What age, to allow kids to shoot firearms?

[dbgun]

I'd like to here your opinons on this subject.

My plans were to give my daughter a BB gun (@6 yrs.), then a pellet gun (@8yrs.), and finally start her off on a .22 cal. single shot (@10yrs.)

I gave my daughter a BB-gun on her 6th birthday. I just thought it would be easier to teach her about gun safety using a BB-gun, first. She's picked up on safety first, pretty good. Her first words out of her mouth (when we go out in the back yard to shoot) are: "I know, I know Dad, always believe the gun is loaded, always keep the afety on, never point at anyone, etc." She usually needs a reminder, if we haven't shot cans in a long time, though.

She turns 8 years old in a couple of weeks, and thought about skipping the pellet gun and getting her a .22 cal single shot (Crickett?) instead.

Any advise would be appreciated.

[Doug.38PR]

Sounds like your doing okay. I think that's pretty much the way most parents do it between those ages more or less.


I think dad got me a BB gun when I was about that age, (it was actually I think a BB gun with a place to insert pellets but never got around to putting pellets through it.) When I was about 11, I was allowed to go out in the backyard alone with it and shoot sacada's (think I spelled that wrong) out of the trees and shoot little army men on the patio. Then when I was about......14 or 15 he got me a .22 marlin semi auto rifle and single shot 12 gauge squirrel gun (man that was a cannon)

What part of Houston you live in?

[firestorm9mm]

I started my daughter out with a cricket when she was six years old. Keep in mind she is very mature for her age, and has been shooting archery since she was four. On the other hand my son will probably not get his first rifle until he is 10 or 11. It all has to do with the child.

[Rangefinder]

My son got an airsoft at 6, bb-gun at 7. But he's been shooting with me since he was 4, and he's 11 now. He really hasn't asked for anything more for himself since he basically has access to everything I own and is plenty satisfied with the wide assortment he can shoot anytime we go to the range--he handles everything better than some (if not most) adults I've seen. I see a nice rifle in his near future though--but he doesn't know that yet.

Everytime I shoot the X moves

LMAO!! Yah, I know what you mean. Those pesky things aren't supposed to be put on the shelf with their legs still attached.

[oldmaster111]

I also went the bb gun, pellet gun route with my sons, then at age 10 they shot their first 22. The next was my oldest granson. He went from the bb gun to 22 at age 10 and now his little brother who is nine, has worn me down, so at age 9, this weekend, I will teach him to fire a 22. As I did with my sons, I will fill a gallon water jug with water and red food color and explain to him that the human body is mostly water held inside a skin which is not as tough as the milk jug, then shoot the jug from 20 feet away with a .357 magnum round so he can get an idea of what a bullet can do to a human body. This has always made a big impression on anyone I have taught to shoot.

[williamd]

Started with BB gun at five (someone should have schooled me that Grandpa's car was not good target .. but I could hear it 'ping' on Christmas eve night as my Uncle [buried on Luzon] kept cocking it for me so I could go out into the cold and snow and ping away! Besides, I was afraid those BBs would explode the butane tank we had on rthe farm. )
22 RF single at 9 (I had been schooled ... in several ways by then), shotgun at 12, pump 22 at 12 also .......
..... then my long expensive, fun affair with all things hunting and target arms! That BB gun was 62 years ago and I only regret the ones I have sold and ones I have not owned. My most prized acquaintances and friends are in, or came via, the gun, hunting, targeting community. I even ejoyed the award for, "The Club Member who went the fartherest, spent the most, and shot the least!" Would do that and many other trips again with relish.
Thanx to you all!!!!

PS: Grew up on a windy TX panhandle farm/ranch so it was altogether wonderful for a young gunner!!

[dbgun]

OLDMASTER111

I like that idea, about the red dye in the gallon jug. I'll
give that a try when I finally get my daughter out to the lease.

thanks.

