Age to start shooting?

I started my niece shooting when she was seven. The only gun I had that she could use was my S&W model 43 airweight .22. First time out she shot it like a champ. Not intimidated at all. Her brother was four, and not ready yet. That Christmas I bought them a Marlin 915YS and her a membership to the club.

When my nephew finally turned seven it was his turn. He started on the rifle first and quickly picked up with the handgun. Last summer he tried a box of ammo out of my 20" AR15. He loved it. Great, this is gonna get expensive now! My niece seems to prefer the rifle to the handgun.

As another challenge, she was just diagnosed with ASD (Autism Spectrum Disorder). She is high functioning, so it wasn't caught until recently. Explains her social awkwardness. She also doesn't do well with lots of noise and activity. Reflecting back, she always did better when we had the range to ourselves.

I think there is no fixed age to get the young 'uns shooting. Just watch them and see when they are ready to accept and follow instructions.

Auggie D.
 
Well, it all depends on the individual.... I know some of my buddy's kids, who are twelve, and i wouldnt let them any where near an airsoft rifle, unloaded! My Son was 9 when he first started shooting with me. Last year, at 10, he was shooting my Weatherby Vanguard .223 (very well, i might add), and I bought him his own Marlin .17 Mach2, and a Mossberg 715T... He is very, very safety conscious, and mature for his age.....
 
I started all of my boys at 5, the two oldest got their first pellet guns at 7. Now they have a Weatherby 20 ga, a mossberg pump 410, and cricket 22 and a mossberg 715.

My oldest is now 12 and prefers my pump 12 for shooting skeet and usually runs 2/3 and spent a couple of hours shooting mini Easter eggs with my 17 savage at 25 yards last weekend.

Like others have said, it depends on the kid. My oldest likes accurate "sniping" my middle son likes emptying mags and my youngest is happy if he hits the target.
 
Earlier the better I have 4 kids at home my oldest she just started a couple of years ago just likes shooting balloons out of trees my 8 year old and 5 year and old have shot since the age of 3 (with a lot of help from dad) my 5 year old still struggles a lot with where the stock should go and how to use sights but since the age of 5 my 8 year old has done really well, and thinking about bumping him up to a youth model semi. my youngest is 3 and is autistic so we will see in the future if he'll be capable or not. Just remember gun safety from day 1.
 
My little guy turns 3 in June and I got a bb gun with a cut down stock from a buddy this spring and Ive been taking him out to shoot it a bunch. We practice gun safety and treat it no different then any other gun. I always stand right behind him and help keep the gun pointed in a safe direction. I my opinion teaching a child how to shoot and proper gun safety cant start soon enough.

Colin
 
My kids are 5 and 7 - my son and I play "Call of Duty" with each other, so we point toys at each other. I don't think that it's that big a deal - generations have played army or cops and robbers, anyway. I was probably between 8 and 10 when I shot my grandfathers pump-action .22 (which I still have).

I'm not sure when I'll get the kids shooting. I'll probably give pellet guns amiss and go straight to the .22 - just to make a clean break between things that are toys and things that are not. I had a Crossman BB/pellet gun, but I never used it much. Most kids back home were pretty unsafe with them back in the day - I still remember being shot in the butt with a cherry stone shot from a crack-barrel pellet gun. :(
 
Each child is different and needs to be gauged accordingly. Some kids understand and respect the safety aspect younger than others. I got my son a red ryder when he was 7 and he has shown great aptitude. Right now he is more interested in bow shooting than guns but the ole ryder comes out once or 2x a month for an hour or so. I've let him run some quiets down a single shot and he thought he was da bomb.
 
As suggested, it's more of a Kid's personality/maturity than an actual age. My child was 7 or so when first powder-burner was fired, and airguns much earlier. (10 now)

I have a Nephew who is almost 13 that I can't imagine bringing out shooting! I let my niece shoot an airgun at 12(snuck it by my sister), and she's an awesome shot, and a natural at safety.

It isn't the years, it's the mileage!
 
I'd say six (depending on maturity), with a pellet gun, then let the proven ability and safe handling practice dictate when to move up to a .22, etc.
I don't remember when I got my first pellet gun, but I believe my Dad had my sister and I shooting his .22lr semi when I was eleven.
Question, because I don't have kids and have never pondered this subject before today; Can my 27 year old buddy, who has no PAL or Hunter's Safety certificate, go to the range with me and legally shoot my guns? Thanks:)
 
Bigfoot 870 said:
I'd say six (depending on maturity), with a pellet gun, then let the proven ability and safe handling practice dictate when to move up to a .22, etc.
I don't remember when I got my first pellet gun, but I believe my Dad had my sister and I shooting his .22lr semi when I was eleven.
Question, because I don't have kids and have never pondered this subject before today; Can my 27 year old buddy, who has no PAL or Hunter's Safety certificate, go to the range with me and legally shoot my guns? Thanks:)
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Your buddy can shoot under direct supervision of a licensed person. Same as my kid (who won't be eligible for a PAL for a few years)
 
Ed82 said:
I had my 5 year old son shooting .22 with a red dot sight off of shooting sticks while sitting between my legs. Also had my 4 year old daughter shooting my airsoft pistol last year too.
I found it easiest on them if I kept the safety rules easy to understand.

