How I Became Interested in Firearms

[Shimitup]

I just loved tearing things apart as a kid to see how they worked. Later in my teen years I was studying physics to see why they worked. When I was about 16 I got my first rifle, a Remington 552. In my late teens I started flying and got my private license, more guns followed shortly thereafter, it seems to me that airplanes and guns as examples of physics in action is hard to beat. Airplanes and guns seemed to kind of run in the family too, My dad was a pilot and aircraft owner as well as my uncle, both of them avid shooters, especially my uncle who later mentored me on refining my skills. My uncle btw at one time won the Louisiana State jr. title at some discipline of shotgun in his youth.

I fondly remember our families piling into my dad's Aeronca Chief and my uncles Ercoupe to go eat breakfast at the Fly-n-Fish on Caddo Lake. We flew out of a little country airport named Lucien Field in south Shreveport which was owned by my uncle's long time friend Jim Clark (yep, the bullseye, gunsmith guy) he also was a pilot and aircraft owner. Jim Clark Jr. later was also to become a pilot, as I recall during a chat at the NRA convention in Houston he mentioned having a Beech Bonanza. I'm really saddened that he's no longer with us, I had hoped one day to go by his shop and chew the fat on flying more so than guns. All that said, from my perspective airplanes and guns are indelibly tied to one another. For the guns I'm still at it, as for the airplanes I just don't spend enough time at it to stay safely current. You can buy a lot of bullets in place of a few hours of 172 rental.

BTW Lucien Field is no longer, as are many country airports. If I get the story straight Jim Clark eventually sold out to a gentleman named Ray Harvey whom I remember from my childhood and was delighted to get re aquainted again many years later while renting his gorgeous C172 for local flights, Wow, walking through that same old hanger and taxiing out to the runway brought back a flood of wonderful memories from my childhood decades prior.

 

[AZ-Dave]

Democrats

Until a friend let me shoot his pistol, I believed all the anti-gun nonsense the Democrats were selling. I was young and dumb.

Raised in an anti-gun household.

Second gun I bought was an assault pistol (92fs with 2 15 round magazines) just prior to slick willie going into office.

I have north of 20 firearms now. I figure that the Democrats hate guns so much I'd surround myself with guns. It is lack of money keeping me from buying more. Allways on the lookout to buy, trade for more.

I have always been a tinker. The first gun I completely disassembled (1911) had me hooked on these 3D puzzles. Browning was a genius.

So far no gun has shot me. Guess I'm just lucky. Although there is a carbine that took a bite of my arm when the bolt closed unexpectedly. But I guess guns are like puppies, you have to train them up right.

 

[Armored farmer]

I just loved tearing things apart as a kid to see how they worked. Later in my teen years I was studying physics to see why they worked. When I was about 16 I got my first rifle, a Remington 552. In my late teens I started flying and got my private license, more guns followed shortly thereafter, it seems to me that airplanes and guns as examples of physics in action is hard to beat. Airplanes and guns seemed to kind of run in the family too, My dad was a pilot and aircraft owner as well as my uncle, both of them avid shooters, especially my uncle who later mentored me on refining my skills. My uncle btw at one time won the Louisiana State jr. title at some discipline of shotgun in his youth.

I fondly remember our families piling into my dad's Aeronca Chief and my uncles Ercoupe to go eat breakfast at the Fly-n-Fish on Caddo Lake. We flew out of a little country airport named Lucien Field in south Shreveport which was owned by my uncle's long time friend Jim Clark (yep, the bullseye, gunsmith guy) he also was a pilot and aircraft owner. Jim Clark Jr. later was also to become a pilot, as I recall during a chat at the NRA convention in Houston he mentioned having a Beech Bonanza. I'm really saddened that he's no longer with us, I had hoped one day to go by his shop and chew the fat on flying more so than guns. All that said, from my perspective airplanes and guns are indelibly tied to one another. For the guns I'm still at it, as for the airplanes I just don't spend enough time at it to stay safely current. You can buy a lot of bullets in place of a few hours of 172 rental.

BTW Lucien Field is no longer, as are many country airports. If I get the story straight Jim Clark eventually sold out to a gentleman named Ray Harvey whom I remember from my childhood and was delighted to get re aquainted again many years later while renting his gorgeous C172 for local flights, Wow, walking through that same old hanger and taxiing out to the runway brought back a flood of wonderful memories from my childhood decades prior.

Shimitup.
How interesting is your history with planes and guns. I had the benefit of growing up between two neighbors that flew. They each had their own runways.
In the summertime, on Sundays they would take people on rides for $20. One even bought a pop cooler for his hangar.
This went on for years until one retired to Texas.
The other flew until he was well into his eighties. On one occasion he was taxiing on his grass runway when the neighbors dog decided to give chase and cut in front of the plane. When it was all over, the faa was involved, he had to get a new prop, crank, and a complete overhaul.

 

[Shimitup]

On one occasion he was taxiing on his grass runway when the neighbors dog decided to give chase and cut in front of the plane. When it was all over, the faa was involved, he had to get a new prop, crank, and a complete overhaul.

And the neighbor a new dog, likely the poor fella went very quickly. I think about such accidents when I see an old aircraft being hand propped, scares me to death. I'm thankful that everything I flew required no more than turning a key. BTW, I hope you got a ride, that feeling of seeing the earth drop away is hard to beat, never got old for me.

 

[Deanimator]

As a kid, I'd never had any particular interest in firearms until one night while watching "The Man From U.N.C.L.E." on TV, my mother (then a RABID anti-gunner) said, "Look at that funny looking gun." I did... and never looked back.

I immediately started asking my grandmother to buy me gun magazines and books. I got my first "Smallarms of the World" between 7th and 8th grades.

