[ Wow!! A .22 when you were only 10 years old!! Most kids barely have a BB gun at the age of 10. You must have really been trustworthy. I didn't get my first .22 until I was about 15 and I had to sneak to buy it. Actually my 17 year old brother paid for it because I was still to young to purchase it. A Winchester Model 67. And even then, I had to have my uncle keep it for me and he went with me when I first started hunting. He took his Model 42 and we went together. I wish I still had that gun for old times sake. Good luck.
I really never gave that much thought because a lot of kids I knew were given a .22 at a very young age. I wasn't allowed to keep my .22 rifle in my own bedroom until I was about 13, but I always had access to it because it was kept in my parent's bedroom closet, along with my Dad's hunting guns. My Dad had been drilling gun safety into my skull for several years, and I was forbidden to mess with my gun without his supervision. I knew better than to test him on that. I'm not saying I was never tempted to take my .22 out to shoot it when he wasn't around. But deep down, I knew the consequences would be pretty bad if I got caught. I was warned that if I messed up even one time with a gun in my hands, that I wouldn't ever be permitted to hunt or shoot until I was grown up and living on my own. There was no question in my young mind that he meant every word.
My Dad would never allow me to own a BB gun. He felt they were too dangerous for kids because the steel BB's were prone to ricochet's, and I could "put my eye out". He did allow me to use my paper route money to buy a .177 cal. Benjamin air rifle when I was 12, because the pure lead pellets were unlikely to ricochet. It was far more accurate than any BB gun, and .177 Pellets were much cheaper than .22 shells. I shot that thing countless times, and literally wore it out. I liked it because you could vary the power depending upon how many times you pumped it up. I remember one time I took a shot at a rabbit in the yard. I didn't want to kill it. Just wanted to sting it in the ass to discourage it from coming around the garden. I gave the Benjamin just two pumps and held the sights about a foot over its' back, knowing the trajectory of the pellet would drop roughly that much at about 20 yards. When I squeezed the trigger, the rabbit jumped at least 3 feet straight into the air and came down dead as a stone. I couldn't find a mark on it, and I think it must have had a heart attack. A few years ago, I bought new piston seals and other parts that were worn, and rebuilt it and refinished the walnut stock. So I guess that's another of my "Keeper" guns.
