What made you a "firearms enthusiast"

[ATM]

I got a S5W Naval Reactor with a S3G core.
But it was kinda hard lugging it around.

And lots of forms to fill out. Hardly worth it just to heat up leftover pizza.

 

[actaeon277]

And lots of forms to fill out. Hardly worth it just to heat up leftover pizza.

Also good for distilling water and making oxygen out of water.

 

[jfed85]

Firearms

 

[dyerwatcher]

Guns not allowed in my house growing up. Two revolvers were purchased the first week in my own place. A Chief's Special and a Colt Trooper. Wish I still had them.......along with a dozen others I have sold over the years.

 

[warthog]

My dad introduced me to shooting and handed me over to a buddy of his to learn reloading.
We used to go out to our woods, we lived on a small farm in the middle of nowhere and soot every weekend. Pop and I were never very close but this was a bit of common ground where we weren't constantly fighting about stupid stuff. I am still fascinated by the workings of them and the beauty. I love a rifle with wood and clued steel and a leather sling. Originally this is probably why I have been more of an AK guy than an AR guy as wood on an AR looks wrong and I know they have the wood for this to happen and have seen people who have done it and all. Lever action or bolt action rifles, pump shotguns (wood stocksets), revolvers with nice wood grips... yeah, that is what I'm talking about. I do have some fantastic plastic firearms and stainless steel but for me it will always be wood and blued or parkerized metal.


Then he and my Mom and sister must have had a psychotic break. They are now staunchly antigun but say they are also staunchly conservative
Like I say, I think they went over the edge at some point. I really think they have porous grey matter that allows any and all media conditioning enter an take root. I grew up and decided that it wasn't worth losing what little affection they had for me so we agreed to never talk about firearms again and we don't.

 

[halfmileharry]

I don't really remember not having a gun.
Grew up in the middle of nowhere hilly TN on a farm.
Dad was a big time hunter so we were always on the road when he wasn't bootlegging or fishing.
I've still got my first shotgun in the safe. Winchester 37 12ga 36" barrel. It's in good shape.
First rifle sitting next to it. Winchester 52. It's got a few freckles and some oil stains in the wood but it's still a great shooter.
I never was into handguns until the USMC and an old nasty 1911 bit me in the brain. What a cool weapon. They do multiply btw.

 

[Old Bear]

Grew up with John Wayne and Clint Eastwood........I never stood a chance

 

[Kirk Freeman]

Cleaning patch diaper baby.

Started at 5 (Stevens .22). No voluntary choice for me.

 

[miguel]

Six **********s tried to car jack me once.

I decided, like Bobby Knight once said, "They would not put me in this ****ing position again..."

p.s. Do not stand in front of a car driven by a guy who feels he has no other option.

 

[2 151 INF]

I think I shot a 22 lr once before I had turned 18. It wasn't till I went to basic that I learned to shoot. I was in the Army/National Guards for around 10 years total, and never owned a personal weapon. It was a few years after I got out that I started to really miss shooting. It's way more fun to shoot in private life!

 

[TheJoker]

I started on the path with BB/Pellet guns. Dad used to take me to a stone mill. I would be turned loose to shoot as many birds as possible. Pigeons would perch high in the rafters and taunt me with my spring powered Daisey. That lead me on a quest for more powerful bb/pellet platforms. There was the old Crosman you could pump as many times as you needed. Then, I discovered CO2 powered, .22 caliber pellet guns. My cousin gave me an older Crosman .22 pellet rifle that used two CO2 Cartridges...THAT was when said pigeons paid for their taunting. I spent paper route money on one of those Crosman .22 pellet pistols that looked very much like a S&W model 15. I carried it in an old USGI holster and web belt where ever I went. I'm sure I made a lot of the neighborhood Moms nervous. But, I never got into any trouble; Dad made the rules very clear and I followed them to the minutest detail.

My Dad was a LEO. So, there were always firearms around the house. I used to take that Crosman pistol to the FOP when he practiced/qualified.

I started into firearms around 13 when Dad brought home a single shot Winchester bolt action rifle, a model 60, I believe. At 14, Dad let me take a rusty old 1930s Colt Police Positive he had acquired doing some horse trading to an old gunsmith in town, Van Way was his name. It was rusty and the barrel was shot out. After a four month wait...which seemed an eternity...we got the Colt back. That old gunsmith couldn't find a replacement barrel. So, he made one. The total cost was $17.35 for the new barrel and rebluing. I still have that old Colt.

