When you were a kid..........

jnyork · Post by **jnyork** » Sun Dec 21, 2008 9:23 pm

...did you get a .22 for Christmas? Growing up in Wyoming in the late '40's, early '50's if you hadn't received a .22 under the tree by the time you were 10 or 11, you were considered by your peers to be severely deprived!! I never got a bb gun, went straight to a .22 at age 9, Dad told me if I got a REAL gun I would be more likely to treat it as a REAL gun, and I did.

Most of that old culture and those old ways are gone now, and it's a pity.
___

JerryB · Post by **JerryB** » Sun Dec 21, 2008 9:36 pm

My first gun was a Stevens 20 gauge single shot. My dad thought a .22 was to dangerous for a third grader.

Old Ironsights · Post by **Old Ironsights** » Sun Dec 21, 2008 9:42 pm

No. My folks weren't/aren't into guns.

I didn't get a gun "of my own" until after I had been issued one by Unka Sugar.

And then it was a Pistol.

Didn't get my first long gun until I was 23.

Malamute · Post by **Malamute** » Sun Dec 21, 2008 9:44 pm

Think it may have been a birthday present. Can't recall which. About 9 I reckon

Saved up and bought my first .22 pistol at about 11, first .357 Blackhawk at 11 or 12, and first .44 Superblackhawk at 13 or 14. Fisrt 94 in 30-30 at the same time, and first 45-70 at 15. Good times!

rjohns94 · Post by **rjohns94** » Sun Dec 21, 2008 9:46 pm

my parents did not allow me to own a gun, bb, pellet, or real until I was of leagal age and then I didn't ask them, I just bought a bolt action marlin 20 gauge, then a black powder .45, eventually moving into pistols, three years later. Thats why I took up archery when i was in 6th grade. that and a slingshot are the only items I was allowed. I blame them for my addiction.

Post by **Chuck 100 yd** » Sun Dec 21, 2008 9:54 pm

I saved my money and bought my own BRAND NEW Remington single shot .22 with money from my paper route when I was 10. It took all summer because there were only 11 customers on my route!

My new rifle cost $19.95

gunslinger598 · Post by **gunslinger598** » Sun Dec 21, 2008 10:11 pm

I also was in a non gun household.

For my 18th birthday I bought myself a Hawes Western marshall 44 mag for $100.00 it included a western holster, belt and about 50 rounds of ammo., a stereo, and a car.

I left home at a young age ......

J Miller · Post by **J Miller** » Sun Dec 21, 2008 10:20 pm

Nope, no .22 for Christmas. I was maybe 14 or 15 when I got my first rifle. It was a Savage .22 Bolt gun. Later I made the jump to the centerfires.

Joe

Post by **Hobie** » Sun Dec 21, 2008 10:22 pm

I got my Stevens SxS 20 ga. as my first gun. Used it for everything! Shot other peoples guns for years before and after. Yes I got it for Christmas but I think I was 13, that would be 1968...

My family gave me a bunch of toy guns. They felt, and it was so, that any reasonably intelligent person could tell the difference between toys and the real thing. I never lost track of which was which. Now, I'm conflicted about the no toy gun because you'll get bad habits or other variation on that theme. As a trainer, I can see it, as an intelligent person I don't. E.g., I've trained with fake blocks of C4. Everybody knew EXACTLY which was fake and which was real.

TedH · Post by **TedH** » Sun Dec 21, 2008 10:24 pm

I got a Daisy BB gun when I was 6 or 7. I got my first .22 when I was 8 (which I still have). First shotgun came a short time later, it was an H&R single shot 20 ga. I wanted a 410 but Dad thought I wouldn't think of the little bore as a real and dangerous shell. That old 20 ga was responsible for many squirrels and countless doves and rabbits on the dinner table.

Post by **Old Savage** » Sun Dec 21, 2008 10:36 pm

In NJ we got a Crossman CO2 rifle about the 10 or 11 age.

