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
I think it was in the blood for me. My dad taught me how to shoot. His training was military textbook...not very fun in the slightest but good instruction nonetheless. He was a high power shooter in the Navy. My interest in firearms started well before I knew of his military service. They just fascinated me as soon as I knew what they were. Back in those days the elementary school libraries were full of military and firearm references. I read up on as much as I could get my hands on. From that early reading I developed a taste for military arms and their counterparts.

One thing that resonates is my dads description of shooting the 1911; nearly uncontrollable, difficult to master, etc. He had a hard time qualifying with it and was the laughing stock of one range evolution when he shot through and toppled the wooden target carrier. The anticipation of taming such a beast was nearly unbearable. It was the first centerfire pistol I fired and has been my favorite since. I'm sorry he wasn't around to see that anticlimactic result.

My brother and I were regular Expert shooters in the USMC with my brother getting "High Shooter" honors on one qual, thanks in no small part to a good start.

ETA: It has been an honor to pass what I can to my son, who starting at the age of four, has amazed me with his natural ability and professional attitude towards guns. He has a great start and I hope it continues to grow as a discipline and a hobby for him.
 
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Growing up in the 50s I think westerns helped pique my interest but when I went to summer camp with the YMCA and found out I could take shooting lessons with a .22 Remington single shot bolt action, probably a 511 or 512, I was hooked. I'm the only one in my immediate family who enjoys guns and was on my own developing my interest.
 
It was me.

I grew up in a household of three shotguns. By the age of nine, I wanted to shoot on the school rifle team, and bought my own .22 rifle. Mom didn't like guns, but tolerated them. Saving money for that rifle built character in me, they said. :)
 
My Dad, other Vets and yes--JOHN WAYNE, started my interest--I then "carried the ball."
 
It was a Louisiana State Trooper.. who while in plainclothes and attached to then Governor Edwin Edwards Staff..

Carried the biggest and brightest nickel S&W Model 59 in the coolest shoulder holster I had ever seen..

I was hooked...


" BEAT BAMA " GEAUX TIGERS!!!
 
I voted "other". I was basically a self-starter.

My Father served during WWII. He landed in Normandy on D-Day, was in Bastogne when the Battle-of-the-Bulge began (he got out of there before it was encircled), he saw several Death Camps, etc.

So, we had several guns around the house, a captured P-38 & Radom (which are now in my possession), 2 other small-caliber cheap handguns, and a Savage .410/.22 O/U. The pistols were nothing more than mementos to my Father, and during one of our discussions he said he'd seen enough violence for a lifetime, and he didn't own anything that was worth killing over.

Anytime my Dad got the O/U out to shoot at a rabbit or groundhog, my Mom would make sure I was very far removed from the area. Her Father had committed suicide when she was 9 years old, and she didn't much care for guns.

Unfortunately, my Father never gave me any instruction in firearms, or ever offered any guidance in that direction. So, my first time holding or firing a gun was when I was 17 years old, in USAF Basic Training. I still remember how befuddled I was, and my surprise that I actually qualified (I still believe that someone else must have accidentally deposited some hits on my target).

It wasn't until several years later, when I was approximately 24 years old, when I began to look into firearms. It quickly developed into a major hobby. My Father was okay with it, and was interested in my acquisitions...but my Mother was unhappy, and said so for many years. Eventually, she came to accept that I knew what I was doing, and realized that the guns themselves weren't capable of spontaneously creating havoc.

I'm jealous of you all who had parents and/or other family members who guided you and encouraged you into the hobby. You're very fortunate!

Tim
 
My Dad introduced Me to shooting even though He didn't shoot much I have His Remington Model 550-1 it was the first real gun I fired 40+ years a go,My Uncle Collected Guns so that had some influence on Me starting My collection.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 
To be perfectly honest the current administration has far more to do with my ongoing interest in firearms and firearm's rights than pretty much any thing else I can think of
 
A friend that a) has a carry permit and always carries and b) has extensive firearms training. It was obvious to me years ago he knew his stuff about guns.

A desire to learn how to protect my home caused me one day to ask him, "there's one of those gun shows this weekend. Can you go with me and help me pick out a pistol? I want to learn how to shoot."