I was always into history. I read the biography of Samuel Colt; it was very inspiring to me. When I turned, 16 Dad marched me down to the Sheriff's Dept. to apply for my LTCH only to find that 18 was the minimum age. Knowing that cap and ball revolvers had no LTCH requirement, I saved up and bought a Navy Arms .31 Colt Pocket replica which became my favorite hunting side arm. Yes, I actually shot a rabbit with it once.

When I turned 18, I got my LTCH. That Christmas...probably the best Christmas gift ever...Dad gave me and old Walther PPK. He had acquired it during the aforementioned horse trading and I admired it most of my childhood. If I saved up and bought a box of .32acp, he would let me shoot it when we went to the range. Dad always made me buy the ammunition that I shot on our outings to the range. It was a good lesson.

I look back and laugh sometimes at the image of the boys in my neighborhood in the 1970s. We would tie our rifles to our bicycles. And with pellet pistols/cap and ball guns holstered, we would ride out of town to the railroad trestle to spend the afternoon plinking. A sight that these days would certainly bring, lockdown, panic and armed response by the SWAT team. I feel sorry for kids growing up today.

Fast forward 40 years, Dad has passed. I still own and treasure many of his firearms including his service revolver and his John Wayne 1894 Winchester. The love and interest in history has inspired me to build a very nice collection of WWII rifles which I shoot regularly. I have a girlfriend that has taken to the shooting sports like the proverbial fish to water. I consider myself one lucky fella to be able to indulge in my passion for the shooting sports on a regular basis.

 

[indiucky]

Something one never hears...

"I used to be into guns..."

Once it starts it just keeps rolling on.........There are no "used to be into guns"......Even felons still keep one around if the nightly news is any indication....

 

[Old Bear]

I think I shot a 22 lr once before I had turned 18. It wasn't till I went to basic that I learned to shoot. I was in the Army/National Guards for around 10 years total, and never owned a personal weapon. It was a few years after I got out that I started to really miss shooting. It's way more fun to shoot in private life!

Your correct it is more fun in private....but it's a heck of a lot cheaper when Uncle Sam buys the ammo

 

[russc2542]

My dad got in trouble for having a BB gun when we lived in the country when I was 5 or 6. Never really thought about it for probably two decades but always liked mechanical stuff. Both my family and the in-laws are all good illinoisian city-mindset folk so it just never came up. Post college, moved to Indiana. Last summer our cars were rifled through (my truck was unlocked with nothing worthwhile inside but a flashlight but my wifes car was full of the usual accumulation of CDs (yes, I make fun of her for it) and baby junk so I'm guessing they thought maybe there'd be something worthwhile. Joke's on them about anything being valuable but it got her all worked up. *lightbulb* "hey hun, would having a gun make you feel safer?". I almost have a gun for every month since then. How'd that happen?

 

[Arthur Dent]

Fired a few guns when I was a kid. .22s and a couple of BB guns. Had only a passing interest until I was invited to an INGO NFA shoot. Been hooked ever since.

 

[TheJoker]

Fired a few guns when I was a kid. .22s and a couple of BB guns. Had only a passing interest until I was invited to an INGO NFA shoot. Been hooked ever since.

Oh my! That must be like jumping straight to heroin!!

 

[Dyerbill]

Katrina....the clear example you cannot depend on the police in a riot. Be armed and ready to shoot to kill or become a victim.

 

[Excalibur]

I think for me, it was stages. First, the love of action movies and then introduced to Airsoft in high school, which lead to playing in a team/club in college which lead me to the Magpul Dynamic videos and then trying out guns at my college's gun club, first I ever shot was a 10/22 and then went to a local gun range to try out my first pistol, a Glock 22. It wasn't until after college when I got a job and made money when I got into guns seriously and bought one, then got my LTCH. Then it went from there. Throughout college, while I was too poor to own a gun or didn't want to save up, I watched the entire History Channel's Tales of the Gun series. Awesome series and it got me into the history of guns. I became obsessed with the history of firearms and weapons.

 

[DeadeyeChrista'sdad]

In the back of my dad's gun cabinet is an old 1870s or 1880s single shot 12 gauge. The pattern on that thing is unreal. It was given to my grandpa by one of his uncles on the event of his wedding present. In 1923. Farmers and country kids were the product of that union. 12 that lived. They spread across the country and took up different occupations, but almost all of us shoot.
They say Morgans do three things when they get together.
We eat cheese and meats,
We drink beer,
And we shoot.
Not necessarily in that order.

 

[Psode27]

Grew up shooting. Started with my dads two rifles, an old remington bolt action 22, and a cheap sporterized 7mm Chilean Mauser. Then it wasn't long after that when my friends were buying Playstations, I was buying guns..

Biggest reason I like shooting/firearms is the history behind old rifles, I also enjoy knowing I can protect myself and my family.