Who was your biggest influence in the firearms/shooting world?

My older brother is 4 years and one day older than me. I'm pretty sure he got me to shooting BB guns, then we added my Dad's Remington 121, and Model 11, but BB guns, including some pretty powerful ones, remained a big part of shooting and hunting for a few years -- mostly just songbirds for sport, which I regret having done, and some squirrel and rabbit hunting (most of which we did not eat, and again I wish I hadn't killed those animals for sport). By the time I was 12 or 13 I was trading guns at the local trading post and shooting a lot, and the hobby has continued ever since. I did have a 20-year hiatus in there where I didn't acquire any guns and rarely shot (spent most of my hobby time on cars), but then got back into it. A few years ago the thought crossed my mind that guns was probably my very first hobby, and might be my last.
 
Last edited:
I was over 50 years old and a cowboy action competitor when Lynn Johnson, alias Blind Owl put a blackpowder clone of a Colt 1860 Army .44 in my hands. That put me on the path to muzzleloading guns and competition for the following 20 years.

Don't shoot a percussion gun if you can't afford to get one. Or two. Or...
 
My uncle always had me tag along with him when he went to gun shops, I got to visit quite a few gun shops and gun shows as a kid and got to see all kinds of stuff, he had magazine subscriptions to just about every major gun publication for many years and whenever he retired a magazine it went to me. I used to look through shotgun news and dream of becoming of age to buy all those cheap milsurps and AK's, SKS's, Mausers, etc.... sadly by the time I was of legal buying age alot of that stuff was dried up and increasing in price gradually over time, just didn't strike while the iron was hot. For all the guys that did, you are lucky.

$80 SKS? Yes please.
 
I grew up urban and my dad was not an outdoorsman. I had few opportunities to shoot as a kid. I really got started after I married the daughter of a true sportsman. He taught me to hunt. My shooting interests expanded from there. He died in 2016 and I miss him. Happy Father’s Day, Dad, and thanks.
 
Who was your biggest influence in the firearms/shooting world?

In the military it was a corporal, not a man from my elite combat unit but an artillery man, with a coffee mug in his hand, watching me! What does a man like that know about the MG3 that I don't, I thought haughtily. He had looked at me shooting the MG3A1 and told me something shocking: " I know what you are doing wrong". He explained it shortly and I could not disagree. It was painful for me to accept that but I learnt to pay more attention to details and to taking advice. I had been shooting the belt fed MG of a bipod very well for years and had come in best of the battalion more than once but learning to pay attention to the smallest details had made me shoot more consistently and be more observant, too.
Later, in a private gun club, I had more easily accepted the advice of proven competitors and had several mentors in the shooting sport. I always tried to fill their shoes, in competitions and passing the torch on by teaching the next generation.
Jasper von Oertzen and Bodo Stiebritz, both very accomplished competitors in the DSB/ ISSF have probably had the biggest influence on me learning to shoot better and on me teaching others.
 
Me. No one in my family owned guns before me. No one hunts. Luckily there’s no history for me to maintain for tradition’s sake. No gun biases taught to me from a young age. I don’t really like the tactical “operator” side of gun culture. Nor do I like the decrepit fingers holding on to 80 year old memories. On YouTube, I like listening to Primal Rights, Paul Harrell, IV8888, Ron Spomer, Big Game Hunting Blog, Mark Novak, Tools & Targets, and Day At The Range.
 
This is a good question to start a thread, and this thread may have a long life.

Just off the top of my head, I'd have to say.....
1) Dad
2) Various uncles and friends, of Dad's generation....
3) Col. Jeff Cooper, Elmer Keith, Warren Page, Jack O'Connor, et al....
4) Various friends of my generation....

Upon reflection, I think ..... well, the answer to this question is complex, and I may have the order wrong....

And anyway, I'm mostly self-taught. The practical realities of hunting in the densely vegetated Southeast mostly trump the advice of those who hunted and shot in the wide open West. So take my answer with a grain of salt....

Be able to shoot rapidly, on very short notice, and produce a very large entry wound..... !
 
Without a doubt, my Dad and my Grandpa on my mom's side. Both were collectors and hunters, my dad was more into rare guns that he could buy cheap and make a good profit on, my grandpa liked to shoot any and all guns. Every Saturday I would go to my grandpa's and see what he bought at yard sales. He almost always came home with at least one gun, and he would always say "wanna shoot it?" He would then go get a box of ammo, take a paper plate and draw a cross on it with a black marker and nail it to a stump in his back yard. And in turn, whenever I picked up a new gun, I would run it over to his house and show him and ask him the same thing.

I would give anything for another day with him.
 
Oddly enough, it was a girlfriend and her family. I’d shot .22’s and stuff as a kid, but the idea of owning a handgun as an adult didn’t even really occur to me until I was exposed to this very gun-comfortable family. I must have been very open to the idea because within a few years I owned more guns than all of them put together.
 
As was stated in another reply, it was me. My Dad had a Wards single-shot 20 ga and a Stevens Favorite .22 from farm days (I still have both of them) but did not like guns or hunting and I was reminded of that frequently. Still, I knew that I liked guns and wanted to shoot. Dad did let me start reloading, and eventually got me an 870 and a 10-22. Still, I don't recall any particular influence on me about guns other than a real curiosity and interest. I do know that Dad did not have any use for handguns, but in my 20s I was in a gun store and there was a 6" Diamondback .22 and it was beautiful. It occurred to me that I had the money and did not have to ask Dad's permission. I still have it. I still have all those guns already mentioned. I have so many handguns now that my Dad (now gone) would have not liked it a bit.
 
