Teaching Number One Grandson How to Shoot

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Pennsylvania
With all the time we have had available due to the covid shutdown, I decided that it would be a good time to teach my 8 year old grandson how to shoot. He has wanted to do that for a time but I told him him he had to be 8 and have his parent's permission. Having cleared those hurdles, I bought a Cricket .22 at Wal Mart. This little made in PA rifle ($114) has a short plastic stock that can be extended with plastic spacers and longer screws so as the child grows, the stock can be lengthened. It is a very accurate little rifle right out of the box. It is a bolt action single shot but even after the bolt is closed, the shooter has to pull back the firing spring mechanism to fully cock the gun so it will fire. That is a nice safety feature.

We started at hunting camp where there is a sighting in range by learning the rules of gun safety, how to hold a gun and how to aim it. Turns out, like me, he is right handed but has a dominant left eye so he shoots rifle off of his left shoulder. He quickly learned to use the ghost ring sights and after several boxes of ammo, I bought an inexpensive scope for it which he loves. After mastering this, we moved on to my Ruger 10 shot single action .22 revolver which of cousre has to be cocked for each round. He now does that well and is hitting targets consistently.

Today we went out to the hunting camp with the Ruger but as a "treat", I left him fire one round from a 9mm pistol (only one round in the pistol!) as he wanted to experience recoil. He handled it well but showed maturity when he said that he ought to grow a little bit more before he fired it again!

I have also had him to a local gun range to shoot his rifle so he could observe others shooting and learn the rules of range safety. He enjoyed that and picked up the rules fairly quickly.

I personally believe every child should learn to handle firearms and learn gun safety. He now knows how they work and to NEVER pick up and handle a gun he finds somewhere.

The five year old grandson is next but that won't be for three more years.
 
I'd say you've done a GREAT JOB with this! One of my fondest memories as a child is learning how to shoot a .22 rifle. I will never forget the sense of accomplishment, responsibility, and confidence that that experience gave to me. I'm certain that it served me well my entire life.

Then I got a chance to shoot my neighbor's Remington 52 with peep sites! Hitting small pieces of small targets at distance, and I was hooked!
Good Job!
 
Great story. My grandsons started hunting when they were 10 or so. They love to hog hunt down in south Texas.
 
My dad started teaching me shooting as soon as I was interested. I as a kid would spend my summers at my Aunt and Uncles Cattle ranch there were guns around to shoot predators I learned gun safety and would shoot 22 pistol with my cousin and unless going fishing usually had a bb gun. I did the same with my kids. Handling guns is a serious issue and takes lots of training and time,,,, good job grandpa Boomer !
 
Great job.
I introduced my daughter thru the NRA Jr. Marksmanship program.
Ruger 10/22 with some sight and trigger upgrades.
 
I learned to shoot with an old Marlin 25N. The 22LR is a fine round to use for teaching the fundamentals and gun safety.
 
Originally Posted by Boomer
With all the time we have had available due to the covid shutdown, I decided that it would be a good time to teach my 8 year old grandson how to shoot. He has wanted to do that for a time but I told him him he had to be 8 and have his parent's permission. Having cleared those hurdles, I bought a Cricket .22 at Wal Mart. This little made in PA rifle ($114) has a short plastic stock that can be extended with plastic spacers and longer screws so as the child grows, the stock can be lengthened. It is a very accurate little rifle right out of the box. It is a bolt action single shot but even after the bolt is closed, the shooter has to pull back the firing spring mechanism to fully cock the gun so it will fire. That is a nice safety feature.

We started at hunting camp where there is a sighting in range by learning the rules of gun safety, how to hold a gun and how to aim it. Turns out, like me, he is right handed but has a dominant left eye so he shoots rifle off of his left shoulder. He quickly learned to use the ghost ring sights and after several boxes of ammo, I bought an inexpensive scope for it which he loves. After mastering this, we moved on to my Ruger 10 shot single action .22 revolver which of cousre has to be cocked for each round. He now does that well and is hitting targets consistently.

Today we went out to the hunting camp with the Ruger but as a "treat", I left him fire one round from a 9mm pistol (only one round in the pistol!) as he wanted to experience recoil. He handled it well but showed maturity when he said that he ought to grow a little bit more before he fired it again!

I have also had him to a local gun range to shoot his rifle so he could observe others shooting and learn the rules of range safety. He enjoyed that and picked up the rules fairly quickly.

I personally believe every child should learn to handle firearms and learn gun safety. He now knows how they work and to NEVER pick up and handle a gun he finds somewhere.

The five year old grandson is next but that won't be for three more years.


Excellent, totally agree with teaching young people how to safely handle firearms. Takes away the curiosity factor.
 
I must say that the training should not stop there. Sometimes it is important to repeat the lessons to make sure they are learned correctly. One and done does not work well in this case. Stay with him and stay at it. Watch that muzzle!
 
Teaching is excellent! Here I am teaching my girlfriend how to shoot the rifle we built. She is new to shooting, as I am who introduced her to more than .22 rifles since her childhood.
 
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