Tycer · Post by **Tycer** » Sun Dec 21, 2008 10:46 pm

I had a Crossman 760 first and then a Western Field 550 12g. Early teens.

Ray Newman · Post by **Ray Newman** » Sun Dec 21, 2008 11:05 pm

In ‘62 -- when I turned 16 -- I rec’d a Stevens 311 SXS, 16 gauge.

Never had a .22 rifle as child or teenage. There were more than a few on the family farm.

505stevec · Post by **505stevec** » Sun Dec 21, 2008 11:17 pm

My first gun was a Winchester 94 30-30. I saved all summer from working for one of the trailer parks waaaay across town. I rode my bike there every day (10 miles). It was the summer of my 9th year. Someone stole that and a Winchester 61 pump my dad got for $20. The scurvy dogs!!!

Post by **Ysabel Kid** » Sun Dec 21, 2008 11:22 pm

Red Ryder when I was 5; H&R bolt-action .22 when I was 10.

I gave my daughter her first .22 last year at Christmas - the "pink stock" bolt-action I refinished for her. She was 5!

Now, my son got his first .22 really early. He was six months old! I wanted to be sure that his first gun came from his Dad no matter what happened to me.

mescalero1 · Post by **mescalero1** » Sun Dec 21, 2008 11:38 pm

Marlin bolt action 5 shot clip, age 10.
The old man was cool.

Rusty · Post by **Rusty** » Sun Dec 21, 2008 11:38 pm

I got a Daisy "Spitin Image" '94 when I was about 8. I remember the Mossberg 12 ga came when I was 10. somewhere I got a Remington .22 single shot but I don't remember when it was. I'm thinking I was 12. My dad figured the .22 was more dangerous than the 12 ga. due to the range.

Meeteetse · Post by **Meeteetse** » Sun Dec 21, 2008 11:52 pm

jnyork wrote:...did you get a .22 for Christmas? Growing up in Wyoming in the late '40's, early '50's if you hadn't received a .22 under the tree by the time you were 10 or 11, you were considered by your peers to be severely deprived!! I never got a bb gun, went straight to a .22 at age 9, Dad told me if I got a REAL gun I would be more likely to treat it as a REAL gun, and I did.

Most of that old culture and those old ways are gone now, and it's a pity.
___

Funny how all of us Wyoming guys have similar experiences. Mom got real sick when I was about 10 (1954) and I had a lot of extra duties around the place because of it. Dad decided that my Christmas present would be his .22 that he had bought just after the war. Mossberg semi auto .22. I still have it and it still shoots very well. I already had a BB gun, Red Ryder version, and he thought I knew enough about gun handling I could move up a notch.

My son received his first gun, an H&R 20 ga. when he was nine and a Browning BL-22 (.22) when he was 10 or 11. He still has them both.

Bearhands · Post by **Bearhands** » Mon Dec 22, 2008 12:02 am

My first was a Daisy BB gun with a "built in ricochet sound"(zzzzzzzzzzeeeeeeeeeee!) when I was about 7. My Dad removed the ricochet sound cause he said it'd scare off the squirrels and grackles I shot at. Next was a break-barrel CZ 22cal pellet gun... then for Christmas of my 12th year(about 1966), my Dad got me a Savage Mod 24 O/U 22mag/20ga.. I still have it and it has never seen a full box of shells thru it.

20cows · Post by **20cows** » Mon Dec 22, 2008 12:49 am

Yep, a Winchester Model 190, semi-auto. I saw it at the local hardware store and told Dad about it. It came with a 4x scope, all for $40.

