I just finished my first 22 LR AR-15 Dedicated Upper Build for my daughter and myself in order to attend our first ever Appleseed shoot in New Hampshire this June.  I used a CMMG Dedicated Bolt Group and a 16.1 inch CMMG 22 LR barrel, M4 contour.  I used an full Hunting lower and many of the left-over spare parts just laying around. Total cost with a speed loader was $400.00 dollars. But we are going to fun and maybe earn our Rifleman patches.  Have any of you folks gone to an Appleseed shoot and what was your experience ?

Congrats on your first 22 LR build.   I’ve never been to Appleseed but I am curious if your going to use iron sights, RDS or scope?   Depending on the size of your child you might want to take a shorter profile mag like the Black Dog Machine fifteen round mag with bolt hold open follower.   The full length 25 round CMMG/BDM mags might make handling an AR-15 more difficult for a smaller person from the different shooting positions.


I’ve shot my CMMG dedicated 22 LR AR-15 a couple times using a BDM 25 round mag as a mono pod from the prone position without any malfunctions.   When I shoot my dedicated CMMG 22’s from the bench I always use the 15 round mags.   I have only used the BDM mags with the steel feed lips and with the sonic weld construction these mags should last a life time.





https://www.blackdogmachinellc.net/sonic-x.aspx

if Appleseed doesn't work out,or you want to try something else, there are a lot of young people shooting Steel Challenge (and kicking us old fart's butts)... I shoot a CMMG dedicated for Steel Challenge, but mine is on a registered SBR... regards

Appleseed events are really cool -- I shot rifleman over 10 years back with an old Marlin 780 bolt action 22, after the instructor told me "you know you won't be able to shoot rifleman with a bolt gun since there is a time limit and you'll have to do a magazine change with that thing".  The Marlin was my only 22 rifle at the time, and I had thousands of rounds through it hunting squirrels and rabbits, so I used it.  The AR22 would have been a much easier rifle to shoot rifleman with, though.  

You'll enjoy it.  The shot strings are all 10 rounds (at least when I went in CA many years ago) so the short black dog mags should be great.

We are going to only iron sights.  Reason:  I was only trained on iron sights with an M-16A1 -- 44 years ago.  Old school and proud.

I like the way you think.  I like to teach kids to use iron sights and try not to start them on red dot sights or optics till they master irons.   Appleseed sounds like a great way to build memories.

I shoot a lot of offhand at 25 yards, a little sitting, and only a little prone because it's hard for me to get down into that position.  I'm a mediocre marksman and a few years ago I started wearing bifocals.  A three foot prescription, a bit less magnification than you would use for reading that permits a sharp picture of the front sight is no worse than a scope at that range in my experience.  My mental focus and consistency are the weak link, and magnification doesn't help with either of those.

I follow your reasoning, but one thing I have learned is that kids like to hear the ping or watch the baloon pop or the can fall and whatever I can do to make that easier for them to accomplish is a step in the right direction.  Frustration is not the path to fruition when it comes to getting the littles into shooting and keeping them interested.  There will be plenty of time later to learn the fundamentals but just like any drug, the way to get someone hooked on shooting is instant gratification.  JMHO, YMMV, SHTF, etc......

Thank you for all of the replies.

For me it depends on the child and their age when shooting.   Most of the kids I’ve taught to shoot were over ten years old and mature enough to want to hunt.   For young kids around 4-6 I can see letting them shoot with a red dot or a scope off a bench or supported shooting position.   Appleseed is about shooting fundamentals and shooting accurately.   My reason for wanting a child to learn the fundamentals.  I don’t know if there is an age requirement for kids to attend appleseed.   My oldest grandson will be ten in August and I’d take him if there was an appleseed close to where he lives.

I learned a long time ago you give a kid a full magazine they’ll empty it real fast unless it has punishing recoil.   I agree children have a shorter attention span and varying levels of maturity.   Some kids are shy around firearms while some are eager to shoot.   I should shy away from making blanket statements.

They also usually have eyesight better than most of us can remember having.

I see starting a new shooter out with iron sights is like teaching someone to drive on a manual transmission.  Some people can learn to drive on an automatic then become proficient on a manual, but there is a larger population who never bother or who never become natural at it.

A front and rear sight is still the dominant set up on pistols, and on rifles they can encourage a repeatability of position, so I can see solid reasons for including them in someone's introduction to shooting.

I do agree that one can't sit a 10 year old on a line shooting scored targets for hours.  I've seen target variety make a big difference.  Potato chips stand out against earth and don't need to be picked up later.

I was lucky my daughter first fired her CZ M-6 Scout 22LR/410 Survival Rifle when she was six years old.  She became a huge hit at my gun club because I taught her to fire a round then open the single shot breech; manually put out the expended 22LR round and physically blow air into the breech in order to cool off the barrel -- something Clint Eastwood would do.  She is 16 years old now and she wants to develop her coordination skills further and rifle marksmanship is what she wants to do with her time with dear, old dad.

Well done.