How many people here...

[SaxonPig]

My dad was a hunter and shooter. I have many photos from the 1940s and early 1950s showing him shooting a 7.5" Colt SAA (must have been a 1st Gen and it looks pristine in the pics), posing in deer camp with other successful hunters and several deer, etc. But unfortunately he died when I was a small child and mom had to sell the guns to eat.

I mostly learned about guns and shooting growing up in the 1960s by reading the magazines. Elmer Keith, Jeff Cooper, Skeeter Skelton and a few others taught me about guns.

I added one of the pictures from the album. Dated 1951 taken somewhere in South Dakota.

 

[talleymonster]

What I learned...

I learned all of the basics about guns and gun safety from my dad. He isn't a gun fanatic, but he always had a S&W 357 and a small .25 that he kept under lock and key. They were mainly for home protection, but he would take me out to shoot them every now and then. Everything else I kinda picked up a little here a little there. My best friend from high school always had a lot of guns. His whole family had guns. I picked up a lot from him, and he is still my go to guy when I have a question. He does a little gunsmithing and he has recently started getting into reloading.

 

[Zeke/PA]

I was fortunate to be born into a hunting family and guns and dogs were a large part of my upbringing.
I shot my first buck at age 13 with a .22 Hornet and by age 16 was reloading for several rifle calibers plus the venerable .38 Special.
Kids today, for many reasons don't have the same opportunity I'm afraid.
Zeke

 

[Baba Louie]

I was blessed as a child. Dad was a shootin' son of a gun Or maybe I was. Anyway, he (and I) bought into the whole "2nd Amendment means we not only have a RKBA, we have an obligation to do so as Americans". To add to the Dad equation, his two younger half brothers were in the USMC in the late 50's and boy, could my Uncles shoot! Also factor in 2 of my Mom's sisters married Cops and boy, could they shoot! Finally, my Mom's stepdad (and boy, could he shoot... and fish!) worked at the Lake City Ammunition Plant in Independence MO (my old hometown) so we had plenty of ammo and brass to help feed the fix. Paternal Uncles were riflemen. Maternal uncles were pistoleers. They all had shotguns for upland and waterfowl hunting.

Later on, one of my Mom's cousins owned a gunstore in Blue Springs MO during the 70's - 90's.

Dad was a machinist who was also a gunsmith and worked on firearms down in the basement where my bedroom was also to be found, right next to his workshop (I have fond memories of going to sleep on the old couch in his workshop on Friday nights while he tinkered, and waking up the next morning with him back at the workbench)... so I was doomed. Doomed I say.

Or maybe that's blessed.

 

[1BLINDREF]

My dad got me started around the time I turned 17. He and my mom divorced. He immediately went out a bought a nice little sample of different guns; Colt Gold Cup, various S&Ws (model 29 my favorite),Hk and Colt riffles (Black Riffles),and some other cool stuff. Mom was never into guns and I guess she always had the final word. :banghead:
He bought me my first gun for my 18th b-day, a Colt Python 6 inch stainless I spent alot of great times reloading and shooting with him. He taught me about safety first, then how to shoot.
My dad passed away this past Thanksgiving - very suddenly at age 63. I really miss him, especially going shooting with him. I wish I had made more time to go with him, but I always thought he'd be around to shoot with "later".

Nasser:

Be patient with your dad, don't let the SMALL stuff about him get to you. Enjoy the time you have with him now. Tomorrow isn't promised to anyone.

 

[koja48]

Wish I would have known either Grandpa . . . per Dad, his Father was even a better shot & elk hunter than was Dad . . . and that says something. Thanks, Dad!

 

[Gord]

Great-grandpa taught me to shoot with a teeny-tiny BB gun on his knee and some tin can kids strung up on fishing line between the apple trees.

Dad took me plinking as a kid, and told me to keep my finger off the trigger (not until immediately after I'd sent a .22LR into the ground a few feet away though) but that's about it. I kept my interest in guns, but also took the time to learn about them - something he's never done and never accepted (for anything outside of his chosen profession, not just guns).

It kind of sucks to deal with someone who's so completely, willfully and self-righteously ignorant about such a plethora of subjects, including guns, but the fact remains that if I'd been brought up in an anti-gun household I likely would have lost interest.

 

[Stevie-Ray]

Dad was never into guns. His only gun, now mine, was a 1903 Colt Pocket Auto .32, and he never fired it. It was handed down to him as it was me. I have fired it, (of course) and it impresses me NOT! But at least I know it works. I was always interested in guns on my own, but it was my marine brother-in-law that stoked the fires that burned within, so to speak.

 

[hexidismal]

Not at all for me. Although my father was army special forces ( actually both parents were military, I was conceived on an army base ), I barely knew or saw him growing up and he had very little impact on my upbringing. Mom wasn't particularly pro or anti gun, she had no problem with it, but didn't have any interest either. Luckily as an only child being brought up by a single parent I wasn't denied much.. within reason, and was allowed to pursue my interest in firearms albeit on my own... generally in the form of air guns, and eventually a .22 and the occasional range trip on vacations.

