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Proud Moments .. family and firearms

KillerFord1977

KillerFord1977

SAINT
Founding Member
How did ya’ll start your quest on shooting or hunting?
A few posts recently got me thinking of how I got into hunting and shooting. Now I pass that legacy, family pride and trust to my kids with me.

i started at 5 yrs old or so hunting with dad. Dad was an avid hunter. Marine Corps Heavy Weapons Specialist and Battalion Armorer. He liked firearms and hunting. My First was a .410 shotgun at 8yrs. First rifle at 13. Now my kids enjoy the shooting sports and hunting with me. Started them at same young age and now are HS/College age. We love our time afield.
Springfield Armory and other brands have been a staple in our quests.

Life moves too fast.

3 generations: my dad, myself and my kids

how about ya’ll ?

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Looks like ya done good there son .............. lot of 'proud' to go 'round the KF1977 household for sure !!! And I really appreciate that 'southpaw' young'un there with the rifle stuck out the blind and those couple with the 'downed' pigs.

Kudos to you and mom both for a job well done !!!! (y)(y)(y)
 
Much like you I started off at about 5-6 yrs old (around '52-'53) trudgin' along behind my dad till I couldn't hardly trudge any longer...... but he'd always calmly stop and wait for me to catch up. Proudly sported his old 410 single from the 30's during those days. I was pretty scrawny at that age and that's about all I could carry and keep up out of the dirt. Ha ha! Still have it today as well, although dad's gone now. Took many rabbits and squirrels and even a few doves over the growing up years. Began getting bigger and better guns at about 10-12 or so and began hunting by myself some, although it was always good and more fun to go with daddy. We hunted together as much as possible up into my mid 60's and his early 80's.
 
It sounds like a great upbringing, you are right it goes way to fast.

I was 6 months old when my father took me up north during Michigan's archery season and a month later we went up north for my first Thanksgiving in rifle season.

That started a life long hunting partnership. To my knowledge, my dad and I had never had Thanksgiving dinner on Thanksgiving day at home. It was always the Sunday before or after. We were always up north. This year, will be the first hunting season on my own, in 62 years after dad passed last December. For many years it was dad, me, and my best friend Don, whom was like a second son to dad. Don passed of brain cancer 4years ago.

Way to damn fast, you are right. I miss my best friends and hunting partners. It gets lonely occasionally, I was never one for a lot of friends, they were it.

I learned to shoot bow about the time I learned to walk, and it is still my favorite sport. I learned to shoot longarms on a savage over and under 410/22 which is why to this day I am a good wingshooter using rifle sights. Its how my shotguns have been setup for many years. I learned to shoot handguns with a Colt commander and a Sw Chiefs special which were my dad's favorites when I was young, somewhere along the line dad sold the colt while his company was on strike for food and groceries. My mom uses the smith he left to her.

My first firearm was a Marlin 22 bolt action, which I still have. And my first handgun was a 6 inch Taurus model 66 357 magnum which I also still have.
 
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I grew up in the MD suburbs just south of Washington, DC in a family of 10 kids, no guns around at all. I married a girl raised in a family of 8 from a small town in central PA. It scared the he!! out of me the 1st few times we went to visit her family, guns laying around everywhere and all. I thought her daddy was gonna shoot me 🙄! Everyone in their house got a hunting and fishing as soon as they were of age.

In my young 30's I was helping my grandma around the house after granddad passed away. She found his 3 guns in the attic, she gave them to me. 1938 Rem LR22 Targetmaster, a 1940 H&R 20 single shot and an old Steven's single shot 12 ga with a long straight barrel. I cleaned them up and the next trip up to PA I took them to show my wife's dad. He looked them over, told me to grab the 12 ga and follow him. We went down the street to the auto repair shop, the owner was his friend. He told him, give the boy a hunting license! When the guy was filling out all my info he asked if I had taken the hunter safety course, her dad jumped in and said YES! 😯

So here I am not 5 minutes later walking through the woods about 25 feet to his left, in my casual suburb clothes and tennis shoes, scared as hell, haven't got a clue what I'm doing, what's even legal and a huge Turkey jumps into the air between us. He shot it with the .410 he was carrying which brought it down but didn't stop him by any means. The turkey took off running down the side of the mountain. Her dad looks at me and says, "What are you waiting for? You don't think I'm gonna chase him do you?" (my 1st lesson lol)

