amr40509

Warning -- long random post below.

A post I just read on here got me thinking. I bet there are two kinds of people on this site. Those that grew up with the outdoors a big part of their family history and those that found it later in life. This got me thinking about my own history.

My grandfather got me my first BB gun at age 4, which I shot in his yard for many many hours. Around the same time we started to go hunting. At the end of every hunt (I didn't carry any gun, bb or otherwise) I would get to shoot the shells out of his Remington 22 Semi-auto. I was small enough that I had to put the stock on top of my shoulder to be able to see through the scope.

At 5-5.5 my dad gave me an old Ithaca Single Saddle Gun 22. I shot it, supervised, probably weekly during the summers. I got my first squirrel with it right after I turned six (missed the first shot, reloaded the single shot and got it off hand though the front shoulders with the second – ammo was Winchester Super X solid). By 7 I was allowed to shoot it semi-supervised, meaning that people were outside w/ me, but not standing by me.

At 9 I had memorized a couple of years of Field and Stream and Guns and Ammo. I could tell you any number on the Hornady ammo catalog ballistic charts. I saved up enough money (I think it was $500-600 that I had, so I bet dad had to throw in some too) from a $5 a week allowance and doing odd jobs for a few bucks each to buy my first gun. I knew I wanted a Browning rifle. The local shop had 2 A-bolts in stock, one in 7mm-08 and one in 270win. I got the 270 and put a cheap Charles Dailey scope on it, also got a box of Remington 100grn loads (I haven't seen the 100grn load since). Dad sighted it in, then I shot it a couple of times, shoulder turned bright blue, then black with a nice brown trim. Mom took and old shirt and sewed in some pot holders. After that I could shoot it 5 times before my shoulder had the pattern of the pot holders etched on it.

At age 11 I got my first shotgun for my birthday. A Remington 11-87 SP 12ga. I learned to shoot trap with this in the pasture behind our house. I was a small kid (am still a small adult at 5'7") but due to it's weight and being gas operated, recoil wasn't bad at all. Apparently I shot this gun enough that I ended up with arms way bigger/stronger then others my age from throwing it’s weight around.

At 12-13 I started shooting the 4H shooting sports events, 12 and 20 ga trap, and bought one of the, then brand new, 50cal Knight In lines with yard mowing money to shoot the black power events with. Shot a couple of years of this, winning quite a bit.

By 14 I was re-loading my own shotgun shells (gota MEC 9000G forChristmas that year)and shootingFriday night events at the local clubs,holding my own against the old guys. Turns out I could shoot for almost free, just had to win enough ;-) I was shooting a Browning A-5 with a 32" full choke most of the time because these were prize money shoots and often the 'shoot off' would be from the parking lot, 50+ yards behind the trap house. I used to shoot 1 1/4 oz handloads of #6 that were HOT from back there, and 1 1/8oz of #7.5 from the normal line.



At 14 I also had saved enough to buy my first handgun, a Browning Buckmark 5.5” Standard. I probably shot several hundred thousand rounds though this gun. Literally wore it out (sold it 10 years later, only to buy a new one the next week).

At 15 got my first center fire hand gun for Christmas (Colt King Cobra, stainless, 357, 6") and shortly after got a used press from an uncle and started hand loading pistol rounds.

I still shot a lot, and hunted quite a bit until I got out of high school. Then I lived several hours away, and couldn’t have guns on campus, so I spent 4 years w/o much shooting or hunting. Since then, I've been working on balancing work/wife/home and hunting/shooting.

I think shooting taught me a lot of responsibility as a kid. Both in handling guns, and also in handling money. Being able to work and save up for things I wanted, new guns, as a kid really taught me the ability to make sure that I do have money though careful savings. I think this, plus the early math skills I gained, set the foundation for me professionally.

Today, I am also still lucky enough to have all of the guns mentioned above (and have added a lot more to the safe), I can't wait to pass them on to my kids and hope they gain the same things from them I have. Many of my guns have memories attached to them which are irreplaceable, such as the Browning A-5 Light Twelve (non-vent rib, 28” mod, Belgium) that my grandfather was given when he retired from ‘the factory’ and that he carried so many hours and miles with me in the woods.

I know that when I have kids they won’t really care about the stories of the times their dad spend with some old folks they never met out in a couple of hundred aces of woods that don’t exist anymore. But I hope the same pieces of wood and old blued steel can mean something to them.

So, what’s YOUR story?