Who was your firearms mentor?

[Billinthedesert]

Someone asked this question over on Paco Kelly's Leverguns forum, and this was my answer. I'd like to hear yours, too.

My Dad, who saw combat in the winter and spring of 1945 in southern Germany and the Sudetenland with the 97th Infantry, indulged my interest in firearms and hunting in my early years. I was probably about six when he got me up one morning early and said we were going to hunt pheasants in the fields near Corvallis, Oregon, where he taught forestry at Oregon State. And he surprised me with a totally unexpected gun of my own -- in this case, a Daisy "pop gun." He told me he would watch how I handled it to see if I was taking his safety lessons to heart. When he was satisfied with this, a couple of falls later, I got to carry his father's Iver Johnson single shot .410 in the uplands. For most of his life, Dad used the Winchester Model 37 16 gauge he bought with paper route money about 1938 as his only shotgun, and a sportered Springfield with Weaver K-3 as his only rifle. He had carried a scoped Springfield in WWII.
While Dad gave me the rudiments of safe gun handling, I really learned to shoot a rifle under the guidance of Sgt. Joe Ryan, USA, Fort Lewis. A member of the fort shooting team, he was a wonderful mentor when it came to classic four-position bullseye with .22 rifles and he was my Marksmanship Merit Badge counselor in Scouts teaching me to shoot from offhand, sitting, kneeling and prone with the sling and a focus on breathing and trigger control. (Funny thing is if I got into most of these positions today, I'd need help getting up.)
When it came to handguns, I owe all I know to one man's writings: those of Col. Jeff Cooper, who wrote the handgunning section of Outdoor Life's "Complete Book of Shooting," featuring Jack O'Connor on rifles. I "bought" this book as a member of the Outdoor Life Book Club in 1965 at age 12 -- bought it because I didn't return it before the 10-day "approval" period had passed. You youngsters out there won't have any idea what I am talking about!
I must have read Cooper's chapters more than a dozen times, and still pretty much prefer the Weaver Stance for offhand that he described so well, as he often shot with Jack Weaver, Thell Reed, Eldon Carl and other giants of the handgun scene in the early 1960s.
So three mentors: my Father, Sgt. Ryan, and Col. Cooper. What a trio!

 

[Lawry]

That’s the kind of mentor lineup that builds shooters, not just gun owners.

 

[Penny_wise]

Someone asked this question over on Paco Kelly's Leverguns forum, and this was my answer. I'd like to hear yours, too. My Dad, who saw combat in the winter and spring of 1945 in southern Germany and the Sudetenland with the 97th Infantry, indulged my interest in firearms and hunting in my early years. I was probably about six when he got me up one morning early and said we were going to hunt pheasants in the fields near Corvallis, Oregon, where he taught forestry at Oregon State. And he surprise...

Yeah and half the lessons only make sense years later when you realize what they were actually trying to teach you.

 

[Howard]

Someone asked this question over on Paco Kelly's Leverguns forum, and this was my answer. I'd like to hear yours, too.

