Is it time? Sons first target practice

[mstreddy]

OP, I have a seven year old boy and a four year old girl. At this time the girl shows no interest at all in guns but the boy is interested. From the earliest days, I've tried to demystify the guns as much as possible for either of them. I make it a point to not hide the guns or treat them as taboo items. My son will come into the room while I'm cleaning a gun, reloading, or while I'm packing/unpacking for/from a range trip and sometimes he'll ask about whichever gun he sees. I take a moment to answer his question, and if he asks to "see" it or hold it, I ask him about the 4 rules, show him how to clear it, and then I hand it to him, all the while reinforcing the safety rules.
I bought him one of the youth single shot .22 rifles, but we haven't had a chance to make it to the range yet. It will be this year. He will sometimes ask if he can see/hold HIS rifle. Again, I take the opportunity to reinforce safety and I'm teaching him about using the sights.

 

[SeanSw]

I was recently asked to bring a .22 with me for some informal target practice in the woods so that my friend's granddaughter would have something to shoot. Judging from the family pictures I thought the girl was close to 10 years old but in reality she was probably closer to 5. I brought a S&W 617 with 6" barrel and it was far too heavy for a child that age. We discussed safety and loaded a single round at a time but I fear the weight of the gun was detrimental to the experience.

On the other hand, it was amusing to read the reaction of everyone who saw pictures of a little girl sighting down a massive 6" Smith and Wesson revolver without knowing the caliber. People just assumed it was a hand cannon from the profile.

 

[salt&battery]

In my opinion, younger than 10 is too young. And at 10, I would stick with 22 LR or smaller. Why develop bad habits, jerk and flinch, from the start? Once the child has demonstrated competence with 22 LR, and physical strength and size is there, move up to higher calibers. It isn't a race and it does kids good to have to wait for things.
I have daughters and started them all at age 12 on Ruger 10/22's. One had no real interest and just went through the motions for my benefit I think. The other two had both interest and aptitude, embarrassing many a young man over the years who thought they had to be better than a girl at shooting!!

I agree with you. some here say they started kids at 3 years old. that is real young and I would not do it. 10 years old to me is a good starting point

 

[jmorris]

I started mine at 2 when she showed interest, not much to learn at that point except safety and fun. Started with a pellet rifle on bags, still a work in progress. Get them out when she shows interest and put them up when she doesn't.

 

[straightshooterjake]

I am a Range Officer for the club where I shoot. It is a members only club with a wide and varied membership. We do not have an age requirement for children on the ranges. This is a good thing, since I have seen 7 year olds that are fine on the range and 13 year olds that are not.

However, the realistic age cut off is about seven. Some very mature six year olds are probably OK, but five year olds usually are not. I have seen some five year olds stay safe for short visits to the range, but the visits were very short due to limited attention span. It might be different on a backyard range where no one else was shooting.

Also, in my opinion, children should not be involved with firearms until they can keep their hands away from their mouths when asked to. This is mostly about lead contamination, but guns are also just generally dirty. And even though the amount of lead exposure is small, lead is especially bad for children. So keeping their hands away from their mouths is just a part of the maturity that is required to be around firearms.

 

[salt&battery]

I started mine at 2 when she showed interest, not much to learn at that point except safety and fun. Started with a pellet rifle on bags, still a work in progress. Get them out when she shows interest and put them up when she doesn't.

2 years old?

 

[jmorris]

Well 2 years 5 months to first shot (and hit).

 

[Shaq]

I agree with you. some here say they started kids at 3 years old. that is real young and I would not do it. 10 years old to me is a good starting point

Unfortunately, with many parents it becomes a contest - how young can I get my kid to start shooting......my kid started shooting younger than yours...etc.

Really stupid.

 

[d2wing]

I am a certified instructor. We started everybody on a decent pellet pistol. A BB pistol will do. They learn sight alignment and trigger control better with a pistol. You ca buy a trap or make one and learn the basics and practice at home. Also rifle basics are best learned with a simple BB gun or light pellet rifle to avoid learning flinching and noise reaction. If they are big enough to hold the gun steady they can learn to shoot.

