My 13 Y/O Daughter is NOT Allowed...

[Boerrancher]

...to shoot my 20 bore trade gun ever again. I was down at my back yard range warming the old trade gun up for the next rendezvous and shooting match. I was shooting off hand at 40 yards at a paper bullseye 8 inches in diameter. I was shooting 5 shots per target and keeping them all within the 8 inches off hand at 40 yards. Most of them were with in the 4 inch circle.

After my 15th shot my shoulder was starting to get really sore from 80 grains of FFg behind a .60 dia PRB and my daughter Caitlin comes riding up on her 4 wheeler and asks me if she can shoot it. I told her sure I was going to quit but I would load it up one last time for her. 80 grains of powder, patched round ball, ram it down, prime the pan and hand it to her.

She walks back another 10 yards from the target to stand by her 4 wheeler. Now she is 50 yards from the target, and asks me if she should shoot at my target. I tell her to have at it it is nothing special. Keep in mind she has never shot that trade gun before and her first comment was that there was no rear sight. I told her to visualize where the rear sight would be and where the notch in it would be and line that front blade up in that notch just like on her 22LR and put it all on that center red dot. She pulled the hammer back and a few seconds later touched it off. Here is the target I saw when the smoke cleared...

78153

The five scattered around the target are mine from 40 yards off hand. The one in the 10 ring is hers from 50 yards off hand. Can she do it again? I don't know, but I don't want the old gun beating on her just yet. She is tougher than most boys half again her age but she is no bigger than a minute and weighs even less. When she gets a few years older and a bit bigger I will give her another go at it.

Best wishes,

Joe

[Lights]

Sounds about right for a first time gal shooting. Now she will keep telling you that shooting is easy. My wife shot my 45cal southern mtn flinter at a rendezvous I northern MN for there couples match. Well lets just say she did better than I and won it for us, This was also here first time shooting a flintlock.

I would be proud of your daughter's shooting skills.


Mark

[Bzcraig]

Frame it, show it to would be boyfriends and be sure they know this is without sites! Then mention she learned it from good ole dad who is real fond of his daughter.

[Dean D.]

Awesome Joe, thanks for sharing your story and pic with us! Pretty soon you'll have to get her kitted out and have her accompany you to Rendezvous ;) :)

[Lights]

Frame it, show it to would be boyfriends and be sure they know this is without sites! Then mention she learned it from good ole dad who is real fond of his daughter.

I like that thought.:smile:

[smokeywolf]

Looks and sounds like you're raising her right Joe. My compliments to both of you.

smokeywolf

[smoked turkey]

Nice going Joe. Looks like you are bringing her up right!

[DIRT Farmer]

Women and kids will do that to you Joe. I had the 28 out last weekend, looks like I'm a distant third. I may have to stick with shot in mine.

[dr_reloader]

Too awesome...

[Sergeant Earthworm]

Congrats to you and your daughter.

When I teach my kids how to do something and later on they are better at it than me I take it as a sign of success.

[jmort]

That is impressive. My 14 year old daughter is a good shot and loves shooting. But we take it slow, I'm most interested in safety. The time is coming when she will get to move up the ballistic food chain.

[waksupi]

Joe, that is why there are youth, and adult divisions at shoots. The adults were tired of getting their butts handed to them.

[PS Paul]

Ha ha! Yep, my daughter, at 17 YO, outshot her old man last summer with a 24-round 2" group of .22 lr from a single-action with fixed sights offhand at 20 yds! I was humiliated...... and PROUD, all at the same time.

[uncle joe]

let her shoot that gun Joe, my girl can throw a football better than most boys I've seen and do it left handed (like a man not a girl like the stupid car commercial guy)LOL

[Leslie Sapp]

Young eyes make a huge difference. We may think we still see pretty well, but it's nothing compared to what those teen aged eyes pick up.

[Boerrancher]

Thanks fellas. Cait is an amazing shot. Last year she was picking off squirrels running across the driveway from the woods to the cornfield with her 22. She had an area about 15 feet wide about 30 yards away in which to hit a running squirrel before it got into the corn field. I could have moved her closer but I wanted her to become a better shot. Sure she would miss about half the time at first but by the time the field was picked a miss was rare. It is probably because of her that we don't have squirrels this summer. We've been waiting for them to come back there are lots of hickory nuts this year.

She is an amazing kid. Hard worker around the house, and is a straight A student. All I can say is I wish a couple of my other kids put half as much effort into life in general as she does. Out of all of my kids she is the one that is totally fearless. I saw this trait in her as a toddler and changed my approach on rearing her by teaching her cause and effect, and worst case consequence. That is not to say that she will no longer jump out of a plane with a snow board and a parachute, but at least she will use logic and reason to weigh out all of the possibilities and consequences.

Best wishes,

Joe

[Potsy]

Kids will do that.
My 9 year old nephew has annoyed several grown men shooting a rifle. All he needs is something to hold the forend for him.
I suspect he'll embarrass us even worse as he gets older and bigger.

[Shooter973]

When my youngest son (now 31) was about 12 he took the Hunter safety course with a bunch of collage kids...Aced the written test and out shot ALL of the other people in the class....
Went to work for a Security Co. guarding Morton , the missile makers, as an armed security officer, When they had to qualify with the issue handguns, he out shot the Instructors.....Makes me proud that I had a hand in his shooting upbringing....We still do a good bit of shooting and he is very good with anything that goes bang...