Six years, five semi's and two revolvers later, here I am. :D
 
While dad raised me with guns I have had the intrest since before I can remember. Then along come "Duke". Ura "Duke" Duvall was about as old as my dad. I rented him a room around 1970 as he worked where I did but that was about a 100 miles from his home. He would go home about every third weekend and work tons of OT as I did. Duke was a big time collector of everything but especialy smith and wessons. Everytime he went home he would return with a huge satual of more handguns! He educated me more than anyone else. This guy even had volcanics etc. Lots of old west guns. Dukes brother in law owned king gun works, so duke had a lot of "in`s" and knew many gun people, writers etc. He also had guns wrote up in some of the magazines. I have/had a few I got from duke. He got some from me too!









 
TV and books, like most young boys I expect. My father's interest in firearms developed later in life, but when it did he jumped in with both feet. That cemented my interest too.
 
My parents were not gun people. I voted other because it was my wonderful Grandfather who introduced me to guns at a young age. He was a machinist who had a collection of Winchester and Marlin riles that always amazed me. I lived with my Grandparents in the summers growing up and had a lot of opportunity to shoot with Grandpa. I learned the basics from him and then honed the skills on the high school rifle team. All of those great rifles are now in my safe, some 60 years after I first saw them.
Dave
 
My Dad Sort Of

Being a refugee from the state of New Jersey shooting sports were difficult to pursue. Dad liked Trap shoots but did not hunt. I liked shooting at real birds not clay ones.
After moving to a free state, Florida, and the aftermath of Hurricane Andrew my gun thoughts turned to home/self defense. Getting a CCW too. Bill Clinton and the Brady Act did me in.
When the government says you shan't have a thing it just makes me more determined to get that banned thing.
 
Three people....

Me, Myself and I. I have zero gun heritage. My dad had a shotgun but I never saw it outside his closet. I did get BB guns for Christmas, and had a variety of toy guns, even a cool WWII style Thompson and a cool automatic from "The Man from Uncle" days. Most everything else was cowboy guns. My favorite was an 1895 Daisy BB gun. I loved that thing, spent a lot of time in the woods and shot up a 'tube' of BBs every few days.

I found out later my Dad had a break open .38 S&W and I was elected to find him some bullets for it.
 
Probably Barack Hussein Obama. Seriously. Let me tell...

Growing up in Los Angeles I became very interested in guns from maybe 6 or 7 YO. I spent summers at my grandfolks house in Salina, Kansas. Grandpa was the ticket agent at the Union Pacific Depot until he retired. We would fish the local rivers & lakes until it got "too stinkin' hot." Grandpa would have a nap and I would sit in the cool basement reading through many years worth of Field & Stream, Outdoor Life, Readers Digest. All the outdoors magazines had ads for guns, the Sears catalogs featured Ted Williams shotguns & such. By the time I was 10 I knew you needed to have Bullseye, Unique and 2400 powders.

On one of our fishing trips to Mulberry Creek outside of town I encountered a couple of guys shooting a Ruger Standard .22 pistol. They let me shoot a magazine & sent me on my way.

When I was about 14 or so a family friend took me along on a range trip and I was introduced to the Walther P38, Colt SAA and the Ruger Single Six.

That was about it until I joined the Navy in '73. My first four years out of A School were spent with USNMCB-5 where I met up with the venerable 1911 & the relatively newish M-16. Even bought my own rifle, a 10/22 in '77. It got stolen while I was on deployment.

That was about it. Fast forward to 2008. I had a Winchester 1300 Defender under the bed but nothing other than that.

After the election I figured I'd better get me a handgun before they were banned. After much research I got the Ruger KP90. It had some issues & had to go to Prescott. I found that I was uneasy not having a handgun next to the bed. Kind of sour on bottom feeders I figured I needed a wheelgun. Wound up with a Taurus 669 with 6" barrel. A pretty nice revolver for $300 OTD. It's served me well & I still have it.

By now I was reloading .45ACP, .38 & .357 on a Lee Classic Turret. My early obsession came in handy as I was able to get rolling pretty easily. A bit surprised that not much had changed. I started out on Bullseye & 2400. I knew to stay away from Unique. :D

THAT'S when I started hanging around gun stores... (cue dramatic music) :( My first S&W was a 6" Highway Patrolman.

And so on. The story is just too sad... My wallet cries.

So, I guess I can thank Barack Hussein Obama for my presently ongoing interest in the shooting sports.

Barack Hussein Obama. Sold more guns than Winchester & Ruger combined! :D
 
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