My grandfather sold elephant rifles. When he died my father kept the ammo.Thanks for the trip down memory lane. Once upon a time I was that kid picking up a big, to me, piece of brass. I can recall being young enough to think a .30-06 case was the biggest, baddest, dangerous game round there was. Back when I thought all rifle rounds were more along the lines of 22 Long Rifle ammo.
Rat shooting is a great pastime. We did it with a pellet rifle and daisy red ryder.There's just something so damn American about kids and guns. Maybe it's the way the nation was born. Maybe it's the nation's Wild West history. But we grow up with guns as part of our society and culture. Taking them away also takes away what makes us American. So I have to share my "kid-influenced-by-guns" story: when I was a sub-teen I spent a week or two for a few summers farmed out to one set of grandparents or the other. On one side there was a bachelor uncle who had served in the Army in WW II and had some rifles. He was also at that time a "junk dealer" (1950's - 60's definition of "junk", not today's) in their small town. The best part of my week at that set of grandparents was when Uncle John took me along to hunt for junk at the local town dump because he also took along his .22 rifle and he taught me how to shoot rats with it. But would my parents let me have a rifle? Noooooo. Since becoming a "grown-up" I've more than made up for that!! Yes, I definitely think introducing a kid to guns in the proper setting is a very good thing to do for the kid.