If your dad didn't teach you to shoot , who did?

[truckemup97]

Dad qualified as Expert, but had no interest in guns after the military. I had a BB gun (or four or five) growing up, but no instruction. For some reason, we had bows and arrows at our Boy Scout camp, but no guns. About age 14, I joined an Explorer Scout group led by our local FBI agent. He took us out to shoot several times, bringing along his M-16 (three round bursts were all we were allowed ) and 12 gauge riot gun. I don't guess anyone ever taught me to shoot handguns, which would explain quite a lot.

 

[gdnagle]

My Uncles way back when, shot their 1903 A3 when I was about 11-12 been a long time ago three shot in bulls eye from about 30 yds not bad for first time shooting target still around someplace signed by them.... They are long gone sure do miss all the family, but still have the memories, I'm the last of them. Field where we shot is a business complex last time I went past there 10 yrs ago.

 

[fyimo]

My Dad bought me a BB gun and let me shoot his shotgun a couple of times but I really learned to shoot at Fort Knox during my basic training when I was in the Army. They did a very good job as I went on to be a combat soldier (grunt) in Vietnam and their training and a little luck helped get me home alive.

 

[C Broad Arrow]

My dad was not into guns. My mother was like Ralphy's in "Christmas Story", "you will shoot your eye out."
I learned in cadets, then the reserves, then through a variety of other organizations. But I really learned to put it all together one night when the hotel I was staying in came under attack and I was damned if I was going to the basement to wait it out. I grabbed a M16 a bunch of ammo, and by the end of the night I knew I not only knew I had the ability to defend myself, but was becoming more efficient in the use of the ammo - even after having to replenish myself a couple of times.

 

[walkin jack]

My dad was not against guns but wasn't interested in hunting of guns of any kind. The only guns he ever had was my grandpa's old top-break S&W .38 and his Colt 1903 service pistol.

A coworker of his had 3 boys about my age (7 years old) and he was always taking them to the dump to shoot. My dad came home from work one day and told me I was invited to go that Saturday. My mom pitched a hissy fit but he listened to her for a while and then he calmly said, "Oh for Pete's sake let the boy go and have a little fun." My dad was the strong silent type and my mom was given to long diatribes that were basically nonsense.

Dad Prevailed again and that Saturday my dad's friend and his boys came by and picked me up and we all went to the dump and shot an old single shot .22 rifle. After, he took us to a hamburger stand and it was the beginning of a life time of enjoyment. I got to make many trips out to that old dump over the next few years to shoot bottles and cans and what all.

 

[carpriver]

learning to shot was a family affair. My dad got me started with the rules of gun handling, and site picture, and shooting my first rifle, then my grandfathers and uncles followed up with corrections and education on the finer point of shooting and hunting. Fall and spring there was always rifles or shotguns on the porch waiting to go hunting. I was not allowed to take a gun hunting by my self until I was about 12 years old and only at the farm.

 

[Lee Barner]

ARMY TRAINING SIR. lee

 

[Kinman]

An uncle taught me to shoot when I was a kid and gave me his old .22 rifle, it never had a magazine, the stock was cracked but it was a good shooter. I was allowed to carry it afield when I was around 12, I was a responsible kid and never got into any trouble with the rifle. I was the best shooter in my company in boot camp, qualified expert with the M14 and according to my DI if I wanted to could probably make it on the rifle team or work as a sniper, that wasn't what I wanted to do. I remember my favorite targets were the 300 meter reactionary targets that fell down after you hit them, I liked to hit them when they were about halfway up. One day my DI was standing behind me while I was in the butts, whistling as I popped those long range targets he told me "You are one eagle-eyed sumbitch". I was popping them all before they got halfway up, 300, 200, 150, 100 all of them a target popped up at 20 yds, I shifted my position and missed it completely...Sarge kicked me in the back of my helmet and said "Thats the sumbitch that kills you."

 

[HankG]

My dad started me with a Red Ryder BB gun when I was 8. By the time he died when I was 16, I had shot shotguns, rifles, bows, slingshots, just about anything that could propel a projectile. My first handgun was a model 1911A1 .45 auto, I bought when I was 19. All of my relatives were hunters and fishermen. They used their skills to bring home food during the Great Depression. What my dad and uncles taught me held me in good stead in the mountainous rain forests of Vietnam.

 

[51plymouth]

My best friend's dad. He sold me a S&W model 10 with a holster and 100 rounds for $50, then he took me to the police range. That range was open to the public back in those days. I loved that model 10, I gave it to my son about a year ago.

 

[Old cop]

The police dept.

 

[Bullzaye]

As many others here, I learned from my Uncle Sam.

My Father probably would have taught me, but my Mother objected...I suspect because her Father committed suicide with a gun when she was just 9 years old.

Tim

 

[Dr. D.]

The guy who really got me involved was my college roommate. We were in the Corps of Cadets at Virginia Tech and he had reloading equipment, 5 or 6 rifles, lots of powder in our dorm room. One day we went to Roanoke and he bought a 357 magnum S&W Trooper (?) and I bought a 357 magnum Ruger Blackhawk. That was in 1966 and I have been shooting and reloading ever since. Still shoot the Ruger. The army gave me the opportunity to hone my skills with many hours of range time and a variety of firearms.

