What got you into airguns ?

[where's it gone]

As I reached 66 yesterday and it's been 50 years ago since my dad died on my birthday, what got you into airguns?
As we had a large back garden, Dad grew veg and kept a few chickens. I'm pretty sure it was a BSA Meteor, for pest control, rats, but as far as I can remember, we always had a cat, black or black and white. Dad used to pin a paper target on the coal shed door and we played target shooting with darts, no rebounds! Dad's favorite trick shot was to place a playing card in a slot of the butted wooden door and hit the edge. Try it, it is not as difficult as it seems if you keep both eyes open
I bought my own air rifle, I think around when I was 12ish, a Webley Jaguar. At senior school, in metalwork class, the teacher kept a Webley pistol which a few of us made a target holder and a spinning target. We had great times in his class as it often led to shooting during and after lessons. The next gun I had was the Relum Tornado and, as they say, the rest is history.

[angrybear]

Shooting rabbits with a shotgun is too easy, so I got an airgun to make it more sporting.

[laverdabru]

Good question. Late '60/early '70's borrowing my big bro's tin grip Junior, & walking round the Somerset countryside with my mate & his Gat. Later moved on to a '50's Diana 27 from 'Secondhand Joes'. For my 15th got a newish Hawk Mk 2 with both barrels. Nearly got put off by this, not only was it chronically unreliable & unsafe, but my weekend walks with my bro consisted of him setting up a paper target & us taking 10 shots alternately. I'd have rather just plinked at cans & stuff, as I did on my friends farm.
Although I've often gone years without shooting, I've usually had one in my possession. When Colin died, I bought a Webley Mk 3 in his memory - he'd always raved about them, but never bought one for some reason. A workmate gave me his late dad's Junior rifle around the same time. Those were the nucleus of my small collection below.

Bru

[brian747]

Born in a farmhouse , i had my 1st air gun at 8yrs old ,
a small b/b diana.177 with wasp.177 pellets shot 1000,s of rabbits with that airgun,
been shooting on and off ever since.
atb brian

[Muskett]

Hunting is in my genetics, like most people. An air rifle was a natural progression from a catapult. It helped I lived in a rural environment.
My marksmanship was helped as my school has a 25m small bore range and a Shooting Maths Teacher; I got good at both maths and shooting from the age of 10.

[STR8SHOOT3R]

Airguns were just something that everyone seemed to do in the 80s. My school also had an active CCF with it's own armory and we got to use the 25m range at the local TA centre.

[Trumpetier]

I was just attracted to them in about 1980, the rest is history

[rapidresponse1]

My brother inlaw

[ashf9999]

My father, when I was about 8 or 9, and an excess of bunnies in the garden.

[gsxrman]

First air weapon I ever shot was my dads Model 2.
He gave me a hand made catapult that he made from our apple tree as a kid.
I loved it and had it as an adult but sadly it is now lost.
My mate got bought a HW77k and we both shot that loads, that's where the hook came from.
Then my girl friends dad introduced me to the farm they used to frequent, I managed to buy my own HW35E and the rest is history.
Girl friend became my wife, dad became my father in law and we still shoot together now and he is 78.

[Unframed Dave]

From a very young age, my dad loved to take all of us to the fair. Either he was a lousy shot, or I had a good eye. I know he wasn't letting me win.

Anyway, from those early days, I graduated to 22 LR at a club on Lincoln road in Peterborough and onto clays at a relatives farm in the fens.

I never owned my own gun until I bought my first house, I was getting close to 30 by then. Prior to that, my mother wouldn't have one in the house, and the next decade was spent in rented accommodation.

I started collecting when I discovered the Haenel mk iv, and have been hooked ever since. These days I'm drawn mostly to antique airguns but often get lead astray by weird and wonderful designs.

I did a bit of pest control and flirted with hft before my son lost interest. These days, ringing the bell is my thing.

Outside of airguns I've shot all sorts of things from a period m1 carbine in Vietnam to an Uzi in Poland. My one remaining shooting ambition is to have a go at punt gunning. One day!

I guess it's in the blood.

Dave

[billsnibby]

Grandad.
Own penknife at 7 and allowed to use his BSA Meteor, then given it on birthday at at 14.
A 'rite of passage' I'm sure many on here have also experienced.

[Bonzo!]

My dad was a hunter,beater shhhhhh poacher (at times) an absolute wizard with a milbro catapult,I could hardly pull it back to fire properly.
Dad had 12 bore I had a 410,I think I was about 8-9 years old,I stayed on shot guns until about 30+ years ago when a mate lent me a rapid 7 and that was it.
Only recentley got rid of the last shot gun,it was a very old 410 just like the one my dad had given me.
I have owned and shot many types of rifles over the years.

[ratbuster2240]

I was about 8 ehen I first shot an airgun, it was a Haenel Mk1V E. It was my great grandfather's and I still have it. I remember shooting the rear lights of an old abandoned Morris Minor van. If I had been good at the weekend my dad would let me shoot it and that's why I think the reward part of my brain lights up even just thinking about airguns.

[premierpistol]

Like many, my Dad. when I was very young he had firearms and airguns, I was shown how to shoot and got proficient enough with a Webley Ranger to shoot the bullseyes out of targets in the garden, I remember going to an outdoor range where the main use was pistols, Dads friend had a tiny little pistol that I shot a couple of times. I think it was a 32ACP but memory is fuzzy so could have easily have been a .25 as well. Dad's pistols were 38's and 44's so too much for me to manage.
Soon after the handgun ban came in and he gave the lot up and I had to put up with the odd mates spring airguns for the odd day out shooting. I bought a HW80 around 28 years ago but hard times meant I soon had to release it for car tax and it wasnt until 2007 that I managed to get back into it properly.

I found this place and never really looked back, learnt so much since