GANJIRO · Post by **GANJIRO** » Mon Dec 22, 2008 1:19 am

My dad was always a gun person from a young age though never a hunter. I grew up first on Military housing in Japan then suburbia in Hawaii so no informal plinking to be had though I did start shooting at a young age at military ranges in Japan (Camp Oji or Camp Drake, not sure which, my dad belonging to the shooting club). Always remember a Daisy 1894 Winchester clone BB gun being around to pop stray cats in the yard as well as rock crabs and Tilapia in the canal in back yard. Shot my dad's 1903 Springfield allot and even carried it into the field for pigs but didn't get my first .22 until just after turning 16 a Ruger 10/22 which I still own though tricked out a tad with Volquartsen parts.

bogus bill · Post by **bogus bill** » Mon Dec 22, 2008 2:11 am

As a kid I had access to dads winchester model 61. But when I got to be 11 he bought me my 1st shotgun, a iver johnson 20 gauge single barrel. He bought me BB guns years before that. My dad was a gun person and worked with me a lot at a early age teaching me to shoot. Probley at age 7 or 8. I was lucky haveing the parents I did and being born where and when I was. April 1941 in rual wisconsin. Many uncles and one in particular tutored me too. All the large family hunted & fished. When my uncles and dad all came back after the war all lived to hunt and I was about 5 or 6. My mom raised me in a old family country general store in the village of auroaville durring the war so everyone knew me in the area. A large mill pond was across the road and willow creek ran right behind our store. It was paradise for a boy. Also I got all the goodies I could eat and drink. Only bad point was it made me fat as a kid all the way through life. We had the loafer benchs outside in summer and chairs around a stove in winter and I was brought up on the old farmer talk, war storys, and a good listener. Mom somehow got me in 1st grade at 4 years and 4 months. Probley to baby sit me. I think all that gave me a jump in life. On the other hand, I was a huge kid and most my classmates were close to two years older all the way through school and sharper than me.

perry owens · Post by **perry owens** » Mon Dec 22, 2008 5:03 am

Things were a little different for us growing up in the UK, where you had to be 14 to get a firearms licence.
Used my dad's single shot BSA bolt action 0.22 to shoot rabbits up to age 11, when we moved into town. Like most kids I had a Gat air pistol at age 8 but got my first decent air rifle - a BSA Cadet Major at 11. First shotgun was a Webley single shot bolt action 0.410 at 14. I stripped and refinished the wood, reblued it and sold it on. Saved for weeks to buy a Crossman Single Six CO2 revolver. Two weeks after I got it the government made CO2 guns Section 1 firearms, thus turning me into a criminal overnight. First "real" gun was a BSA Martini International target rifle for my 16th birthday. Won a lot of trophies with that before selling it to raise cash for a motor cycle.
Perry Owens

cshold · Post by **cshold** » Mon Dec 22, 2008 6:00 am

Daisy BB gun at 8 yrs. old.
20 ga. H&R single shot at 12 yrs. old.

AndyM · Post by **AndyM** » Mon Dec 22, 2008 7:49 am

I was about 8 years old when I received a Remington 572 pump .22 for Christmas. I had the usual Red Rider BB gun, the pellet Crossman pistol, and bow and arrow. I remember my Dad hanging an old rug in our unfinished basaement to stop arrows from my bow - i shot that bow for hours and hours.

AJMD429 · Post by **AJMD429** » Mon Dec 22, 2008 7:58 am

Bolt-action .22LR when I was 4 or 5 (ammo doled out only when actually shooting with my mom).

10/22 ("high-capacity semiautomatic military-style rifle"

) when I was 10 (allowed to walk 5 miles to town with it when I was 12 whenever I wanted to go to my friends house, and took it to school once I was in about 9th grade, so we could shoot after school).

Remington Model 10 pump 12 gauge ("riot gun") when I was about 12 years old.

Mark II when I was about 15. ("high-capacity semiautomatic handgun"

)

Ruger 6mm rifle ("high powered sniper rifle") AND Super Blackhawk when I was 17.

