Childhood what got you into Shooting

[working dog]

Started off at about 11 with a webley junior which had no power and no accuracy. Then a relative gave me one of his cast-offs - a Relum Tornado a year or so later. It was ugly as hell, weighed as much as a family sized car but was powerful and fairly accurate.

 

I then moved away from guns for a while and came back to air rifles when we moved house and had lots of rats for target practice.

 

Then, a couple of years ago I foolishly spent an afternoon clay shooting and applied for my SGC within the same week and the shot guns followed not long after.

[Reece]

The primary school I went to was a nice place on the edge of the village, with a nice view of the surrounding countryside. I remember I often used to look out at breaktime at the fields and the trees on a hilltop overlooking the school. It really was a beautiful place, and it seems that whole experience probably got me interested in the countryside.

 

Because of my interest in the countryside, which I think my school had a part in, I always used to go out with my dad when he went shooting. Back then I just wanted to get into the countryside, and I really enjoyed it, not specifically interested in shooting, but I did help by keeping a look out for rabbits, etc. Back then just being out in the countryside was like an adventure for me.

 

It was this way for quite a few years until my dad got me a 410 and taught me to shoot. This wasn't long ago, only a few years in fact. Now I am practicing with an air rifle which was given to my dad.

 

And that's how I got into shooting.

 

I suspect a lot of shooters enjoy not only the shooting, but being outside in the countryside.

Edited February 17, 2013 by Reece

[airarms]

shooting with my older brother with his webley vulcan.i was instantly hooked.i now shoot a hw 90k

Edited February 19, 2013 by airarms

[Markr]

i started at about the age of 9 with a Gat Gun till my uncle found out i had it and took it of me.

 

had to put all my weight on it to push it in was probably more effort than it was worth but it started my passion for guns and shooting

[bridges]

I used to shoot an old BSA Cadet Major with my Dad and my brother in the garden. Then I joined the Air Training Corps and got became Squadron Marksmen, shooting a BSA Martini. Then returned to air guns and now clay shooting too

[RED BEARD]

my dad first got me into shooting,i used to go pigeoning with him and i had an old relum tornado with a few inch's cut off the stock so it would fit me,had loads of different air guns when i was growing up.sort of drifted away from shooting for a few years in my early 20's,i now shoot air rifle,shotgun,rifle and pistol.

[The Ghost]

I remember having an old cut-down Bsa air rifle made by my dad, I thought he was a gunsmith as it fit perfectly.

I remember he got a tape out and said " hold your arm out" seconds later it was done.

I had to use cardboard targets as it could go right through a bit of paper from 5 yards

[noz]

Started out with my uncle when I was 10 with a .177 Haenel on sparrows , etc. on a farm where we used to shoot. Then I got a BSA Meteor for Christmas and got my first pigeon aged 12 from about 30 yards!! I have since shot clays, but still have an air rifle and a pistol as well as the shotgun. Incidentally, has anyone ever read " Come shooting with me" by Colin Willock; I always used to get this out of the library when I was a kid.

[Canis]

firearms are in the blood.

 

first taught the principles of marksmanship by my grandfather at about 5or 6 on an old electro mechanical arcade shooting range machine. graduated onto air rifles about a year later.

The journery to streatham armouries with my father( a pistol shooter) on my 14yth birthday,receiving the" never point a gun at anyone or anything you dont intend to kill is one of my crystal clear memories of childhood.

 

We went to the gunshop that day with the intention that i try the HW77 and if i could cope with the weight i was getting that and if i couldnt i would get a BSA supersport. I desperately wanted the 77 and convinced my father that i could cope with the weight thats what i walked out of the shop with. looking back 20 odd years later if im honest it was a bit heavy(at leaat by the time it had telescopic sights on it )

[Paladin]

I started when I was 9. My dad bought me a Gecardo mod15 (tin plate Diana) he passed away not long after. About two years later my Mom took me into Brum and as we walked down Steelhouse Lane I used to linger at the gun shops there were about 6 or 8 in them in a row in them days, (about ten shops in Brum in the late 50s early 60s what have we done!!) Then she droped a bomb shell and said "Do you want a NEW gun? As I've been letting the garage out and you can have what you want." So we backed tracked an I stood looking into Smiths window at the new BSA Meteor. a few miutes later it was mine. She said that if I was conscripted that I ought to be able to shoot! I had plenty of practice shooting rats on a couple of tips and along the cut we used to get 6 pence (Old pence) for every tail fom a lock keeper. Rabbits could be had on the waste land at the back of the ICI. Where we used to see a guy with a Remington .22 with a nylon stock. Ahh the good old days.

[njc110381]

I first got my love of shooting from the stories my father used to tell of him and my grandad going out and shooting geese just after the war. Pretty much all the meat that hit the table was provided that way. Then one day they showed me his 12 bore - an old side by side London best hammer gun in a leather hard case that was given to him by a rather wealthy chap that he used to work for. My grandad wanted to let me fire it but at five years old my father decided it probably wasn't the best idea!

 

Several years passed from then and I was allowed to shoot my uncles BSA Meteor. I started off shooting at tins and as I got better my grandad used to glue coins to a length of cotton and hang them in the trees at the end of the garden. Anything I shot down I could keep, and that kept me keen!

 

Not long after I managed to talk my mum into letting me have my own Gat gun, although it was a bit pants compared to my uncle's Meteor so the next christmas my mother bought me my own, a mk5 if I remember correctly in .22. That was on the condition that it stayed at my grandads house. A couple of years later I upgraded to a BSA Superstar, then a line of other stuff followed.

 

I always wanted to have licensed guns but when I was 18 I got into some pretty serious trouble and thought that was the end of my chances. I gave up on guns almost completely for about five years - before I picked up on air rifles again, then a couple of years later I found this forum. Quite a few people took the time to listen to me and give advice, and I was told about the five year cut off where if you haven't done jail time and haven't been in trouble for that long you can usually be deemed suitable again. By the time I plucked up the courage to apply I'd left it about 8 years. I filled out an application for my shotgun certificate, stuck in a two page letter about how I'd changed a lot since I had been in trouble and sent it off. I got quite a grilling over it on the home visit but got it. Once that was done I was assured (again by the good folk of PW) that if I was deemed fit to own a shotgun I could also most likely have firearms. At the same time I met up with a local member who let me use some of his rifles, and went on to mentor me when I applied for my 6.5x55. As it wasn't the smallest of calibres for a beginner that was a great help. Now I've got all sorts of stuff and wouldn't give it up for the world.

[welshwizard]

Simple answer ,Jack Hargreaves !

There,s a forum dedicated to his memory now .

Its called "Jackshed" .

Edited March 14, 2013 by welshwizard