 

[Oakes]

I started shooting with my dad when I was 6, and that was a Rugar .22LR. My son is not a carbon copy of me, he's not able to pay attention enough yet, and when he first shot a pistol I was right there with him holding the gun steady and making sure he was safe. He's 8 and I'll let him use his Daisy air gun without constant supervision but not rim fire yet unless I'm right there next to him.
Start your boy out with a rifle, it's safer and has less noise, less kick. Hard to beat .22LR to start with.
Be safe and have fun!

 

[hq]

I agree with you. some here say they started kids at 3 years old. that is real young and I would not do it. 10 years old to me is a good starting point

I wouldn't put a numeric limit or even a recommendation here. I took my oldest son to the range when he was four, he sat on my lap on the bench and practised aiming and firing a rimfire rifle from a rest, one shot at a time. By the following year he got to do it on his own and at the age of eight he was reasonably proficient with a rimfire pistol as well, with impeccable attention to firearm safety rules. My daughters have started practising at the age of 5, 6 and 7. It all depends on how everything is arranged, how the child feels about it and how mature he/she is. Attention span is a huge deal here.

You know something has gone right when your kids make notes of unsafe gun handling procedures when they see them happen on TV - "finger inside the trigger guard!", "barrel sweep!" etc. became a part of their vocabulary and routine and they actually competed against each other, trying to be the first to point out mistakes TV and movie characters made with firearms.

With a solid foundation the progression (and escalation) can be quite fast. They've been barely out of elementary school when consumption of centerfire ammo had increased at an alarming rate and I still have a few old videos of them emptying magazine after magazine on full auto at an array of steel plates, wearing pink and mint green Peltor Kids earmuffs and Hello Kitty fleece jackets, having the time of their lives.

 

[old lady new shooter]

I am a Range Officer for the club where I shoot. It is a members only club with a wide and varied membership. We do not have an age requirement for children on the ranges. This is a good thing, since I have seen 7 year olds that are fine on the range and 13 year olds that are not.

However, the realistic age cut off is about seven. Some very mature six year olds are probably OK, but five year olds usually are not. I have seen some five year olds stay safe for short visits to the range, but the visits were very short due to limited attention span. It might be different on a backyard range where no one else was shooting.

Also, in my opinion, children should not be involved with firearms until they can keep their hands away from their mouths when asked to. This is mostly about lead contamination, but guns are also just generally dirty. And even though the amount of lead exposure is small, lead is especially bad for children. So keeping their hands away from their mouths is just a part of the maturity that is required to be around firearms.

Really good point about the lead.

 

[old lady new shooter]

Well 2 years 5 months to first shot (and hit).

That's 2 years and 5 months?! She looks more like 5 or 6 years old. Apparently her maturity matched her appearance!

 

[jmorris]

She has always been pretty big for her age and sometimes she acts like a teenager (not in a good way).

It's not like we are shooting buddies and set out for a day at the range shooting. Her first time shooting above lasted about 6 shots and she went back to doing something that was fun for her, playing in the dirt.

It's not something she has to do by any means but she can take part when she wants. She's 5 now and sometimes she just wants to go to the "shooting place" and tell her dolls a story or have a picnik.

 

[Fred in Wisc]

My kids at 4 and 10 are happy to go to the "shooting club" to hang out with dad, walk in the woods, pick up brass (bonus!) or shoot. The shooting part might only be 10-30 minutes, but it's great bonding time with the kids.

This is Xander last summer at 3 with his big sister's Cricket rifle. He LOVES the loud bang, but isn't to concerned about what he's hitting yet, so he only gets to shoot on my lap so I've got complete control over everything that's happening. He know the basic rules- never pointing it at people, checking that it's unloaded before picking it up, leaving the action open, and not asking Mama if he can look at guns when dad's not home.

 

[Zach S]

My daughter started shooting when she was 7, regularly when she was 8. Gun safety was started years before then with nerf guns and such. She had better trigger finger discipline than 90% of Hollywood.