Those were the days...

dkmlever · Post by **dkmlever** » Mon Dec 22, 2008 8:01 am

I was one of those that grew up in a non-gun house. I had been influnced by my uncle and my grandfather to be interested in guns and hunting. So when I turned 16 and my brother was 18 and I got him to buy me a Ithaca model 37 with money I had earned. I still have that shotgun and it has killed truck loads of game over the years.

rock-steady · Post by **rock-steady** » Mon Dec 22, 2008 8:29 am

I killed my first deer when I was 8 years old with my Grandpaw's Eastern Arms 16ga single-barrel. I bought my first gun when I was 12yo. I worked all summer pulpwooding and picking watermelons and cucumbers and ordered a Winchester 190 .22LR from Sears & Roebuck. Sandy Claws did bring me a gun for Christmas when I was 13. A Remington 870 12ga with 30" full choke.

Andrew · Post by **Andrew** » Mon Dec 22, 2008 11:04 am

I didn't get a gun until I moved out and bought one for myself. It wasn't a "gun" thing, it was a money thing. Plus, I didn't hit my gun kick until after I graduated as well.

RIHMFIRE · Post by **RIHMFIRE** » Mon Dec 22, 2008 11:21 am

at 15 i got a stevens 22 semiauto
and 870 12 ga

Nath · Post by **Nath** » Mon Dec 22, 2008 1:37 pm

After my Father left us I found peace up the fields, my Mother would not allow an airgun but I got a Diana anyway and hid it. In the end I was found out and it was sent to my granddads whome let me use it around his yard. I was 12. As the years went by I had allsorts of air guns and got a part time job on a farm and spent hour after hour hunting allsorts of critters.
At seventeen I got a 12 single and shot shotguns with all sorts of loads

upto 25ish on which I got a Krico bolt 22 and then a;
Brno Hornet (like the CZ),
BSA CF2 in 222,
Parker Hale classic in 308,
Ruger 1022,
Rem pump 22,
Rem 700 243,
Rem BDL 222,
Win 94AE 30/30,
Marlin 336 30/30,
Sav 24 hornet/12g,
Weatherby Vanguard 243,
Tikka t3 6.5 SM,
Rem 597 22,
Another Win 94AE in 30/30
and a Rem700 in 308.

Shotguns and front stuffers, lets not go there! Oh and the bows

None of my family were shooters with exception of my Grandpa of which I only found out about after his death

I am very happy that my bro has also now taken up shooting, he is giving some clays ago this week but also wants me to work Tia and carry his birds again soon on one of my haunts

It's a good job he's dropped some fire wood off

Nath.

2ndovc · Post by **2ndovc** » Mon Dec 22, 2008 2:13 pm

Got my first .22 around 5 or 6. A Savage, Stevens Favorite falling block that I still have ( even the box). I don't think it was for Christmas though. The whole family were hunters and shooters. Was just the thing to do.

Wasn't allowed to have a BB gun until I was about 12 or so. "you'll just get in trouble with it" was all I heard. Though I was still allowed to have my .22, Model 12 Winchester and my Uberti 1851 Navy and ammo in my room. The old man knew I was responsible enough with my real guns but for some reason was worried about a BB gun. Go Figure? Anyway it was the sling shot that he should have been worried about. I got into waayyy more trouble with those than anything else

I have gotten a couple guns for Christmas. When I was 16 I got a Stoeger .22 Luger. Neat pistol but didn't feed worth a darn. We took it to a show and I traded it for an S&W K 22 that I still have.

Three years ago my wife, sister and mother got together and bought me the Marlin 1895M / 450 I'd been reading and blabbing about all year. Will forever be my favorite Christmas present.

Both stepsons have gotten .22s for Christmas and Kid #2 is getting his first levergun this year!

jb

Hillbilly · Post by **Hillbilly** » Mon Dec 22, 2008 2:17 pm

Glefeild 10 single shot bolt action... age 10, from the Wal Mart in Van Buren AR.

Had a lever action Daisy (not the red ryder- the one down from it) for a couple of years before that...both were Christmas gifts
Jeff

mescalero1 · Post by **mescalero1** » Mon Dec 22, 2008 2:46 pm

Funny how most of us got guns when we were kids, and did not turn into sociopaths.
Maybe having the responsibility showed us the way?

