I just enjoy shooting....

[Pat32rf]

We are forever seeing posts on here about carrying guns for defence against bears, wolves and cougars. Similarly on Facebook we see groups who want to carry for defence against two legged preditors. I'm not overly concerned with either problem in my area but I am one of those unfortunate few who started shooting in an older era and at a younger age.
There are pictures around of my buddy and I with our BB guns hunting sparrows in my grandparents chicken run. We were about eight years old. By the time we were ten we had met some older farm kids up the road who
let us shoot their Dads Whitney, Sheridan single shot and Beretta with a tip up barrel, as long as we could supply some ammo. Before we were twelve we had found my Dads hidden S&W tip up and his single shot bolt action pistol made from a cut down rifle. The blueprints for this were found in Popular Mechanics before the war. (During the seventies the RCMP declared an armistice on these, stamped them with serial numbers and registered these. A few years later they changed their mind and collected them).
We also "borrowed" a CZ mod 27 in 7.65 and an older S&W 32 that my uncle kept in his dresser. The CZ he liberated from a German officer and the revolver was one that had been seized by his friend on the Oshawa Police force.
With this background and the ability to spend most Saturdays out around Jackmans Creek (behind the dump) how no could we not develope a love for the sport or plinking.
When I got married and started target shooting one of my first purchases was a Ruger Convertible 22/22mag . This came with my first carrying permit so I could now legally hunt, target shoot or plink with it.
Im sure that there must be others with a similar background from that era....who just enjoyed shooting both big and small guns.

[fishy steve]

i remeber growing up (small town) carrying a .22 down the side of the road, heading for the bush i could hunt... remeber the local game warden pulling up beside us... all he asked was is the gun unloaded, and does your mother know where you are, with a quick answer of yes we were on our way... cripes now adays id be in juve and my mom be locked up in jail lol

[dutchhunter]

we would go down to the rifle range at the high school two days a week and plink with the 22 rimfire target rifles the school had .there was 6 of them .and the shop teacher would be in charge and sell us the ammo .what a way to spend the lunch hour ,Dutch

[MikePal]

Similar background Pat...I spent my summers on my uncle's farm....4 boys and lots of space....we started with sling shots. Used to pick off frogs in the pond. Got to be darn good at it. Then we moved to BB guns, pellet guns, then .22's...we always had something to shot and lots of targets to shot at. The running rats in the pig pens in the barn were a great place to learn about 'lead' shooting.

When I joined the military, the first day on the rifle range with the FNC1 7.62 they had us shot 5 rounds for confirmation. I put all 5 in a 2"grouping...the Sgt walked behind and yelled out.." we have a farm boy here". There were a few of us, all good shooters.

One of the first things I built here on my own farm, was a rifle range on the hay field. No better relief of life's bothers than spending time behind the sights of a good rifle plinking.

[rick_iles]

Yes, we are blessed to have grown up in those "good ole days"...those days are unfortunately long gone. We seemed to have survived OK !!

[Pat32rf]

I just never understood why we elected a government that does not trust us anymore.....Oh yea, just remembered about Wynnes new 2% income tax so she can give us some money to live on in our old age....

[hamilton0729]

I'm not from that generation but I'm a son of a man from that generation I was turned loose with a BB gun and a 22 unfortunately I had to wait for the weekend to do it at camp! But I also just like to shoot.

[patvetzal]

I always try to leave a block of wood up at the woodshed so i can have a backstop in case i want to test a gun and retrieve the slugs. Also like to keep a few empty 1 lb propane bottles for the grandkids to shoot. They can bounce them around the driveway or I can hang them from a branch.
For more serious stuff I head out back to the picnic table at the pond.

[arvanlaar]

I don't have a background like that as I just started shooting this year, but I feel that I will be the same way. I have a Savage Model 64 .22 and I went through a box of 500 rounds in an afternoon on the dock shooting the targets we set up off shore.

I want to hunt and learn how to harvest meat and kill animals cleanly, but I am also an animal lover. I will never take joy in killing animals like some people do on this site (even if they are killing them for meat/pest control). I am teaching myself to do it out of necessity because I want to learn how to take care of my new family if the poop hits the fan one of these days.

There is just something so relaxing about lining up a target, letting off rounds and not having to worry about the "work" involved in harvesting meat/fur from the animal you killed.

[Bo D]

I too am from that era and got my first 22 when I was 8. Spent my summers on my grandparents farm and got a couple boxes of shells every week as payment for helping out with the chores. The 22 I got was a Browning semi that only fired 22 shorts. Brought home dinner many a nites with that rifle. Always looked forward to my summers on the farm. I turned that sweet little gun over to my grandson 2 Christmas' ago and the apple didn't fall too far from the tree I tell you...