What age did you first started shooting centre fire rifles at ?

wicklow_hunter

Not sure if this has been covered before,

What age were you when you fired your first full bore centrefire at?

the age limit is 17, corect me if im wrong:rolleyes:

My experience was a slow progression from 22lr up to what i have now 270

I learned alot using the 22lr over the 10 odd years , gauging distance , backd stops etc

I must confess that i was using my dads 22lr since i was 13 on rabbits and other small game


What are peoples taughts on using centerfires or rimfires for that matter (supervised) in there early teens?

Is it acceptable or not ? I know in THE Uk kids in there early teens are shooting clays at the range

tfox

Was born in Scotland, .22 at 8, .243 at 12 lot's of roe where we lived

deeksofdoom

I was 16.

johngalway

I think it depends on how responsible the child is. I know people well beyond the age of having their first legal drink who shouldn't have a catapult and I am sure there are plenty of responsible youngsters who'd learn to shoot well under adult supervision. It's hard to define as I suppose responsibility of a child isn't a concrete thing, just something the parents can speak for or against. Where as in law a number (age) has to be attributed.

ormondprop

shotty and .22 at around 12 and centrefire around 16,

Sparks

22. Not all of us were lucky enough to get an early start in this sport

sako75 hunter

first gun i shot out of was a Shotgun age 11.
Bought my 1st shotgun at 17, lanber u/o, 27 now and its still shooting as solid as ever.
First centre fire rifle i shot, 220 swift, ruger, i was 17.
Bought my first rimfire rifle when i was 18, 22wmr lakefield, think there a canadian make, dont av it any more but definatly have to get another rimfire, 6.5 is a little bit to much gun for rabbits i think!
Then when i turned 24 i bought my pride and joy, Sako 75 hunter 6.5x55 with Docter 8x56 ill scope. Wouldnt sell it for the world.
From the first day i saw that rifle i new i had to have it, bust my b***s to pay for it but it was worth every penny. Class gun,thats my opinion anyways.......

Cass

wicklow_hunter wrote: »

What age were you when you fired your first full bore centrefire at?

Uncle let me pull the trigger of his Hornet when i was 8. he held it and aimed it. Got my first CF when i was 19- ish.

the age limit is 17, corect me if im wrong:rolleyes:

There is no age limit on the different calibers. Only the age you can have a firearm. Under 16 and 14 or over is a training cert and anyone over 16 a full license. I have never seen it written that you have to be 17 or older to own a CF.

What are peoples taughts on using centerfires or rimfires for that matter (supervised) in there early teens?

Is it acceptable or not ? I know in THE Uk kids in there early teens are shooting clays at the range

I would love to see the age limit for a training cert/full cert lowered to at least 12. Was watching an old programme of the nternational Clay shoot held in England and in the Junior category an America kid (15) held 3 national and world honours. How can we compete on that level when the rest of the world is 5-8 years ahead of us, competitor wise.

rocketman3

i no friends of mine started shooting deer with a 308 at 17 and didn no how to set in the gun even..

they started flinching and still cant hit deer..

they get buck fever if they see a deer and it just keeps getting worse..

ur best bet is to start low and work your way up like i am..

i have a 22-250 and hope to move to a 243 and the end of the season after 3 year shooting from a 22-250..

i have bein using relations 243's and 2506's there nice so i said i wud move to a 243 you dont need anything els to knock a animal in ireland..

iv started from a shot gun in the back fields and move to a 22 the worked my way up to what im useing now for deer thats the best way to go..

but you will always miss a few no matter what..

also i think the training cert is the way to go makes you feel better on your aim and learns you some great things such as guidelines+distance's..

Tackleberrywho

wicklow_hunter wrote: »

Not sure if this has been covered before,

What age were you when you fired your first full bore centrefire at?

the age limit is 17, corect me if im wrong:rolleyes:

My experience was a slow progression from 22lr up to what i have now 270

I learned alot using the 22lr over the 10 odd years , gauging distance , backd stops etc

I must confess that i was using my dads 22lr since i was 13 on rabbits and other small game (I stole my dads rifle when i was younger, well before all the rules and regs came in) When i was a chap a shotty was leaning up against a wall in teh corner of every farmers kitchen !


What are peoples taughts on using centerfires or rimfires for that matter (supervised) in there early teens? Depends on the kid, Cop on is hard got these days in youngsters:D

Is it acceptable or not ? I know in THE Uk kids in there early teens are shooting clays at the range

.22 16
.220 Swift 17
6.5x55 19
.243, .22-250, .270, .17rem, 5.56 7.62,.303 at later dates, I might have left one or two out, but those were the most memerable

My granddad used to take me out with his .410 when I was a kid, and teh dad with the .22lr when i was quite young.

