Have you been shooting longer than I've been alive?

[grimjaw]

I've reviewed threads here and there that let me know just how *little* I know about the history and technology of firearms. So I was curious as to how much experience, in years, the board members have. For example, I've only been seriously following the subject for the better part of three years, which includes studying, sampling, and shooting. I mainly shot air rifles and occasionally rimfire as a boy and while a rewarding experience I can't say I learned much from it.

So estimate what your experience is with the topic in the poll, if you like. If it's over 40 years and you're not too sensitive about it, please share the number.

jm

 

[highorder]

I have been shooting, collecting, and involved with firearms for 25 years.

 

[OAKVILLE SHOOTER]

What poll?

topic in the poll

I didn't see a poll, but I have been shooting for something like 30-35 years. Started with BB guns and youth model re-curve bows. Now passing it on to my son. Started him out at two with a Henry Mini-bolt .22 lr.

The poll was up after I posted my reply

 

[MD_Willington]

I started with a .303 at age 11... I'll be 32 in a little over a month...

 

[BerettaNut92]

I was in college, bored and wanted a new hobby.

God have mercy on THR (then TFL)

 

[JohnBT]

I needed a 50+ selection and I'm only 57.

All of the men in the family had decades of firearms experience by the time I was born. My father will be 87 in January and my uncle is 76 and we're still learning.

John

 

[Officers'Wife]

Let me see, I was twelve when Dad taught me the basics of firearms. If you want the exact number of years... we all have our little wants and desires in life.

Selena

 

[Crow1108]

My dad let me fire off my first shots when I was 4. He taught me firearms safety then, since there were guns in the house and he didn't want me messing with them without knowing what was what.
I'm 23 now.

 

[sacp81170a]

I bought my first gun, a bolt action .22, with my Christmas and chore money in 1967. I was 8. This was before the GCA.

I started squirrel hunting when I was 7.

 

[macFarlaine]

Started shooting at 10,I am now 50.Mainly shotguns,bits and pieces in the armed services.Now work with firearms,love collecting old shooting related items.

 

[Will Fennell]

Making me feel OLD

I'm 43, and I started shooting seriously enough to take game on a regular basis @ 8 years of age. Gawd, if I could have just found shooting competitions @ that young age

I never thought that I could figure out how to make a living shooting/teaching others

 

[Ian Sean]

I was about 10 or so (real guns...BB guns and archery were earlier)...remember it like yesterday, my brothers .410....and a mag out of my dad's P-38 . Haven't stopped since.

Don't post threads like this, I am starting to feel old, darn kids!

 

[Robert Hairless]

Oh gee. 48 years. Time flies when you're having fun.

If you have the right stopwatch and good eyes you can time those little things even when you're not.

 

[DoubleTapDrew]

Started when I was around 6, so 25 years. I believe my grandpa was about the same age and he's 91 now so he'd be in the 85 year category. A little slower getting around but Thanksgiving day he was cranking off perfect headshots with a 1911 over at the house

 

[Pat McCoy]

I too need a 50+ selection. Started shooting in 1955, and began instructing (and later coaching) in 1968.

 

[Vaarok]

Got a shotgun at eighteen, five whole years ago. The collecting thing didn't get started till I found a SVT for my twenty-first birthday, though.

 

[browningguy]

I started shooting Junior NRA when I was 8, well before you were born.

 

[Old Dog]

Been shooting for about 41 years ... started with Grandpa's ol' Stevens single-shot .22 rifle ... moved on to a .410 shotgun and the Win. 94 in .30-30; Michigan was a hunter's paradise in the '60s. Didn't shoot handguns 'til the teens, the S&W .38 and a Gov't Model ...

 

[1911Tuner]

Since 1956 for me. First 1911/.45 in 1958...

(ouch)

 

[Mac45]

My Dad got me started when I was 4 or 5.
I'm 46 now

 

[jkingrph]

Next year I'll need a 60+selection. I just turned 62 and dad started me shooting a Colt Woodsman, holding me in his lap when I was three.

 

[scbair]

My uncle gave me a single-shot .22 (Remington M514) for my sixth birthday. Dad started teaching me gunhandling and marksmanship shortly after that, and gave me a Daisy BB gun (I was a bit short in stature to properly handle the Remington). I just turned 53, so that gives me 47 years of trigger time!

 

[mikec]

I just hit 46, I got a Remington Nylon 66 when I was somewhere between 12 and 14. The parents then bought me a shotgun and I then took a hunter safety course and dad asked a work buddy if I could hunt deer with him. I did, never took a shot that time. Never even saw a deer that day.

 

[The Annoyed Man]

Started with a 1911A1 inherited from my dad when he died in 1990. I was just shy of 38 at the time. Became immediately addicted. My collection is still small, but it includes 5 pistols in 4 calibers, 3 bolt rifles in .308, and a couple of .22 LR rifles, one of which is a bolt action, the other semi-auto. After Christmas, I'll be adding an AR clone of some kind.

 

[patrick jones]

Started hunting at age 6 and am now 64.
Active in IDPA AND USPSA ACTION SHOOTING.
Shoot 3 matches a week,practice 2 days per week.
pat