Who taught you to shoot?

[tygar]

My dad did some minimum training with my BB gun he gave me but he was a WW2 boat driver in the pacific & his landing party weapon was a Thompson & his rifle skills were somewhat lacking. My real teacher was my Uncle who was a Normandy vet & a hell of a shot with both rifle & pistol. He taught me to shoot a M1 & 1911 while still quite young. He did start me on a .22 but quickly moved to the other stuff.

[Slow Elk 45/70]

My Father, Uncles, Grandfathers/mothers and others that were lucky enough to grow up in the country. Everyone took part , we young un's went into the Army/Marines had very little problems with marksmanship and taking orders and learning from the old gruff sergeants that that were the trainers......Semper FI

[Pilgrim]

Taught myself. Learned to shoot while hunting or wandering in the hills around my home. My father had no interest in teaching me...strange as in his earlier years (before I was borne) he was a world class rifleman, and apparently a fair hand with the 1911, too. I never saw him shoot. At a range or anywhere else. What I learned about him was from his old time buddies. Found some medals of his from Camp Perry. Sad tale...

[Light attack]

Both my parents were shooters. The first thing I remember shooting was a .36 cap and ball Manhatten Firearms pistol. I think I was about five at the time. Same time I learned casting. My father had a ladle that he melted the lead in and cast into a single cavity Lyman mold for conical boolits. I still have that set up. Later my Dad gave me a .22 single shot Win 67 that he had had as a kid growing up in West Texas. My Mom also grew up in West Texas on a farm and always had a .22 or a shotgun. Like earlier posters said, a lot of memories stirred up with this thread.

[Aunegl]

I'm self taught and I tried to wear out a library card doing a lot of reading. I was getting tired of missing my targets. Come to think of it. I'm still doing a lot of reading and I'm missing my targets a little less often.

[smokeywolf]

Dad taught me gun safety. Taught me that one mistake with a gun can ruin your life and the lives of others and can't be undone or taken back. Always look beyond your target and always consider who might be on the other side of the wall.
You don't get a second chance. You have to do it right all the time, every time.

Taught myself sight alignment.

[Seeker]

My father died when I was 18 mos.old. Grandpa died just before him. Grandma took over and taught me how to aim and shoot. We had a blast.

[klutz347]

I had to teach myself.

No one in my family was a shooter so I was on my own.

There was a few guys at the local range that would give me pointers, but I had to find out what worked for me.

[A pause for the COZ]

I would like to say my dad or at least my grandfather... Nope it was grandma. That old girl could shoot too.
Started me at 8 years old on a daisy BB gun, Then the marlin 22, By 12 I was shooting her Marlin 336 in 30-30.
She did a good job too. Thanks grams!!! It could have something to do with Gramps always out working and Grandma was around to be bugged until she gave in.

[Smoke4320]

I was self taught .. Sold christmas cards ( from boys life magazine) door to door at age 10 .. sold enough to order a Crossman 760 pump ..
It was all up hill from there.. learned real fast f I wanted to hit anything consistently I needed to shoot pellets ..

Won many a competition in my hayday.. must have learned how to shoot..

[Hang Fire]

Me. myself and I.

[10 ga]

Grandads both had a hand. started out with a BB gun with one and then on to a 410. Other just started me with a 1911 45ACP. Dad didn't like either one doing the gun thing but I was hooked. Boy Scouts did a bunch too. Dad finally relented and insisted I get NRA instruction when I was 11 as a Scout. Dad hunted and took me too after the class. I really didn't learn about CF rifles until I was at VA Tech and my roommate was a high power competitive shooter. Learned a whole lot about rifle shooting from him, and I taught him about how to hit stuff with a shotgun. I've won a few "matches" with ML, shotgun, handgun and rifle but at 65 the eyes don't allow me to compete successfully any more. I still compete but just don't quite get enough X and 10 hits to take high placements. I will add that the deer, turkeys, squirrels, foxes etal still fear me. My stalking skills are as good as ever as I have more patience and depend on closer shots for clean kills. My shooting skills aren't quite so good but my hunting skills are better than ever. 10 ga

[Blackwater]

Wow! What a response. And the thing that I take away from it all is that it's really 90+% just up to WANTING to learn to shoot well. You guys who are self-taught are a shining example of that. I used to be pretty good, but it's really hard to retain much of that skill when your ol' body starts to decline, the hands get shakier and the sights are harder to see. Still, I wouldn't want me to be shooting at me, and there's a lot of carry over that we never really lose. Timing is a big factor, too, that comes with experience. it's long been my observation that all it really takes to get good is simple desire along with the simple determination to watch ourselves as we shoot, and identify what we might need to do to get better and more consistent, and then faster at doing it. Sure is good to walk down "memory lane" in subjects like this, and I, and I'm sure most of us, really enjoyed the remembrances of our early days. Thanks to all of you.

