How old is “old enough” for kids to shoot Real Rifles
- Thread starter D̷e̷v̷i̷l̷D̷o̷c̷A̷Z̷
- Start date
Unfortunately, all the pics I have of that club have people in them, and I'd have to get their permissions to publish the photos.
Think I started around 8
My oldest kid around 10( maturity issue)
Not sure if my youngest ( 6 ) will ever be able to shoot.
My oldest kid around 10( maturity issue)
Not sure if my youngest ( 6 ) will ever be able to shoot.
I was watching one of the older episodes of IV8888 when they were talking about hunting. Chad did a spot on impersonation of Jim Varney.
Anyway, Eric mentioned how a wife or girlfriend not all that used to hunting can be more successful.
Set her in a stand or hide. Give her a rifle and a book. Tell her to read the book and if a deer comes by, shoot it.
And usually she will get one and the guys got nothing because they are the deer experts and figure that the deer are not there after 1.5 hours of fidgeting. And then they move on. Whereas the woman has patience.
Made sense to me.
When I asked my pops why my brother never got a rifle he said “some kids can’t be trusted, not even as adults”
Unfortunately my youngest is non verbal and has CVI( cortical vision impairment).
We know he sees, and is high functioning visually but we still don’t know how limited he is. We suspect some peripheral vision issues but him being limited in communication it’s still hard to tell long term.
Unfortunately this is 100% true and parents need to honestly think about it.
I know some people who never should be trusted with a BB gun let alone a real gun.
I agree with that and what @jbuck88 said.
I’ll share a sad story. Not meaning to embarrass or shame anyone, in this story people learned lessons and everyone else can learn, if they didn’t know already.
(Spoiler, he’s on the road to recovery)
A friend’s 13 year old son took a handgun safety course, did fine, then the boy was allowed by his dad to buy a 9mm pistol. Late one evening the boy got his moms loaded 9mm and sat down to “compare pistols”.
During his messing around, he had his left palm ON THE MUZZLE and apparently pulled the trigger.
The bullet exited his arm behind the wrist without doing much damage, however, the muzzle blast did a number on the soft tissue, blew his palm wide open and severed a couple nerves that had to be grafted back in.
He doesn’t really remember what exactly happened, he said he thought he took the mag out beforehand, but when the police cleared it there was another round still in the chamber.
It is a miracle he is in as good of shape as he is, and like I said, now he is on the road to recovery. The latest surgury should have restored most of the movement and feeling in his hand. We are thankful nobody lost their life.
Now, I remember asking my own father for a pistol when I was 16ish. His version of NO came in the form of “what do you need a pistol for?”
Now that I’m grown and know myself better I am glad he told me no.
I was given a 10/22 at around 12, but it was put away wherever dad kept the guns, and taken out when we went in the mountains.
Every kid is different. Some earlier, some later, some never. My oldest was about 10, now he’s shooting clays on a youth team (12 now), took 2nd in cpi in a local beginner uspsa league with a stock glock 19, pretty consistent to 600 on bolt guns. My daughter at 8, has been shooting with us a couple times at 8, zero interest, has fun when out but doesn’t care to go more. Youngest is 18 months, boy, we’ll see….
10 seems to be a good starting age for kids (for rifles) but I'd agree that maturity plays a part. I coach 4H shooting sports and we start 9-10 year olds in regulated rifle practice and competition. Kids have to be 14 before we allow them to compete with pistols. Younger brothers and sisters often tag along so we set them up to observe or score, just to keep them interested.
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This right here - Stevens Model 15
they have to be tall enough to put the money on the counter... - per my father back in the day
22lr was expensive back in the 30's and kids were given 3 rounds. The kids that brought home game, were given more. Those that couldn't produce, had to stay home and weed the garden. If you saw the size of the garden; most kids would rather be out hunting.
6 or 7 with a BB & pellet gun, was shooting .22 competitively at 10.
I know for a fact, that if you give your 10 year old son and his 7 year old little brother a .22 rifle, with no instruction, no safety training, no shooting glasses......and tell the 10 year old "I want all the prairie dogs out of the field before the end of Summer, and if your brother gets hurt, it's your ass", there is a pretty good chance they make it into their 40s.
I look at the pictures above and think it is great, but I can assure you kids need a lot less instruction than what is being given.
I look at the pictures above and think it is great, but I can assure you kids need a lot less instruction than what is being given.
I was six or seven with a .22 Bolt Action of my Dad's. Shot my first squirrel with it at the same age.
Little back story on my frame of mind, and consequences.
At around 18, I heard of a local teen who died of a gunshot wound while showing or being shown a “dad’s gun” by another teen.
I slipped by the funeral home to determine if I knew him, and while I didn’t, it was very sobering to see a life cut short when it was preventable. I resolved to introduce my children to firearms as early as possible.
My thoughts were to demystify guns, and allowing my kids to look at/hold anytime they saw one out of the safe. By showing them the proper ways to verify the firearm was empty, how to avoid “sweeping” anything they didn’t wish to destroy, and understanding the reason for zero tolerance of horseplay with guns, they became very talented (son on the school shooting team, daughter cutting playing cards (rifle) at 4-5years old and nailing soda cans with a handgun easily at 50y).
What’s the problem? Having mastered the basics, they lost interest early on, and I never got my long term shooting buddies.
At least they were safe while under my roof.
My Dad and Grandad took me out squirrel hunting with the scoped 25-20 the farm when I was about 7. I had some experience with the 22 (pig shooter) so they handed me the 25-20 and said take a shot. I put my eye right on eyepiece, lined her up on the squirrel, bang. Dead squirrel, black eye and a little smirk from the old guys. I think the lesson was figure it out, don't assume anything?
As others have said, It depends on the kid.
I started our son at about 7 to 8 years old.
Some of my fondest memories are of taking him shooting.
We now have a little baby Granddaughter and I hope that #1 Daughter will let me teach the baby girl to shoot and hunt/fish/camp, etc.
I envy the young men with families. I was at work for most of the time our kids was growing up. I do regret that now....but had to make a check....
For me, I was very young on my Grandparents Farm.
I was 5 or 6 year old best I can recall.
I was not able to cock the rifle by myself - I remember that.
Sadly, I did not get the rifle when my Grandparents passed.
But that little rifle was a tack driver - young eyes and all.
I think it was a Remington or maybe a Stevens. Looked like this one
I started our son at about 7 to 8 years old.
Some of my fondest memories are of taking him shooting.
We now have a little baby Granddaughter and I hope that #1 Daughter will let me teach the baby girl to shoot and hunt/fish/camp, etc.
I envy the young men with families. I was at work for most of the time our kids was growing up. I do regret that now....but had to make a check....
For me, I was very young on my Grandparents Farm.
I was 5 or 6 year old best I can recall.
I was not able to cock the rifle by myself - I remember that.
Sadly, I did not get the rifle when my Grandparents passed.
But that little rifle was a tack driver - young eyes and all.
I think it was a Remington or maybe a Stevens. Looked like this one
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each kid is different. i was probably 11 when dad handed me a 12 gauge winchester... the gun was way bigger than me. amazingly, i killed a lot of critters with that gun.
biggest thing is not to overdue it. a 223 is fantastic to get them going on centerfire. both my boys were shooting center fires at a pretty young age. this is my nephew....my third son.
i think he was in third grade here. kid is almost a foot taller than me now. lol.
biggest thing is not to overdue it. a 223 is fantastic to get them going on centerfire. both my boys were shooting center fires at a pretty young age. this is my nephew....my third son.
i think he was in third grade here. kid is almost a foot taller than me now. lol.