I bought my first rifle, a cut down Commission '88 while a sophomore in college. I've currently got 24 handguns, two 1,000 yard target/sniper rifles, an AR with two uppers, and assorted other firearms.

I imagine for a while my mother REALLY hated Robert Vaughan and David McCallum...

 

[TarDevil]

And the neighbor a new dog, likely the poor fella went very quickly. I think about such accidents when I see an old aircraft being hand propped, scares me to death. I'm thankful that everything I flew required no more than turning a key. BTW, I hope you got a ride, that feeling of seeing the earth drop away is hard to beat, never got old for me.

Shows how much older I am than you!!

I've hand propped everything from converted VW's to a P&W R985.
Hardest was Lyc O-540 with a three bladed prop.
Anyway, back to regular scheduled programs...

 

[Shimitup]

Shows how much older I am than you!!

I've hand propped everything from converted VW's to a P&W R985.
Hardest was Lyc O-540 with a three bladed prop.
Anyway, back to regular scheduled programs...

You're a brave man, actually a guess you just know what you're doing.... probably both. I don't think there's anything I love hearing more than a radial starting on a cold morning.

 

[EIB0879]

My dad was a State Police SGT in my home state. I was around and comfortable with firearms at a young age. My stepfather was also a hunter, like my dad, and I started hunting with them before I started school.

Growing up in a small town there weren't a lot of things that you could do other than hunt or fish. My oldest sister married a guy that was a certified gun nut (and still is) so he also helped me develop my knowledge. And he is still my best friend and hunting buddy.

 

[TarDevil]

You're a brave man, actually a guess you just know what you're doing.... probably both. I don't think there's anything I love hearing more than a radial starting on a cold morning.

I agree, nothing like the sound of a round engine!
Honestly, the 985 is a piece of cake. Just pull it slow and those big blades come out of your hands.
I cut my flying teeth on old dirt strips.

 

[quest4perfection]

A charismatic, middle-aged friend of the family asked if I wanted to go out and shoot a rifle for my first time. I did indeed beat him to the car. A half hour later I was standing out on the prairie with a 30-40 Krag surplus rifle to my shoulder. It was a memorable experience. In fact, so much so that I had to sit down for a minute to ponder just how profound an experience it truly was. Although the next day I got curious as to how shooting from the shoulder causes bruises on a ten year old's rear end. Just one of life's mysteries, I suppose.

Now that I think about it more, I recall him saying something about foot placement. But then he was speaking while I was in deep meditation over the experience... and he did tend to carry on occasionally.

Although I have since learned that shooting a 7mm mag with a really short eye relief can leave marks elsewhere. I'd be willing to guess there are some underlying common physics at play here.

 

[Shootr56]

I looked out my back door when I was about 3 or 4 and noticed we had about 50 people in our backyard. The reason they came was we had the only trap machine in 3 states or so it seemed. There were guys with shotguns at my house for years and some of them brought their really expensive Italian and Spanish shotguns. They didn't shoot them. They left them on our kitchen table while they shot cheaper guns. Well guess who got to oogle them and drool. Best of all my dad said I could handle any of them as long as I never touched the metal. Simple enough. I got to play with multi thousand dollar shotgun (that's 1960 prices too) as a small kid. I was amazed.

As you might guess shooting was big in my family. Dad eventually sold the trap machine for what he had in it. He never spent a dime really having that at the house but wow the memories. I saw some amazing shooters too.

I got a BB gun when I was 4 and from that point on I loved to do the shooting myself. I shot my first real gun when I was 7. I shot at a clay and I nailed it. My uncle about had a heart attack. I thought I had shot him. He was rolling around on the ground screaming and laughing. I thought he was crying but he was behind me when I shot. I couldn't figure out how I had shot him and hit the clay too. I was 7. Dad was screaming too because I shot the clay about 35 feet from where it was thrown. I saw I had it lined up so I pulled the trigger.

I've been hooked ever since. That's been about 55 years ago I guess.

 

[Hokkmike]

I had the first gun in my family, a Winchester Model 94 in .32 Special. Bought it for deer hunting.

 

[jradisch]

We never had guns in the house growing up. My father never was an outdoorsman. He was shot on Iwo Jima during WW II, maybe that had something to do with him not wanting anything more to do with guns. He eventually bought me a shotgun (Mossberg 500) when I was about 16 after my badgering him for one. Would hunt rabbits and deer with friends. Bought a S&W model 66 in '89 on a whim. Then for some reason, started buying more handguns about 4 years ago, found this site and started reloading soon afterward. Bought my first rifle about 7 months ago- a Ruger American in 7mm-08 for deer hunting. I think I have enough guns for now. I seem to enjoy reloading as much as I do shooting. My oldest son recently picked up a nice Remington 1100, S&W M&P 9mm and an old S&W model 65, so hopefully he is hooked too.

 

[BrocLuno]

Art and ergonomics. Even as a young person, I could not afford "beautiful" guns, but I liked the way they looks and fitted in my hands, came to shoulder, etc. Was never overly concerned about projectile performance ... By 7 or 8, I knew enough that a 30-30 would kill most anything but a bear. A 30-06 would do a bear. Beyond that, I was not and still not overly concerned.

Then got into reading Field & Stream and other outdoor hand-me-downs. Never paid much attention to fishing stuff, but always read gun tests cover to cover. Even read reloading articles, even tough they were greek to me. Started buying the odd rifle when I was 16 and stopped maybe 8 years ago. Slowly selling down the pile to what I want to keep for various reasons, mostly preference in fit and finish. None do not shoot well enough

 

[lpsharp88]

Always thought guns were cool, and shot BB guns as a kid. Never actually fired a "real" gun until basic training. It's all been downhill since then haha.