Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunting Rifles early shooting memories

my memories are of a daisy red ryder. used to come home right after school and be shooting in the yard before the bus was out of sight.

i added up the boxes of bb's once that went through that gun and i got to 100,000 and i KNOW there were more i forgot even buying or having given to me.

the lever eventually broke off, but i got mom and dad's $29 back outa that daisy lol

and then .410's and squirrel hunting, rabbits, freezing my arse off looking for deer carrying a homemade kit Hawken...

damn, i miss being young. and i am only 33. lol

I remember the time I got my first 22. I had BB guns and pellet guns from the time I was 4 but the summer we moved up to Montana I turned 6. We were having my birthday party at my grandparents house. I remember dad pulling up to the house and getting out of his truck with a cloth gun case. I remember my heart was racing as he walked towards me. He had me unzip the case and I saw a wood stock. I slowly slid a little Marlin 25y single shot out of the case. I don't think I quit smiling for months.

I'd like to know how many shells I have shot through that gun. It's killed it's fair share of gophers, black birds, and anything other varmint that would sit still long enough for me to shoot. All of my siblings started shooting with it as well. It's now in my gun safe awaiting the day I can give it to one of my future little ones.

Another memory was seeing a camo stocked marlin 925c 22 rifle sitting on the shelf at Scheels. I dreamed about that rifle forever. One day Dad took me to Great Falls and brought me inside along with one of his old rifles he never shot. He traded his rifle in for that camo Marlin for me. I felt like a real hunter. I had a full size rifle that had a 7 round magazine! It's another one where I'd love to know how many 1000s of shells I have shot through it!

Dad would take me out gopher shooting and he wouldn't even shoot. He'd just drive and position the truck so I could shoot at every one. We would go every weekend during the summer until the grass got to tall or the hot weather drove the gophers under ground

When I was 7-8 we would go to my Grandmothers farm about every weekend and my dad would give my 2 brothers and my cousin and I 1 box of 22 shells to share. They were usually shorts or longs as they were cheaper then. So being the youngest I was lucky to get 6-8 but we would head to the woods in search of targets of opportunity usually ending up shooting at pigeons roosting in the old tobacco barn. I remember Dad fussing about the occasional miss and the resulting hole in the roof if he caught us but it had so many holes rusted thru we never figured we hurt anything. I can remembering him saying OK who shot a hole in the roof and us just standing there going gee I don't know how that got there, which usually fell pretty flat coming from a kid with a dead pigeon or two hanging out of our pockets. My old stevens single shot was a pretty sorry rifle but recently a LGS had a mint JC Higgins single shot like my middle brothers and I bought it just for old time sake. Mike S It too was made by Marlin if I understand correctly . Another fun game was to visit a old fallen down log barn on the neighboring property that was home to a endless supply of lizards. We would sit on a log about 25-30 yds away and take turns picking them off as they came out to sun. We called it The Guns of Naverone.

I got my first rifle, a Remington 510 .22, when I was 5 or 6. Dad bought it used and refinished it for me. We would go out to the local dump and shoot bottles and cans til we ran out of ammo. Dad would stand beside me holding the box of shells and giving me one at a time. I put all of the empties in my pocket and brought them to school to show my buddies.
When I was 8 or 9 I got a single shot .410. I can still remember going into the woods on a cool fall day and shooting my first squirrel.
When I was 11, on the day after Thanksgiving, I shot my first pheasant. Man was I proud of that bird.
Dad always went with me until I was 16 and then I was allowed to go with friends that he trusted. We didn't shoot each other and had a great time.
I lost my dad 25 years ago. What I would give to go out with him again.

Me not shooting, but the first time seeing a hi-power rifle being shot. My step dad's .300 Weatherby. I thought the very leaves on the tree shook when he touched that thing off. I was 9 or 10.

1970...NTC Orlando

Snake

My earliest shooting memories are of BB guns. None of which were mine. Shot the BB guns of other kids in the area and finally got my dad talked into getting me one. Too bad the thought of me (age 8 or 9) running around with a BB gun was too frightening for my mother so I never did get one. Got my first shotgun at 17; an Iver Johnson "Champion" 16 ga. break open single shot that dad bought new back about 1940 when he was 16. Then an older cousin had it until he moved up to a Stevens 820B 12 ga. pump and it got passed down to me. Still have the Iver Johnson and in 1997 I got that Stevens also. Rarely shoot them because I have lots of better stuff now but they'll always have a place in one of the safes.