Rimfire target rifle?

T

thedaddycat

New member
My oldest daughter has developed an interest in shooting, and I'm thrilled that I have something that will let me spend time with her. She's a high school junior now, and besides liking to shoot hand guns and shotguns she now also wants to shoot rifles. She's also on the fencing team doing epee matches even though she just started fencing. Epee is considered a varsity division she tells me, where any touch counts. She seems to be doing very well with it.

My brother called a couple of weeks ago and talked to her for a while and fencing came up. Well it turns out that he did fencing in college which turned the discussion to that and her plans for the future. He told her that lots of colleges have shooting teams as well as fencing teams and that there may be scholarship opportunities along those lines. So now she's even more interested in rifle shooting.

Now I have a couple of .22 rifles but nothing fancy. There's a Sears Model 25, Ithica X5 Lightning, Ruger 10/22, Remington Nylon 66 and also a Remington 550-2G Gallery Special which is .22 Short only. All are semi-auto rifles. Aside from just taking her out and letting her put some rounds downrange, what is the best way of getting her into this so she can see if she really wants to compete? I know nothing about it, so any sites or resources you can recommend are appreciated. Thanks for any input you can give.
 
It's always great to hear of juniors interested in shooting. To start, I think the best way is to find a local club with a Smallbore position shooting program. This includes the same type of shooting at the Olympics. Since there are also college scholarships for international style shooting it pays to have that experience in this area. Some clubs shoot postal matches which are ways to compare skill levels with nationwide participants. Most clubs with junior programs have basic equipment so you may not need to make an immediate investment. Contact the NRA or your state association for places that have junior programs. This can also lead to other organized shooting such as the junior Highpower competition. These can include the VFW, police organizations [aka] PBA, and even some shcools.
At worst let her shoot what you have but focus on a bullseye type target and keep a log of any scores.
 
I don’t know what State you live in. You might check to see if your state has a rifle/pistol association. If you do, often times there is a contact person listed for small bore and or junior programs. You might find a 4-H club that shoots 22 rifle. These groups often times have rifles and gear to issue out. Our local Friends of the NRA bought two match grade AR’s for training and usung for High Power. The kids I have been around who are in some sort of competition program are pretty darn good kids who will make fine adults. I know one poor dad who has been busy reloading for his daughter because she wants to shoot High Power. At least her rifle is an AR as it is a little cheaper to feed than a 30 caliber. Good luck
 
If you are lucky, there will be a club doing CMP Rimfire Sporter nearby.
http://www.odcmp.com/NM/Rimfire.htm

It is less equipment intensive than regular NRA Smallbore. That 10-22 would get her started and could be upgraded or replaced with something like a CZ455 when she got really interested. The club here shoots it and has a good time and a few have moved up to the harder and more expensive Smallbore.
 
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