My old man was an excellent shot. He'd won prizes in competition with rifle and pistol, and was an excellent wing shot too. In fact he could wingshoot ducks with a .22, and in a more innocent time did it in front of witnesses more than once. He shot effortlessly, a real natural.
He was interested in military small arms, as he was interested in other military technology like fighter planes and tanks. He wasn't really all that interested in sporting arms, other than that they functioned reliably and shot accurately. I remember when I was a kid he would impulse buy rifles, mostly .22s, and if they didn't shoot well or gave any hint of trouble he'd give them away. As a result there was a bit of a procession of them. There were a few that stayed on, including my grandfather's 20 ga double, a Marlin 1893 that I now own, the Brno Model 1 he gave me, and an SMLE. He gave me my first rifle when I was 10, and was happy enough to smile and nod at the appropriate moment at the gunshop when I started buying my own from about the age of 14.
He never liked scope sights - didn't feel the need for them and didn't trust them. He also had no interest in reloading, but had no issue with me setting up in the back shed to reload my own when I was about 14.
He had gradually lost much interest in hunting though, by the time I was really getting into it, so my early hunting was mostly done with my grandfather, or an adult cousin, or by myself. About the only hunting trip I remember with him was on a friend's place after pigs.
