BB gun or slingshot

[Redfrog]

Which did you start with and how much trouble did you get into?

[bobtodrick]

Started with a b.b gun.
When I was about 7 or 8 there was a group of us that wood go into the woods and play 'war' (had graduated to b.b. guns from rocks).
Only rule...no face shots.
I was hiding in the bushes when one of my pals (who is still a good friend today...55 years later) came in sight. I aimed at his chest...then dropped the sights to his 'nether regions' and pulled the trigger.
His parents ended up taking him to emergency cause of the pain...luckily just some bruising on a testicle...but I think I was grounded for about a month.
Thankfully he still laughs about it.

[Okotok]

Started with homemade slingshots. Usually a good, red willow Y and inner tube. Graduated to the hockey shin pad rubber bands which were much better and then finally got a hold of some surgical tubing. Got a daisy, lever action pellet gun when I was about 12. What a POS that was but still fun even if you couldn't hit anything more than 10 feet away. The slingshot was a lot deadlier than the Daisy.

[Redfrog]

I started with a slingshot and was not a bad shot. Never was nearly as good as this guy.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9ieWrWLjii0

Moved on to a pellet gun and then stuff got serious. It was accurate and fun to shoot.

[fishtank]

Originally Posted by Redfrog

I started with a slingshot and was not a bad shot. Never was nearly as good as this guy.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9ieWrWLjii0

Moved on to a pellet gun and then stuff got serious. It was accurate and fun to shoot.

rocks then sling shot , actually we use to make them our self with rubber tubes from the bike shop

[58thecat]

had them all and yup was in trouble all the time but that was many moons ago and trouble was the norm, now.....well there would no work for the cops.

[wwbirds]

next door neighbor bought and paid for it so I could keep the starlings out of his cherry tree. I am quite sure more than just starlings went to birdee heaven that summer but it was amazingly accurate as I remember shooting a few off the top of the neighbors 2 story red brick house evestrough. Czech made it pumped up a 22 calibre pellet pretty good. Would be nearly 60 years ago but as I recall he supplied all the pellets and even paid me a nickle per bird.
Those were different times as another neighbor was having problems with squirrels in his attic and asked if I could help get rid of them. told him pellets wouldnt be strong enough so he bought me bb shot 22 ammo for my bolt action 22 (cooey?). Remember someone called the Cambridge police on me one day and the 22 bolt action was laying on the picnic table in neighbors back yard when an officer came around the corner catching us by surprise. when the neighbor explained he was having squirrel problems and I was helping him out he just said "be carefull" and barely glanced at the 22 as it was pretty well known in the neighborhood I had a pellet gun and wandered down our street frequently shooting starlings.
Guess I was a bad kid!!

[pikergolf]

Good Gawd, modern parents would have an aneurysm if their kids did the stupidity we partook in. Sometimes I wonder how we made it to adulthood. I remember spending hours shooting each other with pellet guns, they were the air soft of my day. I was always Little Joe or Candy.

[Bigwoodsman]

Slingshot. Made from a red willow and my brothers bicycle tube. Me and a buddy would keep the stray cats busy. Had that slingshot until the porch window got killed!

BW

[Fish along]

My first time using a BB a friend loaned it to me and I was shootin at a bird right above my head,I aimed pulled the trigger and I watched the BB go straight up about 10 feet and it fell and struck me in the forehead lol it was worn out. Shot an elderly lady in the azz one time with a 177 pellet gun and was grounded for a good many summer holidays . Good thread Red.

[Smokinyotes]

That pic reminds me of my nephews when they were little. Except the youngest nephew ended up with a broken femur cause the older one told him not to let go.

[shakeyleg02]

Slingshot and a skunk im sure you can guess the outcome

[Roadgear]

A Daisy Red Ryder at 8 years, A Cooey 22 at 10

[wildbill]

I think I was tenish, pump up daisys.

[rjlester]

Also used to have BB gun wars when we were kids. It all stopped when one guy got shot in the corner of the mouth and the BB stopped on his tooth. The eye was only a couple inches away...

We did some dumb things but those were the good old days lol.

[barbless]

As the song says " Long long time ago I can still remember" Living in Sioux Lookout Ont. I was 9 yrs old and we made our own. It was the David and Goliath slingshot type. 2 pcs. of string or long shoe laces and cloth or leather strap to hold the rock. Whirl it round and round like crazy and fling, let er fly. We got good distance and speed, not too accurate but with lots of practice we could get the birds on the wire at a good distance to look when it whizzed by them. Good times remembered

[Sogseal]

I just got my 9yr old boy his first bb gun. I started off with a pellet gun and a field of gophers. Love this thread!

Sent from my SM-G950W using Tapatalk

[Somehunter]

Pellet gun. Mom got me my first one age 9. I had a family of 8 or 9 grey squirrels in the back yard. It didn't take long lol I had them stretched and salted in no time. My mom still shakes her head to this day lmao....

[Lornce]

I believe I was 8 when I came home from school. Still, remember walking into my bedroom and seeing the box and removing a Daisy Model 25 BB Air Rifle. Along with 4 of those beautiful tubes of BB's. Dad smiling behind me, no Birthday or anything. We lived in the Okanagan so Starling where the target for 5 cents for a pair of legs. Decimated their numbers out of our cherry, Apricot and walnut trees.

