Two questions.. Average age and what got you started?

[Model29-26.5]

This is about what I expected, answer wise. General age group is older.

 

[Model29-26.5]

This is about what I expected, age wise. A generally older group and several younger than me, all who appreciate the aesthetics and engineering.
The target shooting is the cherry on top, but it’s mostly about owning and collecting.
I see this a lot with guitar collectors who play a little but love the instrument. I guess it’s the same with any collection that mostly doesn’t get used, although there are some hunters out there.
I enjoyed reading everyone’s story.
I fired my first shot last December and currently own 21 SW with another about to be shipped, one to be paid for, and another I will hopefully win on GB this afternoon…
It is an addiction of sorts but I will t be doing it if these things didn’t hold their value.

 

[Old&Retired]

76 and began shooting at age 10.
First S&W was a model 639 I picked up around 1987.
Currently only Smith in the cabinet is a 25-15 in .45 Colt.
I don't consider myself a collector. I purchase firearms to shoot, not as an investment.

 

[tlawler]

I’ll be 63 in a couple months. Not including Dad’s modest collection that I inherited, I started collecting in 1986 when I returned home from Hawaii at the end of my enlistment. My first revolver purchase was a Model 19-3 snubby from A&N Sports in Sanford, FL. My love of revolvers started much earlier than that when I shot Dad’s Model 36 beginning when I was about 6. I really wish I still had that gun, but it disappeared in a move back to Florida from my Dads last duty station at Kaneohe MCAS in the late ‘60s.

 

[S&W Fan]

I’ll be 68 next month. I’ve always had an interest but it really kicked up when I was 12 and we moved from NJ to Arizona. My dad always talked fondly of the M1 carbine he carried in WWII-301st Signal Corp, 3rd Army. He bought one out a barrel at the hardware store but S&W wheelies were his favorite.
The first gun I bought when I turned 21 was a 4” 13, didn’t pay attention to - numbers back then. I shortly thereafter bought a Colt Government. In my mid/late 20s I acquired a fairly large collection of Colt SAA. Due to some life changes they were sold off but I’ve always had some Smiths to keep my 1911s company-the majority of what my accumulation accounts for today.
Taught both my sons to shoot with my late dad’s 4” 686 no dash. Both have continued the interest and now my 10 yr old grandson loves the hobby too. His younger brother and sister will soon get their first outing.

My dad on the left in France, 1944 and his first cousin on the right after bumping into each other randomly! I have over 100 photos my dad took while in Europe.


Another one from an unknown location


Me and the gun that started it all LOL

 

[gfors]

This is about what I expected, age wise. A generally older group and several younger than me, all who appreciate the aesthetics and engineering.
The target shooting is the cherry on top, but it’s mostly about owning and collecting.
I see this a lot with guitar collectors who play a little but love the instrument. I guess it’s the same with any collection that mostly doesn’t get used, although there are some hunters out there.
I enjoyed reading everyone’s story.
I fired my first shot last December and currently own 21 SW with another about to be shipped, one to be paid for, and another I will hopefully win on GB this afternoon…
It is an addiction of sorts but I will t be doing it if these things didn’t hold their value.

