What was your first marksmanship badge of honor? .....

[Speedo66]

As a kid it was shooting .22 at a jr. rifle club 50’ range in Queens at 12, NRA Pro-marksman badge was the first in the series.

Next was shooting expert rifleman in the Army with an M-14, timed pop-up targets out to 600 meters. Only a few in my company made it, and we were called out and had the company commander pin it on us in front of the company.

Final was shooting pistol expert consistently in my LE career, timed event with running, low light, flashing lights, sirens, etc.

 

[JeffG]

Shooting Expert rifle out of boot camp in the Marine Corps in 1974 was a good day for me.

 

[The Night Rider]

When I was stationed in Germany in 1988 I completed the master gunner course and got a Field Artillery ant ladder for my expert marksmanship badge.

 

[Col. Harrumph]

Mine was when I shot my sister's front teeth out with my BB gun. (Honest, it was a mistake.) I still remember the reward my dad gave me. Oddly, she never held it against me in later years.

 

[JERRY]

First legitimate and recognized was when I got my marksman ribbon with a 1911 45ACP at Cape May. I've since improved.

 

[WestKentucky]

I think I was 12 when I went to Camp Curry for a week in the summer. I shot well enough without practice to earn the marksmanship badge. Probably from all of the BB gun escapades in the back yard for as long as I can remember. Many many sparrows fell victim to a Daisy lever carbine BB gun shooting copperheads. From the gate by the back door to the back corner of the yard was about 35 yards. There was a swing about 30 yards out where the birds would do dust baths. I could arch a bb high and let it drop in and get those sparrows about 60% of the time. The skill came with LOTS of time spent wearing out coke cans and various targets of opportunity, and water snakes at the bridge where my grandpa lived. I would shoot at minnows to stun them and when the water snakes would come for an easy meal I would wear that head out. The 22 would kill the snakes. The BB gun would seriously make them angry.

 

[Ignition Override]

The Furthest target was a gong at 500 yards.

Age 68, three weeks ago, with a friend’s pristine condition 1970’s Remington .308 with a Vortex scope. The rifle was a gift from the widow of a late coworker.

I’ve never owned any scope and don’t often get to use rifles with them.

 

[wis bang]

Only 'Medal' was at age 12 when dad took me to a deadmark shoot and first time up with my crusty old single shot 12 ga won a ham against the fanciest gun there.

Dad's smile was all the medal I needed.

 

[American_Fusilier]

Great topic.

Mine was getting "distinguished graduate" on back to back 4 day pistol and rifle classes at Front Sight in NV. To get it, you had to score in the 90th percentile.

I don't know if this is true, but I was told that it was very uncommon to get a "distinguished graduate" on the first time through a class. I got them in both classes first try.

While I disagreed with a lot of their teachings, the Front Sight classes were good classes. That was back in 2014. They've gone out of business now...

 

[Bwana John]

NRA 50’ rimfire rifle, Pro-Marksman. 12 years old.
Still got the patch to prove it.

 

[tubeshooter]

Nothing sanctioned and official - but I shot a small bird out of a tree at about 60 yards way, way back when with my first .22 rifle (Marlin 60).

It was a luck shot, but a couple of cousins witnessed it. So there's that.
They were fairly impressed.


I also shot a snake in front of several family members, and it somehow crawled up a tree.
Fell out of the tree dead right beside my late uncle.
He almost jumped out his skin!
That was a memorable day. Maybe 20 years ago...
I'll have to ask my daughter how she recalls it one day.

 

[Tinman357]

Fresh out of boot in '81 earned expert rifle and expert pistol medals. Fired for score at a USMC range. As the only squid there I took a lot of ribbing. The handshake and "well done" from that crusty old Gunny meant a lot to me. I was 17.

 

[patmccoy]

Boy Scout "Rifle" Merit Badge, about 1957-58.

 

[EMC45]

I was 6yo sitting on my butt in the driveway, and my dad jammed a square carpenters pencil in the ground and pumped up his Crossman .177 pellet pistol and said “I bet you 5 bucks you can’t hit that pencil”. He shot first and missed. I rested my arms on my drawn up knees and I shot and hit it, knocking a large hunk out of the side of it. 41 years later I wonder if he sandbagged on purpose, but I assure you he was none too happy peeling out that fiver to give to his 6yo son.

 

[PistoleroWadcutterGANG]

Thank You ALL for your great responses. Be Well !

 

[Charlie98]

The first 6 rounds I ever fired from a centerfire rifle... and an M16A1 no less. First round was low... I'm sure I jerked it, not knowing what to expect from it, but the next 2 rounds, a quick sight adjustment, and the last 3 rounds... all in the 'kill' zone... not only gave me immense satisfaction, but it meant the DI's would be berating someone else for a while, not me. I wound up shooting Expert, 38/40, at qualification. That netted me 2nd in line at chow the rest of the week.