My Dad, who saw combat in the winter and spring of 1945 in southern Germany and the Sudetenland with the 97th Infantry, indulged my interest in firearms and hunting in my early years. I was probably about six when he got me up one morning early and said we were going to hunt pheasants in the fields near Corvallis, Oregon, where he taught forestry at Oregon State. And he surprised me with a totally unexpected gun of my own -- in this case, a Daisy "pop gun." He told me he would watch how I handled it to see if I was taking his safety lessons to heart. When he was satisfied with this, a couple of falls later, I got to carry his father's Iver Johnson single shot .410 in the uplands. For most of his life, Dad used the Winchester Model 37 16 gauge he bought with paper route money about 1938 as his only shotgun, and a sportered Springfield with Weaver K-3 as his only rifle. He had carried a scoped Springfield in WWII.
While Dad gave me the rudiments of safe gun handling, I really learned to shoot a rifle under the guidance of Sgt. Joe Ryan, USA, Fort Lewis. A member of the fort shooting team, he was a wonderful mentor when it came to classic four-position bullseye with .22 rifles and he was my Marksmanship Merit Badge counselor in Scouts teaching me to shoot from offhand, sitting, kneeling and prone with the sling and a focus on breathing and trigger control. (Funny thing is if I got into most of these positions today, I'd need help getting up.)
When it came to handguns, I owe all I know to one man's writings: those of Col. Jeff Cooper, who wrote the handgunning section of Outdoor Life's "Complete Book of Shooting," featuring Jack O'Connor on rifles. I "bought" this book as a member of the Outdoor Life Book Club in 1965 at age 12 -- bought it because I didn't return it before the 10-day "approval" period had passed. You youngsters out there won't have any idea what I am talking about!
I must have read Cooper's chapters more than a dozen times, and still pretty much prefer the Weaver Stance for offhand that he described so well, as he often shot with Jack Weaver, Thell Reed, Eldon Carl and other giants of the handgun scene in the early 1960s.
So three mentors: my Father, Sgt. Ryan, and Col. Cooper. What a trio!

Good write up, Bill. Your journalistic skills shine. a couple lines that caught my attention.

-"(Funny thing is if I got into most of these positions today, I'd need help getting up.)" Tell me about that one.

-"I must have read Cooper's chapters more than a dozen times," The only purpose for a pistol is to fight your way back to the rifle you should have never laid down. - Clint Smith

-My first mentor was my father (RIP) who bought me a Red Ryder BB gun and told me" Its always loaded, never point it at anything you dont intend to shoot, and always be sure where the bullet will stop before you pull the trigger." Good advice. After that I mostly learned by traial and error until I found Sniper's Hide, which is full of guys with lots of experience ansd willing to share it. Also a lot of numbskulls best avoided and ignored.

 

[Alan]

Someone asked this question over on Paco Kelly's Leverguns forum, and this was my answer. I'd like to hear yours, too.

My Dad, who saw combat in the winter and spring of 1945 in southern Germany and the Sudetenland with the 97th Infantry, indulged my interest in firearms and hunting in my early years. I was probably about six when he got me up one morning early and said we were going to hunt pheasants in the fields near Corvallis, Oregon, where he taught forestry at Oregon State. And he surprised me with a totally unexpected gun of my own -- in this case, a Daisy "pop gun." He told me he would watch how I handled it to see if I was taking his safety lessons to heart. When he was satisfied with this, a couple of falls later, I got to carry his father's Iver Johnson single shot .410 in the uplands. For most of his life, Dad used the Winchester Model 37 16 gauge he bought with paper route money about 1938 as his only shotgun, and a sportered Springfield with Weaver K-3 as his only rifle. He had carried a scoped Springfield in WWII.
While Dad gave me the rudiments of safe gun handling, I really learned to shoot a rifle under the guidance of Sgt. Joe Ryan, USA, Fort Lewis. A member of the fort shooting team, he was a wonderful mentor when it came to classic four-position bullseye with .22 rifles and he was my Marksmanship Merit Badge counselor in Scouts teaching me to shoot from offhand, sitting, kneeling and prone with the sling and a focus on breathing and trigger control. (Funny thing is if I got into most of these positions today, I'd need help getting up.)
When it came to handguns, I owe all I know to one man's writings: those of Col. Jeff Cooper, who wrote the handgunning section of Outdoor Life's "Complete Book of Shooting," featuring Jack O'Connor on rifles. I "bought" this book as a member of the Outdoor Life Book Club in 1965 at age 12 -- bought it because I didn't return it before the 10-day "approval" period had passed. You youngsters out there won't have any idea what I am talking about!
I must have read Cooper's chapters more than a dozen times, and still pretty much prefer the Weaver Stance for offhand that he described so well, as he often shot with Jack Weaver, Thell Reed, Eldon Carl and other giants of the handgun scene in the early 1960s.
So three mentors: my Father, Sgt. Ryan, and Col. Cooper. What a trio!

That’s a mentorship trifecta most shooters would spend a lifetime trying to assemble.