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

[MikeS.]

While out Christmas shopping tonight I bought Ava a Marlin .22 single shot bolt action youth sized rifle.

Ava is my 7.5 year old daughter/G'daughter. My wife and I raised her from birth, with some part-time help from her Mom, our oldest. Her Mom finally manned up enough to be a full-time Mom when Ava turned 7 last June. So she now lives about an hour away in PA.

I've taken Ava shooting with me since she was ~5. She likes my Ruger .22 SAs and 10/22. Oh and I did ask her Mom first.

[iceman]

I guess I was 10 or so when I got a spitting image 94 Daisy BB rifle for Christmas. Acouple of years later a break action 22 cal pellet rifle. Between that Dad would let me use a Winchester Model 68 single shot 22,(I still have it) with him around. As I got older I could use it by myself. At around 15 or so Dad sold me his Rem 870 20 ga.for $75.00.(still have it too) I used my summer job money I got for throwing hay bales for the local farmers. My first lever was a mod 99 300 savage bought a couple of years later with my summer job money. shot my first deer with it and sure wish I still had it. those were the good old days when you could take a shotgun to school on the school bus because the fish and game club had a meeting after school on gun safety and they needed some guns there to show safe gun handling. We even had a 22 range in the school basement. I guess those days are long gone.

[mescalero1]

Did'nt want to say anything, ( thought the forum would brand me an out & out liar ).
But, the high school I went to had an indoor rifle range.. .22long rifle

[rangerider7]

I got a Stevens Bolt action 410 shotgun at thirteen and a Remington single shot 22 that next year. Before that I had a Daisy BB gun and the Benjamin pump BB rifle. Dove, jackrabbits, cottontails, frogs, snakes were the main prey. Later Predators were on the list.

[OJ]

I got my .22 bolt action single shot rifle for my sixth birthday in 1932. It was depression days and .22 long rifle ammo was four bits per fifty but .22 shorts were half that price so I shot them. Took head shots to do the job but that made us better shooters.



Here I am in about 1934 with my "trophies" - we lived in a very rural area - the semi-cellar on the right was our electric plant - 32 volt - wind charger mostly with gasoline engine backup. Only ran light bulbs but that was a giant step up from lanterns. One wall was entirely covered with batteries.

We had to furnish our own utilities - I remember getting indoor plumbing (toilets) - another giant step up from the outhouse - particularly in those COLD Nebraska winters.

I was an adult before getting a BB gun but was a "registered gun collector" at age eight because I had a .410 pistol H&R Handy Gun - requiring registration by the NFA and the form asked why I owned such a weapon. My collection by then consisted of tthe .22, .410 pistol, .410 double barel, and a well used Winchester 94 in Winchester .32 Special.




We weren't entirely left out by the depression - I just put my money where my heart was - in my guns.

[dr walker]

I did not get a .22 for Christmas. I asked and wished and dreamed, but sadly the day never came. When I was sixteen I had an older friend buy me a .22. My Mother soon had no problem with me having guns in the house. We learned to shoot together. She does not shoot very often, but anytime I ask if she wants to go to the range she is up for it.

[jnyork]

Did'nt want to say anything, ( thought the forum would brand me an out & out liar ).
But, the high school I went to had an indoor rifle range.. .22long rifle

This was common at one time, up until the 1980's or so. I was stationed in Sacramento CA from 1969 thru 1978, there was a great deal of Junior Rifle Club and JROTC competitive shooting going on there, a nice indoor range in the south area of town would draw 100-150 teenage kids to an NRA match on a weekend there. I was the rifle coach for Mira Loma High School, we shot at the El Camino HS range.

[OJ]

Did'nt want to say anything, ( thought the forum would brand me an out & out liar ).
But, the high school I went to had an indoor rifle range.. .22long rifle

This was common at one time, up until the 1980's or so. I was stationed in Sacramento CA from 1969 thru 1978, there was a great deal of Junior Rifle Club and JROTC competitive shooting going on there, a nice indoor range in the south area of town would draw 100-150 teenage kids to an NRA match on a weekend there. I was the rifle coach for Mira Loma High School, we shot at the El Camino HS range.

That was the main reason I joined the Junior ROTC in high school (class of '44) - they furnished rifles, ammo, and range for us to shoot.

[PaulB]

No, just a pellet gun, maybe age 6 or so. <sigh> Dad had a lot of kids to buy presents for, and not a whole lot of money.

Now, I'm conflicted about the no toy gun because you'll get bad habits or other variation on that theme.

I've never worried about it. My boy certainly knows the difference, and does not treat them as the same thing.

[mescalero1]

Thanks guys, thought I was a real oddball for a while there.
Glad to hear other people experienced that as well, when do some yo-yo decide that guns were bad?

[Gobblerforge]

1969. I was 9. 20 Ga. side by side for rabbits and birds. Still have it.
Christmas, 1972. Remington pump 22 and a 45cal. Kentucky Rifle kit. Still have them both. The Kentucky will be in the field on Saturday.
Gobbler

[Meeteetse]

Thanks guys, thought I was a real oddball for a while there.
Glad to hear other people experienced that as well, when do some yo-yo decide that guns were bad?

Don't know when it all went away, but it was still available to High School ROTC students in 1963 in Wyoming. I don't think anyone else could shoot unless in ROTC. I know I had a class in Jr. High that taught .22 rifle shooting, but that would have been in the 50's. I guess most of those things disappeared after Pres. Kennedy was shot. It was also available in College in the 60's for a while, at least in WY.

[model55]

Was given a winchester single shot model 121 at about ten-the worst trigger of any gun I have-but I learned on that so it was good in the long scheme of things.First center fire was a lee enfield jungle carbine which being young and not have foresight I sporterized then sold.Think I paid 75.00 for it from one of the local police officers-no paper work-no problems-those days are gone, we would both be felons now.