Your first time shooting

[Echidin]

I was around 12 shooting with my dad and grandfather on his farm in South Dakota.

[Ford8N]

I was 11 when I saved my money and bought a Daisy BB gun. After that it was a Daisy Powerline pellet gun. And finally around 13 I used a Winchester 1890 .22 short. My buddy's mom was a cop so we would take her guns out and hunt Jacks. Hunting Jacks with a 2" .38 S&W was a challenge. I learned to shoot on my own with my buddies, my parents were not into guns.

[esnyderr]

About a year ago with my friends dad and uncle. Thinking back about the trip I laugh at how ridiculous the whole situation was, the uncle is a prohibited felon and was using HI-cap mags while drinking haha. Since getting hooked up on Calguns I think about that day and just shake my head. I think the first gun I fired was some govt issued .45 and I had no hearing protection on haha

[joedogboy]

I was 15 when I first used a firearm - an M-16A1 at the Ft. Ord zero range with my ROTC class.
I'll give training credit to MSG Leonguerrerro.

[hkusp9c]

I was 14 and learned how to shoot a beretta from the movie lethal weapon

[Whatisthis?]

I was 19 and learned from a fellow calgunner, 9mmepiphany. And that was all of about 3 months ago.... My parents have been pretty much just stayed away from firearms. My dad had a BB gun for backyard fun, but that was it.

[misterjake]

I was 23.

[1970msp]

I was 6 years old.My Dad gave me a single shot bolt action 22.I learned so much from my Dad,I sure miss him.

[Mac]

12 years old. Same day I got my first rifle. .22 bolt action. trained by Hunters (Uncle/Older Cousins) to shoot. I still shoot best off hand on uneven ground to this day.

[Mad Jax]

my father, 10 yrs old, 12 gauge single shot shotgun that was sawed off to 18", that he named shorty. It was the final test, if I could shoot it without dropping it then I was ready. Shorty kicked like a mule but I hung on to her. Before that day I was just a well trained bird dog, that also fetched him beer.

[Ls1FALimpala]

i was 19 when i got a rifle for the 1st time my FAL that my dad gave me. i can take it apart and reassemble with my eyes closed. i was 20 when i got a handgun...

[Brendan Sullivan]

That was my feeling and my point that I made was that I want him to be educated in them and what they're are capable of. I want him to respect them and understand that they're not toys but at the same time that they can be fun and life saving. I rather him learn the correct way to handle them from me than from his friends or worse try to learn on his own and we know how that could end. She is warming up to it and I'm being patient because I know how hard it is for her.

Saying this is a waste since the only people who will read it are Calgunners who already know this, but I admire your approach and it is everyone's duty to spread awareness and safety.

Sheltering kids from exposure to things instead of teaching them right and wrong doesn't work. My first shooting experience was with a friend's BB gun that my parent didn't know about. One day said friend thought it was unloaded and shot me (it's still in there somewhere; he was aiming for my crotch). Never told anyone about it, since I would have been in trouble. Could just as easily have been a shot to the eye or chest.

After that it was destroying things with stoner friends and their pistol-gripped shotguns and various illegal weapons. Sadly, it wasn't until my late teens that I was introduced to firearms by a responsible adult in a controlled setting.

[maddoggie13]

14th with my uncle and his 45LC single action Colt plus 250 rounds....

[trautert]

Summer of 1959. Cub Scout camp somewhere around Tonganoxie, Kansas. The old man left when I was turning 6, never was worth much for that kind of thing.

[peopleofthesun]

Some really nice stories. Thank you.