My former stepson is 3 weeks older than her, and was no where near ready, so my daughter didn't start shooting until that chapter was finished. She probably could have started sooner.

 

[bearcreek]

10 years old to me is a good starting point

Any particular reason?

 

[bearcreek]

As you can see from the title I am needing a little advice on my son and target practice, he's not the target... Just recently he has been coming over to me with more and more interest in firearms and how they work in general. The other day he came over to me as I was cleaning my pistol and asked if he could "have a go", I had to say no. In all honesty, I really wanted to give him the pistol and let him try it out with the right safety equipment goggles, earmuffs etc, and my help, but I wasn't so sure.

If a kid is old enough to ask about and show interest in your guns, he's old enough to get in trouble with them. That means he should at least be given some safety instructions. Takes some of the mystery away and lessens the chances of a there being a problem, should the opportunity present itself. IMO, if a kid is old enough to talk they're old enough to start getting some basic safety instruction.

 

[salt&battery]

Any particular reason?

at 6 years old would you let your kid drive your truck a riding lawn mower or use a chainsaw?

 

[hq]

at 6 years old would you let your kid drive your truck a riding lawn mower or use a chainsaw?

Chainsaw is out because of strength required to operate one safely, but under proper supervision - like with guns - a truck or a riding mower isn't out of the question. Heck, I was five when I first drove a Mercedes Pullman 600, on a family friend's lap...

 

[salt&battery]

Chainsaw is out because of strength required to operate one safely, but under proper supervision - like with guns - a truck or a riding mower isn't out of the question. Heck, I was five when I first drove a Mercedes Pullman 600, on a family friend's lap...

yes but you could use a chainsaw just cutting logs that are set up and just hold the saw and let it cut thru the log. people can do what they want. you are right about tractors I seen kids on farms using them

 

[jmorris]

at 6 years old would you let your kid drive your truck a riding lawn mower or use a chainsaw?

She has steered trucks, tractors and has her own 4 wheeler but I wouldn't let her loose with any of them without my supervision.

It's not like your giving them a firearm, box of ammo and telling them to go play outside.

I don't see much difference between that and letting her help me bake cookies. Without my supervision I can see burns and mangled fingers caught up in the mixer. However, in both cases she knows principals of operation, where to hold, what not to touch, etc. There are lots of "age appropriate" people out there that do not have this basic knowledge. Is it their fault because somehow they should know things as they get older or did someone drop the ball and try to help them in some way with a lack of information?

My thoughts are, if your interested, I'll show you how to do it safely, despite you not having the skills or ability to do it all by yourself.

 

[salt&battery]

She has steered trucks, tractors and has her own 4 wheeler but I wouldn't let her loose with any of them without my supervision.

It's not like your giving them a firearm, box of ammo and telling them to go play outside.

I don't see much difference between that and letting her help me bake cookies. Without my supervision I can see burns and mangled fingers caught up in the mixer. However, in both cases she knows principals of operation, where to hold, what not to touch, etc. There are lots of "age appropriate" people out there that do not have this basic knowledge. Is it their fault because somehow they should know things as they get older or did someone drop the ball and try to help them in some way with a lack of information?

My thoughts are, if your interested, I'll show you how to do it safely, despite you not having the skills or ability to do it all by yourself.

yes you are right. people can do with their kids as they want. trouble is you cannot shoot a bystander while baking cookies.

 

[hq]

No-one in the history of humankind has learned anything by aging alone. It's experience and accumulated comprehension of consequences and causalities of action that counts.

 

[bearcreek]

at 6 years old would you let your kid drive your truck a riding lawn mower or use a chainsaw?

That's comparing apples and oranges. When a young child is shooting a .22 rifle its very easy to keep complete control of the weapon. I can have my arms wrapped around and keep the gun pointed down range without the slightest bit of difficulty. That's obviously not possible with a truck or chain saw.

Edit: And BTW, there are many kids that are capable of operating a riding lawn mower at 6. Heck, I spent many hours stacking hay on a wagon being pulled by a 80 HP tractor that was driven by a 6-8 year old.