How many here didn't start shooting until they were an adult?

[BLACKHAWKNJ]

My parents divorced when I was 6 so I never did any of those "dad" things. No shooters or hunters in my mother's family. First time I shot a firearm was at Boy Sciut Camp, Summer of 1963, Scout camp was the only time I did any shooting. Used to pore over the gun magazines and the Sears catalog, Qualified on the M-14 at Fort Dix, Summer of 1967. Bought a copy of W.H.B. Smith's Small Arms of the World, practically memorized parts of it, that was what inspired me to buy my first handgun, a Browning HP, followed by a Winchester M1917. Didn't start to shoot regularly until I was released from active duty in June, 1971, didn't learn to shoot a handgun until I practiced Bullseye in college.

 

[somethingbenign]

Similar story here minus the military stint. Got the impression growing up that guns were bad from my mother but talking to her now she denies any such thing. When she remarried a hunter and retired elk guide you'd think he would have gotten me into shooting, but no. Between the two of us we never did quite figure out where his role as a father figure and my father's role met until I was well into adulthood. Got my first 22lr rifle, henry H001, on a whim and never saw my parents more shocked when I showed it to them. Being that I bought it during the ammo panic post Sandy Hook I didn't shoot much more than a box through it for couple years. Didn't really start shooting on the regular until I discovered clays with a shotgun and doubled my shooting again when I started hunting. Now I'm the gun nerd, hell I spent 15 minutes at the local sporting goods store helping strangers get the right ammo for pheasant hunting and explaining how to read the side of a box of shotshells today.

 

[Babarsac]

Got into shooting on my own in my 20s due to my love of military history. First gun was a Mosin but it was still fun.

Now I'm almost 40 and shooting is still mostly "my thing". My wife will come to the range when I bring the 22s and lever actions. I also have a few friends that will come pop some clays with me.

Our daughter is only one so who knows if there will be any ammo left for sale by the time I can take her to the range.

 

[KevininPa]

Shot a few times as a kid with my ex brother in law. Didn't really start getting into it until I moved into a rural area. First a .22, then it was a .410. Just sort of snowballed from there on.

 

[Tony50ae]

Growing up in Chicago never was around guns. My Dad had one when I was little and before my sisters were born, but my Mom was uncomfortable with the fact if a gun in the house so my Dad got rid of it.
When I was a teenager, I remember my Dad sometimes would get a gun magazine, usually with the ones that showed a gun catalog in the back pages. But my Mom was just never comfortable with the thought of a gun in the house. I would look through those gun magazines and thought to myself one day I would like to own some of those guns.

My Uncle(Mom's brother) did have a gun collection though. And one night he came over and talked to my parents about me meeting a friend of his who was a collector of guns also. So I went with him to meet my Uncle's friend and he showed me gun safety and a whole lot of guns!! That cemented the idea of one day getting my own collection.

But I didn't actually shoot a gun till I joined the Army. Then while still in the Army eventually started buying guns slowly but surely! Been at it since!

 

[TrickyDick]

Shot my first gun when i was 14 when my stepdad's Dad asked if I wanted to shoot a gun, until that point, I've never touched a gun. Never had them growing up, so after shooting a .44mag as my first time, I shot his .22 and shotguns after that. It wasn't until I joined the military did my love really grow where I bought my own guns and studied them. My dad wasn't really into guns,and my mom used to be on rifle team at her summer camps, with her family big into hunting, so I was never taught they were bad, they just weren't around. But thee house I grew up in was my mother's childhood home and still had my grandfather's reloading bench in the basement with gun racks, just no guns.

 

[CDW4ME]

Me. I've been into handguns since I was 21, but it was not a part of growing up.

 

[thehandofgod]

First shot a gun when I was 42. Now I'm 43 and own four, so far. I confess I've been anti-gun my entire life until recently, when I discovered it is possible to be responsible and recreational, and that the machines themselves are as fascinating as the hobby or sport. I have no real intention of being in a self defense situation that requires a gun, and I don't hunt. I do like things that turn and click, and photograph well, and I have a collector's impulse with other things that also make me feel more connected to the past. My biggest fascination is with Americana folk stories, particularly the Old West, and I expect my guns will be shot exclusively at the range.

 

[FFGColorado]

My brother and I had Daisy BB guns when were 10-14 or so. Nothing actually shot until in NROTC 68-72..a little in the USN, squadron level 'lets go to range' stuff set up by Gunnery Officer..Didn't own anything.
S&W Model 39 I was 'gifted', in my first squadron(1978). CO open purchased them for a VietNam cruise way before I got there, handed them out(32 of them, I was number 32 in seniority), had to give it back when the then BuWeps found out the squadron had them.
Bought a Charter Arms 38 to carry when on cruise north of Libya after the second Libya aircraft shoot down..not 'combat' so no handgun issue(1991).
THEN, oldest son started to carry in about 2013-14..took me shooting(already sold the CharterArms)..and that was it. Gun Fever..I was 63..

