mainmech48
Member
My father started teaching us about safe gun handling as soon as we were able to understand speech. In those pre-PC days, it was considered 'normal' to do so, and to reinforce the lessons in a non-verbal fashion when necessary.
I went along on my first hunting trip (Mountain Quail near Yrerka,CA/Mt. Shasta) with him and a cousin of my mother's at age 5. I had a 'cork gun', but was required to handle it as though it were 'real'.
Progressed to a Daisy BB gun at about 6, and the old Winchester single-shot .22 Dad had learned on shortly thereafter.
At 9 or 10, I used the same Iver Johnson Champion .410 he'd had as a boy to hunt quail and rabbits. Still have it, although it's been retired for some years now. Also started learning about handguns with his Colt OP .22 revolver.
Got my first personal weapon for my 12th BD, a Savage .410 BA. At that time, many of my friends and I would routinely ride our bikes out to the fringes to plink or hunt with our .22 or shotgun strapped across our back. Even when we travelled in a group, nobody seemed 'concerned' enough to call the police or sheriff. And the occasional Game Warden just checked our licenses and made sure that we had permission to be where we were.
I bought my first deer rifle, a 'sporterized' Long Branch No. 4 SMLE, when I was 17.
I wasn't until after I finished my obligatory military service that I started accumulating. I inherited my grandfather's Winchester M97 12 ga., bought a Marlin 336 in .35 Remington, a Marlin M57 and a Browning Nomad in .22 RF.
I went along on my first hunting trip (Mountain Quail near Yrerka,CA/Mt. Shasta) with him and a cousin of my mother's at age 5. I had a 'cork gun', but was required to handle it as though it were 'real'.
Progressed to a Daisy BB gun at about 6, and the old Winchester single-shot .22 Dad had learned on shortly thereafter.
At 9 or 10, I used the same Iver Johnson Champion .410 he'd had as a boy to hunt quail and rabbits. Still have it, although it's been retired for some years now. Also started learning about handguns with his Colt OP .22 revolver.
Got my first personal weapon for my 12th BD, a Savage .410 BA. At that time, many of my friends and I would routinely ride our bikes out to the fringes to plink or hunt with our .22 or shotgun strapped across our back. Even when we travelled in a group, nobody seemed 'concerned' enough to call the police or sheriff. And the occasional Game Warden just checked our licenses and made sure that we had permission to be where we were.
I bought my first deer rifle, a 'sporterized' Long Branch No. 4 SMLE, when I was 17.
I wasn't until after I finished my obligatory military service that I started accumulating. I inherited my grandfather's Winchester M97 12 ga., bought a Marlin 336 in .35 Remington, a Marlin M57 and a Browning Nomad in .22 RF.