Question for the experienced Fathers out there

[tops]

A .410 is okay for a kid to shoot a tin can that is setting still but on moving targets a .410 is an experts gun. Winchester makes a 12 ga. low noise, low recoil load that does 980 fps and it will break anything on the skeet field. Also cut the stock down so the kid can start shooting with good form. A lot of people buy kids ball equipment that is kids size but when it comes to guns they give them a grownups gun and say they will grow into it. The kid doesn't haven't a chance. Larry

 

[Rule3]

Quote:
Originally Posted by OCD1
I only had daughters but from my life as a young kid. BB guns were always a good place to start, Now the have Air Soft.

I think 3.5 is a bit young for shooting.(each child is different)He will let you know when he's interested. Keep at the fishing, camping, woods thing. You will know when he is ready. Let him see what you are doing but as you say, do not scare him with the loud booms. Let him watch cleaning guns, cleaning game if you hunt etc.

My oldest son was about 2 years old when he shot his first .22 rifle. __________________
Mafuta54

My oldest son was about 2 years old when he shot his first .22 rifle.

As you felt the need to quote me, what's your point??

 

[n4zov]

I only had daughters but from my life as a young kid. BB guns were always a good place to start, Now the have Air Soft.

I think 3.5 is a bit young for shooting.(each child is different)He will let you know when he's interested. Keep at the fishing, camping, woods thing. You will know when he is ready. Let him see what you are doing but as you say, do not scare him with the loud booms. Let him watch cleaning guns, cleaning game if you hunt etc.

Very good advice! Don't push him, he will let you know when he is really interested. Start teaching safety before anything else.

 

[wharsmahhummer]

I was 7 when my Dad taught me how to shoot, and my daughters each learned when they were 7. I think that 4-5 is still too young, but it also depends on their ability to listen and pay attention as well. My son, who is 4 years old, if he keeps on the path that he is on, wont learn until he is 35...

As to saying about the .410 not being a good gun to learn on. I learned with a Nylon 66 .22 and a single shot H&R .410, and to this day, I prefer a .410 over a 20 or 12 gauge. I have taken more deer and dove with a .410 than anything else.

 

[Double-O-Dave]

My daughter, now 13 years old, and my son, now 11 years old, were taught how to respect firearms as well as other potentially dangerous tools laying about such as knives, hammers, etc. at a very early age - I think around 2 to 3 years old. My daughter has never expressed any interest in firearms whatsoever. I regularly extend invitations to her, but she declines and I don't push it. On my son's 10th birthday, I took him to the range and let him shoot my Ruger Mk II Target with the 5.0 inch heavy barrel, a red dot equipped Savage .22 semiauto rifle, and my Model 686 with 6.0 inch barrel and 2X scope all from a padded rest. I still get a chuckle when we brought the target back after he fired 3 rounds from the 686 and he found that he had shot a "cloverleaf" at 7 yards. He was so proud that he made a "Mickey Mouse" on his first try. I recently purchased a Ruger 10/22 for both of us and equipped it with a Butler Creek folding stock and a 4X scope. It's a light weight and handy little gun for him, and with any luck, we'll try squirrel hunting next fall.

Best of luck,

Dave

 

[mm6mm6]

When my daughter was five, I bought her Marlin 15YN single shot, bolt action youth rifle in .22 lr. I put a brass oval plaque on the right side of the buttstock that read, "To My Daughter Lauren 2002 Love Dad."

I wanted her to shoot it at my parents' log cabin in Wisconsin. I have photos and video of her shooting her Marlin. She sat in a chair at a table and worked the bolt, inserted a round, and kept her finger off the trigger. I drew a sight picture for her on a piece of paper. We were shooting at piece of steel hung in front of our backstop 75' away.

She hit it on her first try. I taught her to keep her finger off the trigger right from the start. At first, she liked the way the bolt threw the empties out more than the actually shooting! But she really liked hitting that steel gong.

As the years went on, she grew into the Marlin. At 12, she can place extra rounds between her left hand's fingers as she holds the forearm and load each shot quickly from a standing position. She never misses either.

I bought her a Colt Bat Masterson 1967 commemorative (unfired in a presentation case) as her first handgun.

