Looking for guidance on firearms training

N/A | 122403 | Me

[Archangelsk]

My son is now four. He has shown a strong interest in learning how to fire my weapons. Any guidance in terms of age would be appreciated. (I've already figured out that he will fire nothing larger than a .22 under my strict supervision).

[Britton J Wingfield]

I'd ask over at www.thehighroad.org

[DesertWalker]

At age four, you should start out with the NRA Eddie Eagle Program materials - safety first! You can get info about it at

www.mynra.com.

[GovernmentShrinker]

Per an acquaintance of mine who started her son at three, start out with a realistic-looking air gun. He won't be able to tell the difference and will have more success hitting the target. After he knows what he's doing, and can recite and understand the basic rules of firearm safety, move on to the .22.

[Archangelsk]

Thanks, that looks like a good discussion board.

[rellimpank]

--and stick with long firearms til a later age when attention span is better developed--

[umgud]

My fisrt gun was a 22 bolt action rifle at age 7. Lived in Kansas and hunted/fished every week. I always thought it was fun and didn't find out until my late teens that we had to hunt and fish. Times are different now. My boys and my grandsons were all exposed to and used guns since they were about 6-7 years old. None of them ever had an accident and have never harmed anyone with a firearm.

[glock rocks]

FWIW... I've trained all my children on a bb rifle at around 5, bb pistol at 6-7, 22 rifle at 8 and handgun after they've shown they can handle the above safely.

Eaker?

[billorites]

"My son is now four."

I would discourage him from studying with Phil Spector.

[Tijeras_Slim]

http://forums.sixgunner.com/topic.asp?TOPIC_ID=7525 is on "How young to start" from a number of shooters exchanging stories and views.

I started with a BB gun at 8 under the supervision of a wonderful uncle.

[Possenti]

Starting him out with the BB gun has my vote - plus the NRA Eddie Eagle program.

Good luck on your wise endeavor. It's always best to gun-proof your child than to child-proof your guns.

[fso301]

My first gun was a British .303 when I was 10 or 11. Bought it at a neighbors garage sale. Never realized until much later what it meant for the gun to have a four digit serial number in the 3xxx range.

Killed my first deer with that rifle. I was in a tree, the buck spotted me from about 30yds and took off. I fired three times while he was running through the brush. Hit him once and nicked him once. The fatal 180gr SP entered just to the left of his tail and exited his chest. He fell down about 100 yds away and never moved. Suspect the first shot was the fatal one but you never know. I was really proud of how fast I worked the bolt, always immediately reaquiring the sight picture.

I actually credited the fact that on the prior weekend, I went skeet shooting with my dad and some friends. We shot skeet for hours and I know I fired 4 boxes of 20ga. When shooting skeet, I was always taught to keep the gun at waist level and to bring it up to firing position only after saying "pull". That recent skeet practice is what I credited with allowing me to work the bolt so fast and always imediately reaquire the sight picture.

[FutureMarine]

I would start out with a pellet rifle, that's what I started firing around ten or so (unfortunately I didn't start earlier). Get something that's single-shot with iron sights, and break-action is probably better than pump for a little guy (I had a hell of a time pumping my gun even), although the nice break-action air rifles are more expensive. My friend during middle school had a couple really nice Gammo rifles, we had fun with those.

Then once he demonstrates proficiency holding the rifle steady and using the iron sights, I'd move him up to a .22, also single-shot with iron sights, bolt-action of course. If you can't shoot it at home, take him to the range and shoot from 50 yards, or maybe even shorter if there is a shorter rifle range.

Then maybe later when he's a teenager move him up to bigger guns, depending on what he's going to hunt. Either something like a 30-06 or .300 for a versatile gun that can take down something big, or a shotgun for something like ducks or geese. Of course, this all depends on where you live too. A .243 could take down a small left-coast deer. But you need something bigger to take down a larger enemy like an elk.

[nothingnew]

Welcome to FR FM..."Future Marine"?...How old are you?

Merry Christmas!

FMCDH

[Renegade]

I live on a country road where you sometimes come across unspent ammunition. When my sons reached five , I took them out back and showed them what a shotgun shell could do to a gallon jug filled with water . They get the point of how dangerous a weapon really is at an early age . THEN, started them with a bb-gun---pump pellet gun--single shot .22 -semi auto .22 -- 16 gauge single shot shotgun---12 guage pump shotgun. This was in addition to handgun safety and firing at the gun club.
All this in the Police State of Zoo Jersey --Home of Lautencadaver

[PSYCHO-FREEP]

I am a strong advocate in gun safety training courses along with hands-on adult/youth supervision.

For a rifle, I recommend a .22 LR with a bolt action single shot. This is by far the best trainer because it teaches awareness of where the muzzle is at all times. The single shot bolt also teaches safe loading and unloading practices as well as teaches them that they only have one shot, so make it count!

[papertyger]

Make him tote an unloaded rifle at each of the hunting/shooting events you engage in. Every safety infraction he commits with the unloaded weapon pushes back the event at which he gets to shoot live ammo by one.

[RatSlayer]

IMHO, you should always start people with a red plastic training firearm (even fully grown adults). Have them pick it up and handle it while always keeping their finger outside the trigger guard and while keeping it pointed in a safe direction at all times. Have them line up the sights on a target and only then to put their finger inside the guard.
Drill them on this several hundred times so that it becomes totally natural for them to pick up the firearm with their finger outside the guard and only put their finger in the guard after the sights are aligned.

Once you feel safe about their gun handling, then introduce them to the firearm you plan to have them shoot(preferably a single shot .22 rifle). If you can make it safe by removing the firing pin, do it. Using dummy ammo, teach them how to load, unload, safe and unsafe the firearm. Again make sure they do all this with it pointed in a safe direction and with their fingers away from the trigger.

During all this, tell them repeatedly about how the line works at the range, and clearly explain how they are expected to behave.
By this point they should have handled a firearm a couple of thousand times, and you'll be a lot safer at the range.

Once you feel safe, take them to the range. You should hold all the ammo and only give them one round at a time until you feel they doing everything correctly. Once you've stopped them from fliching and blinking, you can pretty much let them shoot anything.

I've seen a 10 yr old kid take 3rd place in a national IPSC contest, so if your kid shows they handle the firearm safely, they can graduate to shooting big semi-auto pistols very quickly.

[umgud]

Great story. These are the memories that add spice to life.

[spodefly]

4 is a little young for an actual firearm, but all the basics can be taught with a gool ol' Red Rider and some 15' paper BB-gun targets.