So I hear that June 9th is Take Your Daughter To The Range Day. I have two daughters. They live with my ex. They are 10 and 7. They are tiny. Very short (just like their dad). I was contemplating taking my 10 year old. Now the first obstacle is getting buy-in from the ex. I could still take her but I'd rather keep it amicable. That aside, do you think she is too young. I am not sure how well she'd hold a .22 handgun. I guess I could always hold it with her. Do some ranges prohibit kids this young?

Age has nothing to do with it. Is she ready or not in your eyes? Youngest shooter I ever taught was 5, that kid was one squared away little dude though. "Is she big enough to handle the firearms you will be shooting?" and "Is she mentally responsible enough to handle a firearm?" are the only two questions you need to answer in my book. Well those two things and lame range rules that limit shooters by arbitrary age limits.

Kevin knocked it out of the park. I don't remember how old I was the first time I shot a rifle, but if I had to guess it was about 4 or 5.

It's all about level of maturity and not age

I know I shot 22's in Indian Guides when I was 7, and I think I shot at a resort in the Poconos before that age.

 

My son and I have been going for a lot of years, and he's only 12. They start shooting BB's in Cub Scouts at the age of 6.

Thanks guys. I have been leaning towards not doing it. I think I have to go with my gut on this one. Maybe next year.

I would talk to them and see if there is any interest on their part. If not then maybe wait a little longer. If they are interested then they may mention it to mom and they can break the ice about it, not you.

I think you got all good advice here. It really depends on the kid. Some mature later than others ( and is no reflection on how they will ultimately be..kids are all on their own developmental timeline) . I taught martial arts to kids aged 4 to 10. There were 5 year olds that were easily better at listening/absorbing/executing the material than some 8 year olds. It's an individual thing.

 

My daughter is 5 1/2 and we have had plenty of gun talks..regarding safety , not touching unless mom or dad is helping them , what to do if a friend has a gun or pulls one out while they are visiting a friend's home. I expect to get her a BB gun this year maybe ..then let her try a kid's .22 rifle when she is 8 . That could change depending on her though. She is definitely interested right now ( and likes to watch Top Shot ) , I hope it sticks. By the way - she is tiny too. At age 5 1/2 she is 29 pounds and 39 inches. Not a big one lol

 

As my for little guy in my siggy - well , I predict he will be introduced much later than my daughter based on personality. We'll just stick to toys for him for awhile lol

 

Good luck ... my knee jerk answer without knowing your kids would be that 10 is generally old enough.

Well, I might just be a youngin' without any kids for myself, but I've met some 20+ year olds near my age that I would not trust with a firearm even if a zombie was attempting to eat me and they were my only chance for survival. On the opposite side, I've met some kids younger than 10 that seem like they would take instructions very well and easily learn how to safely operate firearms. So, like they all said, it's all about maturity.

So I hear that June 9th is Take Your Daughter To The Range Day. I have two daughters. They live with my ex. They are 10 and 7. They are tiny. Very short (just like their dad). I was contemplating taking my 10 year old. Now the first obstacle is getting buy-in from the ex. I could still take her but I'd rather keep it amicable. That aside, do you think she is too young. I am not sure how well she'd hold a .22 handgun. I guess I could always hold it with her. Do some ranges prohibit kids this young?

 

Perhaps you might want to think about doing this (the firearms experience) with something a little easier for young kids to handle. And maybe at a Range that's less crowded so that no one gets "spooked" by a very loud report from one or two lanes over! I've been teaching kids how to shoot for almost two decades, and this is what I recommend:

 

I started my son when he was only four years old, and made him a NRA Life Member by age five! Hand guns can be a little too unwieldy in my opinion as they're more easy to point in the wrong direction or drop on the floor/ground due to lack of support or weak arm muscles on smaller children. I overcame this obstacle altogether! I bought him a Marlin .22LR single-shot bolt-action youth rifle called the "Little Buckaroo". The rifle is tiny, but fairly accurate. You load the rounds one at a time (Dad doesn't go broke!) in a built-in tray and then close the bolt. Rifle has a nice big safety that shows red when the safety is off. Put it on a beanbag rest and the little munchins can shoot it all day long! Gun even sits balanced in the rest (with the bolt open or in your back pocket) while the three of you change or check targets. And if you do what I describe, the younger one will have a blast as well! Keep the targets at 7-10 yards to begin with and use Shoot-N-C's from Birchwood-Casey. Go to or be guested into a private range where you control the noise level in your own Pit. You'll have an experience that every Dad will remember for a lifetime, and they kids will be looking to buy ammo by the brick!