1 Don't point the gun at anybody
2 Stay behind the person with the gin
3 No guns without daddy
4 Have fun.

If they aren't having fun then there is no point pressuring them, I always give them the opportunity to shoot when I go out and don't push if they say no. I have a bunch of steel targets that we shoot at as well as paper targets. I also let them pick stuff to bring with us to shoot at (one time they brought a timbit box). I find reactive targets are the most fun for them because there is immediate feed back about a hit. I'll worry about group size later.
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Rule number 2 is a good one, the guy with the gin is defiantly the one you don't want to be in front of!
That little typo made me smile.. Its early.
 
Started my oldest boy at 5 with a pellet rifle and lots of safety instruction beforehand. Now he's almost 8 and he's up to a Savage Rascal single shot. My next son isn't quite as level-headed and mature, so he's still on a pellet rifle and probably will be for a few more years.
 
As noted previously, it depends on the individual child. There are huge differences in their attention spans and level of maturity.

I first started hunting, alone, with a single shot 22 at age 6. But I knew all the rules (driven into me) and even made sure there was a good backstop and nothing behind (houses, barns) what I was shooting at (usually groundhogs).

One very important exercise that is very often missed, is to let the kids become familiar with simply holding a firearm. Give them a BB gun to simply carry around on a walk. Let them handle it, so they become aware of where the muzzle is pointing, that's a major step towards safety. Actually shooting a gun is just a small part of overall safe gun handling, yet too much emphasis is placed on the shooting, and not enough on handling.
 
Chuckbuster said:
I started my daughter at 4 or 5. This is her with the Mini Bolt. She'll be 12 come hunting season.

SDC11445-1.jpg
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HAHA thats a sweet pic.
 
I started with a 12ga when I was 5. First firearm I ever shot, that shotgun is now in my locker. My brother on the other hand... not until he was 8 or 9, i distinctly remember dad saying that that was when he was ready.

I guess it depends on when your child is ready for the responsibility, and that's a judgement call that's you have to make.
 
dizzy said:
TO be honest age is poor indicator of when kids should start shooting. I Know adults well past 50 who shouldn't be handling guns, and I know 5 year olds who can handle them safely. Its more to do with how you teach and how they respond. If they are safe, and understand, any age will do. They must be able to respond to your commands, and do it quickly.

I stay away from bb guns, as the steel shot tends to bounce around, and ricochet is a problem, pellet guns are much safer in that regard as the lead does not bounce nearly as much as the round steel bb's.

Start em early and have fun. Its one of those skills grandpa's should be teaching their descendants. Its a wonderful way to spend time together, and it creates memories that last a life time.

Fwiw, I start all the kids I teach with a small 22 and I use a red dot scope. It makes learning much more fun, and they learn quicker as all they have to do is put the dot on the target. It helps to keep the eyes open, and it helps them focus on the fundamentals of shooting. You can take it off later, and teach them how to shoot with open sights. They become expert shooters from start to finish much more quickly when you use a red dot start in the beginning. Have fun
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The red dot is a great idea!
 
My 8 year old son has always had to follow general safety rules with his Nerf guns;

ALWAYS treat it as if loaded
Never shoot at someone who isn't playing the game
Never head shots

Last summer I raised the bar (and rules) and got him a Gamo Delta Cadet break barrel pellet rifle which was the shortest LOP I could find however it's still too big for anything other than prone bag shooting. He did very well right out of the gate and had much more interest than his cousins (a year and a half older than my son). We continued shooting until the winter when I got a bullet box and set up for about 27' in my basement. I put a 4X scope on the rifle due to the cheap sights on the Gamo and I've been trying "instant gratification" shoots with quarters and dimes for him. Today we're going out with shaken up pop cans, balloons and whatever else he thinks of.

The Savage Rascal is on order (in dayglow orange) and I'm looking forward as the LOP is bang on, it's a reward for his attention to safety and detail, and it will negate the spring jump of his pellet rifle.

I've always believed that learning to shoot with iron sights before any optics is the way to go just like using map and compass before GPS, etc... however where kids are concerned I really like the idea of using the red dot to start which makes it easier to keep them interested. I may have to look at that while waiting for the Rascal to arrive.
 
I like the idea of a reddot.

The kids I've started (couple dozen) I've generally used a peep sight.

One other great thing we do is have a couple plastic 2 to 4 litre bottles filled with urethane foam, which we anchor out in the Lake (safe direction) and let the kids bang away. When they miss, they can see where their shot went. So no shot is actually a "miss" they still hit the water. The instant feedback of where the shot went does wonders for their confidence and figuring how to shoot better.
 
So out to my friend's farm my 8 year old and I went today with his pellet rifle. Started at 15 yards shooting paper, in some pretty good cross-wind, and he did great. Moved to balloons and shaken up pop cans. Then out to 22 yards (don't know why I chose that range) and he continued to do great. When I went to move to 25 yards, he told me to go out to 30 yards then proceeded to hit the 1st balloon on his 1st shot... I was impressed. He continued to impress at that range although the pop cans (half hidden in the grass) were VERY troublesome.

When he asked to take a standing shot on the balloons at 30 yards with a rifle who's butt was past his shoulder in order to use the scope, and standing in a crosswind where I could see him moving to compensate, and the balloon was bouncing around I said I'd bring him to DQ if he hit it.

His chocolate dipped chocolate chip cookie dough Blizzard was apparently very good. I had trouble eating my strawberry cheesequake Blizzard as my jaw was still hanging from when he hit it on his 1st shot.
 
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