog or something came around. I was hooked, wanted to keep on shooting all day.

 

[Radium]

i was about 8-10ish and we where visiting my half uncle? my mothers halfbrother.
well he is a hunter and in my smallish eyes he was supercool. and he knew i like guns and mopeds so when we arrived after a 8-9 hours drive to his cottage he had 2 suprises for me. his fatherinlaws Honda Monkey Z50j to drive and a visit to the local skeet range. i got handed a U/O 12 gauge and first i got to shoot 2 clays that where sitting in a sandbunker just to get a feel for it. and i nailed them 2 with 2 shots i got to shoot the flying clays and nailed 2/3 birds (missed the first one) then my shoulder was blue and sore so i had enough

i got a lot of praise for hitting 2/3 clays for my first time shooting a shotgun. that sparked my sparkle and now im a hunter and a sportshooter and i think i owe it to my uncle that i started to get into guns.i still havent gone hunting with him though and not sure if he hunts anymore.

 

[RDCL]

I do indeed. I was 10. Dad bought me a single shot Ithaca .22 and took me out into the country and taught me how to shoot. About how to line up a sight picture.....safe gun handling....much more. I'm 51 and I do remember that day.

I still have that old rifle.


Russ

 

[bwsmith2850]

My first time shooting was 'Concordia Day' in 8th grade in 1983. We visited Concordia High school in Ft Wayne IN. One of the activities was shooting .22 rifles (with close supervision) on their indoor range. I would later qualify marksman with what they said was a .22 converted M16 (but I suspect AR-15) at that same range.

I don't know if it was due to Columbine or high lead levels but they now shoot air rifles.