What turned you into a "Gun Nut"?

Gunslinger808

Gunslinger808

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Yeah, there are people out there that are quite happy owning one firearm, and there's nothing wrong with that.
My question is for you collectors and dare I say it, hoarders is what tipped the scale?
For me it was being an LEO, I always wanted to carry the best tool for the job, while never being able to relinquish the past.
Gateway guns were drugs, I always needed better, bigger, and more reliable.
These thoughts lead to my eventual need to always increase my collection, from .22s up to belt feds I was hooked.
And of course there is no such thing as a 12 step program for the firearms enthusiast, so we suffer in silence .
It all started with a Model 19.
Hi, my name is Kevin...And I have a problem.:D
 
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I can't recall NOT being a "gun nut", I can still recall going up to the attic to play with the M-1 Carbine my old man brought back from WWII, I can clearly recall the cap pistols of my youth. Interesting, because there were no hunters and shooters in my family and my first shooting experience was in Scout Camp when I was 13.
 
my old man was a hardass..old school strict. he was a hunter and gun lover he taught me at an early age and i took to it like a fish to water. it was the one thing that i could do with him(shooting not hunting-i was too loud)we didnt see eye to eye on much else . to this day when we are near each other we talk guns, and not much else.
he gave me my first handgun a hi hunter frontier six shooter in 22lr .i do want to thank him for the safety habits he drilled into me as well.
i out shot him with pistols when i was 14, made him angry ha ha,but never saw the day i could outshoot him with a rifle.
 
Read Jeff Cooper's "Fighting Handguns" circa 1959. 75 cents at the local newsstand. A year later I was the proud owner of a DCM .45, thanks to my folks who pungled up the $25 to give it to me for Christmas.

Still have it, too.
 
Started shooting starlings/pigeons with my BB guns in
grandpaws hayloft when i was just a wee tyke. Then it
was squirrels and rabbits with a pump type pellet gun.
Dad bought me a H&R Topper model 20 gauge shotgun
for my 12th Christmas. Then he signed for me when i
bought a S&W mdl 19 when i was 15.
I bailed hay all summer the year prior to save enough
money for it. Also worked de-tassling corn for Pioneer.
All down hill from there.....

Chuck
 
My neighbor was pouring concrete for a new deck.

His wife had taken off her diamond ring to help set up the forms.

The ring got kicked in the sand, the concrete was on the way!!

He asked me to help find it, he had a metal detector, but, no luck.

I came over, borrowed another ring set it down and figured out how to make the detector work.

Within 5 minutes, I had found the ring.

He gave me a High Standard Duramatic as a thank you!! :eek:

The rest of my life has been spent dealing with the addiction!! :D
 
Two things got me on my way to a love of firearms, both when I was 10 years old ...

1) A single shot .410 break top shotgun ...

2) The original Starsky & Hutch deluxe toy handgun set ...
 

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My Dad got me interested initially. Then, it was like an atomic explosion. My first handgun was a High Standard Double Nine 22. I also started out with a Marlin bolt action .22 and an Ithaca Mod. 37 shotgun. Afterward," Katie bar the door." Of course working in two gunshops didn't help as well as obtaining my own FFL. So many guns, so little time, and that money thing too.
 
My dad and Uncle were both shooters and served in the military. Back when you could buy a box of .22 shorts for a quarter, my parents bought me a Marlin 39a for my 13th birthday. I was privileged to grow up in a rural area, and was able to shoot and hunt as a youngster. Developed a real love for firearms and shooting.
Later became a LEO and was issued a S&W model 19.....my first S&W. Serving as a firearms instructor and S&W/Remington armorer has only made my LE career even more enjoyable. Still partial to the Smith wheel guns, particularly the J-frames, as they can be a bit of a challenge, both shooting and repairing.
 
I started shooting at our local high school indoor range under the coaching of our local VFW/American Legion vets at nine years old. Been a dyed in the wool gunner ever since.
 
Hello.
My interest in guns and all things shooting related, was started by the total, and at times hostile, refusal of my parents and everyone else around me, to allow me to have anything to do with the subject.

I will always be grateful to the guns and the shooting sports, that have taught me so much over the last 40 years.

Regards Pete.
 
If I had to say, it would be that I was born that way. ;)

My Dad was a Gunners Mate (1st class) during WWII, seeing
action in "both theaters" and was also a life long hunter.

I shot my first squirrel with a Winchester .22, a model 63 I think it was, when I was 5
and some of my earliest memories are my Dad & I sitting in the living room cleaning guns.
Every time I smell Hoppes it takes me back.......
 
Moved out of Commiefornia and only owned one handgun,Ruger Blackhawk.Moved to WY. the world of all of the really good guns opened up with S&W Mdl. 10. 5 years later and 27 different Colts and S&W's later I think I am getting a feel for nice Smith's and Colts. Love pre-war revolvers.
 
When I was a kid, my Grandfather, and my Uncles hunted. Shoot, everybody I knew hunted, except my old man, and even HE had a shotgun. And everybody on TV, except Mr. Ed had a gun. Cowboys, soldiers, cops...they just seemed to be as natural as having hands. It wasn't just guns I wanted. It was a HANDGUN! I didn't know anybody who had one. One of my uncles was rumored to have a "Cowboy 22" but I never saw it.

What fueled my handgun interest? "The Shooters Bible." I had a dog eared copy that I just poured over. I spent hours with that thing, day after day. And it was the Smith & Wessons I wanted. The Colts were OK, but except for the Python, they just didn't catch my eye.

Model 10, 15, 27, 28, 29...those were the ones I wanted, but the ultimate prize was a Model 19...the "COMBAT MAGNUM!" Eventually it would be the first handgun I ever bought. Oddly enough, I don't have a Model 19 today (I do have a 66).
 
the mean world around me and the right to conceal carry,the fun of collecting,trading and finding the smith gems that are out there and they are kinda an investment.I'm always learning,my problem now is a buddy introduced me to randall knifes,damn !!!
 
Well gunslinger, I look at it from a different perspective. I just got a new SW Model 17, it is a beautiful piece of work. It made me realize why I am hooked. The 17 is a piece of art, it is absolutely beautiful. Look closely at any quality traditional firearm, the melding of well finished wood and metal is irresistible. While the new pastic pieces are useful, there is something about the combination of quality blued steel and wood that is irrestiable.
 
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I really don't know. When you sit back and look at it objectively it is kinda stupid-I mean how many do you really need-but what the heck-I've been called a lot worse :D I really don't consider myself a gun nut-I just like revolvers mainly S&W's but I like Rugers too, and .22 autos, and my M&P ...and my 1911......and my long guns....damnit I guess I am a gun nut.

I was born this way, I was born this way..... (think Lady Gaga)
 
One of my uncles was a hunter when I was a little kid. Therefore I kinda grew up with and around firearms. Now he's in charge of a whole forrest district and only hunts occasionally. Many years later I joined the Military and a shooting club. I never did guns for a living, but I always was around them...

I really like certain looks, angles, shapes on firearms. No matter what brand or type. There are alot of nice guns out there...
I do appreciate the craftsmanship as well as the engineering proccess to build one.

Like I say, firearms are precision tools and that's what it is...
 
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