Who Was/Is The Most Inspirational Firearms Person In Your Life

[Glenn B]

For me it was a nameless Border Patrol Agent on temporary assignment to the Border Patrol Academy as a firearms instructor, who took the time & effort to teach me how to shoot while I was in the Border Patrol Academy. He took the most miserable shooter in my class and turned me into a pretty good shot with a passion for firearms and shooting that has lasted a lifetime and that I passed onto others on the job and eventually to my son. Of course, he had/has a name, I just cannot remember it. Wish I could remember his name to be able to track him down and tell him how it all turned out.

 

[oldag]

J. Browning?

 

[skfullgun]

A retired gentleman who opened a gun shop, his lifelong dream, near my home when I was in high school. I stopped in to buy ammo and bought a Lee Loader to reload .38 special for the only firearm I owned - a beat up old .S&W .38. He ended up giving me an antique (his first) Pacific press and other reloading equipment and teaching me to use it. He then invited me to his home on the outskirts of town where he had a short, outdoor pistol range and I tried out my first reloded ammo. He went out of business soon after and I left for college.
That was over 40 years ago, but it ignited a love for all things gun-related.

I regret I don't remember his name, but I could take you straight to the spot where he lived. There is now a big biker-bar/ saloon where his gun range once sat.

 

[rotor]

As a young cubscout 65 years ago I had my introduction into shooting a Marlin 22 bolt action while at cub scout camp. Good instruction from a great counsellor. Nobody in my family had a firearm. I saved my money and bought one at age 12 or so. Just went into a store by myself, cash in hand and bought one. This was in New York City too. Still have it.

 

[Lonesome Dove]

My late Uncle.

 

[ZX9RCAM]

My father, obviously.
I was given my first gun at 5 or 6.
Killed my first deer at 8.
We went hunting at least once a week during dove and quail season.
We went "critter shooting" almost every weekend which wasn't during a hunting season.

 

[SQLGeek]

My grandfather. My first time shooting was with him. We shot his .357 with wax bullets in his garage. That pretty much started things for me. My first pistol was his service weapon that I inherited when he passed.

 

[Chirpy]

Dick Sherer, dad of two of my best childhood friends. FFL dealer, hunter, collector. Handed me a HipPower to take to the range and inspired my love of that gun. Missed.

 

[TreyG-20]

My Dad and my uncle who shot competitively. They use to take me out to ARC when I was around 5 and I would go down range to reset targets and mostly collect mangled bullets on the berm. My uncle had a small range on his property where I started shooting .22 around 7 and then got my first. 22 at 8 for Christmas.

 

[Orbie]

My stepfather. Took my first deer (a doe) at 5. He taught me about the basics. Afterwards, I received my first rifle at the age of 6.

 

[m5215]

 

[ZX9RCAM]

 

[DoubleDuty]

really nobody, self defence was my premise.

 

[deemus]

My dad. Watching him clean and polish that big silver looking pistol, then watching him walk around in his uniform with that pistol strapped on his side was magic to me.

Every now then I take that big silver pistol out of my safe and spin the cylinder a couple times. Its hasn't been shot in close to 20 years.

We hunted on my grandparents farm in OK, and then my grandmother cooked the critters we killed for dinner.

Bought me my first 22 at age 12. Bought me my first shotgun at age 14. We shared a deer rifle for years.

My memories of shooting that 38 as a child are ingrained in my brain forever.

 

[Hoji]

Dad

 

[pronstar]

I wish I had fam that was into guns.
I’m the only one.

So my inspiration was Guns and Ammo magazine, and the like.

I’ve always had a natural affinity for mechanical things like cars guns, watches, tanks battleships, etc...

Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

 

[deemus]

 

[m5215]

I wish I had fam that was into guns.
I’m the only one.

So my inspiration was Guns and Ammo magazine, and the like.

I’ve always had a natural affinity for mechanical things like cars guns, watches, tanks battleships, etc...

I hear you on that as I also was the only one into guns in my family and to top that off I was born in Hanoi Hawaii and then moved to Commiefornia where I stayed until I graduated high school after which I promptly left CA.

When I was growing up the equivalent of going out to the range to shoot was watching the A-Team on TV. Watching one of the many cool action movies of the 80's with a lot of gun action was a real treat.

 

[Sam7sf]

Walt. A much older friend. He was doing those cowboy competitions. In my early 20’s he would give me work on the farm and some of that included pest control. He didn’t make a lot of money. I rarely got paid with money. Most of the time I was rewarded with friendship and knowledge about cowboy action shooting and reloading. He had this old vaquero in 44-40 that was a sweet shooter. Sure I was already into guns but he had a huge role in my evolution as a gun owner and a man.

 

[popsgarland]

My DI in basic and AIT at Fort Polk in route to Nam.