On a more serious note....now that the red X is gone....guns involved

[1 Wild R/T]

Didn't do much shooting before the military but did a good bit while in there even though it wasn't regulation Yeah, a couple of guys and I got friendly with the arms room attendant and we had a pretty good place to shoot off site at the ammo dump that was about 10 miles off base. Oh man, talk about possible trouble with getting caught doing that!! The only people at the dump on weekends was military police and it was way out of the way and only two of us for the whole weekend. Once out of the military, I started buying a couple of guns here and there. Just can't believe I sold so many when my divorce started but I've had plenty of bottles and cans to annihilate over the years but never shot a squirrel. Heck, dad wouldn't even let me have a bb gun but got to shoot plenty with my buddies...

My dad always had guns... They were always in plain sight & loaded... We were told from an early age that they were loaded & dangerous... But the time we were teens we were taught gun safety & taught to shoot...

Dad grew up as a farm boy & hunting was taken seriously... I was never the kid with guns in the back window of my pickup.... Didn't have a pickup... But I might have had a Ruger 10-22 in my trunk...

 

[Cranky]

My dad always had guns... They were always in plain sight & loaded... We were told from an early age that they were loaded & dangerous... But the time we were teens we were taught gun safety & taught to shoot...

Dad grew up as a farm boy & hunting was taken seriously... I was never the kid with guns in the back window of my pickup.... Didn't have a pickup... But I might have had a Ruger 10-22 in my trunk...

Dad grew up on a farm and I know there were guns around but he never had any that I knew of when I was growing up. Maybe had something to do with growing up in Masshole? Dad didn't have any insurance so he was against anything 'fun' like dirt bikes, go carts, guns or hot rods lol. We moved to the south when I was 12 and he opened up a bit but not much. Most of the stuff I did was in the shadows.....and I had a pickup truck a bit later on with a gun rack but anything worth having was behind the seat and not in the rack

 

[Sahara]

I was lucky to grow up in an era and place where guns were second nature. Even as late as the early eighties guns were pretty much a common thing. I travelled all over the west of Canada by Greyhound bus with my 45/70 Buffalo rifle in a case in the over head storage, and got on a city bus in Edmonton one time with the Swedish Mauser that I had just purchased. As I walked to my seat an old lady looked at me over her glasses and said “Lee Harvey Oswald?” If you travelled by airplane you gave your handgun to the pilot for safekeeping and picked it up when you deplaned.
Any of that sort of thing would get the SWAT team called on you now but back then it was no big deal.

 

[moparedtn]

Has a hammer....it's just spurless.

I have a concealed handgun permit but over the last few years, Texas did away with the need for a permit....concealed or open carry now. Yeah, she's a bit careless on the 'pointing' it but getting better. I've had her practice handling it unloaded and am very careful around her when it's loaded. Military training for me but pretty sure the AF isn't as strenuous as the others but I also got some extra training because I was a freaking cop lol but it wasn't all that much more. Got a pretty decent instructor when I went for my carry license in 06 and then for a renewal a few years later.

"Hey, don't be flaggin' me with that thing!"
That crap will garner the scorn of most anyone, especially other firearm owners...

Basic gun training is the 4 Commandments:
1. Treat them all like they're loaded (even if you're sure they aren't).
2. Never point the muzzle at anything you don't want destroyed.
3. Finger stays OFF the trigger (and I'd say, totally clear of the trigger guard) at all times
until it's time to shoot.
4. Make sure of your backdrop before blazing away.

I guarantee about everyone here that owns or sporadically shoots has failed at least one of these;
I know I have back in greenhorn days.

 

[Budnicks]

My family has always had property, a ranch, or a farm
my Grammie's side (Norwegians) was from way north in Calif. Klamathton,
& her family Fort Bragg before that, 1st here in 1798 shipbuilders,
when Cailf. was Mexico's still, they were in a small settlement on the coast
it was in around a Russian fort, they traded with
Family was in/from Klamathton, Camp Lowe it burned to the ground,
sometime in the 1930s (IIRC ?)
My Grammie was already here in the Bay Area then
you could say I got some serious roots here
& advid shooters hunters/sportsman

I hepled to build & then ran Target Masters Indoor Range & gun club, Milpitas Ca
in the mid 80s as a second job, My then GF Vicky's b-i-l Dennis was an owner
he wasn't really a shooter, but a money guy, I was a shooter
I worked there after we (EdCo Contractors) built the place, as a night mngr
I became 1 of only 19 registered Federally certified Range Masters
so we could do qualifications for PDs & CHP & hold sanctioned PPC contests
But;
Mainly just so I could shoot,
I hired my sister Candy to work in the day, she became
quit the lil' Candy Oakley too, mostly 9mm
I went thru 1,000+ rds a month if not more
in mostly .357 mag. special loads or .45acp special loads
lots & lots of shooting

Family property 1 side

where that they org. owned a crapload of property riverfront Klamath River
later it became a campground/waystation & fishing charter/guides
hunting you name it

the branch of the family still Grammies side, is mostly from Minnesota
they settled out here in the delta, Bethel Island area
& SF, Berkeley, Albany areas
it was anything like it is today, it was rural land
1830's-1840's were avid hunters & outdoors/sportsman
loggers/boat builders/engineers
Germans/Norwegens (not much logging in the delta/flat no trees really)
they all had guns, very profoicent with them too

I learned from some of the best, Uncle Tink
with a Ruger 10/22 1st, then an M1Garand 30-06ca
nobody near or out on an island in the delta,
1,000 acres, in several different places, Walnut Creek, Pleasant Hill & Concord areas too
everyone was proficient with guns/hunting & fishing
working bird dogs, avid hunters for the most part
Raised many cattle/Champion Bulls/horses/pigs/goats/ducks/pigeons & chickens
I learned driving a tractor & offroading Jeeps & 4x4s etc.

