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What Age for Grandsons at the Range?


bgavin

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Our last one is turning 5 this October.
He is the only one I have to start young at the range.
I have a Henry Frontier 22 that I can bench rest as he starts out.

What have you all found with the starting age?

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I bought my daughter a Marlin model 60 when she was  7. I think 7 is a good age  to learn to shoot. I did teach her about gun safety at around 5 and did allow  her to shoot a BB gun under my supervision, of course. I think 5 is too early for live ammo. That is just my opinion. A lot depends on the child as well.

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Every range has age limits...may vary.

Most say 10 yrs n order to compete..

Fasthammer had his grandson go last, staging and 'shooting' the stage with toy guns...it was a good show of concentration/ability to follow instruction/skil set.

Maybe start with that and progress from there?

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I started shooting a .22, in my grandfather's cow pasture, with my grand-dad, and dad present, when I was 4. 

 

If a child is old enough to stand, and talk, and understand, and respond, then they are old enough to go to the range, or cow pasture. 

 

However...the range may have age restrictions, but the cow pasture doesn't.

 

The safe use of firearms, for hunting, and sport, and defense, and fun, can never be taught too early. 

 

My opinion.  

 

W.K. 

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At 6 I had my granddaughter start with a Red Rider BB gun. It was used to teach her the safe handling of guns, sight picture, and the fun of knocking over pop cans.

At 7 I taught her how to shoot a Ruger 10/22.

I am ow teaching her how to shoot a Winchester 22 highwall at 100 yard targets.

Saturday the BB gun was laying in the back of the truck. I asked her to get it to see how she'd handle it. Picked it up muzzle away from both of us and then muzzle up to carry it. 

Range safety is course No.1

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All,  good answers, thanks.

Here in Sacramento County, it is illegal to shoot BB or pellet guns in the back yard.
Apparently this ordinance applies also to private property, cow pastures, etc.
It seems sorta foolish to travel 30 miles / 45 minutes (and back) to the range, pay the range fees, just to use a BB gun.

I have not checked with our main range, nor any of the local / indoor ranges for the age limit.
I'd prefer the main range, as it is sparsely populated in the mornings.
There is a separate "22 only" section which is empty every time I am there.

The next older is my 14 year old grand daughter.
She is all about going to the range for instruction.
 

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All kids vary in maturity, but my gut says most five year olds aren’t ready for a 22 yet. 
 

My dad took me on a lot of trips to the range where I just watched, got to shag brass and empty shot shells, and pulled the cord on the foot trap. That was exciting in itself.
 

Then I remember the big day when I hit my first clay bird with Dad helping me hold the gun and Mom pulling the trap. 
 

Then there was the day when I got to join the trap line as a solo shooter. 
 

Then there was teaching my kids how to shoot using the same Remington 58. 
 

And now two grandkids who will hopefully learn likewise. 

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Started dragging both my kids to the range at 5 to watch and learn as I RO’d. At 6, they were introduced to a S&W 41 and started to run the COF with some assistance (pepper poppers wouldn’t fall). At 7, they were on various 9mm pistols and by the time they were 8 they were asking to shoot my 45’s. Son is now 30 and daughter is 24, both have better gun handling skills than most. I’m a very proud papa! YMMV :FlagAm:

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I started my 3 kids out shooting using a Chipmunk .22 single shot and a S&W 422. I think they were about 5 or 6. I know I have a picture somewhere of my daughter at age 5 shooting the 422. They have been taught gun safety all their lives. I have six grandkids ages 3 - 7 and as soon as their Mom's and Dad's give the OK, I will start them on the .22's.  They all have been indoctrinated with Eddie the Eagle videos. I never owned a BB gun and my kids never shot one growing up. They each had their own .22 pistol and rifle that they cou!d shoot whenever they asked. I have a Henry Golden Boy for each of the grandkids in the safe.  I had them made with the serial number being their initials and birthdate. Sometime in the future I hope that they will want to "Go Play Cowboy" with Papaw. Their guns are there waiting for them. Till then......I'll wait til I get the green light. Each kid is unique and mature differently and that will play heavily as to when they start.

