Yesterday my buddy Chris and I took his daughter and my 9 y/o boy out to shoot .22's. It was his daughters birthday and when he ask her what she wanted to do for her 15th birthday she told him she wanted to spend most of the day shooting because this weekend is opening weekend of squirrel season and she wanted some practice in. Chris invited the boy and myself along as well, so yesterday morning we met at the gun club with our squirrel rifles and a brick of shells apiece for a day of fun with the kids.
We started out on paper with them at 25 yards. Kelly was shooting her Ruger 10-22 and Preston was shooting a Romanian built bolt action training rifle that I had customized to fit a kid. When both of them were consistently shooting 10 shot groups that were smaller than a squirrel's head Chris and I decided to make things a bit more challenging. We hung up a couple of bowling pins and started them swinging at 40 yards. It didn't take long before both kids were smacking the moving bowling pins every shot with their rifles. Chris and I were not doing nearly as well with our Ruger MK II target pistols. At 25 yards we could keep up with them on paper but once we stretched it out to 40 yards it became a real challenge for us on the moving pins.
Our next challenge for them was to set up a series of clay birds out to the 100 yard berm and scatter a bunch of them on the berm which is about 110 yards and hang several up on the 100 yard target frames. About a 10 mph breeze picked up and Chris and I just smiled at each other. The birds out to 75 yards didn't last long, but that extra 25 to 35 yards was kicking their butts. It didn't take both kids long to figure out that they could shoot at one of the birds on the berm and see where the impact was and use Kentucky windage. Before long they were doing quite well and we had to supply more clay birds.
Then I watched Kelly do something that would have made any parent or God parent proud. She busted 3 in a row before missing. Chris and I teased her about missing #4, and I watched her get that look in her eye. I heard the Safety click off, which she had put on while talking to us, and I watched her tune out the world around her. There was 4 paced shots in a row about a second and a half apart, and 4 exploded clay birds on the target frame. The Fifth pull of the trigger resulted in a snap. She locked the bolt to the rear, put on the safety, and dropped the magazine. Then in a very matter of fact way she said, "had I not run out of ammo it would have been 5 in a row."
Seven birds in 8 shots at 100 yards with a 22LR is outstanding. I know lots of men who can't do that, and for a 15 year old girl to do it is amazing to me. Preston was batting about 500 at 100 yards with the bolt gun, and Chris and I after the bowling pin fiasco just put our pistols away and let the kids shoot. Yes, we burnt up 1K of 22LR yesterday but we now have 2 kids that I am confident will kill any squirrel they can get a shot at inside of 30 yards, and if it is sitting still they will shoot it in the head. I only wish my daughter Caitlin would have been there as well. She is 13 and is an excellent squirrel shooter, but she had a prior commitment.
All in all a great day for the two kids and an even better day for Chris and myself. It will not be many years before our kids are better shots than we are. It is amazing what young eyes are capable of when given the chance to develop the coordination and shooting techniques to go along with them.
Best wishes,
Joe
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