Airsoft rifles good entry to firearms and rules?

K

Kimio

New member
So I was talking to a very good friend of mine, and we were discussing when would be a good time to introduce his daughter to firearms.

While talking, he came up with the idea of first introducing the concepts of firearms, their handling and their safety with an air soft rifle. Drilling the fundamental rules of responsible firearms handling and what have you before introducing a real firearm to her.

She's still got quite a ways to go, but I think this is a great idea in regards to starting her off and hopefully fostering her interest in the sport.

what are ya'll thoughts on this?
 
Sounds like a good safe way to learn about firearms. Tell him not to worry to much about accuracy as airsoft guns are generally like bb guns but stance, trigger control and basic gun handling and safty can all be instilled.
 
While this is true, why not simply go through the fundamentals with a real gun, but one that is empty? Dry firing, stance, smooth trigger pull etc.

The only issue that springs to mind is that the student may view the airsoft guns as toys and that may extend to real guns.

I think that if I now held an airsoft gun, I'd be holding it like I would a real MP5. However, I remember holding an airsoft gun long before I ever discovered real guns and I was putting my finger on the trigger, sweeping all and sundry and never once checked to see if it was loaded...

Better perhaps would be one of those blue training guns followed by a cleared gun, a mile away from even remotely compatible ammo.

Just my €0.02.
 
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A local store (now closed) had an outdoor Airsoft area where kids shot one another with Airsoft guns much as in Paintball. I have a friend whose preteen son likes to "play Airsoft" with his friends. Knowing my friend, he makes sure the kids wear appropriate protective gear.

This "interactive" Airsoft play makes me wonder about the effect it would have on the safety consciousness of the participants. If they are used to playing around with an Airsoft AR-15, will those habits affect their ability to safely handle a real AR-15? Some people might be able to do it, but I wouldn't encourage it.

On the other hand, if you buy an Airsoft gun and treat it as a training tool, no issues and you can safely practice shooting in your back yard.

I trained my daughters using real firearms. The first few times they handled them there was no ammo in the area. The "awe" factor of realizing "this is a real firearm-it could be lethal" has value.
 
Pond said:
While this is true why not simply go through the fundamentals with a real gun, but one that is empty. Dry firing, stance, smooth trigger pull etc.

The only issue that springs to mind is that the student may view the airsoft guns as toys and that may extend to real guns.
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The problem is that, depending on the age and mental maturity of the child, rehearsing fundamentals with a firearm that's always empty may have the opposite result to that intended. The intent of early training is to teach a respect for firearms and what they can do. Constant training with an empty firearm, especially including dry firing, may reinforce an attitude that nothing happens when you pull the trigger.

I was given a Daisy BB gun when I was about 10-years old. About the same time I was taught to shoot using my grandfather's .22 rifle -- but I was not given my own .22. And, back then, my grandparents owned a large enough farm that there were places where it would have been safe to shoot a .22.

A mechanical consideration is that very often the first firearm to which a kid is exposed (and often the first and maybe only firearm in a house) is a .22, and it's generally not a good idea to dry fire rimfires because of peening the chamber lip.

My vote goes to starting with a BB gun. I would consider an airsoft to be a distant second -- they don't have enough inherent accuracy IMHO to be useful for training. (Disclaimer: yes, I do own a couple of mid- to high-level airsofts.)
 
Maybe a pellet gun.
They can be as accurate as .22s.
But more potentially dangerous than airsoft.
Actually, at short distances, so can some airsoft.
I have a KWC brand CO2 blowback airsoft replica of a 1911 that groups two inches at seven yards.
Just like .22s, it can depend on the ammo.
Plenty good enough for use as a training tool.
 
I've used them and would recommend it, but only if it functions the same. The owner at my range has a very beat up Glock airsoft gun that he uses to teach sight alignment, muzzle discipline etc
 
I'd say its all a matter of how one approaches the subject. Airsoft can be very realistic looking, but they are not firearms.

