My 12th Birthday present. Sort of a Redneck Bar mitzvah.

[Grumpyolman]

I'm actually proud to be a redneck, blue collar American. My wife is Jewish... it's a wide world. (thus the Bar mitzvah reference) LOL. My dad gave me this rifle on my 12th birthday, a graduation from Daisy BB guns and pump pellet rifles. It taught me a lot about life and death and the ways of the world. Still have it, and it shoots straight to this day. It's a JC Higgins single shot .22. Made by Marlin for Sears in 1965. Like me, it's been through some shite over the years, but still does what it's supposed to.

God bless America and long live the 2nd Amendment!

 

[The Duke]

Somebody gave me one like that when I was 11 and I sawed it off. Wish I hadn't now, but it is what it is.
I was given a Model 60 with a squirrel on the handle when I turned 11, too.
Beautiful stock and it was a helluva shooter. So damn good it ruined me as far as a lot of other guns are concerned.
Not all guns are that accurate, in fact, most aren't.

 

[1srelluc]

Those are great training rifles for kids.

I started out on a old 1920s era Winchester M1902 single shot. Very accurate.

All the manufactures of that era made very accurate barrels.

 

[fncceo]

Today you are a man.

 

[DGS49]

It is not that many generations ago when a young man was considered an adult at 12-14. You dropped out of school and started working on the family farm full time, took an apprenticeship or other paying job, or if you were very lucky, you went to a university.

"Adolescence" is a relatively new phenomenon - a time after biological adulthood when one is not expected to assume adult responsibilities. In many cases, that phase lasts into one's 30's.

Along with the obesity epidemic, just another indication of how our society has gone to hell.

 

[1srelluc]

It is not that many generations ago when a young man was considered an adult at 12-14. You dropped out of school and started working on the family farm full time, took an apprenticeship or other paying job, or if you were very lucky, you went to a university.

"Adolescence" is a relatively new phenomenon - a time after biological adulthood when one is not expected to assume adult responsibilities. In many cases, that phase lasts into one's 30's.

Along with the obesity epidemic, just another indication of how our society has gone to hell.

Before labor laws all you needed was permission from your parents and you could have dropped out of school worked at the local textile plant at 15 and get one hell of a leg up on life at the time.

They had it worked out to where if there was a lay-off they would keep you on in sort of an apprentice program till you were 18 then you were the same as the rest of the guys.

Even then the guys that stayed in school all had jobs somewhere....I know I did....I get out of school, work a couple hours at the ice plant if needed pulling ice or hanging deer, then put in a few more hours at the Tastee-Freeze. I always had walking around money.

 

[the watcher]

Mine was a Winchester 69, the type that had that knurled knob on the bolt you pulled back. It was a good shooter, and light enough to carry all day for a kid. I then got a 62 pump with the hammer, and had to learn not to pump fire all over. You used to see those mossbergs with the plastic finger grooves on the grio everywhere but haven't seen one in a long time. They were very good shooters.

 

[1srelluc]

Mine was a Winchester 69, the type that had that knurled knob on the bolt you pulled back. It was a good shooter, and light enough to carry all day for a kid. I then got a 62 pump with the hammer, and had to learn not to pump fire all over. You used to see those mossbergs with the plastic finger grooves on the grio everywhere but haven't seen one in a long time. They were very good shooters.

Mossberg made a hell of a accurate barrel.

The problem with those finger groove trigger guards on the older Mossbergs is they do not hold up over time. The shrink and crack due to the plastic they were made of.

The good thing is that they make replacements of modern plastics.

Havlin Sales & Service - Mossberg Gun Parts