10-Ring
Member
I bought my 1st firearm when I was 24 just a few short months after my son was born. That gun filled the need, rest have sort of appeased the want
Not a lifelong gun owner. Who of us started when older?
- Thread starter hoosier8
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j-easy
Member
i did a little bit of shooting growing up, but it wasn't until i turned 18 and was like, hmm i can buy guns now, cool. mosin nagant for 90 bucks here we come!
i realize this may not be relevant to the thread title, but it is relevant to 90% of the posts in here....
i realize this may not be relevant to the thread title, but it is relevant to 90% of the posts in here....
rainbowbob
Member
It's great so many people here got started shooting at such a young age. It seems that perhaps they should also spend a little time on their reading comprehension skills. 
ctdonath
Member
Started in my early 20s when I realized the AWB was inevitable. Bought a used AR15.
rocinante
Member
47.
Bought a S&W 915 about 2 years ago. rationals pretty much like others. Home defense, range plinking, something to get me out of the house. Now I have 15 of sundry styles and need/want at least six more.
Bought a S&W 915 about 2 years ago. rationals pretty much like others. Home defense, range plinking, something to get me out of the house. Now I have 15 of sundry styles and need/want at least six more.
I'm 52 and until recently, my only shooting experience was a BB gun as a kid, .22 rifle at Boy Scout camp and 10 rounds of 20 gauge at clay off the back of a cruise ship. I took an NRA Basic Pistol class last December and purchased my first firearm, a Buckmark .22 pistol, the day after Christmas. Since then I've bought a Beretta 92, a Ruger 77/22 and a S&W Model 41, participated in a bullseye pistol league and am signed up for a defensive pistol class this weekend. I'm having a great time and teaching my sons gun safety at the same time.
drgrenthum
Member
Recieved my first gun (10/22) from my father in law at the age of 28. Not too old but considering in KY most of my friends had been hunting in their teens it is a late start in comparison.
CHEVELLE427
Member
STARTED with a BB gun at around 6years old.
been hooked for life.
now i have some big boy guns.
been hooked for life.
now i have some big boy guns.
Drgong
Member
First one was a M44 with scope that I paid $200 for 3 years ago. which would put me at 24-25.
alex_trebek
Member
I only had experience with shotguns until the age of 20. After shooting handguns and rifles, I found that I enjoyed them. This, however, was not the main reason I started buying. My first gun was Springfield 1911 .45 acp. I bought this shortly before my 22nd birthday. The reason I bought this handgun was because of a college paper I wrote regarding gun control.
I wrote the paper for a poli sci class, around the time of the AWB renewal issue. I always had the mentality that people should be able to buy what they want with limited controls, as the bad guys will always get what is available anyway. Even with this attitude, I never gave much thought to actually owning a gun. I never felt like I needed it, always lived in a low crime area. After researching gun control, and reading John Lott's books, I realized exactly how close the 2nd was to being outlawed.
The idea of this happening scared me, as we are all aware of the consequences. Also I realized that I had spent my whole life dependent on other people for my security. I now own several firearms (including EBR's), carry concealed, and plan to purchase many more.
I wrote the paper for a poli sci class, around the time of the AWB renewal issue. I always had the mentality that people should be able to buy what they want with limited controls, as the bad guys will always get what is available anyway. Even with this attitude, I never gave much thought to actually owning a gun. I never felt like I needed it, always lived in a low crime area. After researching gun control, and reading John Lott's books, I realized exactly how close the 2nd was to being outlawed.
The idea of this happening scared me, as we are all aware of the consequences. Also I realized that I had spent my whole life dependent on other people for my security. I now own several firearms (including EBR's), carry concealed, and plan to purchase many more.
SteelyNirvana
Member
I shot a few guns when I was a kid, but I never really got into the hobby until I was 22. I bought my first two handguns, a S&W 66 and a Tarus PT-908. I've still got the Smith but the Tarus is long gone (It was a POJ).
04JRB
Member
I got a .22 when I was young for a christmas present, but I dont think I fired it until my late teens. After that I inherited some nice old classics from my grandfather. It wasnt until I was about 28 (Im 31 now) that I really started to shoot a few times a month.
scurtis_34471
Member
I learned to shoot a .22 rifle in the Boy Scouts and went hunting with my step-father a few times.
A got a concealed weapon license in NH when I was 18, but then discovered that I couldn't buy a gun until I was 21. By that time, I was going to college in Massachussetts, so put a damper on my enthusiasm (not to mention being broke). After college, my wife and I spent a few years bouncing around Asia. Then we moved back to Maine and had a baby and then moved to Florida.
My interest in shooting and firearms was always there, but was pretty much latent until a couple years ago when I went to the range with my best friend during a visit to Houston. I had an absolute blast and was at a point in life where all impediments were gone. I was in a gun friendly state, I had a good income and I needed a hobby that was unrelated to my job.
In the last two years, I have purchased 15 guns and sold 3. I've read extensively, joined a gun club, put at least 10,000 rounds down-range, gone for training, joined a bowling pin league and joined a defensive pistol (IDPA) club.
