How did you get here?

[Centermass]

Seeing the memorial thread, and then thinking about a conversation with Zee about how we stumbled into the forum… it made me think, how did some of y’all get here. I know some were invited and some just happened into it.

For me, it was about 23 years ago. I was searching for information on an old Marlin 25MN I had. I was wanting to do some work on it. In a yahoo search, the forum popped up.

This was before Dan and any moderators. I remember Sam and Billy Chuck. I remember the story of the Poo bucket. I remember Shotgunshooter still being in Prep school before going off to college and becoming a pilot. I remember reading the article and hearing it was ADridge.

Y’all have been here through thick and thin. There’s been some characters and some others. But, it’s always been Cheers - a place where everyone’s glad you came.

[Wambli Ska]

Google search. I was a member of the SASS forum but that one turned into poop so I was looking for a place to talk guns and meet new friends.

[Wambli Ska]

Posted about trying my then new 1911 to kill a deer on my property for science and got raked over the coals by some of the old timers. Someone came to the rescue and said why would you use a gun/cartridge for SD and not trust it to kill a deer? Might have been Zee but it was a looong time ago. But I knew then there was hope for this place so I decided to stay.

[shotgunshooter3]

My dad was already a regular posting member as I was developing a keener interest in firearms and shooting. The rest is history.

[breamfisher]

I was originally on the Florida Sportsman Forum. They used to link all the forums together, and I found it through lurking.

I got a few people mad with me with one of my early postings, as I pointed out that when gunwriters evaluate a hunting rifle, they don't always wear camo. When they evaluate a mil-surp, they don't wear vintage military gear. Duty pistols - they don't wear LE gear. But evaluate a single-action pistol? They're dressed like the Cisco Kid.

Edited to change rifle to pistol. But the truth holds for leverguns, too.

[CPJ 2.0]

I was originally on the Florida Sportsman Forum. They used to link all the forums together, and I found it through lurking.

I got a few people mad with me with one of my early postings, as I pointed out that when gunwriters evaluate a hunting rifle, they don't always wear camo. When they evaluate a mil-surp, they don't wear vintage military gear. Duty pistols - they don't wear LE gear. But evaluate a single-action rifle? They're dressed like the Cisco Kid.

[mitdr774]

I was looking for information on something and stumbled across the previous forum. Poked around, eventually signed up, lurked a lot, started a few threads with some wandering ideas, took a vacation, came back, watched it die, and now I am here in a new home.

[Scott E. Mayer]

They had to pay me.

[BHL2506]

Started out on florida sportsman. When it went over to G&A I followed but didn't join till 2006. Been here ever since. Never posted much but enjoy all that goes on around here.

[Jerm]

Well.... my parents were drinking one night and about 9 months later I was born.

[Zee]

Posted about trying my then new 1911 to kill a deer on my property for science and got raked over the coals by some of the old timers. Someone came to the rescue and said why would you use a gun/cartridge for SD and not trust it to kill a deer? Might have been Zee but it was a looong time ago. But I knew then there was hope for this place so I decided to stay.

I remember that.

We collectively slaughtered some sacred cows over the years. It was awesome.

[Zsarvashere]

They had to pay me.

Lol

[Zee]

They had to pay me.

Don’t get any ideas. We ain’t taking up a collection.

[Zee]

Well.... my parents were drinking one night and about 9 months later I was born.

I bet they still regret that night.

[breamfisher]

Well.... my parents were drinking one night and about 9 months later I was born.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jNUVbZV5aig

[bullsi1911]

I was trying to find some info for an email conversation I was having with a friend. I THINK I was trying to find the weight of a fully loaded Glock 22 magazine, and started searching on the G&A website. Ended up finding the forum, made an account to see if anyone could get that info for me as I was at work and could not just pull out a magazine and weigh it. Never did get an actual answer to the question, IIRC.

This was probably 20-22 years ago. Pre-DanJ, pre-Florida Sportsman…. I remember all the threads that Centermass mentioned, and there was one epic one that I think convinced me to stay. It was the “Chicken Fingers” Thread. About a news story of some kid at an elementary school that got suspended for holding a chicken finger in the cafeteria like a gun and saying “Bang!”. The thread went multiple pages of smart as comments, and made me laugh my head off.

I wish that one had survived in some way. It was epic.

I remember posting a LOT of milestones. Buying my first house, getting engaged, married, having a kid…. poop, some of y’all know more about my life than family members do.

[bullsi1911]

BTW, after the first forum change a member made an archive of awesome threads. I THINK it was 22x9.

Does that still exist?

[Admin]

By the way.... The Internet Archive/ Wayback Machine has some snapshots of the old forum going all the way back to 2009. They have GunsAndAmmoMag.com snapshots going back to 2000.

Remember this?

banner_top.gif (20.82 KiB) Viewed 5149 times

I'm still digging to see if there is any way to read some of the old threads.

[NuttyNed]

I looked up G&A for some reason and saw a link or button to forums and tried it.

[Admin]

Snapshot of the main page from July 5th 2006

Screenshot 2023-06-30 3.29.58 PM.png (121.94 KiB) Viewed 5147 times

[Castle]

Snapshot of the main page from July 5th 2006

Screenshot 2023-06-30 3.29.58 PM.png

You turned into a crabby old lady again bullsi.

[Centermass]

What happened to 22x9?

[Centermass]

My dad was already a regular posting member as I was developing a keener interest in firearms and shooting. The rest is history.

Weren’t you all of 14 when you first got on?

[breamfisher]

I remember SS3 going to a military academy.

[Castle]

You ever see a drunk dude somehow magically find the only open bar in town?

Well, that's kinda my story except it was over the internet.

I don't remember what I was searching for or how I came to find this place. Back then I searched everything... important, non important, didn't matter. Somehow, I fell into this place (G&A forums). Probably because I was on Florida Sportsman and there were links and I just couldn't resist trying them. I no longer remember the exact reason and it really isn't that important.

Anyway, I wandered around and lurked for some time and thought, "Hey, this is a cool place." And many of the forum threads made me laugh my ass off... so I joined around 2008.

In that time, I had great conversations with DanJ. I was chastised several times by him but he was always a gentleman and chastised me over PM. I now look back on those reprimands fondly.

I had a few conversations with Scott E over PM. He probably doesn't remember but I still recall his sage words of wisdom, "It's a hobby magazine, not a technical journal."

After that I came to the G&A Forums because of the people in it. It was clear to me then, as it's clear to me now... they were/are what made/makes a forum special.

And then G&A had to ruin the ride and so rudely pull the plug. But this gun community wasn't ready to go sailing into the night... not without a fight, and bullsi1911 built us a better place. Why better? Well, it's the people not flashy designs that make a place great.

I've said this many times. I'm on several forums and I can say without a doubt, this forum is a community (dysfunctional sometimes but a community). The other forums are just places I visit for my own personal amusement. If I were ever banned from any of them, it wouldn't matter one damn bit to me. They're just places on the interwebz, nothing more.