What challenged you to learn to shoot accurately and...

[Salmonchaser]

Camped on a lake between Fairbanks and Tok about 1960, had my Stevens rolling block .22 and a marsh full of Mallards getting ready to head south. Head shot somewhere between 25 and 50. Only thing that kept me from getting a solid beating was dads army buddies being impressed with my shooting. I was six or 7

 

[Black Hat]

My grandfather would hand my cousin and I (8 and 10 years old at the time) the Lithgow Bibby and five rounds of .22lr, and expect five rabbits.

I remember one day I missed one, and had a sinking feeling about having to come home with only four rabbits, so we crawled over the mossey rocks untill I was able to line up and take two with one shot through the gut, they both somersaulted and ran only about 10 feet before expiring.

So crisis averted, five rabbits five shots, didn't tell my grandfather untill 14 years later.

 

[JustMe2]

Repeat

 

[JustMe2]

I started with a BB gun in South Dakota. Never really defined it as "Long Range" then, just another target to challenge me. I used to elevate my BB gun about 30 degrees above the bird I was aiming at and most of the time hit it with the first shot. I really knew that BB gun and I could actually see the BB on it's arcing trajectory sometimes. My buddy and I used to go camping and shoot our meals with a BB gun; birds, frogs, snakes, we ate it all and thought it was a great adventure. At about 7, I hunted rabbits and squirrels with my dad with a Marlin lever action and a single shot until that got too easy and we switched to 22 pistols. Then at about 9 years old, my dad graduated me to a 222 for deer and antelope hunting. To get ready, he took me prairie dog hunting and we competed with each other for the longest shot, sometimes only having the head visible above their mound. Farmers loved us. This was way before laser range finders, dialing scopes and mildot reticles. We used Kentucky windage only. Surprisingly, we seldom missed the first shot estimating very long ranges. Always hit on the second shot if that was required. We really knew our rifles as we only owned one. Now at over 70, I bought a laser rangefinder to shoot Florida deer at less than 500 yards. Seems like a chip shot after hunting the prairies of SD. In the last 2 years, they built a range about a 2-hr drive away that's longer than 100 yards and stretches out to 875 yards and have started shooting steel. If I ever go elk or antelope hunting again, at least now I'll know how far they are and be confident in taking the longer shots with all the ballistic calculators, scopes, etc.

 

[User4302021]

I got my first BB gun when I was in Kindergarten at 6 years old.

Like has been said by someone else, you could actually see the BB arc into the target and deflect in the wind. Conservatively, I estimate that I must have put over 100,000 BB's through that gun. I would by the small milk cartons with 3,000 BB's and sometimes they wouldn't last more than a couple weeks.

I spent my afternoons and weekends prowling the fields hunting field mice, meadowlarks, starlings, frogs, tadpoles, grasshoppers, dragonflies...and just about anything else that would let me get within about 20 yards of it. I soon graduated to a Crossman 760 with an actual rifled barrel and began shooting target pellets and a whole new world of accuracy opened up. The next step in my evolution had me roaming those same fields with my first single shot 22 LR at 12 years old.

The Army was the first time I ever shot past about 200 yards. It was there that I first heard there was an actual mathmatical method for figuring drop and windage. I got my first precision rifle in 1999 after leaving the military, (a Savage model 10FP in 308) and put a Weaver KT-10 on it and I was off to the races.

As luck would have it, that same year I joined a local gun club and met a man who would become my best friend and shooting mentor for the next 20 years. He was a former Ranger and sniper instructor, and was still doing training for the military on a contract basis. It was he that coached me to my very first 1,000 yard shots and taught me about ballistics and the wind and guided me to my first accurate handloads.

 

[Gibbshooter43]

As I read the many posts so far ( looking for many more ), I am thoroughly entertained by the many stories of father/son - uncle or grandfather - veterans sharing their knowledge and experiences. We are a small part of a wonderful heritage and it's a joy to see/hear of it being passed on. Keep em coming.

 

[Daddyneuf]

I'm curious about what challenged us to shoot accurately, and at what age did it happen? For me it was duying my preteen years. I thought it was enough to just hit something and I was proud of my ability to do that. My dad had taught me to shoot and to practice all the important safety practices. One day in the midst of my bragging, my dad quietly asked me to put one of those old "light on anything" matches in the crotch of a tree 30 or 40 yards away. He then proceeded to light the match with one shot. I was humbled, and challenged to practice to shoot as well as he did: hence the "aim small" in my signature. As I grew older the challenge was to do that at greatly increasingly distances. His example lives on today. So how about you...

I used to chase coyotes in Southern Indiana and the shots were long. I started with a Ruger Mini 14 and soon learned it wasn't accurate enough. I then bought a Ruger M77 in 25-06 and I was pretty darn deadly with that and a Weaver 3-9

 

[duckhunter175]

I had a .22 rifle after my Red Ryder days. I lusted after the Rem 1100 20ga that my dad's dove hunting buddy always carried. It was wayyyy cooler than his old trusty Wingmaster. Finally he got tired of my asking about it and clipped a small orange circle to the 50 yard target and said I got 5 shots and had to hit it and he would buy the gun. Well that iron sighted .22 was not a match for that small circle and neither was my shooting form.