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I don't recall NOT shooting.  One time I asked my dad when he started teaching me to shoot.  "About when you could talk," he said.  I remember at about the age of 4 or 5 being prone on a tarp, .22 bolt action resting on a sandbag, Dad prone next to me, more like half on me with his right arm around me, "coaching" me on how to aim, how to squeeze the trigger (while doing the actual aiming, I think).  I don't remember if it was the Revelation .22 single shot, or the older "Boys Rifle" of indeterminant make, with the really skinny wrist and the really strong cocking toggle.  All of us, Dad, my three older brothers, and myself would go shooting at least once a month.  Either to an old quarry by Calaveras Lake in N. San Diego County, or to Crystal Silica in Oceanside where my dad worked.  A played out sand pit had been converted by the company to a shooting range.  Three sides, maybe 30 feet high, of clay and gravel, a couple of heavy, old wooden shooting benches.  The smell of sage brush and .22 powder.  

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10 hours ago, bgavin said:

All,  good answers, thanks.

Here in Sacramento County, it is illegal to shoot BB or pellet guns in the back yard.
Apparently this ordinance applies also to private property, cow pastures, etc.
It seems sorta foolish to travel 30 miles / 45 minutes (and back) to the range, pay the range fees, just to use a BB gun.

I have not checked with our main range, nor any of the local / indoor ranges for the age limit.
I'd prefer the main range, as it is sparsely populated in the mornings.
There is a separate "22 only" section which is empty every time I am there.

The next older is my 14 year old grand daughter.
She is all about going to the range for instruction.
 

 

Can you set up a range for a BB gun in your garage or a long hallway?  You can buy or make a target traps for BBs. Make a larger backstop out of a piece of 3/4 sheetrock. It'll stop BBs without the ricochet problem of plywood.

 

Alternatively you can go with Airsoft guns. You can get a CO2 powered Airsoft version of a SAA or a Lever action rifle  

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I live in CA, so having any room in the garage is a hopeless situation.
If I did have any room, I'd have my darkroom out there... as it has been packed away some 30 years now.

We have a 20 foot hallway, that my bride has just finished painting and hanging with new 60s era light fixtures.
I believe she would take a dim view of it becoming a BB shooting range in the off chance the kid dinged the walls or her light fixtures.

Now that CA has demonstrated how much they love Emperor Nuisance by failing to recall him, I figure more draconian gun laws are fast approaching.
I won't be surprised if he makes a BB gun into a Class-I felony...

I will hunt around to see where I can find a place for this, less than a 45 minute drive plus range fees.
I no longer have my Red Ryder, but I do have a Feinwerkbau recoil-less single shot 177 pellet pistol he can learn on.
Our Weirauch rifles are too big for him.

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3 hours ago, bgavin said:

We have a 20 foot hallway, that my bride has just finished painting and hanging with new 60s era light fixtures.
I believe she would take a dim view of it becoming a BB shooting range

 

 

If you turn on those lights it won't be dim.  :D

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7 hours ago, Happy Jack, SASS #20451 said:

bgavin,  Feinwerkbau and Weirauch ???   NICE,  very nice :excl:

From Beeman in San Rafael, circa 1978 or so.
They were right across the road where we lived at the time.
Wonderful craftsmanship... now illegal to shoot in the yard.

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I think I started shooting about age 8 with Grand Dad's Stevens Crack Shot .22 rifle and my Ruger BearCat .22 revolver. First firearm my dad bought me and I still have it. 

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4 hours ago, bgavin said:

From Beeman in San Rafael, circa 1978 or so.
They were right across the road where we lived at the time.
Wonderful craftsmanship... now illegal to shoot in the yard.

Is it legal to shoot them in your house?  You could set the target outside the door instead of down the hallway.

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