 

[tark]

At about ten, my Father was relatively impressed, but I received a thorough tongue and shoe lashing at and about my back and head from my Mother.

It seems she fell upon a grisly sight of about twenty five Chickadees and Yellow Finches laying on the ground under the Mountain Ash. All with one massive hole of about fifty caliber, and sporting an increased weight of one muzzle loader ball of a jar I had found down stairs in my Dad's hunting accoutrements.

She finished informing me how wrong it was and relieved me of my Barrett slingshot with wrist brace. Dad just asked, “Did you miss any?”

“Two.”

He just smiled and pat my head.

“Go throw them in the weeds…”

Not exactly a medal, but I was smiling tossing them over. He didn’t even make me take the balls out.

I may have done it once more, but the neighbor’s Dalmatian came all the way around the pond, ran up and ate the bird! I thought I better stop to avoid poisoning the dog.

If you have ever read "SIXGUNS" be Elmer Keith, You will be amused by his accounts of shooting eagles, ( YES! Both Golden and Bald !) because they were considered a a vermin animal that preyed on cats, small dogs and...)

Shooting any bird of prey ( raptors ) or and songbird, today, is a federal crime, but... It wasn't back then...

 

[hutch51]

Air Force basic, M-16, back in 71. Got Marksman.
Prior experience was BB guns.

Back in class for the field strip. We had an ex-Army guy in there. He had his down to pins and springs before the instructor got to him. Caused a small panic <grin>.

 

[Gumby0961]

Might not have been my first award but it's my favorite. When I was 12 or thirteen our club was having the annual Turkey Shoot. The object in the pistol comp was to hit a hanging clay bird at 25 yards. Any pistol was allowed. You hit you move on you miss your out. I had no pistol experience at all, shooting my dad's Python, I outlasted everyone of them.
Lost my Dad 23 years ago but I still have the Python.

 

[Hooda Thunkit]

Shooting any bird of prey ( raptors ) or and songbird, today, is a federal crime, but... It wasn't back then...

Starlings and sparrows are both exempt from the law.

Neither of the two are native, both invasive enough to have spread across the continent in just a few decades.

 

[johnjohn]

Fired Sharpshooter w /M1 Garand . Basic training Ft. Jackson S.C. 1961 .

 

[jar]

I'm not sure it was or could be considered a Marksmanship Badge of Honor but once the squirrels stopped following me with a running commentary when I walked with the 410 in the woods, once the mother ducks stopped bringing all their ducklings to paddle about in front of my blind at O'dark thirty in the morning and once all the grouse and doves and quail stopped following behind me feasting on the insects I stirred up as I walked across the field I did feel slightly proud but also a loss.

 

[AMraider]

Early 80's squirrel hunting with my high school friend and his younger brother and their father. The night before we were sighting in our 22's and then started on the "Family shooting challenge." It was an arrow stuck in the side of a tree 75 yards down a hill. Off hand shooting only we each got 3 shots each. I thought my 3rd shot was a miss until the arrow swung down. No one had hit in several years prior. This was with my father's Winchester 77 with a 2x Weaver.

 

[Reloadron]

Shooting Expert rifle out of boot camp in the Marine Corps in 1974 was a good day for me.

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Guessing you guys had graduated to the M16 by then. During 69 we trained and used the M14 which I was really fond of. Funny part was we flew into Nam in 72 with M14 and they promptly took it away from me and handed me an M16A1 which I had never held let alone fired in my life. The M16 became my new best friend but even today my M1A is among my favorite rifles along with a few Colt AR rifles including a few Colt SP1 rifles. Yeah, sure you did gunny, sure you did. Heck when I left Nam I went to recruiter school and ended up in Cleveland and was a recruiter late 72 to 75. Great duty and no annual rifle range.

Ron

 

[JeffG]

Guessing you guys had graduated to the M16 by then. During 69 we trained and used the M14 which I was really fond of. Funny part was we flew into Nam in 72 with M14 and they promptly took it away from me and handed me an M16A1 which I had never held let alone fired in my life. The M16 became my new best friend but even today my M1A is among my favorite rifles along with a few Colt AR rifles including a few Colt SP1 rifles. Yeah, sure you did gunny, sure you did. Heck when I left Nam I went to recruiter school and ended up in Cleveland and was a recruiter late 72 to 75. Great duty and no annual rifle range.

Ron

We were one of the pilot platoons with the M16. I laughed when I heard the "boing" of the buffer spring in the stock. Never saw another one my entire enlistment. Cherry Point had M14's which I loved, so I learned the rifle fast. Got to shoot annual on the base rifle team and the Eastern Division matches.