I didn't get the gun (I've since bought one)- but I learned a valuable lesson about listening to my dad's coaching on the range. I'd seen him shoot dime sized groups with a .250-3000 that he handloaded for.

I didn't REALLY take an interest in longer range shooting until I was preparing for a Coues deer hunt. I didn't want to make the investment of time and money only to blow it when I couldn't make a shot. So I started handloading, shot regularly every week leading up to the hunt.

Since then I've wanted to stretch my legs even further so I took a class here at a private, local range that runs to 800. It was the BIGGEST confidence builder. There was soooo much to learn about positional shooting- but we ran out to 800 on the dial and then did the same with holds.

Since then I shot a small match at the same range (factory rifle, handloads, good scope) and did well for myself but it forced me to practice which I think is what I've never done enough of in the past.

 

[CoachChris]

The process of the pursuit of perfection is very meditative for me.
Precision shooting is my quiet place. There are few things I find as soothing as shooting dot drills with my .22lr or shooting steel at distance, especially if the conditions are challenging.
Long range hunting evolved out of long range shooting. At some point during the process distance became a number

 

[NorCalRiceGuy]

When I was 9 1/2 I took hunter safety in order to get my hunting license when I turned ten. The last night of class we were asked to bring a .22 to class at the Army Reserve Armory for the shooting phase of class. I was plinking away at the target at first, then the instructor, who knew my dad, came over and asked if I knew how to shoot. I said that I did and he said, "Well, show me what you can do." Sharpening my sight picture and steadying my grip on the gallery model I was shooting, I proceeded to shoot the "0" out of the "10" spot on the target. I don't think my dad could have been more proud of me at that moment. Been trying to punch the center of the "Ten" ever since...

 

[LVJ76]

I grew up in Mexico and my dad started me when I was 5 with a Crossman 22cal pellet rifle and a 22lr Remington Nylon 66. At age 7 it was a Harrington and Richardson bolt action 22lr that I started shooting NRA Smallbore Silhouette competition so it was all about precision at an early age. It was tough since you are shooting offhand and I had to be able to call the shots to my dad so we could adjust for wind drift if needed, I had to follow through on every shot.

I used to shoot twice per week with the 22 so I practiced a lot and at age 8 I started High Power Silhouette with a 7mm-08, now this was more fun.

In Mexico starting in April all the way to the middle of September we had a match almost every Sunday and out of every 4 matches 3 were Smallbore and the other one was High Power. From mid semptember to mid November they were all high power, these were the good and important ones, the Regionals and the State Championships.

At age 13 I won my first State Championship with Smallbore rifle and at age 14 with High Power rifle.

Here in the US in the Arizona State shooting Championships I was able to finish in second place a couple of times but nevee won the championship, but qe enjoyed every single competition.

My dad was able to take us to the NRA High Power Silhouette Nationals a couple times, in those cases they were held at the NRA Whittington Center in Raron NM, man those we're some awesome times.

My brother and I still shoot these competitions when ever we get a chance to but there aren't as many matches here in the US as there used to be and not as many competitors either.

We mostly practice shooting silhouette to get ready for hunting season, its great practice that keeps us sharp.

This is a picture of my dad, my little brother and myself with the H&R 22 rifle

This was the Sonoran Regional Match I won in 1990 or 91 in Cananea Sonora Mexico, I was 14 or 15 yrs old

This was my first big game kill, a Javelina at age 8, and if you look close enough you'll see the mark and blood above my eye that the scope left, still wear the scar.

I hope to be able to pass this down to my son one day and hope he loves these sports as much as I do.

 

[LDHunter]

I was raised on a farm in southern Illinois and on our farm and several neighboring farms I was the go to kid to remove pesky groundhogs, coons and foxes. When I started getting challenged at ranges beyond 75 yards with my trusty iron sighted 22 my cousin showed up one day with a 22-250 and after some coaching he let me shoot a groundhog at about 200yds. I was hooked and have never looked back.

The pursuit of excellent hunting accuracy has been one of my life's passions ever since.

 

[Greyfox]

Quite simple...The environment I grew up in over a half a century ago. From the early teens, along with a half dozen buddies in a rural setting, all of us became infatuated with shooting and hunting. We evolved from BB guns through bows, shotguns, rifles, and handguns. Add to this, a few skilled WW2 veteran dads, Boy Scouts, and a school system that actually sponsored and condoned shooting sports, most all of us learned, and clearly understood that without possessing the accuracy skills to meet the requirement, our bows and firearms were nothing more then door stops. We worked hard at it, and were very competitive amongst ourselves, becoming quite proficient by the time we graduated high school. As the years past, I lost track of those guys, but as is the case with myself, I'd bet the infatuation is still there.

 

[Gibbshooter43]

I don't know about the rest of you, but I'm really enjoying the stories being shared in response to my question. Reminiscing, remembering, conquering up memories of years gone by that run into today, and the heritage being passed down from generation to generation. We are a blessed people and I pray we cherish what's been bought for us with a high price in many cases. May God continue to bless America and may we never allow the politicians to rob us of our right to bear arms and the wonderful memories that accompany that right.
Gibbs
Keep em coming!