[rintinglen]

My Dad taught me the basics of rifle safety and shooting.
The Marine Corps taught me the finer points of marksmanship.
I taught myself to shoot a Handgun using the writings of George C. Nonte and Jeff Cooper.
I can't shoot a shotgun for beans.

[murf205]

My grandfather. He was a gun guy and a hunter par excellent. He also taught me a lot about being a good man and what was expected of a man. He gave me my model 12 Rem .22 on my 12th birthday. Still have it and still love him for the lessons I'll never forget. What he taught me made my military time a lot easier (he was a 1st Lt. in WW1). We shot up many a box of shells together and now I have a son and a grandson who will inherit this plunder of mine and I'll have the pleasure of paying forward the lessons he taught me, as I have done with my son.

[Blackwater]

Rintinglen, just an aside, but I'm in the same boat, and struggle with the scattergun just to be "average," but am mostly just mediocre. FWIW, I just got Bob Brister's book, "Shotgunning: The Art and Science," and I believe I've FINALLY put my finger on the problem, so it just MIGHT prove of help to you, and a copy is a LOT cheaper than the thousands of shells it'd take to learn by trial and error. I'm gonna' see if the magic's there soon with a round of sporting clays, and I'd highly recommend it to you as the first place I'd go for aid in getting better. He makes the concepts and principles very easy to understand and apply, and that's always appreciated. FWIW?

[Blackwater]

Just a thought here, that might provide some insight along with the neat reminiscences herein. As I told Rin above, about Brister's book, I've long been frustrated by my shotgunning. I can have absolutely awful days afield where I'll be lucky to get my limit, and I seem to be constantly struggling with the scattergun. Through the years, I've had guns that I just seemed to shoot better than others, and now shoot an old B-2000 Browning that I seem to do as well as I've been able to with any previous gun I've had. Brister's book MAY (?) have illuminated me enough to get better now. My problem is that I just plain LOVE shooting the shotgun, and thus, focus more on the fun than the effectiveness I might have with it. I guess I'm just like a bird dog on point? Having too much fun to concentrate on anything else, maybe? Anyway, a large part of my problem, I think, has been trying to use all 3 types of techniques with the same perceived "lead." I'll use spot shooting that I learned on quail darting between trees and bushes, the sustained lead and the pull through interchangeably and indiscriminately, and folks, that just doesn't work very well. Incoming birds are usually dead, anglers maybe, and crossers I miss WAY too often. I really have to bear down, and that inhibits the pure joy I have on a bird field. I've probably just been having TOO much fun to notice this, and it's our blindness that keeps us from getting better, usually.

Anyway, I've always had a little tendency toward art, though I've never really been an artist at much of anything, and it's the artist in many of us that CAN sometimes put us on to better methods of shooting whatever kind of gun we have in our hands, and you shooters who are self trained and good can probably thank your own tendency toward being artists at heart for your abilities. Art is always the simple method of looking at things and figuring out what to do about them. It's really just noticing what we do and figuring it out as we go. A dear friend now used to be a really good mechanic. He loved cars and engines and was the type that could tell you more about an engine by listening to it, sometimes with a screwdriver on the engine with his ear pressed against it, than a newbie with his computer ever could. He's proven that time and time again, too. He's just an artist with an engine. I told him this and he thought I was crazy, but as time went on, and I got him into fly tying where his real inner artist has come out, he's finally realized how accurate I was in my original declaration. Just thought it might help some of you understand how to get better. Now if only someone can tell me how to become a better shotgun shot! HAR!

[Jtarm]

A Jeff Cooper book and & many thousands of rounds through an S&W Model 17, later centerfires.
Rifle: various articles & lots of practice. Shooting smallbore rifle silhouette.
Shotgun: Bob Brister books and lots of practice. I was lucky to have worked 10 minutes from a shotgun range for a couple years where I spent many lunch hours. Also watching expert shooters.
Competition: You learn a lot from veteran shooters.

I was blessed to have a dad who got me interested in hunting & outdoors, but he took a dim view of my propensity for burning ammo.

[Mytmousemalibu]

Dad taught me, first projectile launcher I squeezed a trigger on was a Benjamin .22cal air pistol, I still have it and the leather holster to this day and still remember dad telling me not to tell mom about the pellets & holes in the fence!

[blackthorn]

Shotguns---oh yes---funny (true) story---My brother in law and my good hunting buddy and I were finishing a very successful moose hunt, many years ago. We had dropped the moose meat (3 animals) at the meat cutter and we still had 5 days left before we had to return to work. We knew the better halves would trot out the honey-do list so we gassed up the truck and took off for a bit of late season deer hunting at our favorite lake. We decided to shoot a few ducks, so we set up along the lake shore and waited. After awhile along came a "V" flight of 5 teal. We all fired at the lead duck (that would be 3 shots for me and Gene and 2 shots for Roland). The lead duck was the only one that got away! I am likely the worlds worst shot-gunner!! Gene and Roland (RIP boys) were no better, but we had fun and we did get 4 blue wing teal.