Reacher
Member
My 7yr old daughter is showing some interest in shooting and reloading. I am considering getting her a Buckmark or some other little 22. pistol to shoot. Just wondering if I should wait a couple more years.
What age to teach your kids to shoot?
- Thread starter Reacher
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EZ CZ75
Member
Start her now!!!
Start them at the earliest age you can. Even if you don't let them shoot they should be taught about gun safety from an early age. I have a two-year-old that loves to come shooting with me. We have had many good talks and she chastizes me if I even point her toy gun at people on TV.
(I had to see if out talks were sinking in.)
If it seemed unclear at all, I do allow my daughter to shoot while I help hold both her and the firearm.
Start them at the earliest age you can. Even if you don't let them shoot they should be taught about gun safety from an early age. I have a two-year-old that loves to come shooting with me. We have had many good talks and she chastizes me if I even point her toy gun at people on TV.
(I had to see if out talks were sinking in.)If it seemed unclear at all, I do allow my daughter to shoot while I help hold both her and the firearm.
Ivy Mike
Member
I was about 8 or 9 when my dad started teaching me to shoot. I started with a Daisy lever action BB gun and soda cans in the backyard.
If I ever have children, thats how I'm going to start them. Teach them gun safety with something non lethal and build good habits.
If I ever have children, thats how I'm going to start them. Teach them gun safety with something non lethal and build good habits.
mjb
Member.
I was 6 years old when I first shot a Colt frontier Scout .22LR. I remember my Dad taking a plastic water jug and shooting it and telling me what this could do to a person. He emphasized safety, and I will never forget that.
MrTwigg
Member
My boy started at five.
It was the classic story, the "Red Ryder" bb gun for Christmas. He got his first .22 for his eighth birthday this year, and to celebrate him staying in Cub Scouts & getting his Wolf Scout badge he got ro ride home in my truck last night holding the box with a new single shot Rossi 20ga. He's a happy kid.
Keep it all about safety, shoot when they want to and have fun !
It was the classic story, the "Red Ryder" bb gun for Christmas. He got his first .22 for his eighth birthday this year, and to celebrate him staying in Cub Scouts & getting his Wolf Scout badge he got ro ride home in my truck last night holding the box with a new single shot Rossi 20ga. He's a happy kid.
Keep it all about safety, shoot when they want to and have fun !
only1asterisk
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If she's 7 and showing an interest, it's time.
David
David
SolaScriptura139
Member
I plan on teaching gun safety to my daughter when she gets mature enough to understand what I'm saying. She's developing very quickly, even at 6 months old, so I don't think it will too long from now, probably when she's 4 or so. Hopefully, she'll be shooting by the time she's 8.
Mr Jody Hudson
Member
My boys were three and four when they started shooting, my daughter was almost two... Gun safety and waterjug and watermellon shooting UP CLOSE and messy to show them the importance and power and danger. They are all the most safe gun handlers I know of and better than any of the adults I see as a rule. Earlier is better.
Feed the interest as much as they are interested but not pushing too much... My daughter, now 15 has not shot for a few years until a few weeks ago when she wanted to show a cute guy who is really interested in guns, how good a shot she is. I took them both, reinforced the safety at the highest level ever and we all had a great time.
Feed the interest as much as they are interested but not pushing too much... My daughter, now 15 has not shot for a few years until a few weeks ago when she wanted to show a cute guy who is really interested in guns, how good a shot she is. I took them both, reinforced the safety at the highest level ever and we all had a great time.
El Tejon
Member
Nephew #1 started at 6. My brother became more confident and Nephew #2 started at 4.
My brother and I both started at 5.
My brother and I both started at 5.
Mausermeister
Member
I taught my daughter to shoot an air-soft when she was three. She is will be six next month. I recently built her a .22 from an old junker Win 67. She can hit a coke can nearly every time from 25 yards.
AirForceShooter
Member
That's an awesome rifle you built.
She's going to have that forever and I'll bet your grandkids learn on it.
Contratulations
AFS
She's going to have that forever and I'll bet your grandkids learn on it.
Contratulations
AFS
Reacher
Member
Thanks for all the input. I think I will start by teaching her safety and then we can get into actually shooting. I am gonna take a pumpkin or watermelon out and shoot it up close so she can see what kind of power guns have. I want her to enjoy shooting but I want her to be safe above all.
I think I was 8 when my grandfather first took me out to the Zia Gun Club range in Albuquerque. He started me out on a little .22 Savage and a .22 Marlin. I loved those guns. He was a stickler for safety. I remember being sent to the car and made to wait while he finished shooting because I pointed my rifle somewhere besides downrange. I hated it at the time, but it was the best thing for me. It drove home the point that there was only one safe direction for a gun.
