Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Ask The Gunwriters Was your Father a Shooter/Reloader

No…..other than a little fishing, my Dad knew nothing but work!

I was a total “gun nut” and hunting nut probably since birth. I was about 7 or 8 yo and watched my uncle and a couple of his cousins hand loading for a trip to Wyoming…..I was immediately “hooked”!

I bought my first centerfire at 14 (Win. Model 88 in .308 Win) and almost immediately started loading with the old Lee Loader! memtb

I have no idea, saw him once when I was in 5th or 6th grade. Step corksucker didn’t do anything but make us work. If we stopped he hit us, great times back then! You all that had good Dads were very, very lucky.

The old man was an avid hunter...but he was quite sure, as many were in the '50's, that reloads would blow up and kill you or at the very least shoot your eye out. Unfortunately, I went to school in the town that was home to Lassen College Gunsmithing, and was bitten by the bug at an early age, probably more serious shooters/handloaders per capita around there than Injuns at Custer's demise.

Hanco, I do consider myself lucky….while my Dad was a “workaholic”, he did nothing to detract from my hunting/shooting desires! memtb

Grandpa & Grandma homesteaded here in 1900, Dad was born a few years later. He talked about shooting and hunting he and his brothers did when they were kids and when he was older before he married Mom. But I think the challenges of providing for the family during the Depression and Dust Bowl erased any thoughts of hunting from his mind. That said, he taught me to shoot and do it safely when I was very young and never discouraged my hunting/shooting although I 'm sure he thought it was a waste of time and money. Later I think he mellowed on that, as we talked about my "adventures."

My dad hunted and even shot BB guns and the .22 in the yard a ton with me. I never knew him to reload, but cleaning out my mom’s old house a couple Mo the ago before I sold the place for her. I found Lee .243 reloading dies up in a utility closet. I don’t know if he ever used them, but his only center fire rifle was a .243.

My family were all hunting guides, for Mule Deer,Pronghorn, Elk, Bear, Mountain lion, they did a couple big horn hunts every year, all my Uncles were Loaders as was my Grandfather,and my Grandmother was hell on wheels with her 30-30, my Mother was a very good shot. i guess you could say i was raised with guns and hunting. Rio7

My dad owned and still does, a nice sporterized vz24 in 7mm Mauser. Box of 20 usually lasts 4 or 5 years.

He’s killed a lot of deer and elk with that rifle.
He also has a Browning.22 pistol for grouse and a Remington model 34 .22 for ground squirrels and other vermin. He never handloaded.

My maternal grandpa actually got me into shooting and reloading. He grew up in the depression. He never hunted or fished and hated wild game and fish. But loved to shoot. He would load up boxes and boxes of pistol and rifle ammo and we would go “plinking “ as he called it. Lots of great memories.

He never did load for accuracy. Every load he ever made was the middle of the road load out of his Speer manual. Always Speer bullets too.

My dad was passionate about stillhunting deer, as well as chasing rabbits and pheasants. Other than that, he didn't shoot all year, once those seasons closed. The same held true for Grandpa. Aside from them checking and sighting their rifles a few weeks before the opener at their deer camp/club, I don't think I've ever seen either one spending time at the range

Dad only owned a 5 diamond 760 pump in 300 Sav and a 336RC in 35 Rem for deer hunting, and an Ithaca 37 16ga for everything else. Gramps had a 5 diamond 760 in 35 Rem and a Rem M11 12ga. I have them all now, except Gramp's shotgun. My older brother has that one.

As for reloading, neither of my two elders partook. I started on my own in '76, when I was 20.

Like most my grandfather got me in to hunting at a very early age, he passed when I was 12. My dad tried, but he was not a hunter or shooter, but I had the bug since I was old enough to think about shooting. At 15 I bought a Savage 340 in .222 from a neighbor who was quite a shooter and reloader. It grew from there. My neighbor was also a Camp Perry shooter. He got me into indoor matches before I went off to college. Being in the rifle team kept me in school plus a very cute gal in the cafeteria..

Dad and I shot a lot together. We had an evening set aside when we went to an indoor range in Columbus, Ohio and shot .22’s. I ran thru the NRA Junior Marksman program while he shot his Ruger MK I

When I got bigger, we would go to local trap club one evening a week. That’s what started the reloading which later morphed into loading for CF rifle and pistol.

We did a little hunting together including several trips to Northern Ontario after spring black bear. I started reloading rifle ammunition then as we wanted to use premium bullets.