I grew up around guns, Dad was a Hunter Safety instructor. My parents would absolutely not allow us to have BB guns. (decades ago, before Airsoft)

they felt BB guns would foster bad habits, and based on the local neighborhood hooligans bad behavior with BB guns, they weren't wrong.

We had toy guns, lot of them. And all were clearly, only toys.

On the other hand, my 14th birthday present was my very own Winchester rifle.

Based on my own experience, as a child, and with my own children, I would introduce children (or adults) to firearms with real firearms. And I would go to great length (including graphic demonstrations) to show them how real firearms and NOT like what they see on TV or in games.

just my opinion, and worth what you paid for it.
 
I can see how Air Soft guns could be useful for training as long as the kids aren't allowed to treat them as "toys"

I doubt they would really fit small children though.

I taught my daughter by getting her a Chipmonk 22 that fit her, and later a single shot 20 GA that fit her as well

I did have the advantage of living where I could ride a few minutes outside of town to several locations to practice any time I wanted
 
I shot airsoft guns with my friends in "milsim" environments and we shot at each other a lot from the time we were 14. That was well before I shot real guns and I have no latent bad habits from it.
 
dakota.potts said:
I shot airsoft guns with my friends in "milsim" environments and we shot at each other a lot from the time we were 14. That was well before I shot real guns and I have no latent bad habits from it.
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You don't consider shooting at live people to be a bad habit?

I know airsoft and paintball are used as games, and I know for some adult situations the are also used as force-on-force training weapons. I don't have a problem with using them under controlled conditions for force-on-force training. I do have a problem with allowing/encouraging children to point them at anything other than a target.
 
Well, the idea that we were discussing is to treat them exactly like real firearms, going over the fundamentals of firearms safety and when it is appropriate to aim it at a target etc.

I don't think he'd ever allow her to aim the rifle or what have you at another person until she's a bit older and would have a better grasp of what would happen and all.

He was thinking of introducing her at around the age of 7-8 years old. She's still got a few years to go before then, but I can see the potential concerns about it perhaps negatively enforcing other habits and views.
 
We used it as a sport, which is a very different use from training. No, I don't think shooting them at other people in a safe environment creates bad habits with real firearms. Using them as a training aid, they should never be aimed at anything other than a target
 
he came up with the idea of first introducing the concepts of firearms, their handling and their safety with an air soft rifle. Drilling the fundamental rules of responsible firearms handling and what have you before introducing a real firearm to her.
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Kimio made it plain what it was to be used for and how.
No mention of using it as anything other than a serious training tool.
And they make good training tools without the risks.
 
It's too easy to treat an airsoft gun as a toy and not the potentially destructive instrument that a real gun can be. Just my opinion.
 
While its better than nothing, for a little more you can get a old single shot .22 or magazine .22 Rifle thats going to give them a better(accurate) shooting reward like spinning and reactive targets at longer distance than a air rifle in general. Also you can move standing targets farther out as they get better to keep the learning of proper breathing and trigger control..

Over all your going to get more for your money with a .22 over a air soft.

As for age. Under DIRECT CONTROL. By that I mean your hands near the rifle and just shy of touching it and in some cases actually controlling the foward stock acting as a kind bench rest for the rifle I see no reason not to start now!
 
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I just realized I neglected saying how old his daughter is. Right now she's only 4, so I'm not sure she's got the mental capacity to grasp everything yet. (then again, she's leagues ahead other kids her age, and she's always surprising her dad with how quickly she catches on. Kids really are amazing aren't they?)

I think he's just worried is all, perhaps lack of confidence especially after hearing how that one 8-11 year old accidentally mowed down that guy with an Uzi (granted that was the guys fault on many levels, but I won't beat the dead. He's already paid the ultimate price)
 
Now, there's the perfect example of the benefits of using an airsoft for training.
Bet that fellow, if he could, would really rather have used a full auto airsoft instead of that UZI.
Airsoft allows low or no risk mistakes.
And you just know anyone new to guns, especially a youngster, is going to make mistakes.
 
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