She fired her first Cowboy Action Shooting match earlier this year. She fired six stages totalling 145 rounds (in her Colt and in my Ruger Single Six, in my Marlin 39M, and in my 12 gauge Rossi side by side, exposed hammer shotgun) and only missed one shot. She had one round that didn't go off but she worked right through it.


She enjoys shooting with her whole family because both my wife and I and my wife's dad (Lauren's grandpa) all shoot together. Three generations. There are few things in life as rewarding as sharing something you love doing with your family.

Here she is shooting her Colt:

Here she is shooting a CAS stage (video):



I asked her if she'd like to try shooting trap with her great-grandfather's Browning Twelvette. She hit 15 out of 25 her first time!

When I went to try out my .22 conversion kit for my Sig P220, she really enjoyed loading the magazine, racking the slide, and then shooting the semi-auto at the targets.

We shoot a pellet rifle in the backyard and we print out fun targets off the internet to shoot at.

I think the best thing is to not push shooting too hard. Let a child learn at their own pace. Try to make things interesting with unique targets or reactionary things. Remember that shooting a black bullseye isn't very rewarding. Kids crave stimulus and Necco wafers glued to a target's bullseye explode in a puff of smoke when hit, even with a .177 pellet.

Don't try to force a kid to shoot too long. Don't stress accuracy too much, just repeat sight alignment, breath control, and trigger squeeze.

When I could tell my daughter was getting bored or tired, it was time to stop for the day.

I guess the best advice is to make shooting fun and not a chore.

It's worked for me and my daughter enjoying range time with her dad is amazingly rewarding for both of us. I'm very happy to be carrying on the tradition that my dad, my grandpa, and my great-grandpa kept going all those years....

-Steve

 

[charlie sherrill]

My son got interested when he was four. I was big into rabbit hunting then and used him to retrieve dead rabbits from places I didn't want to go. Same thing with doves. He would go on deer stands with me and his hunter orange vest looked like a dress on him. That and a cap and he was solid orange. We went the BB gun and air rifle route until he was six. I had an old .410 single barrel I had picked up at a murder scene years before he was born and he killed his first rabbit with it at age six. I recently replace the trigger guard and shell estractor on it and it is waiting on my granddaughters. You would have though he shot a thirty-point buck as proud as he was. My daughter didn't get interested until she was in her teens. She shoots with us some now. My son is now 25 and owns more guns than I do. Teach them right and don't push them. They'll let you know if and when they are ready.

 

[M29since14]

It seems like my kids have always gone along skeet or sporting clays shooting with me on weekends. Then, we started by talking about the four rules - what they were and what they meant. When they were 5-6 y/o we started actually shooting - with .22 rifles, then with shotguns after a year or two, and finally handguns. My daughter is a good handgun shooter. The son is not great in that area, but shows some promise with the shotgun. Five is probably about right to start, but as everyone has said, all kids are different and it is best to take it easy - no pressure from Dad - just encouragement. "Wow - you hit it! What a great job! Good for you!"

 

[ect1222t]

The only thing I haven't seen here is the NRA "EDDIE EAGLE" program for the younger children. I still have my old VHS tape. Showed it to my daughter almost daily when she was smaller. It's fun and teaches them not to touch a gun without an adult. Every child is different. My kids started with a .22 revolver with CB's at a target with the hood from a '72 Dodge Power Wagon as a backstop. Shot off a stump with a foam pad as a rest. My youngest daughter was 5. Everyone of her friends had to watch the video because of guns in the house. Anyone could shoot with my supervision and look at my guns as long as it was OK with their parents. Now it's getting close to being my grandson's turn. He's seen the video, but as of yet has no interest in what guns I have left or in shooting. I'd like to get him a 10/22 with a Tapco adjustable stock. I'll start him out the same way, .22 revolver w/CB's. -Ed.

 

[Firehouse]

Thanks for all of the wonderful words of encouragement, the stories, photos, and examples of what to do and what not to do. I look forward to spending time with my man on this. Just out of curiosity the other day I got out my old crosman pump up bb/pellet rifle and asked him to sit with me. I pumped it once and just popped the chamber far enough backwards to set the trigger. I let him sit in my lap and look down the site and squeeze the trigger off. It made a light popping noise and he just giggled with delight. Sounds like game on for some quality time later. I'll keep you all posted. Keep the stories coming if anyone else has one they would like to share.