Where did You Learn Riflemanship ?

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I started as a pistol shooter.

An older brother got me into it at about 19.

About 4 years ago I took a local M1 Garand clinic that was offered at Fort Knox. That got me into shooting rifles with open sights.

I went hunting for the first time last September.

I'm 46. I know its a late start, but better late than never.
 
Pellet guns with my Father in a home-made indoor range and single-shot .22s at summer camp with the Boy Scouts.
 
through the church

6 or 7 learned how to shoot pellet guns at the Baptist Church. Thats Texas I guess. Then my parents got me a daisy, then moved on to the 760 pumpmaster. Tons of BB's and pellets and plenty of small birds. My buddies folks trained dogs and had a pigeon house and shot plenty of mice in there. Rifle and shotguns came later. Joined the army infantry, was able to carry the m240b through 2003-2004 Iraq. And shoot as many issue weapons as possible. Still army and now enjoy shotguns and my favorite Ruger bolt action rifles.
 
USMC

I'm in the same boat as TCU but I lived in the country and my parent were anti gun and kind of hippies. So at 17 I joined the Corps and been learning something new ever since. You can never have enough guns.
 
My Dad enrolled me in an NRA program when I was 9, then I actually got a Red Ryder BB gun and must have fired 10K BB;s through it. By High School I had a single shot Winchester Model 67 and trained with a neighbor who had been on Iwo Jima. By the time I told the AZ NG a little fib about my age I was very knowlegable about proper marksmanship. My second drill I made expert with the M-1. I did the same in basic, then a year later went on active duty and made the rifle team in every post I was in for the next 24 years. :cool:
 
Rural Oregonian. Dad has an old apple orchard backed up to a national forest and all we had to do was step outside and we had a firing range. Dad had a number of pistols and rifles... I still don't own a SMLE jungle carbine because of memories of recoil with it when I was little.

I bought my first gun when I was 16 from a hardware store - and back then, it was normal for a teenager to buy a rifle or shotgun, and normal for any hardware store to sell you one. I remember Remington loaning a couple 870s to our high school shooting team when they came out... Can anyone imagine that happening today?
 
I was almost a completely self-taught shooter from a very young age. I first learned by taking my BB gun out on our acreage, starting when I was about 8. I then started sneaking my dad's old .22 out of the basement when nobody was home, when I was 12 or so. When I was 15, I had my mom buy me my first gun, a Chinese SKS, with money I had saved from working construction. By the time I was in my 20s I fancied myself a pretty good shot... which I was, compared to my friends... but I didn't actually learn how to SHOOT until I went to an Appleseed marksmanship clinic.

Until then I didn't know anything about Natural Point of Aim, and I had no clue that a sling was good for something other than carrying the rifle. I also didn't know some of the finer nuances of trigger control, and of building a stable position.

Now I am a Rifleman, and I am confident that I can pick up any rack-grade rifle with iron sights and ball ammunition, sight it in, and hit any man-sized target out to 500 yards (at least) from field positions.

I benefitted immensely from Appleseed, and I decided I would like to help others have the same experience I did. Long story short, I am now a shoot boss and state coordinator for Appleseed. I organize and run marksmanship clinics all over my state of Oklahoma, and try to do my part to turn this country back into a nation of Riflemen.
 
My dad taught me how to shoot and firearms safety. He also taught me to hunt. I've been shooting ever since. A 20 year stint in the Navy added to my education as well, but without my dad I never would have gotten into the sport. In turn I've taught my wife, one son (my other son has never had an interest in firearms) and my daughter wants me to teach her how to shoot after all these years. I've also brought friends into the sport over the years. Life is good.
 
Summer camp. Best hour of the day!

50-ft range with bolt action ghost sight .22

Think I shot a 48 one time...
 
I was not so lucky... I didnt have any one teach me. I bet that I am still doing it wrong but it seems to work ok...

Dallas surprisingly sucks for shooters. I know of a bunch of ranges but no real classes or training programs near by... I wish we had a good gun school near by...

V.
 
At 27, I only started shooting firearms about 3 years ago. My family never owned guns, shot, or hunted. So, most of my knowledge came from trial and error, watching technique videos, and practice. My mechanical engineering background also helped me quite a bit in figuring a few things out and being methodical in my shooting. But this past November, I attended an Appleseed shoot. I learned shooting from sitting and prone positions (my range only has benches...), as well as some great information about breathing and trigger follow-through. My shooting has improved quite a bit, and I even managed to make Rifleman on my first Appleseed. I'm confident that the stress of timed shooting will also help me when I try my hand at hunting.

Voland, I'd recommend an Appleseed to anyone looking to improve their shooting skills. Take a look at their schedule page and you'll find one near you. They're well worth the time, effort, and money.
 
I am still learning riflemanship and will continue that process for as long as I can hold a rifle.

I started out as a young kid with an old break barrel air rifle, then got a used Diana (RWS). I was shooting a lot of airrifle with a friend in those childhood days, bottle lids at 10 to 15 yards, the one of us that missed most was to buy the next tin of pellets. The military later helped me out with free ammo and now can afford my own.

But I still use a Feinwerkbau 300S to practice off-hand shooting.

This is the one that started it over 40 years ago:

LG002.jpg
 
I first learned to shoot from some local contractors (construction not combat) who would shoot at the local Standard Oil plant. Then a group of lifeguards who liked to hunt took me under their wing and taught me some more basics. Next came three years of USMC JROTC in high school, but my Ph.D came from TEXAS! I was lucky enough to move their right after high school and had a couple of years to shoot with some great guys. They were ranchers and shot daily. They really taught me how to shoot in the field, reload, and hunt hard.
 
Watching "The Rifleman", with Chuck Connors, probably doesn't count as rifle training. Neither does emulating Barnie Fife on "The Andy Griffith Show" count as handgun instruction. ;)
 
I learned the basics around the farm and local woods. My Dad was also a cop so we had a lot of guns around when I was growing up. Uncle Sam taught me all about the M16A1, .45 and M60.
 
First post although I've been lurking your threads for nearly a decade. I guess it might be time to speak up.

I learned from my mom. No dad around, she found some good ole boys with truckloads of toys and I learned that I had a distinct love of pulling the trigger. Turns out, it takes a bit more than that to hit what you're aiming at. I got the most of my actual training from a junior rifle club in the basement of the YMCA while I was in junior high. Really made my friend who invited me mad because I could produce really nice groups when given the right tools and a bit of instruction.

Moved onto the Marines later for a short time where some bad "dope" from my PMI at 500 yards cost me expert. I settled 4 points low as a sharpshooter. I recently shot through to the "marksman" rating (NRA/Winchester marksmanship qualification program) and will continue to shoot through distinguished expert as money/time allow.

I've gained a lot of experience from reading these threads and practicing the techniques, Maj. John Plaster's "ultimate sniper" is an excellent must read if you want to get some distance in your shot. The best learning experiences I've had of late have been in teaching other shooters how to become more accurate with NPOA, breathing, and proper trigger squeeze. It's amazing how much teaching others forces you to re-hash your own form and technique. I just started a gun related blog to encourage the 500+ honor students I've been leading for a couple years to step outside their comfort zone and the response has been tremendous.

Our relationship with marksmanship/riflemanship is a lifelong commitment and it turns out that it really is more beneficial to all of us to share our expertise.
 
From my Father. Daisy Red Ryder, then an original Chipmunk and on from there. The Chipmunk will go to my son along with what my Dad taught me.

Latigo
 
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