Charles · Post by **Charles** » Mon Dec 22, 2008 3:39 pm

I received a 410 Shotgun for my Tenth Christmas. I already had a 22. The rifle was a bolt action, tube magazine Marlin that was around the house from the time I was born or before. It had been used in a double murder by a client of my Grandfather. My 12th Christmas brought me a Remington 11-48 20 Guage and a German Luger pistol. What would they do to somebody who gave a 12th year old a Luger today?

I didn't have any ammo for the Luger, but I bought a box of Pre-war UMC 9mm ammo from a kid in school for 75 cents. I took the city bus to the edge of town and walked out into a cotton field and fired the ammo at a tin can. I don't think I hit the can even one time.

Times were different back them. I also had a Winchester 75 target 22 I used in NRA Jr. Competition. So by the time I was 12, I had 2 22 Lr. rifles, 2 shotguns and a Luger pistol. I had to wait until I was 13 to get my first levergun, a Winchester 94 takedown rifle in 30 WCF. At age 16, I was at Camp Perry shooting a NM 03 and a Garand.

I was bit early and bit hard by the gun bug and it has never gone away. I did not come from a gun family either, but they didn't discourage my interest. I was raised by my Grandparents who grew up in Texas when guns and kids were a way of life for all ranch families. They saw nothing strange or aberrant in my interest in guns. My Granfather was an attorney who did allot of criminal defense work and anytime he represented a client where there was a gun involved, he took the gun as a part of his fee. Many times I would come in from school and there was a rifle or pistol on my bed he had placed there.

horsesoldier03 · Post by **horsesoldier03** » Mon Dec 22, 2008 3:40 pm

NOPE, never did get a .22. I did get a 12 ga when I was 15. Up until then I had a .177 cal. Crossman Powermaster 761 with real wooden stock & forearm as well as an all steel barrel and Golden receiver. That pellet gun was better than any .22 that I could have ever gotten.

I WISH I STILL HAD IT! The air bag in the receiver eventually burst and I was to green to know that it could have been repaired and threw it away after it had sat around for a while.

horsesoldier03 · Post by **horsesoldier03** » Mon Dec 22, 2008 3:47 pm

rjohns94 wrote:my parents did not allow me to own a gun, bb, pellet, or real until I was of leagal age and then I didn't ask them, I just bought a bolt action marlin 20 gauge, then a black powder .45, eventually moving into pistols, three years later. Thats why I took up archery when i was in 6th grade. that and a slingshot are the only items I was allowed. I blame them for my addiction.

Did you see the youtube link someone posted on here about the man I beleive in Georgia that shoots a slingshot. It gave me a total new respect for a slingshot! Sure wish I could shoot one like that!

DBW · Post by **DBW** » Mon Dec 22, 2008 4:55 pm

I never really had my own rifle as a kid, but my dad had a collection of several sem-auto and bolt action German rifles he brought with him when he came over from Holland. The first time I shot them I was about six years old.

Aside from those my brother and I jointly owned a Crossman CO2 pistol. I recall the day he got the bright idea to shoot into a large pile of dog poop that one of our huskies had deposited in the yard one winter afternoon. Dead on bullseye that somehow resulted in a myriad of poop splatters coming back at him. I ran back to the house laughing my butt off before he could shoot at me.

When I entered into USAF in '83 Uncle Silas gave me a vintage M16 to carry around each day for the next four years as I babysat some high dollar aircraft, notably E3A-B AWACS.

It was at this time I acquired my own firearms. First came a Colt Series 70 Commander, a Detonics MkVI (both .45ACP), a Colt Mustang in .380, a S&W J-frame .38, a Ruger Single Six .22 (LR & WMR), a Marlin 10/22, a Mossberg 500, and a few others I can't remember.

Newest edition is my Marlin .30-30 lever.

jeepnik · Post by **jeepnik** » Mon Dec 22, 2008 5:12 pm

Nope, got that for a birthday. Got a shotgun the next Christmas. A little Mossberg. Still have both.