My Dad and his friends, all cops he worked with. One taught me wingshooting, another pistol, my dad taught me rifle. We are a family of mechanics, and I started working on guns at 14, when I got my Dad's old 1100 to use for Trap and ducks. The Army gave me more training both on how to shoot, and repair weapons.

On paper, John T. Amber, Skeeter Skelton, Col. Askins, Col. Cooper, Capstick, Finn Aagard, Jose Ortega y Gasset, Hemingway, Jack O'Connor, Elmer Keith, P.O. Ackley, Lucian Cary, Fred Missildine, Vic Reinders, Neil Winston, Craig Boddington and many others I can't pull out of the top of my mind.
 
I guess me. Everyone in our family had guns, they were just not enthusiasts, they considered them tools. It was my interest in them that drove me to them, didn’t really have a guide.
 
jmorris said:
I guess me. Everyone in our family had guns, they were just not enthusiasts, they considered them tools. It was my interest in them that drove me to them, didn’t really have a guide.
Click to expand...
I guess I'm the same way. I said in my first post in this thread that it was both my Mom and my Dad that got me into hunting and guns. Reality is though, except for a pair of Colt Frontier Scout revolvers in a fancy holsters and gun belt set, and one .38 revolver Dad kept "hidden" in the top drawer of his dresser, Mom's and Dad's guns were hunting guns. I'm the one that "branched out" into self and home protection guns, competition guns, air rifles and pistols, plinkers, "just because I like it" guns, and several guns for every species of animal I hunt.
BTW, when I was growing up, Mom's and Dad's hunting rifles and shotguns were on display in a gun cabinet (that dad built) in the living room. I had access to them anytime. The only gun that I was interested in handling though was that .38 revolver that Dad kept "hidden" in the top drawer of his dresser. And I DID - I got that gun out and messed around with it plenty of times when Mom and Dad weren't around. I was careful though. As I said, Mom and Dad drilled it into me early on - "Never point a gun at anything you don't want to kill." :thumbup:
 
My dad got was a benchrest shooter and reloader when I was small kid, once I got a little older he transitioned largely to a hunter, likely for my and my brother’s benefit. He was (and is) obviously a huge influence on my shooting world. However his focus was never guns, it was the things we do with guns, if that makes sense. I definitely own him my introduction.

If I’m being perfectly honest the largest influence to my overall firearms experience is, THR. I’ve learned and been introduced to more through THR than I have any single person. If I were to pick a single THR member (the question was who, after all), I’d have to go with 1911Tuner, what a wealth of knowledge I owe him.
 
My dad started it for me when I was 10 when he bought me a Daisy 880 air rifle against my mothers wishes. It is as close to a real life scene from a Christmas Story as you can get. An honorable mention goes out to my younger brother who later in life unknowingly influenced me to actively start collecting a few firearms.
 
Dad was a huge influence in many parts of my life. But he was not really into hunting or shooting. He owned a shotgun and would occasionally hunt but that was about it.

For whatever reason I started reading Outdoor Life, Field and Stream, and Sports Afield from cover to cover in the school library every month. Even subscribed to them and others after high school. That created the spark.

My biggest mentor was one of my high school teachers and football coaches. He took me hunting several times and offered considerable advice as to early gun purchases. We stayed in touch until his death last winter.
 
My Dad taught me to hunt and gave me an affinity for Browning and Ithica shotguns. He taught me (sometimes harshly) safe gun handling. My clearest memory of what guns can do was when my Dad and uncle Jim ( on leave from Viet Nam) with a pumpkin donated by grandma set a pumkin on a fence post behind the barn. With a single shot 12 gauge shotgun we stepped back 10 feet and Jim told me this is why you never point a gun at anything you don't want to kill. Shot the pumpkin. We had seeds and innards all over us. Made quite an impression on my 8 year old phsyqy. Next was a trip to the creek to clean up and do a little swimming. Have to say Elmer Keith influence my choices in rifle cartridges.
 
Mine was my Father. He would take us ( brother, sister and I) to the range on Sundays. This was the only day he had off. He was also an avid hunter so my brother and I started out by pushing through fields and brush for game till we were of age to get a hunting license.
From there we would hunt small game and deer as a family!
The bug is still in me and I taught my 3 girls the same way!
 
Dad inherited a love of wingshooting from his dad, which he readily passed on to me. His experience in the infantry cooled his interest in rifles and my family had no big game tradition. It was gun writers like Jack O'Connor, Jim Carmichel, and other born story tellers and teachers that opened that door, and I am forever grateful. I have taught HuntSafe classes for more than 40 years, and working with those 11 and 12 year olds, many from families with no shooting tradition, has made me grateful for the opportunities I was given.
 
Can't say of any influence. No one in my family owned a gun or hunted that I know of. I was around 14-15 years old. Walked into Hipp's hardware and there on the rack was a Stevens 410. I had $6 in my pocket "which was a lot of money to me back then". Put the gun on layaway. Never asked my parents or even know how I was going to get the other $15. Not been without a gun since. That was going on 65 years ago.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Similar threads

Old Dog
  • Locked
Has THR influenced your firearms interests?
2 3 4
Replies
89
Views
5K
jag1954
jag1954
L
  • Locked
What influences your handgun preferences?
2 3
Replies
65
Views
3K
bullseye308
bullseye308
G
  • Locked
Realities of Mortality: Are Your Firearms in Your Will?
Replies
18
Views
827
Lupinus
L
J
  • Locked
Taking down outlaws
Replies
3
Views
661
khadre
K
D
  • Locked
Taking down outlaws
Replies
16
Views
1K
Nitram68
N
Back
Top