When did you or your kids start shooting?

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[ARCHIVED THREAD] - When did you or your kids start shooting?

Posted: 8/31/2010 7:06:16 AM EDT

My older daughter surprises me with her love of guns at such a young age (3.5yrs) and had me thinking about when a decent age to bring them shooting would be. If we're out doing something she'll insist on going to the gun store to look around. She saw a pink Taurus and a rifle with pink furniture on it the other day when I was in getting a transfer, and wouldn't stop trying to get the employee's attention so he could show her them. I just hope my other kids feel the same way when they're older.

She isn't even 4 yet so I know she's probably too young, but when do you think is a good age?

My wife has been insisting on buying a rifle in .22, any suggestions?

Posted: 8/31/2010 7:07:26 AM EDT

[#1]

When we saw the whites of their eyes.

Posted: 8/31/2010 7:10:12 AM EDT

[#2]

son @ 4

daughter @ 6

daughter is 17 and can hit an 8 1/2" x 11" sheet of paper with 10 out of 10 from her glock 26 at 25 yards off hand

Posted: 8/31/2010 7:12:16 AM EDT

[#3]

Quoted:
son @ 4

daughter @ 6

daughter is 17 and can hit an 8 1/2" x 11" sheet of paper with 10 out of 10 from her glock 26 at 25 yards off hand

Nice, so I guess 4 isnt too far fetched.
Any recommendations on what to get to start them out on?

Posted: 8/31/2010 7:14:00 AM EDT

[#4]

I started at four as did both of my sons.

Posted: 8/31/2010 7:18:11 AM EDT

[#5]

I think I was 12 when I shot my first "real" gun, a bolt action .22. I think I was 8 when I started shooting air rifles and learning gun safety. I don't think there is really a set age, kids are all different. I do think starting them off with air rifles is a good idea. It is still fun for the kids but if they do make a mistake with safety if is far less dangerous.

Posted: 8/31/2010 7:21:01 AM EDT

[#6]

I started shooting BB guns at age 3. Shot my first handgun at age 5 (Browning Hi-Power 9mm, with a little help from dad).

Since then I've been a sucker for it. Bought my first .22 at age 11, right after Christmas and had to go to the sandpit before we even went home to try it out.

Posted: 8/31/2010 7:22:26 AM EDT

[#7]

We lived in a liberal city and while there my step kids had little interest (oh, might have let the stepson pull a trigger once or twice - but not real shooting). Moved rural and 4H shooting sports were very popular there. My step daughter started shortly after the move, my stepson started at 8 (earliest he could with 4H, a little when he was 7).

Posted: 8/31/2010 7:23:33 AM EDT

[#8]

As soon as I was old enough to know what a gun was, dad allowed me to shoot my BB gun with his supervision.

Posted: 8/31/2010 7:23:45 AM EDT

[#9]

Got my 1st air rifle at 6 (I think). got my 10/22 at 8. (still have it). I let my girls (9 and 10 1/2) shoot it when I can. The wife freaks about it (from NY).

pound the safety aspect in non stop. When we are watching TV and see a gun I always ask them if it's loaded. They don;t even hesitate any more. Yes it's loaded because we have not checked it ourselves.

I have good kids.

Posted: 8/31/2010 7:24:53 AM EDT

[#10]

I was four.

Posted: 8/31/2010 7:25:11 AM EDT

[#11]

I never shot a firearm until I was 16.

My dad just never really did anything like that with me. After the first trigger pull I was hooked, though.

Posted: 8/31/2010 7:26:27 AM EDT

[#12]

.22 @ 4

.410 dove hunting at 6

.20ga at 8

30-30, first deer on my 9th b-day

Posted: 8/31/2010 7:26:42 AM EDT

[#13]

Son & daughter both at about 6.

Gave my son a 870 at 16, an AR15 at 18 and a Colt 1911 at 21.

Bill

Posted: 8/31/2010 7:28:08 AM EDT

[#14]

18

Posted: 8/31/2010 7:30:37 AM EDT

[#15]

My son started on air guns at 4 and moved to an AR15 at 5. We stick with .22lr for handguns for now.

Posted: 8/31/2010 7:33:55 AM EDT

[#16]

Teenagers

Posted: 8/31/2010 7:35:39 AM EDT

[#17]

I help my 3 year old shoot a .22.

Posted: 8/31/2010 7:36:31 AM EDT

[#18]

I was 7 when my Dad taught me.

My daughter, now 7, has already fired a pellet gun and a bolt action .22. She too wants the pink Cricket for her first rifle.