I was one of teh youngest in the country to hold a 6.5mm the garda told me at the time my licence was granted :eek:

sfakiaman

I first shot centrefire rifle (.303) when I was seventeen, but started shooting at four years old with my fathers .22 target rifle propped up on sandbags. I think that years of shooting with air-rifles and .22lr's was a benefit to me when I started fullbore shooting, flinch might have been an issue otherwise. A long time ago I read about an American police academy that started half it's rookies with .22 pistol and the other half with .38. When they all went to .38 the .22 lads never caught up with the others.

It wasn't me!

It wasn't long ago, think I would have been nineteen when I first shot a fullbore rifle, and that was that. Head over heels in love. Have shot dozens of calibres and rifles since and I just love shooting rifles at any ranges, but centrefires at long range is where I could live.

Feidhlim Dignan

the first center fire i shot was the Styer AUG
i use to hunt with my dads 12g brno sbs when i was 14, i own the gun now as he gave it to me.
i bought my first rifle when i was 17 a .22lr cz, learned a lot from that
i got my first center fire at 19 this summer a .223 cz 527
not 20 yet so plenty of time, hope to move up to a 6.5x55 sometime in the next few years for deer

Grizzly 45

About ten,and it was my Grandfathers 7x56 vom Hofe rifle.
First gun ,410 shotgun at ten years of age.

Bananaman

About 32

In terms of when I got one .... First came the CF Pistol, Then the 12g, then the CF Rifle, Next the 22 Rifle, then the 22 pistol.

B'Man

Tackleberrywho

Bananaman wrote: »

About 32

In terms of when I got one .... First came the CF Pistol, Then the 12g, then the CF Rifle, Next the 22 Rifle, then the 22 pistol.

B'Man

jaysus you had a deprived child hood B'man

I see you are re-living your youth though

I remember my Da shooting crows eating spuds in the back garden when i was a child.

(The same year we used a donkey and a turnip barrow to plant Turnips )

You should be old enough to remember a Turnip barrow lol

Savage93

15 , in those days you didn't have to provide proof of age to join FCA, Lee Enfield NO.4 MkII .303, I loved it. Joined 1978, must have put 1000's of rounds through 303, Bren gun, FN, Browning automatic pistol, Gustav sub machine gun. You learnt to pull it tight in to your shoulder very quickly!!!

wicklow_hunter

Great stuff guys

seems like i wasnt the only lunatic walking the fields with a 22 in my early teens so

keep them coming...

I was considering giving my cousin a shot out of my 270 at a paper target

He is only 12 and totally hooked on the stalking scene

I’ve had him out a few time this season and after several unsuccessful stalks we finally got one


It was getting to the stage of the stalk when we were about to pack up and go home.

I had him watching a small paddock / field and i was glassing 2 larger fields with a pair of swaros 10 x 50s.

We had a small stream separating us which allowed us to make a little noise and move around a little. For a 12 year old he can’t half make noise

I gave him a signal to cross the stream and witness the shot

i lay down and got into position to see could i get the scope on him

As it was almost dark i couldn’t judge exactly how far away the animal was

I knew the field was 170 -200 yards long. I aimed a little high and unleashed a 130gram rws bullet.

I heard the thud things were looking good.

Not sure if he was down or not so i picked up the the binos. The animal was down so i could breathe a sigh of relief

A quick post mortom and Id broke his spine at 130 Yards


For luck i had my camera with me so thaught id share

Please note i removed the Mag and bullet b4 the pics were taken

He is still smiling...

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meathstevie

13 years old, 300 Win mag Browning BAR under supervision of my dad.

sikastag

7-9 years - .177 Air Rifle (first greycrow), .22lr (first rabbit)
9-12 years - .22 Hornet (First Fox), .22-250
12+ years - 12ga. O/U, .243 Win (First Deer - 17 years, Lots of work done on paper with it first. - 5 years!)

A lot of time spent at targets first with all these cals.


All under supervision by my father and still shooting with the man today and love it and consider myself lucky to be able to enjoy it with him.

kildare.17hmr

Shot a few clays with my mate and his da at 12, air rifle around the same age. Styer AUG at 16(they didnt ask for proof of age joining the FCA:D) that winter fired the FN, next summer the bren and GPMG. got my first rifle this year 17hmr and am now thinking about a .223 after xmas, funds permitting of course