My reference to "precision shooting" may have ruffled some feathers. If it did...well I am sorry. In my experience I did not, as Tempest has said, seriously attempt to be precise, until I started shooting actual competition. I need to go back and look at my old NRA Silhouette books, as I may have started sooner than I think, it doesn't really matter though.
Yes I grew up toting a gun many months out of the year. Had a Red Ryder when I was 6 or 7, hey its been a long time so it is hard to remember. The folks took pics with the newer POlaroid, and it didn't have those convenient dates on the bottom of the pics like the Polaroid they had in the 60's. I got a H&R .410 for my 9th Bday, Daddy insisted that a 22 Rifle was too dangerous, hey it says range 1.5 miles on the box you know. Shot my Uncle's 22's whenever it was hunting season and I was supervised, with the shotgun I was free to roam during hunting season, those were indeed simpler times. 22 Speedmaster when I was 11 or 12, the uncle played a large role in convincing the folks I was ready. Huge jump at 13 with a Remington 700, in 7mm magnum, the rifle that nearly ruined me. Started reloading at 13, taught by a neighbor, it was an attempt to find a load that I wasn't scared to shoot. 7Mag was traded for a .243 S&W 1500 when I was 14, and THAT is when I began to learn to be a rifleman. There have been many rifles and pistols since. I have killed a lot of game, but I don't consider those formative years precision, though they certainly led to a search for "something more" and that is what competition has provided, and ultimately led to my quest for precision.