 

If your serious about doing this, I can give you some NRA literature that is meant for the entire family to read together, and keep Moms at ease. Just give me a PM and we'll arrange a brief meet for coffee somewhere! Also, one of the Clubs I belong to has a Youth Smallbore .22 Rifle League that is OPEN to non-member's offspring. They meet tonight at the Indoor Range in Old Bridge, on Maple Street. You could go down and take a look at the operation to get a better idea about training young folks to shoot. We have NRA Certified Instructors & Coaches teaching kids from about 10 years old & up, and the Girls can out-shoot the Boys! You can also pick-up some literature on safety and our Club at the same time. They start at 6:00 pm on every Thursday except the first Thursday of the month.

 

Hope I've been helpful.

 

Dave

I started teaching my 8 year old when he was 5. He never had a problem.

 

My other son, who is now 5 could care less about shooting. He knows how to shoot and never to touch a gun, but he just doesn't care about the sport. It really does depend on the kid, although I also thing there is an age where hand/eye coordination is necessary. They are not going to get that until about 6 or so.

 

I personally don't like the idea of kids with handguns - there is too much room for error. Shells are flying all over the pace. And its too easy to point a hangun at some accidentally. A .22 rifles are a different thing entirely, especially if you are starting her out on a bolt action, which is what I would do in your case.

 

 

Perhaps you might want to think about doing this (the firearms experience) with something a little easier for young kids to handle. And maybe at a Range that's less crowded so that no one gets "spooked" by a very loud report from one or two lanes over! I've been teaching kids how to shoot for almost two decades, and this is what I recommend:

 

I started my son when he was only four years old, and made him a NRA Life Member by age five! Hand guns can be a little too unwieldy in my opinion as they're more easy to point in the wrong direction or drop on the floor/ground due to lack of support or weak arm muscles on smaller children. I overcame this obstacle altogether! I bought him a Marlin .22LR single-shot bolt-action youth rifle called the "Little Buckaroo". The rifle is tiny, but fairly accurate. You load the rounds one at a time (Dad doesn't go broke!) in a built-in tray and then close the bolt. Rifle has a nice big safety that shows red when the safety is off. Put it on a beanbag rest and the little munchins can shoot it all day long! Gun even sits balanced in the rest (with the bolt open or in your back pocket) while the three of you change or check targets. And if you do what I describe, the younger one will have a blast as well! Keep the targets at 7-10 yards to begin with and use Shoot-N-C's from Birchwood-Casey. Go to or be guested into a private range where you control the noise level in your own Pit. You'll have an experience that every Dad will remember for a lifetime, and they kids will be looking to buy ammo by the brick!

 

If your serious about doing this, I can give you some NRA literature that is meant for the entire family to read together, and keep Moms at ease. Just give me a PM and we'll arrange a brief meet for coffee somewhere! Also, one of the Clubs I belong to has a Youth Smallbore .22 Rifle League that is OPEN to non-member's offspring. They meet tonight at the Indoor Range in Old Bridge, on Maple Street. You could go down and take a look at the operation to get a better idea about training young folks to shoot. We have NRA Certified Instructors & Coaches teaching kids from about 10 years old & up, and the Girls can out-shoot the Boys! You can also pick-up some literature on safety and our Club at the same time. They start at 6:00 pm on every Thursday except the first Thursday of the month.

 

Hope I've been helpful.

 

Dave

 

Dave,

Thanks so much! I may take you up on the offer too meet with that literature. My 10 year old won't stop asking me if I'm going to take her on June 9th. So she is definitely interested. I guess I am reluctant to buy a separate gun because I don't want it to be a waste if she turns out not to care much for it. I'd also like to take her to a range just to let her see what it's like with the different sounds for her to get used to.

I started teaching my 8 year old when he was 5. He never had a problem.

 

My other son, who is now 5 could care less about shooting. He knows how to shoot and never to touch a gun, but he just doesn't care about the sport. It really does depend on the kid, although I also thing there is an age where hand/eye coordination is necessary. They are not going to get that until about 6 or so.

 

I personally don't like the idea of kids with handguns - there is too much room for error. Shells are flying all over the pace. And its too easy to point a hangun at some accidentally. A .22 rifles are a different thing entirely, especially if you are starting her out on a bolt action, which is what I would do in your case.

 

You know I am glad I posted this. The hand gun thing is what I was worried about. As I said I am not sure I want to buy a kids gun only to find out she's not interested. I'll look into the cost and maybe it's worth it just to suck it. The ex takes a ton of my money so I am not as well off as I could be LOL

I started my daughter around 4 or so, showed her the guns, talked to her about how she wasnt to touch them unless I was there, gave her the whole "If you see one out, dont touch get an adult" did regular integrity tests with an Airsoft pistol, and ALWAYS if she was curious and it wasnt as i was leaving for work, took time to show her anything she wanted to see and handle anything she wanted to handle to take the Mystery out. Around age 6 i started her on the safety rules, then with an airsoft handgun and rifle in the yard, and finally she got her pink AR when she was 8, but not until she could rattle off the 4 rules, but also explain WHY they were important. Start young, stress safety and take it day by day..everyone is different.