So, scared as you know what, I take off running down the mountain. Adrenaline is pumping so hard I'm just running through brush and little trees like it's an open field with my eyes on the turkey! Down near the bottom of the mountain the turkey is turning and starting to come across in front of me. As I pull the gun up to shoot I hear her dad's echoing holler from on top the mountain. "SHOOT FOR THE HEAD!" (my 2nd lesson)

I shoot for the head (my very 1st shot ever) and it's a hit. The turkey's head drops right between his legs. But there's a problem, he keeps on running, all around and in circles. I was jumping out of the way like a scared little boy, I haven't got a clue what to do??? Finally the Turkey came to a stop so I could stop jumping around but it took quite some time for my heart to stop pounding. I AM NOW A HUNTER! LOL. What a day that was. I don't remember how long it was before my heart stopped pumping so hard.

It turned out to be a 16 lb. Turkey! They also dressed me in some clothes more appropriate for hunting prior to my pictures for the small town newspaper.

I did take a hunter safety course afterwards and have learned quite a bit on my own over the years since none of my friends from the suburbs had guns or hunted. I have also added nicely to my gun collection (rifles, shotguns, 1 black powder, handguns and ARs) since my original 3 and have spent a lot of time reading, learning and absorbing what I could since.

Learn something new everyday, it keeps you young!

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Sld1959 said:
It sounds like a great upbringing, you are right it goes way to fast.

I was 6 months old when my father took me up north during Michigan's archery season and a month later we went up north for my first Thanksgiving in rifle season.

That started a life long hunting partnership. To my knowledge, my dad and I had never had Thanksgiving dinner on Thanksgiving day at home. It was always the Sunday before or after. We were always up north. This year, will be the first hunting season on my own, in 62 years after dad passed last December. For many years it was dad, me, and my best friend Don, whom was like a second son to dad. Don passed of brain cancer 4years ago.

Way to damn fast, you are right. I miss my best friends and hunting partners. It gets lonely occasionally, I was never one for a lot of friends, they were it.

I learned to shoot bow about the time I learned to walk, and it is still my favorite sport. I learned to shoot longarms on a savage over and under 410/22 which is why to this day I am a good wingshooter using rifle sights. Its how my shotguns have been setup for many years. I learned to shoot handguns with a Colt commander and a Sw Chiefs special which were my dad's favorites when I was young, somewhere along the line dad sold the colt while his company was on strike for food and groceries. My mom uses the smith he left to her.

My first firearm was a Marlin 22 bolt action, which I still have. And my first handgun was a 6 inch Taurus model 66 357 magnum which I also still have.
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Time flies in the woods. Dad and Don will always be with you though and smiling proud 😇
 
Bear007 said:
I grew up in the MD suburbs just south of Washington, DC in a family of 10 kids, no guns around at all. I married a girl raised in a family of 8 from a small town in central PA. It scared the he!! out of me the 1st few times we went to visit her family, guns laying around everywhere and all. I thought her daddy was gonna shoot me 🙄! Everyone in their house got a hunting and fishing as soon as they were of age.

In my young 30's I was helping my grandma around the house after granddad passed away. She found his 3 guns in the attic, she gave them to me. 1938 Rem LR22 Targetmaster, a 1940 H&R 20 single shot and an old Steven's single shot 12 ga with a long straight barrel. I cleaned them up and the next trip up to PA I took them to show my wife's dad. He looked them over, told me to grab the 12 ga and follow him. We went down the street to the auto repair shop, the owner was his friend. He told him, give the boy a hunting license! When the guy was filling out all my info he asked if I had taken the hunter safety course, her dad jumped in and said YES! 😯

So here I am not 5 minutes later walking through the woods about 25 feet to his left, in my casual suburb clothes and tennis shoes, scared as hell, haven't got a clue what I'm doing, what's even legal and a huge Turkey jumps into the air between us. He shot it with the .410 he was carrying which brought it down but didn't stop him by any means. The turkey took off running down the side of the mountain. Her dad looks at me and says, "What are you waiting for? You don't think I'm gonna chase him do you?" (my 1st lesson lol)

So, scared as you know what, I take off running down the mountain. Adrenaline is pumping so hard I'm just running through brush and little trees like it's an open field with my eyes on the turkey! Down near the bottom of the mountain the turkey is turning and starting to come across in front of me. As I pull the gun up to shoot I hear her dad's echoing holler from on top the mountain. "SHOOT FOR THE HEAD!" (my 2nd lesson)

I shoot for the head (my very 1st shot ever) and it's a hit. The turkey's head drops right between his legs. But there's a problem, he keeps on running, all around and in circles. I was jumping out of the way like a scared little boy, I haven't got a clue what to do??? Finally the Turkey came to a stop so I could stop jumping around but it took quite some time for my heart to stop pounding. I AM NOW A HUNTER! LOL. What a day that was. I don't remember how long it was before my heart stopped pumping so hard.

