I gave my daughter a Red Rider BB gun on her sixth birthday. Started teaching her about safety, the next day. She's eight now and I've been trying to get her to the deer lease, so she can start shooting a .22 rifle. She's been pretty good about handling the BB gun safely. She knows as soon as she's not being safe, I'll put the BB gun away. She hates that, so she really try's to stay focused on safety. All kids mature differently. Your the best judge on whether or not your kid is mature enough to handle this responsibility. Just make sure he has fun. Just my 2 cents.
Teaching Kids
- Thread starter TBT
- Start date
Guys with my kids I learned that you must stand behind them and enforce safe gun handling at every outing especially in the beginning. Don't allow even the slightest seemingly harmless violation to go un challenged. The results are children who rarely break the rules and when they do they know it immediately.
If they tried to move the rifle sideways perhaps while turning to speak I would stop the movement and explain why they can't do that. If they have their finger in the trigger guard before getting sights on target explain why it isn't right and thell them to correct it. The key is consistency. My boys have heard it so much and they still hear it despite being really good with handling.
Example at the range I stand behind the son that is shooting and whisper things like "watch you finger" if they have put it in the guard early. "Keep that barrel pointed down range" after they fired the last shot. "check to see if its loaded" to the next son up prior to loading. Followed by tons of "awesomes" and "excellents".
You daddy's who are training them youngsters be prepared to put certain adults in their place. Many folks both in and out of the family will look at you like you are crazy. Be ready to explain just how ignorant they are........in a nice way of course.
If they tried to move the rifle sideways perhaps while turning to speak I would stop the movement and explain why they can't do that. If they have their finger in the trigger guard before getting sights on target explain why it isn't right and thell them to correct it. The key is consistency. My boys have heard it so much and they still hear it despite being really good with handling.
Example at the range I stand behind the son that is shooting and whisper things like "watch you finger" if they have put it in the guard early. "Keep that barrel pointed down range" after they fired the last shot. "check to see if its loaded" to the next son up prior to loading. Followed by tons of "awesomes" and "excellents".
You daddy's who are training them youngsters be prepared to put certain adults in their place. Many folks both in and out of the family will look at you like you are crazy. Be ready to explain just how ignorant they are........in a nice way of course.
If you start too early, he's gonna be obsessed with 'em or overly bored. I'd wait until he was seven at least.
Just be sure to hammer all the good habits in. A nice way to start would be giving him a cheap airsoft rifle. That way you'll be sure he won't kill any of his friends -- you never know.
Just be sure to hammer all the good habits in. A nice way to start would be giving him a cheap airsoft rifle. That way you'll be sure he won't kill any of his friends -- you never know.
Edward429451
Moderator
My kids started super early and neither are obsessed or bored with guns. They will let you know when they want to shoot and let you know when they're done. They will let you know when they want to shoot your bigger guns. I can remember a few times while camping the shooting stopped because they wanted to go on a hike or dig up a prairie dog hole or whatnot.
I remember one time on a camping/small gaming trip, they were to wake me early so we could go small gaming and their shots woke me up! They were coming back into camp with 3 squirrels by the time I made it out of my tent.
I remember one time on a camping/small gaming trip, they were to wake me early so we could go small gaming and their shots woke me up! They were coming back into camp with 3 squirrels by the time I made it out of my tent.