[Playboypenguin]

Your plan seems very sound to me. I had my first .22 rifle when I was 8yrs old.

It really depends on the kid. My cousins sons are 10 and 12 and I will still not take them shooting because of their maturity level but their sister is only 9 and I trust her at the range.

My neice is 10 and she is very mature for her ago and can understand how to handle a firearm but my nephew (who is 17 now) was not mature enough until he was 14 years old.

[MDS]

True, that it depends on the kid. I gave my son a BB gun when he was 8. Took him to the range and started wih guns when he was 10. He's 23 now.

[dbgun]

I have an older son (previous marriage) and I got him his first BB gun at seven. I also, had a hard time getting him to pay attention to the safety rules. I guess some boys can be real knuckleheads.

[chris in va]

Girls usually mature quicker than boys. Just depends on the kid really.

I got my first BB gun at 6, pellet at 8 or 9. I certainly wasn't following the 4 safety rules at that age. Ran around with the thing, shot whatever looked interesting. Tennis balls in a creek was fun.

[kiov]

I started my sons on bb guns at 7, but i didnt just hand over the guns. I shoot with them and be sure everyone follows saftey rules. I remind them that the rules are the same for bigger guns. They are used to keeping behind a firing line, and wearing eye protection. Since they are good with the guns, I now let them shoot them on their own. The oldest is now 13 and the younger 9. I'll start them on .22's next time we go out of town.

On the other hand my dad just gave me a bb gun and I was very irresponsible. He didn't pay much attention. I have warned the boys to be careful around grandpa.

I learned the proper safety rules years later from friends.

[kristop64089]

I just bought my daughter her first gun(marlin 915 y) it's a christmas present for her. She will be 4 yrs when she gets it. She loves to go "shooting w/daddy " She stands with me at the bench, I even let her shoot her cousins Cricket. ( i did not like that gun) She did quite well.

She won't get the 22 till she is responsible, but we are planning on letting her shoot w/us when she wants.

The biggest dislike towards the Cricket was the saftey on the back of the bolt, and the refer lock on the foregrip,I would like her to learn on a more recognized platform, especially where safties are a concern. I found them confusing and a little troublesome on the cricket. That is an issue I do not want my youngster to have to deal with.

[Trapp]

I just took my son out shooting last weekend. He is seven. He shot the Ruger 22 MarkIII, Bersa .380, Sig 229 40s&w, and my Car A4 (223).

He did Awesome with the 22 and the AR. He anticipated quite a bit with the 380. The 40 almost hit him in the face, so he only shot that once.

He did very good with gun safety, I only had to remind him once or twice about the safety, and once about the barrel awareness.

After that I believe you can start them on almost anything. I started him on the bb gun less than a year ago. He still doesn't have a gun of his "own" but we are going shooting again this weekend. I am going to let him shoot what he wants...

[kristop64089]

I just bought my daughter her first gun(marlin 915 y) it's a christmas present for her. She will be 4 yrs when she gets it. She loves to go "shooting w/daddy " She stands with me at the bench, I even let her shoot her cousins Cricket. ( i did not like that gun) She did quite well.

She won't get the 22 till she is responsible, but we are planning on letting her shoot w/us when she wants.

The biggest dislike towards the Cricket was the saftey on the back of the bolt, and the referigerator lock on the foregrip,I would like her to learn on a more recognized platform, especially where safties are a concern. I found them confusing and a little troublesome on the cricket. That is an issue I do not want my youngster to have to deal with

[timothy75]

I learned on a single shot 22 rifle and it was pretty boring. How about a Ruger MarkII? Kids like the same guns we do.

[kingudaroad]

Supervised shooting is different than turning them loose. Here is a picture of my son on his 8th birthday shooting a 17hmr. Obviously well supervised. I would let him go shoot in the field with his bb gun by himself but not with this gun.

[Rangefinder]

I will fill a gallon water jug with water and red food color . . . so he can get an idea of what a bullet can do to a human body.