 

[loc n load]

Guns

I grew up in a family where guns and hunting were the norm, my mom had five brothers and they were all farmer's and hunter's, my dad was a hunter and his brother was a hunter as well, almost all of these men were WWII combat vet's.....I actually learned to shoot when I was a grade schooler(late 50's - early 60's) in the Boy Scouts troop 121......our scout master was a NRA rifle instructor and a WWII combat vet also.
On scout meeting day, us scouts carried our cased .22 rifles to school, stacked them in the principal's office until after school, then we would retrieve them, take them to the scout meeting, get loaded up in the scout master's station wagon and conveyed South of town to the Federal Penitentiary training ctr where they had a indoor small bore rifle range......that is where I learned to shoot, I learned to carry a gun into the field and hunt with my dad and Uncle's and that was an entirely different curriculum there with some serious instructors...then onto the military in 69 and then 34 years of law enforcement after that.
Those early years with the scouts and my Dad and Uncles will always be in my heart and mind.

 

[Abbynormal]

In 1962 or 63 when I was 5 or 6 years old, my folks bought me a Daisy BB gun (kinda sorta like a Red Ryderer, but has a plastic stock). They took me to the banks of the Embrarrass (Em-bra) river to shoot at flotsam. It was great as I could see where the BB hit as to my aim. About 1966, my folks got me a Daisy Win 92 clone and a shooting gallery for Christmas. I practiced in the backyard and garage all year round. The next Christmas, they gave me a Crossman M1 Carbine BB clone, it wasn't as accurate as the Daisy 92, but it was "cool".

In 1968, on vacation in Colorado, they bought me a Crossman .45 BB replica. I used on the Daisy shooting gallery and used the dart option on my bulletin board in my bedroom.

In 1969, at Camp Kikthewenund, Boy Scout Camp, I shot my first .22! A single shot Remington with peep sights. Of course, six years of BB gun practice and a year or so shooting the M1 Carbine clone made me the best shooter! I wanted a gun bad. Mom thought I should have one, but Dad (his father was an ILL State Police Trooper who was killed in the line of duty when Dad was six) had second thoughts. While Dad was an Army Vet and spent years in the FBI, a gun was only a tool. I later found out that a lot of conversation went on with Mom, Dad, Grampa, Papaw and Dad's family.
After camp, I found out my Dad was former FBI and had seen the elephant numerous times and carried that with him.

He and my Mom finally bought me my first gun….a Browning .22 T-Bolt!. Mom and Dad joined a local range and Mom ALWAYS cleaned our clocks. At Christmas, I got to take my Browning to show my Grandpa. The first words out of Grampa's'Smouth were: "How bad did your Mom outshoot you?" Turns out Mom outshot Grampa after the 2nd time he took her shooting in the Depression hunting! Mom helped put meat on the family table!

Right after that, we visited Papaw. Papaw was aretired Illinois State Trooper/Lt in the the 30's and 40's. He taught Dad to shoot pistols . shotguns and rifles. Papaw said that I should have Dad's gun too. So he he gave me a Win Model 57 that Dad learned to shoot with and gave Dad the Eastern 12ga single that Dad hunted with in the Depression and the 40's.. That weekend, we went to Uncle Bob's farm and for the only time, Dad, Papaw, Mom and I shot together. I used the 2 rimfire rifles and Dad, Papaw and Mom shot Papaw's 38-44 Outdoorsman.. Of course Mom cleaned our clocks and Papaw had been on the ISP pistol team for over 10 years! They let me shoot a cylinder out of Papaw's .38 and that was the first center fire or pistol I shot (guess where the N frame fever came from).

Dad's best friend was a ISP Sgt and was on the ISP pistol team. In his basement (with a range) I learned how to shoot a pistol. From a K-22's, HS 22's, S&W .38's & .357's to a match tuned.45 ACP! I was in hog heaven.

We (Mom, Dad and I) continued to shoot .22's at the local range (I NEVER beat Mom) but I always was top shot at Scout Camp.
Dad didn't hunt, but my Cousin did and in 1976, Grampa gave me his Remington Model 11 20 ga. I stopped at my Cousins on the way back and he took me pheasant hunting and I hunted for the first time and I was hooked!
It wasn't until 1982, when my best friend bought a M27 ^ that I wanted a pistol. I got a 6" HP and found out that I didn't make enough money to enjoy the M28, so I cut my shooting in half, bought a K-22 M 17 and got good. After that any pistol I picked up I shot well.

When Dad retired and moved to Arizona, I sent the K-22 and a WWI 1911 with him. The first time I visited him, He and his new friends had shot the bejesus out of the K22 and Dad said he should have bought me one when I first started shooting. By the way, Dad being FBI trained, shot from the hip and kicked his buddies azzes!!!!!!!

PS: Still have all of them, but the 6" HP

 

[wly1942]

When I was 6 my Dad bought a Remington Targetmaster, .22 single shot rifle and taught me to shoot it. I still have it and it still is a tack driver. Unfortunately, I am not anymore.

 

[kirbinster]

I learned to shoot a bolt action .22 cal rifle in summer camp when I was 10 or 11 years old. Had not touched a gun since then. Turn the clock ahead about 43 years and I decided out of the blue to get into handguns a couple of months ago. I learned how to shoot the way I learn just about anything these days - the internet. I watched lots of videos, the best I thought were some by Hickok45. I went out to the range and applied what I studied, and have actually gotten quite good.