It turned out to be a 16 lb. Turkey! They also dressed me in some clothes more appropriate for hunting prior to my pictures for the small town newspaper.

I did take a hunter safety course afterwards and have learned quite a bit on my own over the years since none of my friends from the suburbs had guns or hunted. I have also added nicely to my gun collection (rifles, shotguns, 1 black powder, handguns and ARs) since my original 3 and have spent a lot of time reading, learning and absorbing what I could since.

Learn something new everyday, it keeps you young!

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Thats awesome !
Turkey’s are fun to hunt with them being so wary and fast. Glad you found a passion to keep on hunting.
 
As I only recently wrote, I didn't start "seriously" shooting until nearly the last week of November of 2010. I was 36 at the time, and although I'd been to countless fun "range-days" with my friends since college and had similar experiences as a kid (my first shot was on a Gen 1 Glock, with a LE-friend of my father's who served as private-contract security in the ethic shopping mall that he managed at the time; his Colt Python remains to-date among my favorite shooting memories), I had never really seen it as more than occasional recreation. From a friend's husband's D'Eagle .50 AE to my childhood friends' father's full-auto M10 (I *think* that was what it was? I didn't know enough about guns back then to really know better), there were plenty of good memories to be had. But yup, it really wasn't until my daughter started growing up a bit that I started thinking about the many "what ifs" in life......

A few sleepless nights' worth of meditation and self-debate later, I decided to take up armed self-defense. That fateful saw me start down the path to both seeking firearms training for myself, as well as to secure a 2A legacy for my daughter - and hopefully the generations to-come after her, too. As a first-generation family, with neither of my parents interested in firearms and with a similar lack of interest on my in-law's side, I realized that I'd be starting fresh.

I'd always let my daughter's interests go their own way, but I won't lie and say I wasn't smiling when she first showed interest in my airsoft replicas. The picture below was from when she was 5 and 1/2. She'd drilled a 6mm hole into an empty RedBull can at 10 yards, with me supporting my Tanio Koba 10/22 GBB replica on my shoulder and her taking the trigger and working the sight. I'd already been shooting for a couple of years by then, and had used airsoft as a way to teach her about firearms safety and marksmanship fundamentals. She really didn't like loud noises as a little one, so I wanted to wait until she was ready, before I took her to the range. Out in our own back-yard, the BB-gun was barely louder than a quiet cough, so it made for the perfect learning platform.

Anna Little.JPG


A few weeks after she turned 8, she let me know that she thought she'd finally be ready to "shoot for real" by the time school let out that summer. I spent the next several months updating our eye and ear protection, and shopped with her to buy .22LR handguns and rifles for both of us for that coming season. We've been shooting together ever since.

Fast-forward to August of 2017, and she's 11 and 1/2......

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That's the ubiquitous S&W M&P 15-22 in her hands. She's got on those sports "compression sleeves" as protection from spent brass (she's still not fond of anything hot, even now) - I've often said here and elsewhere about making sure that the kiddo is the one having fun, so, yup, I catered each of our sessions to her needs. ;). And really, it's not until much more recently that I finally started shooting *with* her, instead of being there for her when she's shooting.

The 15-22 was only ever as reliable as that rimfire cartridge, so she started yearning after the dependability she's seen of the full-caliber, direct-impingement ARs. It wasn't long before we sat down together to build-out a lower for her:

https://www.thearmorylife.com/forum/threads/lets-see-your-ar-setups.258/page-4#post-4362

This one was from early 2020. She's still on the 15-22 in this pic, but we'd played that day with her Umbrella, too.

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President Ronald Regan wrote/said that "Freedom is never more than one generation away from extinction." We owe it to our children to pass on the American way of life - of freedom and liberty for all.
 
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