Shooting

[englishman-in-wales]

Evening all, i was down my local club today and a bunch of us got onto the subject of work and how we came to be into the sport, from the guys i spoke to this morning, one was a taxi driver, one was a civi in the RAF, one was a plumber and one a sparky, with a host of different reasons as to why they was into the sport.

 

My story is that i grew up on a farm, 90% of my family are farmers,shooting for me just 'happened' i'm now the assistant estate manager on a large estate and shooting is just part and parcel of who i am.

 

So the question is, how did you guys come to be 'hooked' by the sport?

[Vince Green]

Started shooting at school when I was 11. Hard to imagine now but it was considered a good thing then to teach boys to shoot. Most Grammar schools in those days had a shooting team. By 14 I was going out rabbiting with my uncle.

Edited November 27, 2011 by Vince Green

[Dr_Scholl]

My father got me in to shooting. I shot my first gun when I was 9 or 10, and started hunting at 12. Most male members of my family own at least 1 gun.

[Dr_evil]

First shot at school using a .22 air rifle, had a holiday in sweden when I was about 12 I think where we went moose stalking, back to school and started shooting .22 rifles at Sedbergh for the CCF, moved school made friends with some people with guns and got into it properly……3 years later I got my license and now shoot weekly

[gixer1]

My father and a life long friend of the family had a rifle/shotgun in my hands from the age of 8...(they were both ex-forces) and it just stuck! I remember going stalking with my dad and one of his friends (an australian oil guy) when i was about 6 years old in a place called "Dallas" in the highlands and it was the deepest snow I remember in my life, we had an old Volvo snow cat tracked vehicle and I got to sit on my old mans knee whilst driving it...was magic!

 

Regards,

Gixer

[WelshLamb]

Went for a walk with two friends around one of their permissions last christmas. My mate asks me if I've ever shot before - I replied "No", so he hands me a 12 bore and offers me a shot at an old drinks can half way up a bank. Having never even seen a shotgun before that day I was terrified! From the second I pulled the trigger, I was hooked.

 

Applied for my SGC on the very same day, and am now out shooting wherever and whenever I can!

[Spara Dritto]

It's in my blood. All my relatives in Italy shoot and I've been obsessed with guns as young as I can remember. My father taught me how to use his air rifle and I learnt all the important safety fundamentals.

[mr who?]

When my brother and I were kids , we used to live next door to a family who were travellers , who had decided to set up house in a council house , next door to us .

 

John , the youngest of the family , but still a few years older than my brother and I used to take us hunting with him .

 

It all seemed like fun and games to us , until the day John explained that he was shooting for his dinner , if he went home empty handed , he didnt have anything for dinner!!

 

He said something along the lines of "When your shooting for your supper , you tend to get really good , really fast!"

 

A year or so later , I saved up enough to buy my own rifle , some weird old spainish thing called "El gamo" , must have been all of 2ftlbs!

 

Later on , shot in comps for the cadets , and went on to shoot for my Regt while in the army .

 

Also , while on leave , I met and was coached by a guy who seemed to know a thing or two about shooting , His name was Malcom Cooper and was a double gold winner in two olympics . A really nice guy , who helped me freely and give up his time and advice for anyone who asked for it .

 

After leaving the army , I didnt seem to go hunting at all , just didnt seem to be bother about it at all , so sold off all my stuff .

 

However , after a year or two of not shooting or hunting at all , I got right back into it , even getting my FAC/SGC .

 

I now find that if I dont go hunting at least once a week , I really really miss it .

 

All the very best fellas .

 

Andy .

 

P.S. Is anyone else thinking "My god! Dont he go on?!?!"

Edited November 28, 2011 by mr who?

[bi9johnny]

always wanted to do it and used to stand outside the tackle shop in town and gaze at the shotguns in the rack and the air rifles on the wall....magical

then got air rifle and it went on from there aged 16 so now clocked 32 years

[Scully]

Think it may be in my genes;my Dad and his brothers were all shooters(not entirely legally I may add)and some of his mates used to tell me how my Dad would headshoot pheasants with a .22rf back in the late 50's and 60's.Poaching of course.

I have been obsessed with firearms ever since I can remember,and used to creep through hedgerows with an old .177 Webley Ranger,which my son now plinks with in the back garden.I still have my original Milbro cattie!Joined the cadets at grammar for the sole purpose of being able to shoot .22rf and No4's and L1A1 at camp.Great fun.

Became legit' in my late teens when I applied for SGC and FAC.It's not a hobby,but a way of life,and one I would defend in every way I can.

[swiss.tony]

my dad was a armed robber we had many guns in house so just used to take them out and shoot black birds in back garden decoying over bread worked really well.

 

 

But then the police asked him to go jail for shooting a guard and it all went down nick from there did not fancy

same carer path so had to go legal never looked back since 12 got more guns and land than TA

[M.I.A]

I have been shooting for as long as i can remember. As a child i went out with my uncles using rimfire and shotguns (still have the first 2 rimfire cases i ever fired). In my teens i joined the cadets and shot for the detatchment and for the eastern region, won most comps, shot a walther target gun and a enfiled. 22 single shot, .303 enfield and the l85 whilst in the cadets.

