survey on age for first firearm

[JimR]

I shot my first handgun at seven, shotgun same day, bad move. Bought my first .22 with my own money at age 17 at a yard sale for $15.00. Presently have a very large military collection which which will help me live when I retire.

 

[scott_vt]

Eddie,
I love that gun also, even bought an extra clip for it /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif

scotty

 

[Highbeam]

Benjamin and Sheridan were or are the same, anyway it is the famous blue streak model still available but the wooden stock goes almost to the barrel end. Yep, she'll zap a crow in the city without the bang of the 22.

 

[YanmarFever]

Daisy red rider BB gun for my 6th birthday. I was known as the terror of the neighbor hood after that. If it moved I shot it including all the neighbors fruit on their trees. /forums/images/graemlins/frown.gif

 

[RobertN]

I was around 20 before I got my first. It was a center fire carbine.

I was shooting by age 6 though. I did a lot of shooting with my Dad and Uncle. I shot 10 or 20 rounds of 22lr before loading up a Hawken with 40gr of FF and a round ball /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif

I had access to my Dad's stuff, and used it when I was a teen, and still do(I have all his stuff locked up in my safe). I didn't actually get my own though till I was about 20.

]My Dad, he had a 22lr(still has it 55 years later; my son uses it) Mossberg bolt action when he was about 9, and a 12 guage Winchester 97(Still has it...) pump when he was 10. He used to shoot rats and skunks around the farm with them. He got a couple others while he was a kid too. But, he never did get me or my brother anything. We used his, but we never had our own.

I did get my son a Red Ryder at 7, and he won a Crossman at a raffle benefit for a duck refuge. I got him a old 1905 Stevens "Little Scout" single shot falling block 22lr when he was 8. He only uses them with supervision, mine in particular...

I am looking forward to this fall hunting season; my son will be old enough to hunt.

 

[osprey]

<font color="blue"> I was known as the terror of the neighbor hood after that. If it moved I shot it including all the neighbors fruit on their trees </font>

Thats the reason my Dad never let me get a BB gun.

 

[rdln]

I wasnt sure so i checked the receipts. my dad did not hunt either, but we had my grandpa's Wards 20ga bolt action and 03-a3 springfield in the basement. I was the only son out of the 3 who showed an interest in hunting/guns thanks to a buddy who hunted with his dad. My dad bought me a winchester 94 .22 when I was 14 and at 16 a rem. 870 12ga and then a marlin 94 in .44 magnum when my uncle invited me up north in the rifle zone of michigan to deer hunt.

I bought my first handgun, a ruger mark II .22 when I turned 21.

If my son shows the interest and maturity at 12 I will give him the .22 lever but still keep control of it till he's 14

 

[MossRoad]

I think I was 14 or 15 when I bought my first .22. It is a Remington 8** something or other. Single shot, bolt action. It was $69.00. My dad took me down to a sporting goods store, I plopped down my money and walked out of the store carrying an unboxed rifle through downtown to the parking lot(try doing that today /forums/images/graemlins/wink.gif). We then took it over to a very old gunsmith and had about $140.00 worth of sights installed on it. I did very well with that $69.00 rifle. I was going for my distinguished expert when I turned 18 and had to drop out of the program. Still have the rifle. My oldest is turning 13 this year. She'll be shooting with me this summer. /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif

 

[Glenn9643]

I think I was 12 when Dad bought me a Browning "sweet 16". Although I carried a .22 often when we hunted, he didn't allow me to get my own until about 16.

 

[reb]

My dad started me shooting about age 6. When I was ten, he gave me my first .22, a single shot, bolt action. It shot a lot of targets and rabbits. My brother got it when I got a repeater. Christmas a few years later brought a 16 ga shotgun. Hunted big game with a borrowed rifle, starting at 14.

I think age is less important than attitude and training, though I probably wouldn't be comfortable turning most 13 or 14-year-old kids loose with a firearm without supervision.