When I Was a Kid...

[Josh Smith]

This is something I still think about daily.

When I was a kid, about three, we moved to Indianapolis because Dad changed jobs and went back to college, eventually becoming an engineer. We lived there until I was 10.

While there, I really wanted a gun, and to hunt. Dad was not a hunter, new guns but wasn't a gun owner, and there was no place to shoot it in the city.

There were plenty of honey bees on dandelions and clover.

I made rubberband guns and started hunting them. Over the years, I went from shooting rubberbands off my finger to making clothespin thumb triggers to finally making index finger-actuated triggers, all before the age of 10.

We moved to Wabash as I was entering fourth grade. The rubberband guns came with me, and continued to serve well as toys, with rubberband guns being a thing with my friends, my little brother, and myself.

They gave way as I was finally able to own airguns and, later, powder arms.

But they sure were fun.

And the bee population still hasn't recovered.

Regards,

Josh

[popper]

Hooray, another 'kid'.
I made rubberband guns and started hunting them. Over the years, I went from shooting rubberbands off my finger to making clothespin thumb triggers to finally making index finger-actuated triggers, all before the age of 10. Just a rubber band to hit the flys on the lunch table. Clothes pin on a stick! Moved from Ft.Wayne when I was ~4, Dad's B29 project was over and he wanted into sales.

[Reddirt62]

I honed my skills as a kid shooting dragonflies with a BB gun. Being a beekeeper......I forgive you! 🐝🐝😂😂

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[dale2242]

Western fence lizard
s and alligator lizards were fair game with my Red Ryder air rifle.
The 40s and 50s sure were great innocent years...dale

[Hickory]

When I was 7 years old I got a Red Ryder for Christmas.
I learned about responsible gun ownership, safe gun handling at an early age and all in just a matter of one hour.
My mom taught me about gun control and my dad taught me about gun confiscation. And I found out that Christmas tree ornaments have more value then a BB gun.

[RP]

When I was a kid I wore out several BBs guns and Pellet guns I still have one. After my chores were done me and the only other kid near me would be on the prowl for rats or birds that were put on the hit list by the grownups. There is no telling how many lbs of BBs we shot but we were always smart enough to know what not to shoot so the supply from the grownups kept coming. Good times were had by us and I still live in the same area since my boys have moved out the wildlife is starting to return lol.

[Plate plinker]

Bbs and pellets I would torment the ground hogs. Then came the 410 and the 22.

[rancher1913]

we had a science class that thought us radioactive decay using plastic balls, somebody figured out that these plastic balls were identical to bb's and could be shot from a bb gun, early airsoft kind of thing. the teacher had to find something else the next year as all his "ammo" was gone. we had a blast shooting and the plastic bb's would not break glass so everything was fair game. this was back before the pump guns, all we had were the spring operated guns.

[gtrpickr]

I remember getting a Red Ryder and my brother getting a Daisy Cub ( I think it was called) for Christmas. I had wanted a bb gun for some time, we would go visit my grandparents and I would love to go sit with my Papaw and shoot the birds out of his garden with his bb gun. The good ol bb gun is where I learned to shoot and learn about gun safety.

[PtMD989]

I got a Daisy BB gun when I was about 9 or 10. We put a hurting on the frogs in our swamp and dad put a bounty on starlings.


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[mold maker]

I got my first BB gun before my arms were long enough to pump it. Had to put the stock on the ground and push down to cock it. Many a safari was made safe from the tigers and lions.
At the same time lots of bumble bees succumb to the deadly aim developed.
Only once did the lure of breaking glass cause discourse. I quickly found out how many BBs could have been bought with the price of a replacement flood light.

[Kent Fowler]

English sparrows were fair game when I was 7, and then had to take a forced hiatus from my Model 25 after I shot one of my big sisters in the lip with it. Suffered the "Wrath of Momma", but only got a lecture from Dad as I think he secretly felt sorry for me having to put up with all those bossy women.

[toallmy]

I would collect pop bottles out of the ditch on my way to town , then trade for BBs at the little country store .

[smokeywolf]

Funny this thread should come up. As a child, my wife used to make rubber band guns out of chop sticks. Coincidentally, a couple of days ago she make another one and played with it off and on until one of our sons got home from school when she gave it to him.

I also made numerous rubber band guns as a kid.

[w5pv]

We made what we called zingers a large red rubber band and small wire staples,they were fun to shoot after you learned not to try it out on little brothers and the pups.I think I can still feel the sizzle in my pants that was used to teach what targets were ok and which were not.

[Multigunner]

Theres a traditional homemade air gun apparently invented in the mountains near here in East Tennessee. A hollow cane pole or hollowed out wooden tube was fitted with a sort of piston made airtight by wrapping in in cloth. A stone that just fit the bore was also wrapped in a rag or patched like a muzzle loader ball. To fire they just held tight to the tube with one hand and rammed the piston home with the other.
Apparently with practice they could bean a rabbit at a fair distance.
Some mountain folk still make primitive crossbows for hunting small game. One that I saw had the same simple trigger mechanism as used by the Montagnard Hill people.

[robg]

Catapults bows and arrows then air rifles .had a great time as a kid in the countryside much more freedom in the sixties .

[nvbirdman]

One year my parents gave me a BB gun for Christmas. Dad picked out a place on the fence for me to hang a target. He probably didn't think the fence would get chewed up too bad from about 500 BB's. 5000 chewed it up pretty good.

[Boaz]

Yep ! Got a daisy basic lever rifle when I was 5 - 6years old , dad and mom both gave me a lecture on what and what not to shoot . Second day I had it I shot out the glass window on the storage shed . When dad got home he listened to my mom and he listened to me .

Long story made short he pulled off that old brown work belt and put it to work . The next morning he had the Daisy laying on the kitchen table . Before he left for work he handed it to me . No more need be said .

[toallmy]

I don't remember what I did wrong , but I remember my father bending my first BB gun around like a U and he was very upset with me . In all honesty I was a hard headed kid .

[salty dog]

I'm pretty sure a rubber band "gun" would get you a vacation from school today, but now I wonder if they kick kids out for shooting rubber bands from their fingers?

[Blackwater]

Any "kid" of ANY age, from 9 to 90, who can't enjoy a rubber band gun and a safari for bees and wasps, ain't a real, sho' 'nuff gunner! I was talking with a friend just the other day about how much fun we used to have with our sling shots. He also has lots of bees and wasps that constantly bother him on his front porch, so he bought one of those "salt guns" off TV that use salt instead of rubber bands, etc. He had the most fun using that thing to crop his hoarde of flying insects, flies and stingy things. I bet he's already shot it 5,000 times, and very few shots failed to get a fly or bug of some kind. He got very deadly with that thing very quickly, learned its maximum effective range, etc.

Fun is fun, no matter how you make it!

[ShooterAZ]

When I was a kid, I was hell on wheels with my "wrist rocket" slingshot. Sparrows and starlings didn't stand a chance.

[bluejay75]

My brother and I shot a bag of songbirds. My dad made us eat them. As I grew older I realized that we did'nt gut them.

[10-x]

When I was a kid..well if kids today did what we did they and their parents would be in the " graybar motel"..... Kids cant have fun today.