My favourite moment & moments with a firearm was as a kid. We had an old gravel pit close to our house and every once in awhile my dad would get the old double barrel 12 gauge, the 410 and the Cooey 22 out. Off to the pit he and my brothers would go and he would let us shoot. The day I was finally big enough to shoot the double barrel was one of the best days I can remember. There is something magical to just be out plinking with family seeing who could shoot better that day. Although my dad never hunted or really shot very much he always seemed to be able to out shoot all of us. Those moments are my favourites and some day I hope to share moments like that with my grandchildren.
MarkR (01-15-2020)
A few pieces of silver sure gets people talking.
Why does the rest of the country get first dibbs on half my income?
lone-wolf (02-03-2020), MarkR (01-15-2020), Waterloomike (01-09-2020)
MarkR (01-15-2020)
Ok, here goes. ^ yup Dewey I guess it does lol. Though when I first saw this I didn't think I could come up with a good enough story to share. That got me thinking (as I believe was the purpose behind this) about some of the times with out with guns and family..... I've narrowed it down to three
My boy was about nine or ten when I decided that it was time for him to move up from a 22 rimfire. There just happened to be a gun show in town shortly after that. So, we went cruising up and down the aisles looking at all the guns, war memorabilia, scopes, knives and so on. Well I spot a 222 on a rack, a Savage 340. Nice shape, not too big, should be something he could handle so I buy it. He was pretty excited about it and I promised we'd get out to shoot in a day or two. Early in the evening a couple of the dogs start raising a rukus and we go out to investigate. They had treed a squirrel. This wasn't unusual as these dogs were avid hunters themselves always looking for mice and squirrels - they'd even catch the odd squirrel (and more mice than any cat that was ever around here). But this day Billie was pretty worked up, trying to climb the tree, barking, whining and actually trying to take the tree down pulling the bark of in strips! I told my son to go get the 22 (he was well trained and I had no issue sending him - he knew to keep it unloaded) and we'll help Billie get his squirrel. Off he goes to the house grabs the gun and the mag while I keep an eye out on the squirrel. I point the squirrel out to him, he loads, gets set and BANG!!! not pop, BANG! He thought I'd meant the 222 when I said 22. Guess he hadn't heard of triple duece yet. Anyway, he hit the tree beside the squirrel but it came down almost like it had been shot - arms and legs stretched out doing a belly flop to the ground. Billie didn't get his squirrel that day as he was scared of loud noise and went to his house to hide when he saw it. Gotta be specific when dealing with kids....
My boys first deer. It was the first year he was able to hunt big game so he would have been fourteen. Nothing spectacular about it but it will always be with me. We were hunting at a buddies place near Hanna and had walked a couple of coulées and were heading back to the house for lunch when we spotted a group of does (we had started putting him in draws so he could go the first year he was old enough) in a little draw. We got out and he lined up on a nice doe at about a hundred yards and let fly with his Grandpa's old 303 that I had hand loaded for. Perfect shot, down she went! He was so excited he had to call Grandpa to tell him. This was pre every one had a cell phone days, I had one that I carried for work and let him use it. I can still remember the excitement in his voice as he described the hunt and shot over the phone sitting in the field to my Dad.
The last one was just this year. My girlfriend has developed an interest in guns and wanted to go hunting. I first bought her a 223 and took her to the range. That got her interested even more. She is determined to make small holes. She really wanted to go goose shooting so I go about finding a shotgun for her. First I found a 12 gauge semi - I thought it would be good for her as the action would use up most of the energy in recoil but it was too big and heavy for her. Oh, she's a lefty too so hard to find. I was talking with a buddy and he says go get a youth model 20 gauge pump, it won't kill her and it doesn't matter about left or right (he's left handed too). Just so happens Cabelas has a Mossberg youth model on sale so I buy it. We go to the range, go over the operation hand throw some clay and she really wants to shoot a goose. This fall we go with my buddy, put out all the decoys, build a blind, get all set up and then we have to sit and wait. Quiet and patience isn't her strong suit lol but she made it till the geese started flying,and coming in. She didn't hit a thing but was so excited and pumped - she's hooked! Can't wait till next year. Oh, the next time we went out she confessed that last time she was so excited that after her first shot she forgot she had more and didn't work the action to take another lol, just watched as we hammered some birds. I think I'll keep her
MarkR (01-15-2020)
One of my favorite moments was watching my brother inlaw shoot 3 1/2 inch slugs. He must NOT have had it tight against his shoulder because the bruise was almost black next time I saw him. I had a pretty good laugh.
The other was taking my granddaughter out with a 1022 she had a great time and now she wants to hunt.
MarkR (01-15-2020)
MarkR (01-15-2020)
Best firearms moment ever was when we got a university criminology class out for a firearms familiarization at the range. One girl shot every gun that was available more than once, and was engaging members in conversation about getting her PAL, firearms laws, and the politics surrounding it all. As she left we heard her say to her friend: "I'm never voting Liberal again"
Aniest (01-11-2020), blacksmithden (01-10-2020), elliott264 (01-09-2020), Hidyn (01-09-2020), kennymo (01-09-2020), LB303 (02-08-2020), MarkR (01-15-2020), RangeBob (01-09-2020), Scotlas (01-09-2020), Waterloomike (01-09-2020)
My grandfather willed me his W.W. Greener .22. It is a Martini-Henry style takedown with nice engraving. I had Greener date it for me and they told me it was made in 1909. My mother tells me my grandfather won it in a shooting competition in England when he was in his late teens. That would have been around 1919 so the rifle (and case with cleaning kit etc) would have been used I suppose, but was the top prize anyway. After WWII my grandfather took his family (and my 5 year old mother at the time) to Rhodesia to farm. After a little over a year they moved back to England and then shortly thereafter came to Canada. My grandfather had many firearms over his lifetime, but my Mum says that one rifle is the only one he dragged from continent to continent and the only one he kept when he finally gave them up (I would have been a child at that time and not aware).
So this brings me to my favourite firearms moment, when a couple of summers ago my parents and sister came out from BC to visit. I took them to the range naturally and they all took turns firing Grandpa's rifle. But my Mum especially, the look of joy on her face! She said she'd never actually fired it before but remembers the rifle being around (my grandparents were farmers most of their lives) and firing it connected her to her long departed (1994) dad. She thanked me for that moment, which always feels nice when you can do something for your parents. That rifle already was a family heirloom, but that day really cemented it for me as I'd never actually seen it prior to it being willed to me. Oh, and it's accurate AF!
Last edited by Doug_M; 01-09-2020 at 05:54 AM.
Our freedoms ARE the greater good.
My favorite firearms moment was turning my wife into a gunnie. She grew up around hunting, so rifles made sense to her, pistols and other restricted firearms didn't and scared her to some extent. She used to pretend they didn't exist. A few years ago she decided she wanted to come hunting with me, so she needed to do her PAL, I told her she should take the RPAL as well. She was in tears when I brought a couple pistols out to show her before her class. Now she has her own pistol and loves getting some range time as much as I do. A close second was getting ready for a Mapleseed last year my 2 year old daughter saw my 10/22 and said "Daddy I want that pew pew."
Aniest (01-11-2020), Hidyn (01-09-2020), MarkR (01-15-2020), Waterloomike (01-09-2020)