Now I own 8 rifles, HGs and a shotgun. Have a CCWP, and go shooting with both sons 2-3 times per month..together we have 21 guns.

GUN FEVER!!

 

[Bartojc]

I grew up on a farm so of course firearms were around for various reasons. I can remember shooting my dads pump .22 rifle when I was so young I could barely hold it up. Firearms were used for hunting though, and I was never a shooter. Had never been to a range, and never used ammo to just plink, except for .22. Actually I was not much of a hunter beyond varmint control until I was in my 20's and started hunting with my fathers friends. My dad did not hunt much. All though my 20's and 30's I owned a deer rifle, a .22, and one shotgun, and was pretty sure that is all I would ever need/want.

Fast forward to my 40's when the kids were in high school and I bought my first handgun and decided to reload to keep it fed. The damn at that point was broken. In the past 10 years I've bought more firearms and reloading equipment then I would have ever thought I would have. I shoot as often as I can. I am a regular at a couple ranges close to home. I reload for every caliber I own. It's a great hobby that I enjoy a lot.

-Jeff

 

[Bennj]

I didn't start until 2013, was in my 50's. During that time, I came to realize I might possibly need another layer of home security. My dad always kept a small semi pistol in his nightstand, and had a sxs and a bolt action of some sort that he kept up in the cellar joists. I remember pulling them down and checking them out, don't remember any ammo around. He went hunting a few times, but we were your basic city folk. I also remember the shotgun propped up at the front door for a few weeks when our city was caught up in the riots of the late 60's, started to keep the doors locked at night shortly after that.

 

[Zaydok Allen]

Think I was 25 if I remember correctly.

 

[4v50 Gary]

High school age. Very first was courtesy of the US Army. Got to shoot a M-16. Thank you Army. Then mostly hand gonnes.

 

[bassjam]

Dad had a few guns hidden in his closet but I don't think any of them had been shot since at least I was born. And while he grew up hunting he didn't care for it so never took me, and grandpa's health deteriorated before I was old enough. That's one of the things I'll always be jealous of my cousins since he regularly took them squirrel hunting as they were 6 and 8 years older than me. I did get a Daisy BB gun when I was 10ish, and a Crossman air rifle at 15 and I shot both of them every day, by myself. Maybe around 16 Dad got one of his .22's out to show me how to use it because we had a pigeon infestation problem on the farm we'd moved to a few years prior and the air rifle couldn't reach them on top of the silo, but that short instruction was the only time we shot together. I also joined Boy Scouts around that time and took the .22 and shotgun merit badges at summer camp. Also around then a new neighbor moved into the farm next door, a regular "good ol' boy" who paid me to help bale his hay and used the time to convince me to start hunting. At 17 when it was time to get a class ring I asked my parents if I could use the money for a shotgun instead. Mom thought I'd regret it (for some reason she's REALLY proud of her high school ring) but Dad thought class rings were a waste and got me an 870 Express combo pack.

That 870 still didn't get used a whole lot until after I graduated high school when a couple buddies and myself started shooting clays every weekend and in the evenings after college classes or work we'd meet up at different farms and shoot cowbirds and starlings, so I really didn't regularly shoot until I was 18 and an adult. That's also when I bought my first centerfire rifle, and subsequently shot a centerfire rifle for the first time. And I shot a handgun for the first time at 20, when a buddy who had just turned 21 bought himself a Glock 23.

 

[lilguy]

I could buy a handgun at 21 in my state, thats when I got into the shooting sports, 49 years ago. Its been a great ride so far.

 

[yzguy87]

I really got in to shooting as a young adult.
When I was a kid dad didn't shoot a lot. I have a photo of me and vaguely remember holding a old double barrel shotgun that was my great grandfather's when I was about 3 years old. It was so big and heavy for me!
When I was about 6 my dad went to my grandparent's house and shot about 20 or 30 rabbits on their farm because they were killing the garden. Pretty sure it wasn't hunting season though! I got to kill the last rabbit of the day! My dad's gun was an old Ithica Model 49.
Other than that dad didn't really hunt or shoot much.
When i was around 15 my parents got my brother and I muzzleloaders but we didn't hunt very much.
Then, when I was 18, a buddy asked my brother and I to go shooting with him at a public range in West Virginia. I took my dad's old Ithica Model 49, single shot H&R 20 ga., and a Winchester 1400 20 ga.
We bought about 200 rounds of 20 ga. bird shot and a brick of 22.
Driving down, I felt like the most armed man in America! We had a blast and this is the day that got me hooked on shooting.
We shot through all of our ammo that day and ended up going to the local Walmart for more and then shot most of that.

To this day, two of my favorite guns to shoot are dad's old Ithica Model 49 and H&R single shot 20 ga.

