A Relum Tornado was the first rifle I ever shot, I was around five years old.
My Dad ordered it from the catalogue and when it arrived, he took me to the local woodland to shoot it with him. He held it on a branch for me as I looked down the 4x15 optic and pulled the trigger at a can. I marvelled at the smoke leaving the loading tap as we reloaded it and had another crack as my first attempt had wildly missed ( could never understand that, given the Tornado's fine trigger and mild firing manners...) I've remained hooked on shooting since this moment.
My Uncle was so impressed by the Tornado, he ordered one too - I still have that rifle here now and will pass onto my son when he's old enough to appreciate what it actually represents ( I certainly won't introduce him to shooting with it for obvious reasons ).
A good few years of 'sneaking out' BSA Cadets etc that belonged to friends dads ensued and then an Original 75 came by. It was the first recoilless rifle I ever encountered. It was at an air rifle club set up at our school in conjunction with the local police to, 'get the kids off the street', during the six weeks and Easter holidays. Twice a week I'd pay twenty pence for a couple of hours shooting with a few other kids, coached by lady called Chris ( I forget her second name but accordingly she was pretty successful on the 10m circuit ). I could now see the rewards of implementing the basics of accurate shooting techniques that she taught us and I became further addicted. I even had my photograph in the local paper with my mate and Chris the tutor.
I found the newspaper clip the other day - Just look at the mullet hairdo's on these two likely lads...