So I hear that June 9th is Take Your Daughter To The Range Day. I have two daughters. They live with my ex. They are 10 and 7. They are tiny. Very short (just like their dad). I was contemplating taking my 10 year old. Now the first obstacle is getting buy-in from the ex. I could still take her but I'd rather keep it amicable. That aside, do you think she is too young. I am not sure how well she'd hold a .22 handgun. I guess I could always hold it with her. Do some ranges prohibit kids this young?

 

Not sure about Public Ranges but I know OBRPC I am responsible for who ever I bring and that includes friends and family, so if you don't belong to a club and you bring them and they like it, well it could get expensive at a public per person by time range.

 

Now make it a family day, could be just you and the kids, or the wife the kids and you. I would never put an age on shooting other than physical limitations. Some will say, are they responsible, can they be trusted, well I think of it like this, same as martial arts, proper instruction will teach this and instill these values if done correctly.

 

Also, don't ask if they would like to do this, now don't drag them and use 22LR being you said they are small. I say this for 2 reasons, first, you never want to scare a new shooter, especially a young person, and #2, you just never know what perception they may have from what they watch or teachers, etc..

Fist let me make clear I do not have any kids (I use to work with kids but I know that having kids is very differnt) so I can not talk from experience, but In my opinion you may want to consider buying a BB gun for your kids. With a BB gun you can teach all the safety and basics of using a firearm. They are very cheep to both buy and shoot, So if after a little while your kids lose interest, your not out of alot of money. If you have a yard you can set up a little shooting gallery with a bunch of different targets to hit (set up a couple of ledges and place army men, match box cars, plastic cups, ect...) which will help keep and build interest in shooting, and allowing them to practice more often. Overall I believe it gives you an easy and safe way to determine if your kids are ready for real fire arms.

I'll make you a deal. If you can wait a couple of weeks, I'll meet you at Ft. Dix with my 8 year old and his .22 Bolt-Action Cricket. You can bring your daughters and they can shoot my son's gun (he won't mind - he prefers my 10/22 anyway.)

 

If you like it, then you can order a Cricket from an FFL. Dicks used to sell them, but for some reason, they are no longer do.

 

Note that you could buy a cheap Rossi .22/.410 convertible but I don't like it because it's break-action. I don't think that kids have the physical strength to snap open the break-action safely. I've seen kids do it, but they are pushing the barrel down onto the shooting table and that's just unsafe.

 

PM me if you are interested in meeting up at Ft. Dix. Outdoors is better for kids anyway. You can make a day of it - pack sandwiches and so on. Plus, they'll get to shoot at cans instead of just paper.

Dave, Thanks so much! I may take you up on the offer too meet with that literature. My 10 year old won't stop asking me if I'm going to take her on June 9th. So she is definitely interested. I guess I am reluctant to buy a separate gun because I don't want it to be a waste if she turns out not to care much for it. I'd also like to take her to a range just to let her see what it's like with the different sounds for her to get used to.

 

Let's arrange a time to see each other soon! I'll stop at the Club and pick-up some free literature for you.

 

I also like the offer mcbethr made to you about Rage 14. The Cricket is just like the little Buckaroo, a single-shot. Bring the Girls out and have some fun with someone elses rifle to see IF they like it. Then think about spending the money. And they do come in pink for Girls.

 

What you really don't want to do is to bring them to an indoor range for their first range experience, and then get stuck right next to a very loud short-barreled large-caliber hand gun, or worse yet, a high powered rifle. A .22 Pea Shooter outside is just fine, the right tool for the job! Also remember that you're going to have to buy eye protection that FITS their little faces. Regular adult-sized safety glasses usually won't do the job and can fall-off the nose.

 

Good luck and stay in touch!

 

Dave

I know some people my age, mid 20's, that i think are "too young" but ive shot plenty of times with my youngest brother who is 12yrs old. I think its all about level of maturity and being a safety oriented individual

I would suggest at least 10 years old because we all remember doing dumb things when we were kids, trained or otherwise.

As for interest, let them watch teenagers & girls shoot 22LR on youtube.

If they think they can handle it or are interested then take them.

Kids today have too much exposure to guns in video games, movies, TV, advertising......

I would invite her over and see if she has any interest and see if she can physically handle the gun itself. If he can and she's mature enough, go for it!