After I was out of the house, he shot at Camp Perry and on weekends shot combat pistol.

I am forever grateful for the guidance and starting my interest into a lifelong hobby, or passion as my wife would call it.

Dad fought in WW2, after that, he wasn't into hunting. Before the war , he said he hunted. "Deer that ran with cattle tasted best. " But he loved fishing. Much more of an outdoorsman. I'm of the if I want to eat 'em, I'll have to shoot them first, I guess. I like working on old rifles, it's much much cheaper than old cars.More pleasant, too. Reloading brings out the scientist in me.

My father was an excellent shooter he was for a time the President of our Skeet and trap club and developed their sporting clay range/layout.

He had all of the reloading equipment for shooting 410, 20, 28, and 12 gauge, but I did most of the reloaded after school.

He was also the best shot on ducks and geese that I ever witnessed in the field.

Not a reloader, and had stopped hunting and shooting until I came along and was interested. Took me to the dump to learn to shoot .22 RF. We went every Sunday after church for a long time and shot one of the 25-round "Chiklet" packs of Remington shorts that don't exist anymore. Taught me to shoot .410 by throwing ears of corn for me. Took me rabbit and pheasant hunting. When I was old enough to hunt on my own, he quit once again. I picked up reloading/handloading on my own.

my dad was a hunter/fisher when the work was done, except deer season, then he was avid hunter. he was exceptional shooting pheasants and grouse. rabbits tho, they were safe. he couldn't hit a rabbit if his life depended on it. he had a Remington m760 in '06, Remington m572 in 22LR and a Mossberg m500 in 12 ga until he got to reloading. he only fished for trout, but he would let them go (i'd be catch/releaser too). i have alot of memories of my dad being hunting and fishing.

he shot open sights till his eyes said no more of that, use the scope, dang it!!! he had a custom 6' Ultralite fiberglass fishing rod that was made in 1970s. the "feel" you got was unbelievable. he loved that rod, even when he smashed it on the back of the truck cab. he got teary eyed when he did that. the last 6" of the fishing rod or so was cut/smashed off when he lowed truck cab window. we'd looked around everywhere (even the "danged interweb-type thingy" lol!!!) "you couldn't fix fiberglass, but if you send me X-amout of dollars i'll send you a 6' Ultralite carbon fishing rod. " says the custom rod makers. i got him a 6' St Croix Ultralite rod and while it wasn't the same, he liked it. (later, he took the fiberglass rod to my friend who fixed it and it is now buried with my dad).

my dad was my "first" student on handloading. (i've done 6 or 7 "students" and i was mentored by my gunsmith (RIP) on handloading) it's a good thing i did, he must went thru 800-900 rounds on his first TC Contender in 7x30 Waters (14" muzzle brake barrel) that summer. man, could he shoot. i have alot of memories left.

Dad did neither, so was on my own learning about those. But, he was a very top shelf machinist - helped me with firearm projects and helped me learn a bunch about machine work.

I turned to old rifles when I could no longer afford the hobby of old cars

My dad owned a pump .22 and a pump 12 ga. He shot a few rabbits and occasionally went pheasant hunting, though I don’t recall him ever killing a pheasant. I and my brothers are avid hunters/shooters and we learned on our own. And we reload.

My father wasn't much of a hunter or shooter. He went deer hunting maybe 3 or 4 times in his life, owned a Rem 700 in .270 Win., and killed only one deer as I recall. He did have a .38 snubbie for his work but I only saw it a couple of times and never saw him shoot it.
When my brother and I got old enough he bought a .22 rifle and took us out occasionally to shoot it. Dad did enjoy fishing and we went on frequent trips doing that.
My maternal grandfather was an avid hunter, fisherman, and outdoorsman and had the biggest impact on my choosing to follow those pursuits.
In junior high and high school I read every outdoor magazine I could get my hands on in the school libraries; Outdoor Life, Field & Stream, Sports Afield, Argosy, etc. and couldn't wait to be able to start buying guns, and going shooting and hunting.
None of my relatives were reloaders; I picked that up on my own while working the gun counter in a sporting goods store part time and spending pretty much all I made on guns, and reloading stuff in the late '70's.

My father made time to be outdoors with us. He was 35 when I was born so by the time I was hunting he was ready for help. He made sure hunting and fishing was a priority. He was not a precision reloader or a long practiced shooter but a good shot . When he retired he worked as a cook in the bighorn mountains in an elk camp and his ashes are there for eternity