Mike D. · Post by **Mike D.** » Mon Dec 22, 2008 8:55 pm

We had various old guns about the ranch, but I wasn't allowed a BB gun 'til I was 8. That was a Daisy Red Rider that cost my dad $8.50 in the mid '50s. At age 10 I got a Winchester 62A .22 and a new Wingmaster 12 Ga at 13. All of them were the "best" Christmas presents, ever.

Bogie35 · Post by **Bogie35** » Mon Dec 22, 2008 9:43 pm

I got my older brother's Daisey lever action BB gun at about 9, then my brother's Rem. 1100 20 Gauge at about 14, then my dad's 8mm Mauser at about 16 (when I shot my first deer with it!), then I got my first new very own gun for my 18th birthday. My brother worked (and still does) at FN Manufacturing in Columbia, SC. At a Browning "employee & invitee-only auction, he bought me a Browning BSS 12 Gauge! What a big brother!!! I still have it and love it! And I still have that same great brother!

Then January 2008, I bought my first gun; a Marlin 336C in 35 Remington.

So, over the years, most of my rifle experience was either with that 8mm Mauser or my various friends' guns.

bogie

Lastmohecken · Post by **Lastmohecken** » Mon Dec 22, 2008 10:04 pm

I recond I entered the (gun culture) when I got a Daisy Haythorn Lever BB gun at the tender age of 8 for Christmas, then a couple years later got a .22 Winchester bolt action model 121 singleshot. I was asking for a leveraction even then, and told my dad I wanted on of those Ithaca single shot leveractions, but I guess he couldn't find one, so I got the bolt action. Then when I turned twelve, I got to start deer hunting.

I still wanted a leveraction, but we were pretty poor, and my dad started me out with a 12ga shotgun with buckshot, which I didn't like very well, and pretty quickly convinced him to let me use his 94 Swedish Carbine in 6.5x55. He also later aquired a Remington A303 from my uncle who passed away, It was a good shooter but too heavy for me to pack, and lost favor pretty quickly.

I finally got my first Leveraction deer rifle, when my grandfather traded it to me, for a wrecked Honda motorcycle, about the time I turned 14 or 15. I got the best end of that deal, as I believe it was a conspiracy between him and my dad to get me away from motorcycles. That gun was a very slick post 64, Winchester 30/30. And finally I had my own first, real honest to goodness deer rifle.

AJMD429 · Post by **AJMD429** » Mon Dec 22, 2008 10:22 pm

mescalero1 wrote:Funny how most of us got guns when we were kids, and did not turn into sociopaths.
Maybe having the responsibility showed us the way?

I might be able to find the reference, but a serious 'study' was done that showed that kids who are exposed to firearms and shoot real guns at a young age are WAY less likely to be involved in crime.

It only makes sense, but it nice to see in print.

Search the 'net if you want, or whatever, but anyway, it IS true, that kids who shoot guns with family or in 4H or whatever, do NOT turn out bad...

stretch · Post by **stretch** » Tue Dec 23, 2008 7:52 am

My mother refused to let us have guns at all.

I didn't get my first gun until I was in my thirties!
I still have it - a Marlin 336 in 35 Remington. Now I am hopelessly
addicted, and really can't imagine living in a state where I couldn't own
a gun.

-Stretch

Aussie Chris · Post by **Aussie Chris** » Tue Dec 23, 2008 8:13 am

My father had a couple of 94's (30-30s and .44s) but he sold them before I was even born.
I kept bugging dad as a kid to buy some more and teach me to shoot but he never got around to it.

So when I turned 18 I had enough and went out and got my shooters licence. Followed by my game licence for deer hunting down here in Victoria.

My first rifle was and still is a 30-30 Winchester made in '79 and a 9422 followed by a: 30.06 Tikka, .223 Remington 7615, and 10 more commemoratives which I have been collecting in the past year.

