What made you a "firearms enthusiast"

[Fullmag]

Growing up dad had 3 different long guns in the glass door gun cabinet at the end of the hallway and my room was also at he end of the hallway on the left. He died when I was young so then it was hunting stories from uncles and then mom went anti- gun me and said I couldn't even have BB gun growing up. So I was shooting my friends BB guns and was good at it. Finally mom says if you want one you'll have to buy it yourself. Took me one month to save up for that Crossman that I bought at Kmart for 30.00 dollars. At that time they passed a law that if a person was under 18 I would have to have an adult to buy a BB gun since I was 13 I asked mom to buy it for me and she did. Then it was many years before I could get the money to buy my own guns but now have several and reloading equipment to boot.

 

[SchwansManDan]

what got you into guns or if you were born into a gun family what kept you shooting?
Did movies or tv influence your particular choice of firearm? How old were you when you started shooting? Do you shoot often?

Born into it, I suppose. There were always firearms in the house when I was a child. Dad hunted & trapped for food & hides when he was growing up during the Depression.

Movies & TV had little to do with the firearms purchases I have made as an adult. I went more for ammo capacity, trigger function, and a few other details that were not available in Matt Dillon's six-shooter or Joe Friday's snubby. (And as far as I can recall, Jim Rockford never even carried a gun.)

I honestly don't remember how old I was when I fired shot a gun. Might have been my father's revolver or his rifle. Might have been my buddy's bolt action .22LR. Maybe I was 10 or 12?

Living in a small-to-medium sized city, I don't get to shoot "often". (What qualifies as "often", anyway? Hourly? Daily? Weekly?) I try to hit the range at least once a month to stay in practice with things that go "BANG!".

And I might sneak out in the back yard every now & then to aim a scoped pellet rifle towards those squirrels that the idiot next door neighbor keeps feeding.

 

[bigbore]

First some background. I grew up hunting (shotgun only) but my Dad was a Fudd, not his fault he was from Europe. He now fully supports/understands the 2A and even owns a few pistols. At the time he thought only criminals had pistols. He came around when we went pistol shooting years ago and loved it. After retirement he and my mother both got their CC permits a couple of years ago (they are no longer in NJ).

I went into the Army and that was the first time I fired a rifle. I enjoyed it very much but NJ had no rifle season and there were no ranges nearby so there was no point in buying one. I then went to college in TN and that is when I got into pistol shooting. My roommate was going to be a cop so he would ask if I would go to the range to practice with him. I have been hooked ever since.

 

[Tomc1947]

Obama

 

[KellyinAvon]

Obama

^^^WINNER!!^^^

 

[bigbore]

No kidding. He is the best AR salesman ever.

^^^WINNER!!^^^

 

[Old Prof]

Holy crap man.
What on God's green earth would make you shoot at your grandparents?

I was a pretty mean kid. Fortunately, there were good at the Serpentine running thing.

The joys of English. Sigh. And you did give me a laugh.

 

[MrBlue54]

OBAMA Again!

So tired of having someone who thinks they are acting in OUR BEST INTEREST telling us what we need to do!
When he doesn't have a clue!

 

[actaeon277]

I was a pretty mean kid. Fortunately, there were good at the Serpentine running thing.

The joys of English. Sigh. And you did give me a laugh.

Language warning
[video=youtube;bdaQHTWT_ZI]https://www.youtube.com/watch?app=desktop&persist_app=1&v=bdaQHTWT_ZI[/video]

 

[trucker777]

My grandfather came from Texas. He was a deputy sherrif until he retired, as well as a champion quick draw slinger. That said, I used to love visiting my grandparents home as a kid. He always had all kinds of cool guns laying around. Never touched 'em though, we didn't want to get skinned! My dad always had a few guns too. Sadly, grandfather never took me out shooting, my dad did a few times when i was very young. It was something that just always fascinated me but I couldn't really enjoy or explore until I became of age and able to buy my first shotgun and .22 when I turned 18.
I've been hooked and schooled ever since. It is a great right and responsibility to own and shoot guns, so by my own choice, I carry on the tradition. Someday I hope my kids will too.

 

[TedArnsfret]

Necessity of self-defense and I've always enjoyed precision hobbies. Actually, I think it all started Christmas of 85' when I received an NES with the Super Mario Bros./Duck Hunt 2-in-1 cartridge and NES zapper

 

[sparkyfender]

Visiting my uncle and looking at the photos in his American Rifleman magazines, as I could not yet read.

I remember he let me cut out the cover pic of a fully engraved Mauser broom handle to take home with me. I put it in my scrapbook.

 

[42769vette]

I can mark my love of long range shooting down to 1 shot.

When I was about 10 I saw a coyote at 600 yds. I grabbed my bolt action 223, took a knee, and dropped it in its tracks, while my father, and grandfather stood there with there mouth open. That was the moment I thought "hey I should practice this so I could do it without guess work (guessing drop was what I was thinking).

Knowing what I know now, there was no possible way I should have killed that yote. I held a couple inch's high (100 yd zero) and didnt know wind had anything to do with it. By happy accident, I jerked the trigger, and just plain missed in the right direction, but, that one shot caused me to dump a couple thousand rounds onto that same spot every summer for years. (until I discovered a little longer range to shoot on the farm.)

 

[Drail]

I got hooked during military training - before that all I had really shot were rimfires. But what really hooked me on shooting was the old show "Miami Vice". I had never seen that style of handgun shooting before. Watching Don Johnson shoot everybody TWICE and using cover and moving and reloading was like hearing Led Zeppelin for the first time (remember that?). Within one year I had a .45 and a reloading setup and was deeply involved in USPSA shooting and building 1911 race guns. For the next 10 years all of my disposable income went into ammo components and smithing tools. It was a blast.

 

[bonkers1919]

A Remington Nylon 66, so cool looking. My buddy let me shoot it. The first shot was at 25 yards and it was dead center. 16 years old and had the first adrenaline rush of my life.

I've had other adrenaline rushes since then but you never forget your first.

 

[indiucky]

History.....I found it interesting that the rise of freedom for the common man coincided with the availability of weapons to the common man...There is a very good book called "The History of the Longbow" that really drove this home to me....

I come from a hunting and gun loving family and that got me into guns, but the history is what got me obsessed with them....

 

[Drail]

Remington Nylon 66s were the absolute best cheap American rifle. They were actually chosen to go to the moon by NASA. But they decided there was no need and canceled the plan. Imagine hopping around on the moon in a full suit with a Nylon 66. True story. Did you know the astronauts all carried large Randall knives? They weren't messing around in the 60s. I still can't believe that one of the guys smuggled a golf club and balls to the moon. Be pretty cool to have THAT in your resume.

 

[tsilveus]

Fun.
Self-defense.
Hunting.

 

[Reverend Dreed]

age 8 if memory serves, that little clink sound when my bb struck and empty soup can. And my father had this old winchester single shot 22 he would let us shoot at the prune trees in our orchard.

 

[paintman]

I watched Band Of Brothers. Bought my first m1 Garand and never looked back.