The moment that my daughter...

[NewbieDave007]

The moment that my 10 year old daughter hit a bullseye the size of a dime at 50 yards and immediately after. Man I love that young lady!

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Sorry about the sideways picture. I'm posting from my phone and don't have the ability to rotate the file.

[ghh3rd]

Priceless! You are lucky that she enjoys shooting.

[NewbieDave007]

I'm lucky in a lot of ways and that's just one.

Another thing I should've mentioned was that it was 108 degrees at the range with a diagonal wind of 5mph (gusting to 12mph).

[2wheelDuke]

Congrats! I don't have kids of my own, but I am a cop and an instructor. I donate time to teach kids, and I love the feeling when they start catching on and a passion might be ignited.

[southpaw]

Thats great. My boy just gives me the 'where did you think it was gonna hit' look anymore. Little bugger has gotten pretty good.

Jerry Jr.

[bart55]

Great Joy ,my grandson age 8 has also gotten the fever and I am thrilled.My kids liked to shoot but none really got the bug like me but now the next generation................................ ! I love it

[osteodoc08]

Awesome.

[Hamish]

Thanks for making me smile this morning!

[MrWolf]

You are a lucky man. My daughter wants nothing to do with guns and hates my hobby. She even gets mad at her boyfriend if he asks me questions about it.

[Three44s]

For me, it's my two nephews!

Got them on a Smith 22K (they already have the long guns blazing away!) and though I will hardly shoot .22 LR's for the time being ........

........... I will and do invest a fair number of rounds with those boys!

I did one training session with each lad ..... one on one, no distractions ...... for their first and only outing thus far and they were WHIZ's ..... I tell ya ....

I shoot golf balls exclusively and that's what I started them on and they ATE IT UP!

I asked them each the same question near the end of their sessions:

"Did you think it was going to go this well?"

And they said: "NO"!


It was 100 percent gold plated!


Three 44s

[NewbieDave007]

Both my son (7 year old) and daughter love to shoot and have only been to organized ranges so far. We started them both at the same time (about a year and a half ago) and they both love it so far (22lr only). To tell the truth my son tends to be a bit better with the scope and my daughter is a whiz with iron sites, but yesterday (for the 22lr postal match) we were all struggling with our accuracy compared to normal, so after her first two shots were almost on top of each other and just outside the bullseye I took these pictures. Little did I know she was going to nail that one. Then I think she was too excited and dropped her form a little bit.

I can't wait for the fire ban to be lifted so I can take them into the desert and kill some soda cans and maybe a watermelon. I bet they will love that. Plus it will get us away from some of the interesting people at the range that have no clue of safety or his to operate their firearms.

[NewbieDave007]

Correction: They both have shot a 410 with my help, but this Ruger American they can safely operate with either the boss lady (my beautiful wife) or I just observing and their for safety, but completely on their own.

[chsparkman]

That's what it's all about, man. I look forward to the day my grandsons are old enough to experience our sport.

[Echo]

Look at that smile! Priceless!

[WILCO]

Sorry about the sideways picture. I'm posting from my phone and don't have the ability to rotate the file.

Fixed it here for you.

[trapper9260]

Load more for her then you know you are on the run also have her help with reloading also.I do not have any kids of my own but nice to see someone is doing what I would of if I had kids.Reminded me of when my dad took me out shooting and hunting and was what all I was mainly looking forward to do all the time.How I miss him for the years he been gone now but that was years ago due to health problems.Thank you

[EMC45]

Well done for both of you!

[NewbieDave007]

Fixed it here for you.

Thanks!

[WILCO]

Thanks!

You're welcome! :)

[lylejb]

Good job to the young lady, and you're a lucky man!!

My son loves shooting, my daughter just doesn't care about it.

I've tried, and still ask if she wants to go every time........nope.

[jcameron996]

I have started all three of my daughters, ages 4, 5 and 7 with a Thompson Center Hotshot. They all love it. The younger two struggle even with the youth model but my oldest can do it all herself under my close supervision. I hope they continue the interest. Its up to me to make the time and keep them going.

[williamwaco]

I used to have one of those!

You are truly lucky.

Enjoy her while it lasts it won't be long and she will be gone.

Mine is 42 now.

[NewbieDave007]

Both of them started on a Rossi Youth .22lr/.410 but I had to pull the hammer back each time as the only way they could do it themselves placed their fingers way too close to the trigger. About 2-3 months ago we got this Ruger and they both can fully, and safely, operate it by themselves. At this point the boss lady and I are there for safety and to provide pointers, but are largely silent observers.

My hope is to keep her interested as long as possible and make any boys think twice (once for me and the second for dead eye herself).

[**oneshot**]

That is Awesome!!!!!!!!!!!!! Great getting the kids out and having fun.

[mroliver77]

Good for her! Both of my daughters like shooting. My first started with a BB gun and then Willbird and his wife bought her an NEF .22. She really tore things up with it!. Second daughter had/has a Cricket that she loved until she outgrew it. Now she has the NEF in .22, .22 Hornet and .223! :)

[Uncle Jim]

How old should a child be before they are allowed to shoot a 22lr cricket? I have a 4 year old grandson that I bought a cricket for but my Daughter in law says he can not shoot it until he is 8.

[jmort]

I don't think that is unreasonable. Each parent has to decide. I got my daughter her first .22 at age 10. She is responsible and 8 would have worked as well. I think 4 is pushing it, but from this thread, I am sure others with have their own opinion. It is not just age, but maturity that should factor in the equation.

[williamwaco]

How old should a child be before they are allowed to shoot a 22lr cricket? I have a 4 year old grandson that I bought a cricket for but my Daughter in law says he can not shoot it until he is 8.

The norm when I was growing up in the 1940's was that kids could shoot as soon as they had enough coordination to aim a rifle and squeeze the trigger with dad holding up the forearm. That was usually four or five years old. We could shoot them on our own as soon as were were strong enough to carry and aim them safely. This was usually around 6 or 7 and within arms length of dad. We were allowed to wander off, but not out of site of dad at around 10 and completely on our own at around 12. At 14 we had our drivers licenses and were allowed to take the car go to the country totally on our own. Most dads imposed a limit of not more than two kids in a group. It is a well known law of nature that the amount of trouble a group of kids can get into is directly proportinal to the square of the number of kids in the group.

Handguns and center fire rifles were introduced earlier but we were not allowed to use them on our own until around 14.

You know? Not one of those kids ever had an accident. Nor did their kids later.

That said, I assume your daughter in law is your grandson's mother. I am afraid you don't get a vote.

[dragon813gt]

I remember that look. And I'm about to go back to bolt actions and single shots. Figured since she is thirteen that it would be a good time to introduce her to pistols. She loves shooting the GSG 1911 but doesn't seem to care about hitting the bullseye w/ it. She blew through a brick w/ very poor shooting results so we are taking some time off.

[NewbieDave007]

How old should a child be before they are allowed to shoot a 22lr cricket? I have a 4 year old grandson that I bought a cricket for but my Daughter in law says he can not shoot it until he is 8.

Like the others have said, that's up to the parent and it depends on the kid. Because of financial issues the first time we had anything for them to shoot was when my son just turned 6 and daughter just turned 9. I think it worked out well in our case, but I think that my daughter would've been ok a year our two earlier. Also, my son and daughter are different in another way. If I allowed it my son (all 65 pounds of him) would shoot any/all firearms I put in front of him and likely come back for seconds. My daughter on the other hand is more calculating and is perfectly content shooting 22lr. I think I'm going to have to find a 22lr handgun to teach them with.