What did you shoot in your youth?

A Marksman repeater pistol. Single shot pellet or bbs.

I used to take all my dad's cassette tapes out of the cases and then shoot at the cases in my room. That and gi joes

Everything / anything that I could get my hands on. The funnest was the Sheridan .20 

Crosman power line pump master 870 and a Benjamin .22 under barrel pump pistol

Daisy 840 for me. It was a one pump gets you 325FPS. 2 pumps got you 325FPS king of gun. I could track the BB with my eyes coming out of the barrel all the way to the target, 10 yards or so away. It made me a good marksman, but after one or two hunts I realized it was not a hunting gun. My favorite trick was to pour BBs down the barrel until it was full, point it straight up and "shotgun" 50 or so really slow BBs into the air. I remember that it would have a "Kick" like a real gun then. probably still one of my favorite guns, air or otherwise.

Growing up in rural Ohio in the 50s and early 60s, my first bb gun I got at the age 8 was a Daisy Ricochet rifle. It went everywhere with me. I ended up removing the richochet sound mechanism because it scared away the birds we were STALKING at the time and making a second shot impossible. My best friend and hunting partner had a 177 cal. break barrel pellet gun made in Europe somewhere (CZ I think). He had a big power advantage but I held my own LOL. I then got a Daisy Model 25 pump and later a Crosman 600. Priceless memories!

Same as JoeH no BB guns allowed so a slingshot was my main weapon became quite deadly with it too!

Daisy Powerline in .177, I had great memories with this pumper! I was 11 years old and hated by the lizard/pigeon community!



Renz

Benjamin 397 in .177 with a Tasco scope. It was a bday gift from my uncle when I was in jr. high. I probably shot down hundreds of rodents with this setup. 

When I was 8 yrs young I got a Model 25 pump action BB gun for Christmas. Had to use both hands to cock it. Put a lot of BB's thru that thing. At the time (60 yrs ago) BB's were 10 cents a tube. 

I mentioned my Daisy 840, one friend had a daisy 880, back when they were metal and wood, and our other friend had a crossman, I do not remember the model, but with 10 pumps, it was the beast of the block. The 3 of us would meet every Saturday, most Sundays and hit a nearby patch of woods for Birds, squirrels and Rabbits. It was a tough get after a while, critters were scarce. I think in our last 5 hunts we were skunked. Boys grow up and move on in life. They went to college, I chose to join the military. After being gone for 3 years, I finally returned home. I called my buddies and we all grabbed our Airguns. Off we went, just as we had years before. But, now there were birds, squirrels and rabbits all over this patch of woods. We realized then that WE were the reason for the scarcity of game in those woods. Those were good times, lots of laughs and camaraderie. We were finding our way, we were outdoors. We were American boys, in an Different America. I feel bad about cleaning the game out of those woods, but the memories and lessons that I learned hold true 40 years later are still strong in who I am. My gun was not a hunter, but I was the first one there every week because it meant so much to me. I don't think today's youth will do anything to experience what was so special to me. They have their own memories and experiences, but I am sure that whatever they do, It will come up short of what we had as Kids.

Diana model 23 and 34, when Diana was still Diana and made good quality airguns...

Crosman 760 had a couple of them. 

I wasn't allowed BB guns as a kid. When I turned 15 I got a .22, 16 gauge, 12 gauge and a .243, so just skipped over BBs. I did shoot a friends Red Ryder, once. Had a bad ricochet and took a BB to the, well it really hurt, let's just put it that way. As an adult, I started with a 760, then a Gamo 220 and a Winchester 880. Finally, this, year, an Impact Power Plenum. As funds allow, I'll be adding more airguns.

Benjamin HB22 pump pistol. Had it from when I was in grade school through college. Should have never sold it... can’t find one anywhere. They go for over 300 smacks on eBay (used!). So I know I’m not the only one hunting one of these oldies...

daisy red rider.

cheap daisy pumper

drooled over Benjamin's but could not afford them 

got a daisy .22 and left it at home when i left. think my lil bro took it apart, not sure.

found and was given a few Benjamin's when i thought i was took old to shoot them

a crossman storm about 10 years ago (like to have ruined me, spent over 100 on a gun that shot worse than my red rider as far as accuracy. little did i know i was holding it wrong "just did not know i shouldn't have been holding it like a gun G")

now a hatsan Herc bully in .22 and a fx impact x mk2 .30 have restored my love due to accuracy and power.

Like a lot of you guys I started out with a Crosman 760. I no longer have it. My folks bought it for me at a garage sale. It had a slightly bent barrel and I soon learned how to compensate for that problem. I actually got pretty good with it and I have many fond memories shooting it at our summer home in Maine.

The second gun I got was this "Marksman" BB pistol. It is really pretty sad. You can actually watch the BB come out of the barrel when you shoot it. I had fun practicing my fast draw with it. The funny thing is when I opened the box to take this photo I realized that I still have two tubes of the old style copper BBs .

...a .17 cal "Winchester" break barrel springer...



...and a Daisy 99...we were one up on the other kids... 

First air rifle was a crosman 760 it was a blast!

My first airgun was a 1994 Daisy run for the 100th year anniversary of the 1894 Marlin. It was spring powered and only shot BBs at 300fps, but it was good for a while. When i realized it didn't have enough oomph for taking squirrels, I upgraded to a Crosman 760. Got more than a few graytails with that one. When my folks moved house, turns out they found them so they recently came back into my life a couple years ago, which was quite nice.

Still a kid at heart.

1st gun at 10 years old. Crosman 114 .22. My Dad saved it all those years of teenage and twenties crap I had to go through and I got it back in my late 30's. Still have it and shoot it from time to time. Learned to shoot in our basement one winter. My Dad and Grandfather bought the rifle shortly after my birth, so it was 10 years old when I first shot it. Was not allowed to take it into the woods alone until I was 12..... Ahhh, how times have changed In hindsight, that was a fantastic childhood!