My son is 3. He has several toy guns including one of those electronic "tin can alley" rigs.

My wife and I are already drilling the basics into their heads.

Never shoot at anything you don't want to put a hole in.

Finger off the trigger until you are ready to shoot.

Treat every gun as if it is loaded.

Etc...

Posted: 8/31/2010 7:36:37 AM EDT

[#19]

Son at 8, daughter at 7 (a couple months shy of 8) for 22s.

They were much younger when started on Airsoft (with dad) and a toy crosbow.

Posted: 8/31/2010 7:38:12 AM EDT

[#20]

Son at 4 henry cricket .22

Posted: 8/31/2010 7:39:05 AM EDT

[#21]

3 years old isn't too young. I think I started at 5 or 6. My kids started at 3 to 4 and took their first deer at 6 or 7.

Posted: 8/31/2010 7:39:24 AM EDT

[#22]

no kids here so I spoil my Nephews instead. My oldest nephew is 12, has no dad, and this year i am taking him on his first official big game hunt. We drew tags for antelope in Wyoming. I had him shooting when he was 8. We have done alot of shooting this year to prep him. My other 2 nephews are from my other sister they are 8 and 9, they have shot a little bit of .22 this summer. I need to get them out again.

Posted: 8/31/2010 7:39:27 AM EDT

[#23]

I got a BB gun at 10. My nephew started rimfire at 7. He is now ten and nails 100y bowling pin shots with irons on my AR. I think that's pretty cool

Posted: 8/31/2010 7:46:48 AM EDT

[#24]

I got a Crickett for my daughter when she was almost 7, and she had been begging to shoot since she was 5. I've taken her a few times and she'll be 8 in October. I got the Caldwell resetting rimfire target and she can hit round targets pretty consistently at 35'. If my boys want to shoot, I'll take them when they are 7 or so (they will be 4 next month). My nephew is a crack shot. He's almost 13 and he's won the top shooter award for three years (two years officially, and was the best this last year although they didn't award prizes) at the Boy Scout Alaska state jamoboree. He can hit a metal gong at 300 yards with his .243 pretty consistently and hit it with his vintage 8mm Mauser with 1.5x military scope.

Posted: 8/31/2010 7:50:09 AM EDT

[#25]

4 yoa

Posted: 8/31/2010 7:52:43 AM EDT

[#26]

All my kids were in training as soon as they were weened.

I started early having them align things and then "pretend" to shoot at around three. Shooting at around 5 with 22.s. High power rifles,start with reduced loads, at 10. All in all I think It's a mind set and individual make-up! My daughter asked me to show her how to shoot at about 10,she took an interest in BOYS and noticed they liked guns, She was the quickest student! I WILL NEVER cut another stock, they just grow out of it in a few years. Also, the BS about training them with iron sights first, use both! They can't see their heart beating and breath control and trigger control as easily with irons. All depends on individual coordination at early ages. Good luck and may the Force be with you.

Posted: 8/31/2010 7:54:50 AM EDT

[#27]

My dad started me off at the age of 8 with a 16 gauge going to turkey shoots. Been shooting ever since then and now 40. My kids both shoot. My son is in the Army and almost 21 and my daughter is 9. Both are avid shooters

Posted: 8/31/2010 7:55:40 AM EDT

[#28]

When my son turned 6, we went to the local indoor shooting range for his first outing with 'his' Walther P22. We made it as far as the little man-trap area into the range before he freaked out and wouldn't go any further. The guns were much louder than what he expected. So we scrapped it and I gave him a few months to absorb the idea that guns go bang. 3 months later, we went back and he had a blast and has been shooting ever since. Today (age 11...where has the time gone), he's shot everything in my collection including the Rem. 700, and he shoots in the teens on the skeet range with his 20 gauge as an NRA pro-marksman.

So...learn from me, if you take 'em young, take 'em somewhere where you guys are the only ones shooting. It'll be a lot for them to absorb and it's best not to add the stress of a bunch of other guns going off around them.

Posted: 8/31/2010 7:55:49 AM EDT

[#29]

Me - Dad took me out for the first time when I was 5. Don't have kids.

Posted: 8/31/2010 7:55:54 AM EDT

[#30]

4yrs old

cricket .22

Posted: 8/31/2010 7:59:28 AM EDT

[#31]

I was 7 or 8, a Colt Frontier Scout and an old Remington pump .22 (still have the Colt).

