I am turning 40 is a few days... Don't feel so old anymore reading this thread.
I like it though, the age group is pretty suprising.
Well I was taught gun safety and shooting by my dad when I was young. Probably 5 or 6 when he started bringing me along to the shooting range. I remember shooting his .22 for the first time and scoping myself with it.
Anyway, around 7 or 8 I got a red Ryder of Christmas, had a good time terrorizing the yard with it. Then at 12 I got really interested in air guns, saved up my money and bought a Benjamin 397. Boy were those squirrels doomed at that point. Even my dog at that point was a squirrel hunter. His reaction to a rifle was comparable to the dog who gets excited when he sees his leash
Then at 14 I got a .22. spent every bit of spare time exploring the woods where I grew up. Now there's roads everywhere, I recently showed my mom where I used to hang out and she freaked, "you were this far from home???" Well yeah, a kid needs to explore!
Found this forum when I heard you could modify pellet guns for power, and they were right! That was in 2005 I think. Spent a lot of time Tinkering with whatever I could get my hands on. I enjoy building and customizing more than shooting probably.
Then I got a pal, cuz my dad was all bent out of shape since I was just playing with pellet guns. "You gotta get some real guns" he says. So I did. Took up reloading, was heavy into it for a while then I just got bored of it. Until covid. Opened up some boxes of pellet gun parts and here I am again.
Oh forgot to mention. Now that my dad is in his 60s now, he has really been looking at airguns... Finally