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If you looked back on your life, what types of shooting would be different?

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Ignition Override

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For example, a much higher percentage of paper targets, clay pigeons, versus going to a river or desert to blast plastic jugs or bricks etc? More hunting, or less? Much more .22 versus .223 or Lee-Enfield or Mauser versus Swiss or MN? Handgun versus rifle etc?

Right now, would you have any regrets about this if you were struck down permanently by a disease etc?
My only regret is not being interested in guns (carbines) until Oct. '07 :(, and am 53, and seldom plinked when young. Have never hunted, but going after some surplus feral pigs would interest me, because they are smart and can be mean.

So step up and hold this microphone...
 
Good question. I would have to mull it over for hours to give a proper answer. I would say as a fast response,not hunting in Africa in the 1970s[I am 52]
 
well, probably the first thing would have been to ask my uncle to take me hunting when i was young. actually, i had 2 of them that were good hunters. but my dad was way over bearing, and every time i mentioned anything about going over to a reletives, he stopped me. he had complete control over us. by the time he died. he had us brainwashed into submission. then, i ended up getting married, and moved away.
 
I wish I had stayed into rimfires instead of abandoning them as kid's stuff when I was 20ish. I would have done 10 times the amount of shooting, become a better shot and had more fun.

moooose - so you were brainwashed into submission by your dad and then you got married? Not even an interval of no submission in between? :)
 
I've shot since I was a kid, and I've bought firearms since I was legally able. I don't really have any regrets, since it's been (and still is) an interesting journey finding out what guns I like and dislike. The one thing that comes to mind that I wish I'd done different is to have disconnected hunting and shooting in my mind much sooner than I did. For years, my concept of shooting was tied more to what I "needed" for hunting purposes rather than what I enjoyed shooting. I don't mean that in an absolute sense, because I've always had guns that were purely for fun. Still, when I finally realized that I don't actually enjoy hunting that much, and that my shooting didn't have to be tied to that, it became very liberating and opened up lots of other shooting opportunities (not to mention space in the gun cabinet). I hope that makes sense. Also, just to deflect any potential flames, I don't actively dislike hunting, and I still go once in a blue moon. And, I also don't dislike hunters at all. It's just that hunting is not my favorite thing. I'd infinitely prefer to spend a warm afternoon at the range burning through hundreds of rounds instead of shivering on a treestand all morning hoping to get one shot at a whitetail. But, to each his own.
 
If I could do it all over, I'd made a career as maybe a gunsmith, FFL dealer, big game outfitter, or some type of instructor. Who knows, maybe I would have hated doing that and this is where I really belong. No complaints.
 
I wish I had hunted more when younger. I really wish I would have found the sport of Bullseye shooting 20 years earlier. I wish I would have found more competitive opportunities, perhaps revolver silloette in it's hay day.

But there's not a thing that replaces plinking while walking the forest service roads with my boys. A dead branch that needs to be trimmed, a shotgun shell set atop a stump, a cigarette pack on a rock. Plinkin! Squirels, chipmunks, Camp Robbers, (mountain Robins). Pretty much anything that moves, -or doesn't move, is fair game.

I wouldn't change any of that, because any of the shooting I've done, the friendly challenges have all contributed to how well I shoot when hunting or competitively.

I do wish I would have become a machinist, then a Gunsmith.

-Steve
 
I would do a lot more upland bird hunting. I hunted pheasants in Northern Japan in 1969 and dove on Maui and Molokai in 1978 and hunted available species in Idaho, Montana and Washington. I need to do some southern Bobwhite hunting and S. Dakota Pheasant. Maybe some dove in Argentina, some day.
 
Been messing with guns since around 1941. Dunno as how I'd change things much, other than maybe tried to find some folks to group up and go to pheasant country, or maybe elk hunting.

But, no real complaints. Lotsa bench rest testing of rifles and loads, lotsa tables at gunshows over the years, lotsa stories around a campfire at the deer lease. Ate a lot of dove, quail and deer.
 
I'd be shooting much cheaper ammo that I would have stocked up more of. :neener:

Oh yeah, I 'd also be shooting many of those old, cheap, surplus Garands that were practically being given away.
 
I'm 19, and since I don't come from a hunting/outdoors family background, I have only started shooting and collecting in the past year. Once I was legally able to purchase them, the vast majority of my money has been diverted from guitar/recording studio gear(aside from the necessary cost to keep my business running smoothly) to guns and ammunition. Since this past July, I have bought two shotguns, a semi .22lr, and just recently an AMD 65 type AK.

I can honestly say I have never been to a real range. I have a great spot back in the woods with a fallen tree for a table, a tree to hang targets from, a stream running past, at least 1/2 mile to the nearest house, and it is surrounded on three sides by steep hills. I have a few friends who I get together with most weekends and go back there with lots guns, ammunition, stuff to blow up, and trash bags to carry back everything that goes with us, regardless of its condition ;) I have been meaning to take a strong magnet and some rope with me the next time, so I can drag it around and pick up all the spent Wolf steel from my AK. There are probably 6-800 of them laying back there, and I am not one to leave my mess for someone else to take care of.

I need to find out exactly where the ranges are around here, and how much a membership would cost. Is anyone on here familiar with Altoona/Blair County, PA, and any ranges within a reasonable distance?
 
My biggest regret is NOT using hearing protection in my youth! That's the FIRST thing I'd change if I could go back and start over.

Tinnitus sucks. All you young'uns, pay attention!!! TINNITUS SUCKS!!! AND IT'S FOREVER!!!
 
Im glad I hunted as much as I did when I was younger. I had the land and the time and I used it well. Not to mention all the shooting I did as well. Nowadays hunting and range time is almost nonexistent.
 
Actually, I'd probably not change a thing.
Maybe tried a tad harder for Expert on the BAR, maybe. Or gone to two more competitions back just before the "distinguished" medal was dropped.

Honestly, I've more regrets about women than firearms or shooting--that's not all bad, really.
 
I started young and can't say I'd change a thing.

I am still young enough to head out and shoot doves in S. America, or go pheasant, woodcock and some other birds I have not felled.
Heck I am still young enough to try out for the Olympics so I am told.

It would be less politics if I just wanted to get into Sporting Clays in a real serious manner such as Will Fennel does.

Tripped my first trigger on handgun at age 3, rifle age 4 and shotgun at age 5.

<Jerry Lee Lewis cue>

I'm over 50 and still wearing jeans...

If I were to decide to hit the serious Sporting Clay sports, Will Fennell would get a call and he would be doing some serious coaching of a serious student.

Still, if I died right now, no regrets. The fact is, folks really don't know what all I have done.
Everyone that did, has up and died on me, and I am the only survivor of a great bunch of folks, and some things that were done.

When I go, some things go with me. Just our Code about such matters.,

Run'em!
 
If I had it to do all over again, I'd envolve my kids more in hunting (all seven girls and five sons). I'd also spend mort time with them and less time hunting, trapping, and shooting.

Thank goodness I never took up fishing in a big way in addition to hunting. If so, I probably wouldn't have spent any time at home.
 
Honestly, I've more regrets about women than firearms or shooting--that's not all bad, really.
Click to expand...

CapnMac

You know, that comment kinda sticks on me.
Almost a signature line. :cool:
 
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