Later on that year I shot my first squirrel with that 22. My grandmother helped my skin and gut it because I had never done anything like that before.
These were good times for me.
Over the next few years I shot more and started buying my own guns and my interest in this hobby AND right continued to grow.

 

[NuShootr]

I shot a BB rifle as a kid, but only really got into actual firearms about 8 years ago. Growing up in an Eastern European household, living in Canada meant firearms were not really even talked about. They still aren't. I'm the black sheep, giving up my Canadian citizenship for one in the USA, and learning to shoot. Shot a 10/22 a few times and a 9mm pistol a few times, and then put it all away while raising young kids, all born in the USA.
I'm now about to be 48, and realize I need to take being proficient at firearms much more seriously with what's going on in the world. I started shooting compound bows a few months back, and will be getting a 10/22 to teach my kids with. Eventually will get a 9mm pistol for me once I try a few out to see which one fits me best. My ultimate goal is to become an NRA certified pistol instructors so I can do that when I retire from being a health care professional.

 

[Riomouse911]

I started shooting and hunting when I was 8, spending every summer on my Grandfathers ranch.

The other 10 months a year was spent being raised by a single mom who quickly became a true blue Berkeley liberal. That environment did its best to cancel out my two months of sanity every year, so guns and the like were more of a summer pastime than a part of a well balanced childhood. Luckily the firearm force was strong in me, I never succumbed to the pressures of the dark side.

My Grandfather sold the ranch after my 17th summer, so the day I turned 18 I went to Siegle's Gunstore in Oakland and bought a Win 1894 .30/30 like his and a few weeks later (for reasons still unknown) a Browning A-bolt Medallion in .338 Win Mag. I moved away from that socialist nirvana to go to school on the North Coast of Ca. where the gun/hunting culture was stronger. When I turned 21 in Eureka, I bought an Iver Johnson Tp-22 and a few weeks later a Taurus M-66 .357 from Bucksport Sporting Goods.

A few employment and financial setbacks caused me to sell all of my guns to keep a roof over my head and get my car fixed, the Tp-22 was stolen (I got it back about four years later) so I was gunless again for a little while.

I ultimately met my future ex-wife and we moved down South. After landing an initial job at Sears and then shortly afterwards being hired by a police department, I’ve had one firearm or another either on me or near me every day for the last 30 years or so.

Stay safe.

 

[Rexster]

Except for one short session with a shotgun, belonging to a friend, which occurred some time during my high school days, my shooting and gun ownership did not occur until I was an adult, and able to buy my own guns and ammo.

Interestingly, my first handgun purchase, and the first handgun I ever fired, was a Detonics Combat Master, a then-trendy 1911 smaller than the Colt Officers ACP. Its recoil did not faze me; I liked it, from the first shot. I was able to get a proper three-finger grip, with my skinny fingers, on that short grip. It never fed reliably enough, to trust as a defensive weapon, so it went away, but I still like 1911 pistols.

 

[cdahl383]

Me! Just started shooting last June! A hair before 40. Glad I got into it, lots of fun!

 

[Carl N. Brown]

I started way before I was an adult. 1954. My father, a WWII vet, took me to the old place on the mountain when I was six to shoot the family's .22 that originally stood behind the kitchen door on the farm.

 

[.455_Hunter]

Started way before 18. I was regularly armed with a .38 revolver at 14.

 

[Hokkmike]

First gun - age 21, Winchester Model 94 .32 WS. (kind of an adult)

 

[Ignition Override]

Except for bb/pellet guns (the Crossman pump action and Sheridan were very "tight", top quality-- at least in the 70s...), and several times with actual firearms, yes.
In my 20s the .22 LR Savage rifle simply wasn't used more than a few times, and seldom did anybody else bring a gun in a larger "chambering" (I use quotes because most people refuse to use this word).

Age 52 was when the bug finally bit (milsurps, Mini 14 etc). Handguns around age 59: the first - a WW2 Sauer 38H . "You mean a Zig Zaaar?", "No , just a Zaar".

 

[herrwalther]

I grew up in an anti-gun household in an anti-gun state. Getting a Nerf gun or a water gun was a big deal for my brother and I. My uncle gave me a BB gun for my 16th birthday and that caused a ripple in the family that took years to repair. For the first year it wasn't allowed to even be at the house with me, and stayed with the uncle an hour away. Come college I had ceremonial drill rifles in my dorm room, qualified on M16A2, and enlisted as an infantryman to shoot M16A4 and plenty others. I had no "bad habits" to unlearn so I have always shot very well. It is a running joke in the family that my brother and I were not allowed toy guns and now we have dozens between us.

The turn came not long after 9/11 when my mother considered keeping a simple firearm at home for defense. She wanted a revolver of some kind. In the state she lives in I told her to get a slingshot, because getting a handgun permit was nearly impossible. And long guns are "too scary."