My "first" gun was a Savage/Stevens 22/.410, for my 10th birthday, in 1969. Lost in a warehouse fire in Camden, DE, returning from Spain, in 1970. Had an 870 in 12 gauge (later stolen) that I hunted doves with, after school, as a HS sophomore. That Wingmaster sat in my buddy's brick red F-150 window rack, windows rolled down, 'cause Kansas is hot in September, while we sat through English and History. Imagine a 14 (young for my "age")and 15 year old (farm kid driver license), with 2 shotguns in the rack, driving off the school parking lot, waving to our friends, like it was a normal occurrence or something. Everything was perfectly safe. Shells were stashed in the glove box. Seems like yesterday, "only" 50 years ago. Then we moved to DC, and everything changed...
Hunting has always been part of my family heritage, but Dad was not into handguns, while I was growing up. He took them up, again, much later, after retiring from the AF. Found out, after his passing, 5 years ago, that he qualified Small Arms Expert, on his way to Viet Nam, and carried a 15-2 and an M16, in his A-1E. We spent a some time together at the range, shooting his GP 100 and SW .40 cal (don't recall the model), as well as rifles (his and mine).
I bought my first handgun, Springfield Range Officer .45 ACP, and really started enjoying it. Always wanted a .44 Magnum (Dirty Harry, dontcha' know). Bought a 29-10, about 8 years ago, before I knew anything about collecting, but I still love that gun. It's a wonderful piece!
Then, I joined this forum, and started accumulating revolvers that interest me. I am drawn to the combination of form and function that elevates a mechanical device to the level of art.
For me, they are shooters first, because I came to the hobby, as a shooter. My collection is modest, compared to most here. There are no RM's or TL's, in my safe, but not room for much more hardware, of any vintage, anyway. I would love to have scratched guns with boxes and goodies. OTOH, whereas finances would dictate maybe owning only one of those, I've been able to assemble a collection that is pleasing to the eye and fun to take to the range. And I'm not gonna hurt anything too much, by taking them apart and tinkering with them, carefully.
It's not just about shooting OR collecting. It's also about memories and culture and family.

Nothing real special in the vault: Mostly SW, mostly PR, the only thing really noteworthy is a 6" 53-2, or, maybe a 22/32 HFT I-frame, but even these aren't rare or anything. I do have a soft spot for 28's, with a 4" 4 screw, from 1959 (birth year), along with a couple 4" 28-2's and a 6" 28-2, with possibly the best trigger of any of my menagerie.

Thanks for the walk down memory lane.

 

[jmace57]

Late 60s for me

I started collecting S&Ws about 15 years ago, although I bought a Model 19 back in 1977. At one time, I had about 80 S&Ws, but have thinned the herd down to about 20 or 25 now. I think I will go through another culling in the next year or so and take it down to about 10 (as my kids have zero interest in firearms).

 

[jimmyj]

Presently 86+ old
Started at age 12

 

[H Richard]

I always liked guns, from a early age, I shot some in grade school. After High School and 4 years in the USAF, I had a few guns. about age 35 I met a couple friends and they were starting to develop a shooting range about 30 miles away on a farm. Metallic Silhouette originally, then when ROY JINKS, a friend of my friend (Dick Metcalf), brought up the idea of creating a Competition, the Masters International Shooting Championship, and a redesign of the range was accomplished. During this time I got to know Roy Jinks pretty well, and and I became interested in S&W's. Originally the antique's, then the more modern revolvers.



I had at, one time, over 100 S&W's, but with buying and selling I don't know how many I may have had through my hands. As I'm in my later years, I have been selling off my collection and am down to very few, and just those I continue to shoot, or carry.


My interest in firearms spans about 73 years. I'm currently 83, but still shooting.


My shooting interests have been:
Int Metallic Silhouette

Bullseye
PPC
IHMSA Action shooting
High Power Rifle
Small Bore Rifle
Trap
Skeet


I've never been much of a hunter, but a occasional dove or quail hunts. I have made over a dozen expeditions to So Dakota for Prairie Dog hunts, So much fun, shots out past 500 yards.


I still shoot a little bullseye, and trap and skeet. (Broke 21 on the skeet range this past Thurs).

 

[sheepdawg]

I'll be 70 in November and come from a family of good shooters. My paternal grandpa was a shutzenfest shooter in Germany in the 20s My dad was a crack shot. We'd shoot a Luger he had back in the 60s in the backyard, still have it. My first revolver was a Model 15 bought from a friend in the 70s, don't have it. I love to shoot and have a modest collection of Mausers, Mosins and pistols, mostly S&W.

my Grandpa with his shooting medal.

 

[S&WshooterFIN]

Is this forum mostly over 50’s? Older? Younger?
How old are you guys and what got you started collecting/accumulating?
I figure the older the forum era, the older the collectors are, due to $$ value and what they grew up seeing?
Just an assumption but I had to ask.
How long have you been collecting and how many S&W do you own?
What is the main allure of the revolver for you?