I've found a watermelon to work wonders in this manner. The whole part about big chunks flying and landing some 20+ yards away sticks in the memory real well. I broke my son in on my rifle with a rather large pumpkin full of water and then drilled it from about 200 yards will the 6mm. He'll never forget how much damage that caused--most of the pumpkin was non-recoverable (vaporized).

Edit: Awe man, kid looks like he's in the bubble there, King... Good pic. Here's mine.

[mattgreennra]

I'm incredibly pro shooting so I would say whenever they understand responsibility and the incredible danger with mis-handled guns. Assuming your kids are careful and mature I would say early grade school. Like I said though, they have to be mature.

[TexasCop]

Totally understand your situation, you are doing better than I am...

My eldest is 6 and it looks like I won't get her into shooting until around 8. I already have her Chipmunk rifle in the safe waiting for her and her sister's to get mature enough to be taken out and learn how to shoot.

I wanted it to be 6, but she's definately not mature enough yet to deal with and understand (my daughter, not necessarily yours) so I'm looking more at 8.

[dbgun]

What's the safety like on the Chipmunk rifle? I was thinking of getting my daughter a Crickett, but have read about some issues with the safety on it. I have an Ithaca 49 but I'm not too sure about that.

I guess I'll have to look at the safety on the Crickett a little closer, the next time I see one at a gun show.

[Eric M.]

With my kids, and the kids that I have trained in the past 33yrs as a DNR Firearms Safety Instructor, I believe that maturity, not age is the issue.
As an example, my 16yr old son was shooting a BB gun at 4yrs old under my supervision.
He is a big kid and matured very early.
He shot his first grouse when he was six, and his first duck at 8.
My 10yr old twins, a boy and a girl were shooting 22 pistols and rifles at 6yrs old, but they did their first serious duck hunting last year.
You as a Dad are the person who knows when your kids are ready.
Don't let age decide, but maturity.
If your kids are ready early, great, but if not, don't rush it.
Your children have a lifetime to shoot and hunt, so be safe, and let them have fun.

Eric

[Mike P. Wagner]

I guess that I may be out of step here, but my dad said "No BB guns!", and took us to the range (Rockville, MD Izaak Walton League - though I think it was located in a town called "Germantown"?), We went through a couple of levels of NRA safety and rilfe courses.

I told my son the same thing. When he evinced an interet in guns, we took a safety coure at a local range and then rented. I told him that I would rent any gun at the range, but he wasn't getting a BB gun.

The reason my dad gave - which made sense to me - was that 3 or 4 teen boys wandering around with BB guns are not likely to follow the safe gun handlng rules, and are likely to start terrorizing the neighborhood cat (or school house windows). He was right - that's exactly what my friends with BB guns did.

I was away from shooting for decades, and got back into it, and the safety rules I hard learne from him were still fresh, so I guess he may have been right.

Mike

[dbgun]

How old were you? Was your Dad always with you when you shot? The reason I started my girl with a BB gun, was because I figured she would probably swing the barrel in the wrong direction (which she did) while getting the hang of gun safety. I figured it wasbetter to get "shot by mistake" with a BB instead of a bullet.

She's come a long way in two years and I'm really considering letting her shot a .22 rifle instead of a pellet gun. She's fairly mature for her age. I just don't think she is ready do handle anything bigger that a .22 at this time. Of course I may be a little protective.

[Eric M.]

BB guns are great training for kids as well as adults.
With kids, training with a BB gun is not to turn them loose on the area robins and sparrows, but to treat the BB gun like you would a 300win.mag.
You are doing the absolute correct thing with your girl.
All of the basic things that you do to be a good shot with a large caliber gun, you do with a BB gun, without the hazards that will come up with a beginning shooter.

Good luck with your girl, and keep up the good work.
You are working on putting another safe hunter in the woods.

Eric