As A kid what did you use yours for

[magnummike]

At about 14 I used to carry around my SP5O gat in my coat pocket and used to go plinking at cans floating in a local pond . In my wisdom I decided to undo the threaded end of the barrel thinking that the extra travel would give me more power First shot the threads holding the spring etc in place give up and the internals ended up in the midle of the pond and that was the end of my SP5O

[FattMann]

My first rifle was a Meteor mark 5 standard in .22, from my mums catallouge( remember that when you could buy guns that way even shot-guns) it was used on rabbits round the local farms and rats at my uncles stables. Still have the rifle , its tresured and still used. My Hurracanre pistol was used in the garden for practice again in .22 and still used, my Gat used to play darts on rainy days, still have it.

[harry mac]

At the age of 11 in the late forties I used to walk about half a mile through the local streets to the river and open fields carrying my prized Webley Junior. Nobody commented. We grew up in a gun culture which saved our country in WW11. Those were the days.Daveh

I don't know if we had a gun culture as such, but there certainly seemed to be a much greater ammount of common sense. Most blokes in their late 40's during the 1970's would have been WW2 veterans and I suppose if you've faced a mob of angry Germans wielding Mausers and intent on killing you, a few teenagers armed with an air rifle shooting cans, bottles and the odd really unlucky starling isn't going to press your panic button much. Even blokes in their 30's (most of our dads at that time) would have had a bout of national service under their belts. Guns just didn't hold the same mystery to most people as they do today.

[FattMann]

I don't know if we had a gun culture as such, but there certainly seemed to be a much greater ammount of common sense. Most blokes in their late 40's during the 1970's would have been WW2 veterans and I suppose if you've faced a mob of angry Germans wielding Mausers and intent on killing you, a few teenagers armed with an air rifle shooting cans, bottles and the odd really unlucky starling isn't going to press your panic button much. Even blokes in their 30's (most of our dads at that time) would have had a bout of national service under their belts. Guns just didn't hold the same mystery to most people as they do today.

with you on that, and most of my family were ex military and latter miners, they were hard B,s and very good shoots, some of them had been involeded in Spain on the side of the Republic between 1936-39, then walking across the mountains in to France rather than surrender, then readdy to do there bit for us in WW2. People of there generation new that if you want peace you have to be readdy to fight for it, respect to all of that generation.

[BRET22]

Many thanks for the replies they were great and bought back many happy memories for me as I am sure they did for you also.
Has anyone got anymore?

[Phil Russell]

Not sure what my very first rifle was ... maybe a Diana 16 as I do remember it being a tin plate. This must have been in the mid 50's. Not sure where it came from but it was old. The rifle was, I think now, very underpower. I could not afford pellets so anything went in the rifle ... paper pellets, nails, even used as a water pistol. Then a friend got a proper rifle as a present. Maybe it was a .177 Webley Jaguar or similar. His Dad bought pellets, Marksman I think at 2/6d for a box of 500 (that's 12.5p in new money). His Dad put them in bags of 100 and if we wanted to shoot, we had to put 6d in a tin for a bag. Targets were often toy soldiers on the lawn, open sights of course. Matchsticks were also used and one day we struck on but it really must have been a fluke shot.
Later on, when 16 or 17 I bought a .177 Webley Ranger for plinking at home. All very law abiding and my only misdemeanors involved shooting through the stems of mum's sunflowers to watch them fall over. And using her plastic gnomes as targets. I sold the rifle when I left home to go to university.

A long rifle-free break ensued until I was married, employed and had a daughter about 11 or 12. A free ad for a rifle attracted my attention and I bought it for nostalgic reasons ... an old Webley Jaguar. Had much fun plinking with memories flooding back. Daughter joined in. I bought a Webley Victor for me and Gamo Paratroopers for daughter and son. Great fun. Eventually more rifles joined us ... my HW77K and EX88 for daughter etc etc. All shot at home in the garden except when we ventured to 'The Midland' and scrounged some time on the plinking range. Also trips to the Stow-cum-Quy country fair where daughter won the ladies air rifle competition several years running. A move of house and an elderly new neighbour who did not take kindly to us plinking (shouts of 'B**g*r off to Bosnia were commonplace) led to a lull in our shooting. But then the interest was rekindled, we (daughter and I) joined Shepreth (now Cambridge) HFT club and the rest is history.