I am over 50 years.
I bought my first gun and revolver early 1990's, after conscript service. It was S&W model 17 .22 LR.
In Finland, every real man completes his conscript service at around the age of 20. The service lasts 6 - 12 months. My military service has already lasted about 28 years, we retired 57 years age.
How many revolvers I have? If you ask it my wife, she tell you: "enough or too many" (You can find them here at the forum)

What is the main allure of the revolver for you?
Steel, wooden grip, accuracy. I have used and carried many kinds of weapons in my service, but I like the revolvers the most. In the 1990's I worked as a security guard for 3 years and carried a model 13 3" .357 mag revolver. It is my favorite also today, although I have many other S&W models

 

[dobegrant]

68 years old, got my first gun at 12, a bolt action .22 rifle, not sure how many Smiths maybe 35 or so

 

[Repeater]

I started at age 5 with a Daisy BB gun that Pop got me for Christmas, much to my mother's chagrin. Then, at eight, it was a Benjamin pellet rifle...again, Mom was upset. Then at ten it was a Remington 514...Mom flipped!
Now, at 73, I just purchased a Ruger MK IV 75th anniversary model. Sadly, Mom passed at 104 years but I'm sure she would not have approved. At least she couldn't blame Pop for this one!

I won't tell how many I have but it's more than one.
Christmas is coming...

 

[arjay]

I’m 70 and in my late teens I knew a pair of twins who hunted and shot recreationally and learned from them. After I married I lived in a town bordering national and state forests so access to do both was right next door. I started collecting about 15 years ago when I moved to a more urban area after my divorce when access wasn’t nearly as good or close by.

 

[pharmer]

I'm 71 and I consider myself an "accidental collector." I got a Marlin 7 shot B/A .22 in trade for a Daisy Red Ryder in 1964 or 5. My only gun until 1977; I got on as a State of NJ "Institutions and Agencies" PO. Bought a 4" Model 19-3 from Meltzer's in Garfield. Moved to Fl in 1980, traded the 19, the .22 and a couple .25's for a 6" Model 66-1. While toiling building EPCOT, got my 01 FFL in '82 and began a thriving business among 15,000 men with money every Thursday. Ammo was way more profitable until 1986 when it was "deregulated." I started to pile up inventory until 1994 when the AWB was thrust upon America. Churn-and-burn trying to keep afloat, collecting sales tax, background checks etc until I gave up in 1995. My inventory became my collection. I've added to my stock of revolvers in the following years whilst eliminating "odd" calibers (anything the military hasn't standardized).

I'm trying to go the other way now, only son is Fed and not interested in revolvers says they are "my thing." Sold a 27-2 last Saturday, 1st sale in probably 10 years. Felt like yanking off a bandaid. It's time I guess. Joe

 

[stu1ritter]

I'm 82 and somehow guns always had an appeal, whether as a toy as a kid or shooting paper targets on the high school rifle team, in New York City. The interest never stopped and I was a small arms repairman in the Army and went on to various pistol teams and then shot bullseye for many years. My first handgun was bought at age 17, while in the Army, and was a Colt Python, serial number 6303, bought in 1959 when I was in training at Aberdeen Proving Grounds.
I still try and shoot my revolvers 1-2 times a week.
Photo of me as a kid in the Bronx with my younger brother. You can see the early interest.
Stu

 

[Rubone]

70 for another few months. Started As a kid with '22s and BB guns, my own by my early teens. All types for me but heavy on the revolvers.

 

[Grayfox]

Age 70. Started shooting when I was big enough to hold up a .22 rifle and 410 shotgun. First handgun was an Army issue 1911A1.
First S&W was a Model 19 I bought in 1977. Recently married, living in a rough rental neighborhood and I was working nights. It was mostly so my wife would have a gun handy while I was at work.
It was love at first shot. I now have a safe full of S&Ws. However, none have the lock and only one has MIM parts.

 

[Telecaster]

60, wanted defensive tools. The never-ending quest for the perfect tool, and an admiration for the art of arms design and engineering. Plus the lore and history of firearms.

 

[Bigdog357]

65 years young, started with BB and pellet guns. I hunted a bit with 410's and 30-30 when I was a teenager. Had a couple pistols in my 20's. Didn't really start getting serious about collecting until I was in my 30's. I collect a lot of types of guns, but it leans heavy towards revolvers and lever guns.

As far as quantity I have way more than I need and not as many as I want.