Edited November 28, 2011 by M.I.A

[Kes]

Interesting reads.

I was hooked when my dad gave me an old Heinel .177 air rifle. Always shooting with it. When we moved to the country we used to go rabbitting with a borrowed 12 until dad bought his first OU. Shot my first rabbit at 11 with a 12 bore weighing half a ton. Used the farmers .22 pump to shoot crows on his plough using short rifle, aged 13. Then to farmers whose sons I knew - everyone shot in those days. So I got into everything including pigeon decoying, more or less as it started.

Hunting and shooting are great sports, as much and more for the peace, the countryside, good mates, being there, than killing things.

 

I can remember some special shots from 40 years ago, as if I was there now. Magical.

Edited November 28, 2011 by Kes

[Bloke]

My dad and my older brother were both in the RAF and as a kid I had a chance to go to the ranges as part of 'family day' and shoot off a few (Really, the instructor was holding the gun and I touched the trigger). Fantastic for an 8-11 year old! Then, when I was about 18, around 1973, I drove a mate of mine to his cousin's farm near Newark, where he did a bit of vermin shooting, mainly .410, but a bit of 12g and they invited me to have a go. It was great fun, bit of vermin bashing and he also had a hand cranked clay trap. Then family, work and many other things came along and scroll to 2009, I was retired, disabled and bored. I passed a local clay ground and remembered the fun from years ago, went for a 'have a go' lesson and applied for my SGC the same day. Here I am two years later (and a lot poorer ) applying for my FAC - still enjoying it!

Edited November 28, 2011 by Bloke

[Maidment78]

Grandad owned a farm in Devon, dad got me a .410 three shot bolt action when I was 8 and let me loose on the rabbits and pigeons and have been shooting ever since, going to be getting my little girl a .410 as soon as she can lift a gun, she is 1 year at the moment but not long now!

[dazsl]

dad was a gamekeeper didn't have much choice can't remember not shooting

[Albert 888]

Shooting hunting and fishing runs in the family blood.Started very young remember following the hounds was my dad and his friends.Then used to go rabbiting when with dad and his friends.Dad was is a terrier man.Used to beat on a syndiacte which i am now full gun.Started shootig by following my grandad and uncle round a wood we used to look after with a catapult then a bow then back to catapult using arrows now that was fun never got anthing though.Then moved onto air rifle.Then 410 bolt action.Then grandad lent me his 20b aya yeoman and jena the lab at weekends.Bought my first shotgun at around 14 my browning o/u 12b which i still use now.And now i can never see me giving it up.Thats why im still single and loving it.Now shoot at least twice a week be it wildfowling,phesant,pigeon,crows or clays.

[njc110381]

I think my shooting related memories start at about the age of 5. My grandad on my dads side used to be a wildfowler and had his old side by side "twelve bore" behind the bedroom door. I spotted it one day when I was up there looking for a book he'd asked me to get and obviously asked about it. We spent an hour giving it a dust down and clean whilst chatting about his memories of using it. He probably hadn't fired it for ten years at that point but I could tell it meant a lot to him. That started the thought of shooting.

 

Well a few years passed and then I happened to be at my other grandads place when an uncle turned up with his air rifle. At a guess I was maybe 8-10 years old? He had a .22 BSA Meteor and with a bit of nagging he let me have a go. I didn't hit much, only tins but that moment hooked me. My uncle left his gun there and I used to shoot at my grandads place whenever I went to stay.

 

A couple of years on and I got a Gat gun.... What a heap that was compared to my uncles old Meteor but hey, it was still fun. Then I talked my mum into getting me my own.... Funnily enough a .22 BSA Meteor!

 

I shot that for a couple of years then got a BSA Superstar when I was strong enough to handle it. Then I was reaching the age that I could do things myself and got a .177 BSA Supersport. I used to shoot targets and rats with a lad named Jason at a local stables and he sold me the Supersport. I built a bit of land up and carried that on until I was about 18 with several additions and changes of guns. I also used to go up to a little clay shoot ever boxing day and new years day and watch. I had a few shots here and there and decided I wanted a shotgun. Then I got booked for blowing stuff up. Guns and the like went out of favour in the house and I gave up with the idea that the shotgun plan would never happen.

 

I dropped out of the sport until I was in my mid twenties. Then I found the old Supersport in the attic and tuned it up with a gas ram and started hunting again. I then upgraded to an Air Arms S200 and got quite keen.

 

I found this forum and started chatting and someone pointed out the five year rule - perhaps I could get a shotgun after all?! I applied with a covering letter that was ten times longer than this post and got a home visit. The FEO said we all make mistakes - it was the best part of ten years ago by this point and a couple of months later my SGC was in my hand. I bought a Beretta Silver Pigeon, joined a local clay shoot and got a couple of farmers on side too.

 

Then of course there were the rifles. I met a guy off of here and he showed me a whole new meaning to the world of shooting related fun. I used his 6.5x55, Ruger 10/22, SAKO TRG!!!

 

I applied for my own 6.5 along with a HMR with him as my mentor. I got those granted and have been having a great time ever since. I've got some pretty hefty toys now and do my best to get right back to the start of the cycle. If I stumble across a local newbie I'll help them - it's a tough world to get into on your own.

Edited November 28, 2011 by njc110381