My dad had a ranch & property for 20-ish years
we lived there when I went to HS, planty of places to shoot
165 acres in El Dorado Co. GardenValley/Georgetown area
I loved going there & later living there...

My Uncle Tink/Alfred, my dads Uncle, Grammies Bros. (my mentor)
avid dog guy/bird dogs, best shooter I ever new
& avid hunter/sportsman/fisherman/outdoorsman/survivalist type
a WWII career Marine Officer 1st Lt enlisted, strict but fair
& later Korean conflict, eventually a Col. 20 years
then went & reenlisted/never left just changed branches
for VietNam Army Col. Green Beret, (so did his 2 sons, my Uncle Pete & Jim)

but my dad Harvey is not a hunter,
never really was, it skipped a generation,

my stepdad Bob was, I grew up somewhat with him from age 6-14 y/o
he was a deer hunter mostly, we'd go plinking some
My Dad Harvey he likes looking at them more, than shooting them
but was an avid shooter, especially when I was young
especially when we went up to property/ranch or Pinecrest Lake upcountry
he did the cowboy shooting & quickdraw stuff, before I was like 10

the Otherside of Dad's Harvey's family his fathers side "Whitey/Elmer" pure German decent
a'' worked in Oil Buss. Shell Oil Engineers (Whitey/Elmer Granddad, 44 years a VP Engineer)
a couple generations of them & Standard Oil Engineers
mostly based out of SF/Alameda Shipyards area, all settled in Berkeley/Albany
where my dad Harvey was born

Elmer's dad my great granddad, John was in he was org. a shipman,
then later when he went west
Electricity, Electrician he was one of the very 1st employees of PG&E
he worked in SF & died there, he he did shoot some, he owned guns...

My Great Granddad, John Joseph
I have a Damascus dbl barreled shotgun of his...
& an Colt Army pistol he was issued somewhere out on the prairies
but;
I don't know a lot about him he died before I was born, in like 1953

His side of the family were farmers too, 1st settled outside St Louis, in the 1830-40s
Shipbuilders...
The story goes 'his father' Johannes got off the boat from Germany
after traveling up the river to St Loius, via the Gulf (not sure why)
& never got back on...
He found a good German gal, Augusta, somewhere in Minn. married young started a family
most of them moved west too...
He was allegedly an Avid hunter/rifleman, Indian fighter, enlisted in the US Calvery Army,
later settled in California SJ Valley, his offspring moved to the Bay Area...

 

[Detective D]

Where I am in AZ, I can go 1/2 mile above my house, and shoot.As long as you are far enough away from the nearest dwelling.
I hear shooting in the hills, all the time.

Eh. We set stuff up across the back tree line and took turns off my back deck. Closest neighbor is half a mile though, next one after that is a solid 2 miles.

But that's in 95% of the state where people want to be left alone, farmers, people that hate the city.
The other 5% is filling up with illegals and less and less police, so pretty soon I expect to start hearing a story here and there about someone venturing out to the country to F around and found out on the news.

 

[Sahara]

"Hey, don't be flaggin' me with that thing!"
That crap will garner the scorn of most anyone, especially other firearm owners...

Basic gun training is the 4 Commandments:
1. Treat them all like they're loaded (even if you're sure they aren't).
2. Never point the muzzle at anything you don't want destroyed.
3. Finger stays OFF the trigger (and I'd say, totally clear of the trigger guard) at all times
until it's time to shoot.
4. Make sure of your backdrop before blazing away.

I guarantee about everyone here that owns or sporadically shoots has failed at least one of these;
I know I have back in greenhorn days.

Ed raises an interesting point with #4. A very sobering thing happened one time when we had a large pile of 7.62x51 (308) tracers to play with. We were very, very taken aback by watching those red fireballs ricochet or just generally race off into the distance. A long, long distance. Hmmmm…, how far away was the neighbour again?

 

[DeltaV]

Bought my girl friend a new gun the other day.....she's never fired one before but once she did, she fell in love. Think I woke up a sleeping giant!? It's Ruger 357 SP101 with the 2 1/4" barrel and spurless hammer. Was kinda hesitant with it being spurless but since she will be purse carrying, it may be the way to go since the spur can't catch on anything when pulling it out? I do like the fact that .38's can be used in it and will introduce her to the .357 rounds once she gets proficient with the .38's. I set up a short range inside my shop a couple of days ago to let her take a couple of shots and well, not bad for being a first time shooter. At least there's no extra holes in my back overhead door

Plan ahead:

Events

 

[Budnicks]

Later in 1984-86 I built was part owner & rangemaster at Sharp Shooters,
Indoor range in Palmer Alaska, it was supposed to be like Target Masters
albeit you could say I've sent a 100,000 rounds probably down range
in 2 private ranges
Shrap Shooters
4) 25 yard stalls & 4) 50 yard stalls retail sales & repairs/gunsmithing out front
it didn't take off
too many places to go & shoot for free, in the great wilderness
except winter you freeze you *** off, summer forget it no business
except for gun sales & a few repairs
I lost my *** on that one,
it was fun at 1st, all of loaded stalls every day & night
then the economy took a dump, people started leaving in droves
going back to the lower 48, there was a boom there at that time
250k people moved up there in 3 years & more than that left
once they figure out it's not an easy life & cold as F--k