Pics of my new commemoratives are coming up in a new post...

So yeah I cut my teeth on a 30-30, bit of overkill for a young bloke who never shot before

Chris

Wes · Post by **Wes** » Tue Dec 23, 2008 8:29 am

My story is basically the same as the other Wyoming guys (just a different decade than you old fanny burbs!). When I was 9 or so Dad got me a Savage 22 with the tubular magazine that held 13 long rifles (I think). That was the year we had the jackrabbit plague if you guys remember. Western Wyoming and parts of Idaho and Utah were literally overrun with the big white buggers that winter. Dad sent us kids out with a brick of 22 shells and our rifles with his truck and spotlight quite a few times and we never came back with any bullets and the truck bed level full of jackrabbits. You couldn't possibly have had more fun than that!
There were so many rabbits that they ate our big loose haystacks into what looked like gigantic mushrooms. They'd eat the bottom as high up as they could reach and in as far as they could before it tipped over. Big pain the the butt for grown ups, but loads of fun for a kid with an itchy trigger finger and a new rifle.

MikeS. · Post by **MikeS.** » Tue Dec 23, 2008 11:55 am

I don't remember when I got my 1st bb gun but I did have 4 total. I have 1 now. I had a Daisy rifle, a Daisy CO2 pistol, a Crossman CO2 pellet/BB pistol and around 20 I bought a Crossman pump .177 pellet/BB rifle that I used on stray cats and dogs messing in my yard. This is the only 1 I have left.

About 15 my Mom bought be a Savage bolt action .30-30 so I could go deer hunting with an Uncle. Then that Christmas her and Dad bought me a Winchester 190 semi-auto .22. I bought my 1st pistol, a Stoeger Luger on my 21th birthday. Next was a S&W M27 .357. I've lost track after that.

Sonic Boom · Post by **Sonic Boom** » Tue Dec 23, 2008 1:07 pm

I see a few familiar guns listed from days past!
I started with a Daisy 1894 bb gun when I was about 9,
upgraded to Crosman M1 bb gun at age 11,
then a Crosman 180 CO2 .22 pellet gun at age 11,
then a Sheridan .20 pneumatic pellet at age 12,
then at age 16 I worked at a McDonalds for 5 months to save up enough for a Browning ATD .22 (still have it, beautiful copy of the last Belgium version year 1972)
Then after my 4-year air force hitch ended in 1979 I bought a few more guns, just for good measure

Meeteetse · Post by **Meeteetse** » Tue Dec 23, 2008 5:49 pm

Wes wrote:My story is basically the same as the other Wyoming guys (just a different decade than you old fanny burbs!). When I was 9 or so Dad got me a Savage 22 with the tubular magazine that held 13 long rifles (I think). That was the year we had the jackrabbit plague if you guys remember. Western Wyoming and parts of Idaho and Utah were literally overrun with the big white buggers that winter. Dad sent us kids out with a brick of 22 shells and our rifles with his truck and spotlight quite a few times and we never came back with any bullets and the truck bed level full of jackrabbits. You couldn't possibly have had more fun than that!
There were so many rabbits that they ate our big loose haystacks into what looked like gigantic mushrooms. They'd eat the bottom as high up as they could reach and in as far as they could before it tipped over. Big pain the the butt for grown ups, but loads of fun for a kid with an itchy trigger finger and a new rifle.

Yup, there were so many cottontails and jacks around there was a bounty on them. There was a mink farm near our town that paid 50 cents for cottontails and 75 cents for jacks, and we didn't even have to clean them. That was back when a box (50) .22 LR cost 75 cents, a brick was about $5-7 depending on .22 short, long or long rifle. Boy did we have fun and we made money. Mom was happy someone was paying for the rabbits, because she was tired of cooking them. . . .

mescalero1 · Post by **mescalero1** » Tue Dec 23, 2008 5:56 pm

I used to get 25 cents for a jackrabbit hide, I think the guy sold the fur for lining for parkas.