Although many guns followed and a few are still dear to my heart, this gift was gold. It accompanied me in many kid-sized adventures on my bike along with a fly rod exploring mountain and stream.

[saddleup]

Originally Posted by Lornce

I believe I was 8 when I came home from school. Still, remember walking into my bedroom and seeing the box and removing a Daisy Model 25 BB Air Rifle. Along with 4 of those beautiful tubes of BB's. Dad smiling behind me, no Birthday or anything. We lived in the Okanagan so Starling where the target for 5 cents for a pair of legs. Decimated their numbers out of our cherry, Apricot and walnut trees.

Although many guns followed and a few are still dear to my heart, this gift was gold. It accompanied me in many kid-sized adventures on my bike along with a fly rod exploring mountain and stream.

You were blessed to have a Dad like that.

[Deep]

I had a few slingshots...made by my dad..."pre-war rubber" was the best he said. Like barbless I saw a tv show about a French Robin Hood kinda guy, and shortly after I was very proficient at long range with my sling. Nice size leather pocket and long boot laces- with a smooth round rock.....look out.

[graybeard]

Starlings were a problem in our yard and dad said; stay in the yard and you can shoot as many as you can.....10 years old.

One day my kid brother had a friend come buy as I was finishing up shooting the starlings.

He kicked my bicycle over and ran out of the garage. In doing so, I picked up the old Daisy lever and I shot him in the arse as he left.......

My long term memory recalls; the sound that a leather belt makes as it was pulled from the ol' mans pants....

Lesson was learned and he never took the gun away..... RIP....

[Gramps.257]

Originally Posted by graybeard

Starlings were a problem in our yard and dad said; stay in the yard and you can shoot as many as you can.....10 years old.

One day my kid brother had a friend come buy as I was finishing up shooting the starlings.

He kicked my bicycle over and ran out of the garage. In doing so, I picked up the old Daisy lever and I shot him in the arse as he left.......

My long term memory recalls; the sound that a leather belt makes as it was pulled from the ol' mans pants....

Lesson was learned and he never took the gun away..... RIP....

Wow does that bring back memories. Funny thing, fifty years later the lesson is still fresh in my mind.Back then it was called boys being boys and dad teaching a lesson you wont soon forget. Now days its attempted murder and child abuse.

[Okotok]

I'll never forget my brother putting an eddy match in his pellet gun and then shooting me in the ass. The match lit and it hurt like hell!

[Ken07AOVette]

Pellet gun. It was Dads, a beautiful little daisy. We went out to the dump and I was shooting cans. From where he was he thought I was shooting at him, I was shooting down into the pit. He smashed the gun into a hundred pieces on a big rock, that ended the guns for little Ken.
I found out later his brother was killed accidentally in their house when they were kids, 22 went off and that was it.
I understood later how much he hated guns when I found out. It was many many years later that he went goose hunting with me, once. Shot the greasiest most disgusting snow goose on the planet. All of us had 1 bite and were instantly full.

[Okotok]

Originally Posted by Ken07AOVette

Pellet gun. It was Dads, a beautiful little daisy. We went out to the dump and I was shooting cans. From where he was he thought I was shooting at him, I was shooting down into the pit. He smashed the gun into a hundred pieces on a big rock, that ended the guns for little Ken.
I found out later his brother was killed accidentally in their house when they were kids, 22 went off and that was it.
I understood later how much he hated guns when I found out. It was many many years later that he went goose hunting with me, once. Shot the greasiest most disgusting snow goose on the planet. All of us had 1 bite and were instantly full.

Sad and funny too Ken.

[Red Bullets]

Red Ryder BB gun at age 5 and 22 short at age 6. Dad would give me his hexagon barreled pump 1895 winchester and a box of 22 shorts and I never came in until the box was empty. Wasn't a gopher on the whole farm by the time I was 7. As mentioned, today's parents would freak out. I was given the 22 at age 6 when I was alone and I wasn't supervised at all.

[jmdelipper]

My best friend who lived up the road got a pump BB gun when we were in maybe grade 2 or 3. We used to walk around the street shooting at this or that.
One summer his dad had built his two sisters a playhouse up in a tree in the backyard that was ~25 yards from their shelter belt. We used to shoot birds with it until one day his dad saw us shoot a beautiful woodpecker. I don't know why we did but the shot felt impressive at our age. He tore into us and made us bury the thing in the field.

[Lornce]

THEN - Kids would routinely pop off Starlings and other problem birds in town often for a bounty. Carry our BB an pellet guns around like a screwdriver, hammer or any other tool.

NOW - If you went into your back yard with same the result would end in the swat team and tack Helicopters plus a 20-year court case. Such a change. Glad I grew up then.

[bobtodrick]

Originally Posted by Lornce

THEN - Kids would routinely pop off Starlings and other problem birds in town often for a bounty. Carry our BB an pellet guns around like a screwdriver, hammer or any other tool.

NOW - If you went into your back yard with same the result would end in the swat team and tack Helicopters plus a 20-year court case. Such a change. Glad I grew up then.

Amen!!