Who was responsible for your ongoing interest in Firearms?

Who was responsible for your ongoing interest in Firearms?

  • Your Mother

    Votes: 10 2.3%
  • Your Father

    Votes: 176 40.9%
  • Both your Parents

    Votes: 27 6.3%
  • A Friend

    Votes: 44 10.2%
  • A Government Entity

    Votes: 31 7.2%
  • Other

    Votes: 142 33.0%

  • Total voters
    430
My granddad. He was raised in Mississippi and came to Texas in his teens in the late 1800's. Taught me how to hunt squirrels, dove, quail, turkey, and ducks.

Beat the great Ad Topperwein (Winchester Exhibition shooter) in Cisco Texas. He won a case of shotgun shells for his effort.

He said shooting a shotgun was like throwing rocks at a moving target. It took me years to know what he was talking about.
He stood erect, eyes forward, brought the gun down to the target and swung past it and fired and then follow thru.

Granddad and I shared the same first and last name

Dwight
 
Six thugs who tried to murder my best friend and me, and the armed citizen who drove them off.

I can see the motivation there, glad your ok and to hear someone took initiative to save you and your friend.

At the age of 11 I had an instance of someone who pulled me over the day after Christmas while I was riding my bike over to my uncles. The caught me while making a turn on the sidewalk and made like he was going to ask me directions. As soon as he pulled over and I got near the passenger side window he pulled what looked to me like a blued S&W snub revolver and said get in the car. In a split second I took off and rode that bike like I stole it to my Uncles and told them. I don't what happened after that but I can say that my knowledge of guns at a very young age helped me make that split second decision.
 
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My best buddy, who was a Marine, and taught me everything I needed to know about guns and gun safety.
 
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Certainly was. Fished there many a time. :D

We spent every weekend during the summer there for my first 10 years of life! I'm pretty sure that's where I learned to fish. (can't remember learning anywhere else) We were more into the boating and waterskiing there. Great memories of that lake! The prison breaks nearby I believe are what, uhhh, triggered that revolver purchase by my dad and us getting into shooting. :)
 
TV also influenced me at a young age, I'm 61 now. Dad was just a bow hunter and that's what we did. He did have an old Savage single shot shotgun which I used on small game especially after I started hunting pheasants after I got an English Setter on my own at age 14.
That shotgun and a bow were enough though until I went into the service and shot the M-16 and S&W Model 15. It was the 15 especially that got my interest in guns and I started buying handguns as I could afford them. That branched out into long guns later and more hunting. I've been hunting and buying guns ever since and have to give the AF credit for starting my real interest in guns.
 
It's been quite a while since I've logged in here, so hello again :).

I was really surprised at how much response this thread received. "Thank You" to everyone who participated as it was very interesting to read everyone's replies.

"Best Wishes" to everyone out there.
 
My dad was a firm believer that a man only needed three firearms:
- a .22 rifle,
- a "big"rifle (centerfire, .243 or larger); and
- a shotgun.

He started me shooting at age six, but my ongoing interest came from other sources.

- My cousin Jeff let me shoot his S&W Model 36 (his back up gun at the time) and that got me interested in pistols. He also exposed me to Bullseye competition at one of the department shoots.

- Sergeant Major Beam got me into Hi Power Rifle completion, and I continued that later in civilian competition and DCM sponsored matches.

- I got started in tactical rifle shooting during a High Power shoot when a tactical rifle match was scheduled the same weekend at the same range.

- The people I met there got me interested in collecting surplus firearms.
 
Wow, another old thread back from the land of the lost. ;) Actually, I'm glad this one was resurrected so that I could put my 2 cents in.

My father was the one that inspired my love of shooting and also reloading. I must have been around 7 or so (maybe even 6) when he gave me my first rifle, which is an old Marlin (I think) bolt action 22 and cut down the stock so that I could actually shoot it. After a year or 2 I graduated to a 22 Hornet and he then taught me how to reload for the Hornet. He wasn't a pistol person but had a High Standard 22 auto that we messed around with and I found that I liked pistols a lot and when I turned 18 I bought my first pistol, which was a nickel Model 27-2 with a 5" barrel. Since then the collection of rifles and pistols has grown a bit. ;)
 
My Dad had a pistol and...

... a shotgun, but I never saw them and he never brought them out. He did get me BB guns for Christmas though. We talked very little about shooting for fun or sport.

My Mom was afraid of guns, she was of the old school knowing people that got killed 'cleaning their guns' and she saw a guy get shot and killed in her little home town and she was looking for a friend when she saw that some relative had died while 'cleaning his gun'. She left and never told anybody.

My bro had BB guns, too, and joined the Air Force and shot a gun for rifle training, once. Then later I found out he had tried some skeet. A friend had a .22 rifle I shot a few times.

So, I had no gun people around me. On my own without any prompting, when I bought a house I bought a gun along with it and started shooting some, then a guy in the gun store said I should try a Lee Hand loader. Then I met some adults that were real gun people. When I found out that there were people around like me, things picked up. A couple of friends showed me how to work a reloading press and the rest is history, still being made.:)
 
Don't know how I became interested in guns. Neither my dad or grandfather ever hunted. I did receive a Rem. Mod.33 single shot when I was 13 from Mom. Don't know the story & a Win High Wall 38-55. Have passed them along to my son & grandson. Have enjoyed many hunts over the years with friends & buddy's. Now at advanced age I hunt off my front porch.
 
no one in my family ever had a gun. i was the weird person who preferred toy guns to barbies.
i don't think my parents were much surprised when at 16 years old, i walked in the door with a used marlin i bot with my own money, but without permission.
i think i was the only girl in that city who had a gun.
2 years ago i got my first pistol because i was tired of running in the house to get the rifle.
i fell in love right then. someone who knew guns told me i had to shoot 10,000 rounds to be competent. with it.
been shooting 200_300 rounds/week ever since.
i'm competent.
 
My dad would take me up in the hills after we got the yard work done on most Saturdays. He had an H&R .22 LR revolver with a 4" barrel and plastic grips. I'd save all our tin cans for those Saturday outings. Then bring them home full of holes and show my mom.

That lead to my attending hunter safety and eventually my first .22 bolt action Winchester single shot. The rest is history...
 
I agree with Pete Driver's post. Although my dad influenced me greatly in shooting, all those television westerns drove my attention to handguns. So where dad was a long gun enthusiast who never owned a handgun until I bought him one, I went mainly into handguns.
 

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