Cheers, Phil

[Chris1]

I don't know if we had a gun culture as such, but there certainly seemed to be a much greater ammount of common sense. Most blokes in their late 40's during the 1970's would have been WW2 veterans and I suppose if you've faced a mob of angry Germans wielding Mausers and intent on killing you, a few teenagers armed with an air rifle shooting cans, bottles and the odd really unlucky starling isn't going to press your panic button much. Even blokes in their 30's (most of our dads at that time) would have had a bout of national service under their belts. Guns just didn't hold the same mystery to most people as they do today.

Good point that post!

As a previous post, we used to roam free, rifles, pistols even the odd 410, no one bothered us, we did not shoot cats only each other after Saturday morning picc's.
Remember wandering over the local dump once, we found old Lee Enfield rifles, blank ammo, all sorts.
People did not care about guns

[kingmonty84]

I used to use my old air rifle in the back garden, or occasionally at friends' back gardens, usually tin cans and paper targets, but occasionally something more interesting. One thing that really stands out in my memory was of shooting a raw egg, which promptly exploded across the whole garden showering egg yolk and white everywhere!

[PaulR]

Not proud but truth........

1960's, South London suburb garden about 70 foot long.

My first air rifle - BSA Merlin. I was 14. Normally used it for paper targets.

Saw a Starling from my bedroom window (overlooking the garden) and shot at it. The pellet glanced it's head and ripped it's eye out. It then flew madly about into the house through the French windows whereupon it blundered into the ceiling and walls leaving a trail of blood.

Not my finest moment.

[Minuteman]

Not sure what my very first rifle was ... maybe a Diana 16 as I do remember it being a tin plate. This must have been in the mid 50's. Not sure where it came from but it was old. The rifle was, I think now, very underpower. I could not afford pellets so anything went in the rifle ... paper pellets, nails, even used as a water pistol. Then a friend got a proper rifle as a present. Maybe it was a .177 Webley Jaguar or similar. His Dad bought pellets, Marksman I think at 2/6d for a box of 500 (that's 12.5p in new money). His Dad put them in bags of 100 and if we wanted to shoot, we had to put 6d in a tin for a bag. Targets were often toy soldiers on the lawn, open sights of course. Matchsticks were also used and one day we struck on but it really must have been a fluke shot.
Later on, when 16 or 17 I bought a .177 Webley Ranger for plinking at home. All very law abiding and my only misdemeanors involved shooting through the stems of mum's sunflowers to watch them fall over. And using her plastic gnomes as targets. I sold the rifle when I left home to go to university.

A long rifle-free break ensued until I was married, employed and had a daughter about 11 or 12. A free ad for a rifle attracted my attention and I bought it for nostalgic reasons ... an old Webley Jaguar. Had much fun plinking with memories flooding back. Daughter joined in. I bought a Webley Victor for me and Gamo Paratroopers for daughter and son. Great fun. Eventually more rifles joined us ... my HW77K and EX88 for daughter etc etc. All shot at home in the garden except when we ventured to 'The Midland' and scrounged some time on the plinking range. Also trips to the Stow-cum-Quy country fair where daughter won the ladies air rifle competition several years running. A move of house and an elderly new neighbour who did not take kindly to us plinking (shouts of 'B**g*r off to Bosnia were commonplace) led to a lull in our shooting. But then the interest was rekindled, we (daughter and I) joined Shepreth (now Cambridge) HFT club and the rest is history.

Cheers, Phil

Ahh... a fellow gnome critic!

Some of my own experience of the joys of gnome hunting are detailed here http://www.airgunbbs.com/showthread....39#post6023839

I recently revived my passion for tackling the little blighters when testing the accuracy of an airsoft pistol. To my delight, but also the dismay of the 6 year old who had given me the gnome, it turns out that the new ones are even less robust than their counter parts of the past, being made now of an exceptionally weak plaster.
The upshot of which is that I now have to supply another gnome to be painted, to which I of course readily agreed, after all as a responsible sportsman one has to manage the quarry.

A cover crop of rhubarb with its wonderfully exploding stems is already in place in anticipation...