A got a concealed weapon license in NH when I was 18, but then discovered that I couldn't buy a gun until I was 21. By that time, I was going to college in Massachussetts, so put a damper on my enthusiasm (not to mention being broke). After college, my wife and I spent a few years bouncing around Asia. Then we moved back to Maine and had a baby and then moved to Florida.
My interest in shooting and firearms was always there, but was pretty much latent until a couple years ago when I went to the range with my best friend during a visit to Houston. I had an absolute blast and was at a point in life where all impediments were gone. I was in a gun friendly state, I had a good income and I needed a hobby that was unrelated to my job.
In the last two years, I have purchased 15 guns and sold 3. I've read extensively, joined a gun club, put at least 10,000 rounds down-range, gone for training, joined a bowling pin league and joined a defensive pistol (IDPA) club.
A friend took me out shooting. I fired a 12 ga, AR and a .45. The bug bit hard. That was at 24, coming up on 20 years and other than a break when I was in school, I've been shooting ever since.
More importantly, I've paid forward on that first shooting experience.
More importantly, I've paid forward on that first shooting experience.
moe.ron
Member
I think my mom and dad could have gone either way. I bought my first pistol ay 40 years of age, 3 days after I got married!!
Sistema1927
Member
I am so ashamed that I didn't start earlier.
I was 8 when I started shooting, and 12 when I purchased my first gun.
It was wonderful, back before the GCA '68, to be able to take your lawn mowing money down to the local Western Auto store and buy guns and ammunition.
I was 8 when I started shooting, and 12 when I purchased my first gun.
It was wonderful, back before the GCA '68, to be able to take your lawn mowing money down to the local Western Auto store and buy guns and ammunition.
revjen45
Member
I too had to wait into advanced age to get my first gun. It was a present for my 11th birthday. My parents moved to a (then) rural area and ai bought my first serious handgun (mod.19 4-screw) at 16 with money I earned as an agricultural peon. I read my copy of Modern Handgunning until the edges of the pages got fuzzy and spent most of my after school time doing walkabouts with my .22 rifle and the M19. Too bad I had to wait so long to get started.
I purchased my first gun about three weeks before my 23rd birthday and fired it a week later. I was raised in the suburbs with an anti-gun mother, so I had almost no real exposure to firearms as a child beyond holding and examining the stuff my uncle had (the only real gunny in my family; he spent six years in the USMC).
Nevertheless, my gun hobby didn't come about as a result of an overnight revelation. My roommate and eventual best friend in college had an AR-15 (though he seldom kept it at school due to the various anti-gun policies in place there), and I had considered buying one of my own rifles at various points, but never actually went through with it. Part of it was due to the fact that I didn't have a lot of money as a student (there was obviously no way in hell I was going to get gun money through my mother, as you might imagine), and part was due to the fact that the transfer fees and/or Brady forms and such seemed like a tremendous hassle to me.
A year after I graduated, the aforementioned friend called me up and asked me if I wanted to go to a local gun show. I was interested and agreed, though I didn't go with any intention to buy anything (despite the fact that money was no longer an issue). Well, as you all know, gun stores and shows are like toy stores, and I decided to bite the bullet (pun intended ) once I was immersed in the environment. Gave my uncle a call for recommendations, and then came across a CPO two-tone Sig P229 for what seemed to be (and was) a reasonable price. The rest is history.
Nevertheless, my gun hobby didn't come about as a result of an overnight revelation. My roommate and eventual best friend in college had an AR-15 (though he seldom kept it at school due to the various anti-gun policies in place there), and I had considered buying one of my own rifles at various points, but never actually went through with it. Part of it was due to the fact that I didn't have a lot of money as a student (there was obviously no way in hell I was going to get gun money through my mother, as you might imagine), and part was due to the fact that the transfer fees and/or Brady forms and such seemed like a tremendous hassle to me.
A year after I graduated, the aforementioned friend called me up and asked me if I wanted to go to a local gun show. I was interested and agreed, though I didn't go with any intention to buy anything (despite the fact that money was no longer an issue). Well, as you all know, gun stores and shows are like toy stores, and I decided to bite the bullet (pun intended
) once I was immersed in the environment. Gave my uncle a call for recommendations, and then came across a CPO two-tone Sig P229 for what seemed to be (and was) a reasonable price. The rest is history. gtmerkley
member
"I was born with a rifle in my hand" Got my first real gun when I was 5. I started collecting when I was 14 and now at the ripe old age of 17 I have 19, and most are hi end XM15, PTR91, AK47, 97 riot just to name a few. My friends are always coming over with a brick of 7.62x39 hay GT can I use your AK "I'll have it back in no time" Ya Right. OK sorry for getting a little of topic. O ya and for the misspelled words.
Kind of Blued
Member
I bought a .22 around my 22nd birthday. My parents didn't shoot, but some family friends did, and we joined in a couple times a year.
Stevie-Ray
Member
Got my first, a Stevens model 34 .22 on my 12th birthday. Never got another until my first handgun at 23. Next, I believe I was 30. The bulk of my guns were bought in my 40s. Of course I was making better money then.
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