I think I was 8 when my grandfather first took me out to the Zia Gun Club range in Albuquerque. He started me out on a little .22 Savage and a .22 Marlin. I loved those guns. He was a stickler for safety. I remember being sent to the car and made to wait while he finished shooting because I pointed my rifle somewhere besides downrange. I hated it at the time, but it was the best thing for me. It drove home the point that there was only one safe direction for a gun.
rangerruck
Member
i think 7 , is when they show enough bodily coordination, and have a better concept of "life" and it's value. Unless your kid is like tiger woods who was swinging clubs at age 3.
Art Eatman
Moderator In Memoriam
I was somewhere around seven when I first shot a .22 rifle. I had my own Daisy Red Ryder not long after. I let my son try a light-load revolver around age five, and took all the "mystique" out of his interest. I gave him a Red Ryder around age six or so.
The nice thing about a BB gun is you can get a bullet trap for in-the-house practice.
Art
"You can't kid-proof a gun, but you can gun-proof a kid."
The nice thing about a BB gun is you can get a bullet trap for in-the-house practice.
Art
"You can't kid-proof a gun, but you can gun-proof a kid."
4 or 5? I take my nephew with me once a month and he's just turned 14. And only when I know he's been acting the way he should be. Doing his homework, the small amount of chores he's been given, things like that. When he hasn't been keeping up his end of the deal he misses out untill he fulfills his end of things. And trust me, it's a huge deal for him to miss out so he very seldom does. But a 5 or 6 year old? In my opinion that a bit young. Hell at nearly 40 the wife still has occasion to question my level of maturety (never safety mind you, just maturety)
As I recall, I was around 8 years old. Of course I'd been curious about guns for a while, and my father knew it. On the sly, he'd put up a backstop against a big embankment behind our house. That was when I first began missing everything I shot at with my great grandfather's Winchester 1890 .22 short. I remember joining a junior rifle team in 6th grade and being just amazed at how accurate any given .22 I pulled from the rack was... compared to that Winchester. Now that I think about it, there ought to be a sappy, sentimental song about those days. "It was the summer of '89..."
Magic79
Member
I started my son when he was 7 and my daughter when she was 6...both with a .38 spl Ruger Security Six!
I bought them both .22 kid-size rifles when they were 8 and 7.
I believe that teaching them safety as well as shooting fundamentals produces very, very safe shooters. I also told them "anytime you want to go shooting, just ask and we'll go!" They never tried to 'play with guns', and I think the open availability of going shooting is the reason.
Want to make a kid do something? Tell him/her they can't! By telling them you will take them shooting any time they want, they don't have that mischevious curiosity that can lead to accidents.
I bought them both .22 kid-size rifles when they were 8 and 7.
I believe that teaching them safety as well as shooting fundamentals produces very, very safe shooters. I also told them "anytime you want to go shooting, just ask and we'll go!" They never tried to 'play with guns', and I think the open availability of going shooting is the reason.
Want to make a kid do something? Tell him/her they can't! By telling them you will take them shooting any time they want, they don't have that mischevious curiosity that can lead to accidents.
Clipper
Member
I started at 6...
...With my dad's K-22 S&W. My daughter was a mite later in showing interest, but I got her started on my MKII at about 8.
...With my dad's K-22 S&W. My daughter was a mite later in showing interest, but I got her started on my MKII at about 8.
Hazwaste
Member
Kids and Guns
I started both of my children on air guns, Red Ryder for my son and Crossman CO2 pellet gun for daughter, at age 5. Now that they're both teens they've received .22s and my son also has an SKS.
Teach them young and shoot with them often.
I started both of my children on air guns, Red Ryder for my son and Crossman CO2 pellet gun for daughter, at age 5. Now that they're both teens they've received .22s and my son also has an SKS.
Teach them young and shoot with them often.
I have the same thing happening to me. My 7 year old is very interested in starting to shoot. Everytime I come home from the range she is at the door wanting to see my targets. She takes them and calculates the scores for each one for me. I was thinking about letting her start shooting a bb gun in the back yard to get her started. We have looked at the some at Wal-mart and she already picked the one she wants (it was the same one that I had when I was 6).
The only thing we are both worried about it convincing mommy that it is time to start her out. My wife isn't exactly anti-gun, but she doesn't exactly jump for joy over them either. She could care less about them and thinks I only need one handgun, one rifle, and one shotgun. I only have 2 out of those 3 right now.
The only thing we are both worried about it convincing mommy that it is time to start her out. My wife isn't exactly anti-gun, but she doesn't exactly jump for joy over them either. She could care less about them and thinks I only need one handgun, one rifle, and one shotgun. I only have 2 out of those 3 right now.
Reacher
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