How old were you when you first started shooting?

[bigstones]

I started at the age of 23 with my induction into the US Army. Fell in love with it and Beretta then. God Bless!

Welcome to Calguns. Thanks for your service.

I started at about 9 at summer camp. .22 bolt action rifle. First time I pulled the trigger I was hooked. I loved everything about it. The smell, holding the bullets in my hand, hitting the bullseye. Over 55 years later I still love it. Went to the range today.

[Supertac916]

Welcome to Calguns. Thanks for your service.

I started at about 9 at summer camp. .22 bolt action rifle. First time I pulled the trigger I was hooked. I loved everything about it. The smell, holding the bullets in my hand, hitting the bullseye. Over 55 years later I still love it. Went to the range today.

It's awesome how we all have fond memories and shooting brings us back to them. I picked up a Marlin .22 mag bolt action from a fellow Calgunner about a month ago. I took it out last week and the thing is a tac driver. My boys will love it, when I take them out to Ice House this summer to shoot for the first time. Hopefully, 55 years later they'll still love it

[spitfirejes]

My dad took me out on my seventh birthday and let me shoot his winchester 94 30-30. I will never forget that.

[CaliforniaLiberal]

I was 8 or 9 years old. Mid 1960s.

Dad had some wild property at the top of a ridge above the Eel River in Mendocino County. His hobby was to clear brush and try and grow Christmas trees. Once or twice a month we'd spend a day up there. He'd hack away at the infinite brush, Manzanita and Madrone, prune up a few Doug fir seedlings while I was shooting a few hundred yards away.

He bought a Sears, bolt-action, tube magazine .22 that was mostly a single shot cause it jammed a lot, but I didn't care, just thought that was how it worked. And also a big .30 Cal I'm not sure what. By my memory it had a hammer and sickle stamped on the barrel, I know that meant Communist. It might have been a Mosin sporterized to a .30-06 chamber. I'm sure that it wasn't firing Mosin ammo whatever it was. I was good for 3 or 4 rounds of that one and then put it away for the day.

Dad was extremely serious teaching about gun safety and the correct use of firearms and I followed his teaching religiously, always finger off the trigger and careful not to sweep anyone while carrying in and out of the house. Cleaned the guns at the kitchen table every time I used them. Loved the smell of Hoppes.

Both guns came into my possession when I was in the middle of a long and painful marriage to a woman who despised guns, they stayed in the back of the closet until the divorce when she took them to the sherif to be melted down.

I've been buying guns and ammo ever since to try and make up for their loss, but the pain is bottomless.

Well, maybe not really, but I sure love to buy and use fine firearms today. My kids never had the joy of shooting as children but we've made up for it in their adulthood.

I like to think that some kind Sheriff's Deputy took those guns home with them and has been treating them well.

[Supertac916]

I was 8 or 9 years old. Mid 1960s.

Dad had some wild property at the top of a ridge above the Eel River in Mendocino County. His hobby was to clear brush and try and grow Christmas trees. Once or twice a month we'd spend a day up there. He'd hack away at the infinite brush, Manzanita and Madrone, prune up a few Doug fir seedlings while I was shooting a few hundred yards away.

He bought a Sears, bolt-action, tube magazine .22 that was mostly a single shot cause it jammed a lot, but I didn't care, just thought that was how it worked. And also a big .30 Cal I'm not sure what. By my memory it had a hammer and sickle stamped on the barrel, I know that meant Communist. It might have been a Mosin sporterized to a .30-06 chamber. I'm sure that it wasn't firing Mosin ammo whatever it was. I was good for 3 or 4 rounds of that one and then put it away for the day.

Dad was extremely serious teaching about gun safety and the correct use of firearms and I followed his teaching religiously, always finger off the trigger and careful not to sweep anyone while carrying in and out of the house. Cleaned the guns at the kitchen table every time I used them. Loved the smell of Hoppes.

Both guns came into my possession when I was in the middle of a long and painful marriage to a woman who despised guns, they stayed in the back of the closet until the divorce when she took them to the sherif to be melted down.

I've been buying guns and ammo ever since to try and make up for their loss, but the pain is bottomless.

Well, maybe not really, but I sure love to buy and use fine firearms today. My kids never had the joy of shooting as children but we've made up for it in their adulthood.

I like to think that some kind Sheriff's Deputy took those guns home with them and has been treating them well.

Sorry to hear about your loss.. I mean the guns, not the ex-wife

I'm fortunate to have a wife who isn't a gun Nazi. Although, she said something under her breath the other day, when she told one of our friends that I bought our boys rifles already. As any mother she's worried about our kids and doesn't want anything to happen to them. I also realize that she didn't grow up around guns and didn't even know her Dad had his father's 1911, until we started dating. We've been together for 10 years now and she accepted that there would always be guns around because I always had them around. I knew she was the one, when it didn't bother her that I had my 1911 on me on our 3rd date.

My kids are already putting dibs on what guns of mine they want, when they grow up. I told them that I'll give them a few of my guns, if they're good and they show me that they respect and are responsible around guns. My 3 year old says, "Daddy, do I have to wait till I'm a big boy or do I have to wait till I'm old like you?"...lol

Thanks for sharing your story and the smell of Hoppes is also stamped in my memory of cleaning guns on the kitchen table after we'd spend a day shooting with my Grandpa and Dad.

[Casual_Shooter]

Not sure if this qualifies as when I first started shooting, but I remember my Uncle taking me out to shoot his revolver. I was probably 8ish. No hearing protection. I remember pulling the trigger, hearing the BANG..... then "PINNNGGGGGGG" in my ears for the next 4 or 5 shots and a few hours afterward.

I've been contemplating getting a .22 for the kids (7 and 8) to shoot once in a while. My son (7) is realistically not ready, but my daughter would probably like to try it.