How many of you have ever fired a gun?

[1939]

140. Army vet plus 25 years in R&D of Army weaposn systems.

My grandfather was an avid hunter (ducks, geese, and doves only) and skeet shooter. I learned to shoot with on old .22 single shot rolling block rifle. I lacked the hand-eye coordination to ever be anything good at skeet shooting. I used to go duck hunting with my grandfather, but really hated hunting and only went for him.

In service, I started with the M1 rifle, then the carbine and M1911A1 pistol. Over the years, I moved to the M14 (loved it) and M16 (hated it). I carried a pistol and a M3 grease gun in Vietnam (the very few times I was in a firefight, I had 180 guys with rifles to worry about directing and never fired a shot myself). All of the "firefights" I was in were small probes at our perimeter. During my R&D time, I was involved mostly with the Abrams tank and Bradley system, but did get involved in the development of the M9 pistol and the squad automatic weapon.

I still shoot occasionally on the range, but mostly with a pistol and carbine (Beretta PX4 and CX4). I own an M1 for nostalgia sake, but have never fired it and don't have any ammo for it. I do love going to gun shows and seeing and handling whatever is new so I guess you could say that I am a "gun nut" but I go to the range now just to keep in practice. As noted above, I do not very much like many of the other shooters at the range or some of the people at the gun shows.

I have a CCL and own one .380 pistol, one .40 pistol, one .40 carbine, one 12 gauge shotgun, the afore mentioned M1, and a S&W "Governor" revolver. I have some ammunition for all of them except the M1. I do have a bit of .40 because that is what I use mostly at the range. The others, i only shoot to make sure they function.