 

[barman]

My dad wasn't really into guns when I grew up, although he had toyed with black powder being a kid and had fired his MAS36 a lot during his military service. We had a Lefaucheux revolver from the 1870s at home for a long time, but I became interested in firearms only 3 years after he gave it to one of his friends.

 

[Dr. Dickie]

As far as I know, the only time my father ever SAW a gun was in basic training in the Army. Even then, he was an officer in the medical corp stationed at West Point during Korea, so he probably shot a rifle to qualify, and that was it. He wouldn't know a bolt action from a MG42.

 

[tbtrout]

About 25% came from my Father, the rest came from Uncle Sam.

 

[crazed_ss]

I pretty much learned everything in the Marines, from the Internet, and on my own.

 

[tuck2]

There was a old 22 pump rifle and a single shot 12 Ga at home on the farm. When I was a kid the only time I saw dad shoot the rifle was to kill hogs and cattel when we need meat. My older brother took me hunting with him before I could shoot a 22. He showed me how to shoot the old 22 rifle when I was in first grade.. My brother in law was a big game hunter and had the American Rifleman and Outdoor Life magazines which I read. He took me deer hunting the fall of 1953 when I shot my first deer with a Winchester Mdl 70 270 Win which I still have.. Dad gave me a new Rem 121 pump 22 the spring of 1949. There were plenty of jack rabbits and prairie dogs around then for me to hunt. Dad went deer hunting with me and shot his first deer after he retired . He always used my 270 Win rifle but by then I had a collection of rifles.

 

[tepin]

i was buying gun mags before i was 12. dad bought me a ruger single six (which i still have) for xmas when i was 12. i learned the basics from dad, mostly safety stuff and kept up on things by reading.

 

[learn2shoot]

NRA Instructor Program

Before I took the NRA Certified Instructor I had a decent competency with guns (Which was taught to me by my father and Uncle (mom's bro)). It wasn't until I took the course to become a certified instructor and started working on a team of teachers that I actually REALLY started to learn about guns. I have learned a lot from other instructors and students, and research I have done based on questions asked by students. Of course that might have something to do with the fact that once I got my credentials I moved out of NYS.

... that and info from the great thehighroad.org and once great packing.org.

 

[Chuhhuniban]

My father had a reasonable arsenal of long arms and, always, one pistol carried in his vehicle all the time. He began letting me shoot at the age of nine or so, gave me my first "own personal" firearm (.22 slide action Winchester) for my tenth birthday and began taking me hunting that Fall (when my grandfather gave me his Savage .250-3000).

My father did, however, have an interesting theory about teaching kids things he thought really important (driving, gun handling, caring for animals, dealing respectfully with others, etc.). He was pretty sure that the father-son relationship, however strong, really interfered with the learning process, so he would get somebody he thought appropriate to do the teaching. My firearms instructor was his best friend, a former Cavalry officer and WW II veteran, who taught me to shoot and respect firearms (without much concern over my self-esteem — if I messed up, boy, did I hear about it).

When I learned to drive, it was his buddy, the local county Sheriff, who got stuck with the chore. Since I wasn't really old enough to get a proper license, I got a note from the Sheriff that said (more-or-less), "if you stop this kid for doing something stupid in a car, call me before issuing a ticket," and had his office and home numbers on it. Then, he told me if anybody ever called, he would "kick my *** up between my shoulder blades." I was pretty sure he meant it, so I was the safest teenage driver you ever saw.

I have to say, the idea worked. I probably paid a lot more attention to the instructor than I might have had it been my father.

 

[MrPeter]

These are all very nice stories about people's fathers. Gets me thinking about my dad...

My dad is from the 'old country', where thanks to the iron curtain, you could forget about any kind of right, much less the RKBA. When he and my mother moved to America though, funny enough, he didn't buy any firearms. He had been in the Czech military for a short (obligatory) amount of time, and I guess he hated it. He had also competed (and from what I understand won) in national match airgun tournaments in his day.

He was the first to take me shooting. As a 6 year old (or so) he took me and my brother out by an old water tower in the forest to shoot at an upturned KFC bucket with a chinese single shot POS .22 bolt action. The idea was to demystify guns for us, but for me it did more than that. My dad said I was a natural, bieng able to shoot a 1/2" thick stick in half once or twice from about 30 yards for a 6 year old wasn't bad.

Unfortunately, my father took us out shooting all of twice. I asked him to go again for a few years, and he never did. I think he was worried that I liked it too much.

Years later (one year ago), when I moved out of the house, and into college, at a big5 I laid eyes on one of the most beautiful things I had ever seen. It was giant, it was wooden, it was bolt action, and it had a bayonet.

This was the true beginnings of my love for firearms, starting with my Mosin Nagant M91/30.

Needless to say, my father was dissapointed that I got such a "cannon". He said that now that I know it works, I should hang it on a wall for its history. Go figure.

I still hope to this day that I can convince my dad to go shoot some skeet with me, and possibly show him how fun it can be to make those steel targets spin.

 

[whited]

.

Entirely self-taught.

 

[10X]

Learned from Dad

Dad was a life long hunter and later Winchester 22 collector.
I learned a lot from him. He taught me proper hunting ethics and about gun basics. That is where I got my start. It became a father and son thing. The best times I remember are the times with him, hunting, gun shows, shooting.
I still miss him.