How Old Were You...

[PCGS65]

When you fired your first firearm? Was it a rifle,shotgun or handgun? and what caliber? For me it was a .22 rifle at boyscout camp in wisconsin I think I was 14 or 15. The best part was out of 150 kids I came in second place with a 47 out of 50 on 5 shots. Remember gun control is hitting what you aim at!

 

[natedog]

11. 20 gauge shotgun at clay targets at a Boy Scout shoot. www.a-human-right.net was discovered soon afterward, and so was TFL, and eventually THR. Thanks for the enlightenment, Oleg!

 

[Kamicosmos]

Firearm would also be a .22 rifle at boyscout camp...probably my first year there, which would have been at 11.

 

[CajunBass]

I don't even remember, but I got an Ithaca M-66, 20 ga single shot for Christmas when I was about 13 I guess. I don't really remember if I shot a gun before then. Probably had. I know I had a BB gun before that anyway.

 

[Rexrider]

I was 17 when a friend's Dad took us shooting. I spent most of the time shooting a 30-06. There was another rifle there but don't know what it was (both were bolt action).

A .357 and .44 mag were also there. I never did shoot the either of the handguns. As I recall I was afraid to. No matter, I had plenty of fun with the bolt actions.

Same year another friend's Grandfather took us to the range. All he brought along was a Ruger .22. That was my first handgun experience.

Needless to say, I was hooked.

ETA: I also had BB guns since I was 14.

 

[Drizzt]

Probably about 6 or 7. It was a 410 shotgun. Moved up to a .22 at about 8 or 9. Got my 20-gauge when I was 10. Been moving up in caliber ever since.

 

[4570Rick]

Tho I had been shooting for two or three years, the first time I hit a target was when I went to the YMCA Ranch Camp outside Tucson in '62 and a NRA Instructor noticed I was left eye dom. He tought me how to shoot .22 rifles left handed and the rest is history.

 

[38Mike]

M-16, USAF basic training, 18 yrs old.............

 

[dk-corriveau]

I was probably about 7 or 8, much to my mother's dismay. It was on an old J. Stevens .22 single shot pistol with a detachable steel stock. Man did I put a lot of rounds through that baby as a kid.

 

[RCL]

Maybe 6 or 7. My Dad would take my brother and I to shoot pigeons over at my Grandfather's farm. Either a .22 or a .410 shotgun.

 

[Hacker15E]

The first gun I ever shot was near age 9 or 10...a .45 long Colt revolver!! The dang thing was so heavy that I barely even felt the recoil!

Made me into a life-long Colt man, though, heh heh.

 

[bpisler]

My first handgun i shot was a small
caliber black powder when i was 8
or 9 years old.

 

[jondar]

Four years old. .410 Iver Johnson single barrell. My Dad held it and let me pull the trigger. I remember it blowing over the weeds in front of the barrell.

 

[Old NFO]

8 years old, an old Savage single shot .22 (which I still have)

 

[1911 guy]

Knee high to a grasshopper!

I was probably four or five. It was a little take-down .22, I have no idea who made it.

 

[Battlespace]

How about a 12 ga pump at about 7 or 8! My dad was at a turkey shoot at the local trap club and they had a buddy shoot. He borrowed a gun from a friend, and since I had watched him shoot trap for a couple of years I sort of knew the basics. I would yell "pull" and sort of jerked the trigger. I never got a bird, but he would pick them up for me and we won. I imagine the weight of the gun and the light loads had a lot to do with him letting me shoot that day. 45+ years later I love shooting trap, just do not have an opportunity to do so.

 

[Souris]

6 or seven years of age. It was a Winchester model 62 .22
I still have that rifle and use it for squirrel, rabbits etc.

My first handgun was a few years later and it was a Colt Huntsman. I still have that one also!

 

[HankB]

4 years old for a BB gun . . . I was so little, I had to tuck the stock under my armpit, otherwise I couldn't reach the trigger.

First "real" firearm was at about age 7 . . . a Marlin bolt action .22 rifle.

 

[Rickstir]

I was 12. My daddy took me hunting for the first time. He picked a spot that I could ambuse a rabbit. Fired the 12 Ga. Browning auto and blew the poor thing's head off. It was the start of something big.

 

[armoredman]

9, shooting a High Standard Double Nine 22 revolver with my Dad....I have no idea what happened to that revolver.

 

[skidmark]

Age 7. A 4-bore.

Uncle who lived outside Johanesburg took me out and set me up with a shooting stick and about 10 miles of flatland fore & aft. As I recall the event, I used up most of the distance aft, while the gun took about an hour to fall all the way to the ground.

Then he picked me up, showed me how to "lean into" the gun, and I did it again. Only went about a half-mile backwards that time.

Never did it again, as I seemed to notice everybody was laughing hysterically and I wanted to know what was so funny so I could enjoy it too. (You need to understand, in the early 1950's black gunbearers NEVER laughed at anything the white shooter did. They were rolling on the ground.)

stay safe.

skidmark

 

[jojo]

12 or 13 years old if I remember correctly. A friend of mine had snuck out his dad's German 25 cal auto pistol. We fired a mag full, had a great time, and then he got his rear end lit up (his dad found out).

jojo

 

[max popenker]

Well since it was back in 1988, i was then 15 years old...

It was a cold spring day, and the darn AKM assault rifle (borrowed from Soviet Army stocks to train youngster lime me) was heavy and we shoot prone from bare rocks... and i did qualified
Three shots at 100 meters range... not much but still much better than your ordinary airguns
Hell, it was 17 years ago and i still can fieldstrip and reassemble the AK with my eyes closed.

 

[TMM]

about 14, marlin .22 bolt action. then got a remington .22 bolt action.

 

[Luchtaine]

8 or so Ruger 10/22, I take that back the 10/22 was second remington 511-x was first (still the gun I take hostage from my dad the most )
First gun I bought personally 19yrs M1 Carbine