My sons were 6 when I started them on a 10/22 with a cut down stock. They'd already learned trigger discipline and the other basics with assorted toys. I didn't let them run around with their fingers on the trigger even if it was just a plastic noisemaker toy. I'm sure they shot each other with Nerf when I wasn't looking, but they looked fairly serious and competent while I was watching.

Posted: 8/31/2010 8:00:55 AM EDT

[#32]

Daughters @ 5 with .22's they had BB guns at 4. I started at 5 with a .22.

Posted: 8/31/2010 8:06:41 AM EDT

[#33]

3

Chipmunk .22 (one of the originals, when they were still hand-made by an old man up in Oregon, before his kids sold the company to some conglomerate.)

Posted: 8/31/2010 8:12:06 AM EDT

[#34]

There are pics of me sitting on my Great-Grandfathers lap at age 3 getting some .22 trigger time

Posted: 8/31/2010 8:30:24 AM EDT

[#35]

19, my favorite Uncle, Uncle Sam issued me his M16

Posted: 8/31/2010 8:38:47 AM EDT

[#36]

my boy was 3. killing rabbits at 5, deer and ducks at 7.

Posted: 8/31/2010 8:42:05 AM EDT

[#37]

My oldest son killed his first hogs at 7, the youngest shot his first deer at 8 and they were shooting long before then. He and his brother have their own guns and shoot several hundred rounds a month at this point- 10 ad 12. I have them shooting SW M&P's in our own Hogans Alley- they are hell for fast on reloads......we're still working on clearance drills.

Posted: 8/31/2010 10:37:09 AM EDT

[#38]

22lr (a cricket) at five.
Killed his first Turkey at six––with the cricket and CCI Velocitors
First deer at eight

Posted: 8/31/2010 10:38:22 AM EDT

[#39]

I think I was about 8 or 9.

Posted: 8/31/2010 10:45:01 AM EDT

[#40]

12 years old with a M16A2 shortly followed by a M249.

Grew up around guns my entire life (dad was a cop) but didn't shoot anything except for my BB gun until then.

Had to beg and plead and pay for the BB gun, wasn't allowed to get it until I was 10.

Posted: 8/31/2010 10:49:39 AM EDT

[#41]

3 and 5.

Lil' Cricket rifle.

http://www.crickett.com/shop_by_brand.php?manufacturers_id=27

Posted: 8/31/2010 10:54:26 AM EDT

[#42]

When my daughter was 4 I would have her set up with a semi 22 prone. i would be there with my hand on the rifle and she would tear up cans. Time went by and she did not get to go much for a year. We went to a range and she was shooting the same gun from a bench and one 22 casing rolled onto her hand (hot) and she was done for while. She is 6 now and ready to go back. She has a red ryder but does not like it that much because the trigger sucks.

Posted: 8/31/2010 10:59:41 AM EDT

[#43]

I bought my daughter a Savage Cub T in pink before she was even born. She hasn't shot it yet, but is learning to use it.

Here she is cycling snap caps in it (and yes, that's a dress up bridal veil). She's 3.5 now. I need to get her barrel threaded for the sparrow. I'm hoping she'll be ready to go shooting next summer.

Posted: 8/31/2010 11:03:34 AM EDT

[#44]

son 7, daughters 8

4 is fine

Posted: 8/31/2010 11:04:54 AM EDT

[#45]

I was putting the first blood blisters on my fingers from a Benjamin-Sheradin .22 air rifle at about 6 I believe. No kids yet to speak of.

Posted: 9/6/2010 7:03:00 PM EDT

[#46]

My 4 year old...

(I left his junior size eye-pro on the kitchen counter and i didn't want to spoil the day... he normally has it on along with ear pro... he is shooting my suppressed .22 which is no louder than the action clanging shut...)

When he’s not engaging the steel, he is hunting the LEGO terrorist cell!!!!

Posted: 9/6/2010 7:05:33 PM EDT

[#47]

I started late at thirteen but made up for it.

Posted: 9/6/2010 7:08:09 PM EDT

[#48]

Age 7....22 caliber rifle.

When I was 9, my family friend who is a retired USMC Colonel let me shoot his artillery luger.

Posted: 9/6/2010 7:09:59 PM EDT

[#49]

My opinion, it isnt necessarily when they start shooting as much as it is just being exposed to shooting sports. I didnt start shooting till probably 12 or so but my dad shot and hunted. So did all of my grandfathers. So seeing the proverbial "shotgun in the corner" was an everyday occurrence for me.

[ARCHIVED THREAD] - When did you or your kids start shooting?

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