What age were your children when you taught them to shoot?

I let my kids handle guns as soon as they became interested and started asking questions about them. I lived rural so I would shoot in back of my house and as soon as they were walking they would watch me and their older siblings shoot.
I would let them shoot when I thought they were big enough to shoot and not hurt or scar them. I would start them out with a BB gun and go to a 22 pistol and/or rifle. Eventually they all shoot my FA M16A1 (it was my issue weapon when I was in TEU/SWAT). They are all still active in the shooting sports and hunt. The youngest is in is 40's. And they passed it on, as all my grand kids enjoy shooting.:cool:
 
Congrats it's a crazy ride.

I have a 7 year old daughter and 5 year old son. They both have BB guns. They only come out of the case for shooting. They are both learning the 4 rules and muzzle awareness. They also have "fishing knives." They sell these wooden folders in kits. Great practice and fun. They treat them just like the real thing because to them they are the real thing.
 
Great , great , great question. I think it depends so much on the child- and often their physique more than anything. Nothing bugs me more than giving a small child something way more powerful than they can handle. I recall when I was small firing a very powerful 12 gauge load- put me off shotguns for years.
 
I'm going to have to disagree with Death from Afar. I think giving a child ( depending on the child of course) a slightly larger firearm gives them a greater appreciation for exactly how powerful and potentially dangerous a firearm can be. I started shooting .22's around 10 with my dad and it's some of the best memories I have, as long as your kid takes it seriously and is responsible I would say there is no age to young to start shooting. Congrats
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It's a turn off and short on teaching !!

Nothing bugs me more than giving a small child something way more powerful than they can handle. I recall when I was small firing a very powerful 12 gauge load- put me off shotguns for years.
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When it comes to teaching kids and women, this one also bugs me. Not at the top of my list, but pretty close. When working with guns, I don't play tricks on kids or try to teach them a hard lesson. It burns them out fast... :eek:
Currently I've go my 11-yr. old Grandson comfortably shooting a .38spl. and almost ready for a 9mm. We always have fun and we both learn. ... ;)

By the way, I also don't see much humor in those U-Tuber Recoil videos... :(

Be Safe !!!
 
I started to learn to shoot a 22 rifle when 6 years old with tight supervision from dad when a colt hunsman later that year. by 12 i could go behing dads budiness and shoot on my own. Shot some most weekends. I was hunting with a 12ga springfield pump for deer at 13 and had a old '53 jeep pickup of dads to drive in the woods. Seems sheriffs and wildlife officers were fine with us back then .

Not sure age has as much to do with when a child first learns to shoot. More about how there brought up and how they handle the chance to learn about them and to shot them.

Like others said I know 15 & 16 years old not worrthy of handling a firearm much less shot them.
 
I think my son and daughter have been shooting big guns (308, 30-06, 40 cal , etc) since they were around 6-7 years old.
 
I wasn't saying let them shoot a slug or large steel shot load, but a 2 3/4 target round is a nice introduction to a little recoil without scaring them. I was more then happy to be shooting dad's shotgun for the first time when I was younger.
 
My boys had .410 shotguns when they were 6 & 7 yrs old. They were taught safety by then, but they still had to stay within arms reach of me, one on either side, when we were hunting. They killed many rabbits & squirrels with those single shot .410's. If they stumbled or made any mistake with their guns, they carried an empty gun the rest of the hunt. Kids learn quick!
 
Depends on the child.

I got a Red Ryder for Christmas when I was in the 1st grade, so five, but shortly thereafter lost it for taking pot shots at my sister's barbies in the house. (Never sure whether it was taken for shooting in the house or target selection)

I started shooting in the backyard with Pops when I was about seven, and got "my" first rifle at 11 in the sixth grade. I took to shotgun shooting, low brass 20 ga field loads and then low brass 12 ga loads the next year.

My older sister, however, didn't get real invovled with shooting until just recently, having never been more than a handful of times before Christmas and now evovled to the point of exhausting my supply of small pistol primers in a matter of weeks.

A lot of parents seem content, in my experience, to let their 11 year olds handle a gun for the first time during the rifle merit badge at summer camp, which I think is a great enviroment for it.
 
Congrats Glockstar! I started at age 7 with a .22 chipmunk. My grandpaw taught me with close supervision and grilled me for an hour over the 4+1 safety rules before I was allowed to touch a live round.
 
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Nothing bugs me more than giving a small child something way more powerful than they can handle. I recall when I was small firing a very powerful 12 gauge load- put me off shotguns for years.
April 12, 2013 03:43 PM
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I'm kinda on the fence about this. I remember as a young kid my shoulder being punished by my dads 12ga when we shot clay pigeons. I'd come home with a headache sometimes but I always ASKED to shoot it.

Same with hunting. People often say you shouldn't sent kids out into the woods with cheap hunting clothes. If they're wet and miserable they will be turned off from hunting. Let me tell you I SUFFERED on many occasions. I remember being soaked, so cold that I climbed out of my treestand to go lay in the field and soak up what little warmth I could get from the sun.

You know something? As much as I "suffered" I was always chomping at the bit to go back out that same afternoon. To me the cold and wet was all part of the experience. I can afford proper gear now but I have some fond memories to look back on.
 
I never set an age limit. It so dependant the that individual child. Some are ready to shoot at age 8 or so, some are never ready. It's not the age, it's the maturity and responsiblity.
 
Wife and I never had children.
My father bought me a Ithaca mod 49 at age 7. I still have it. Seems nobody wants single shot guns anymore.
 
Children are overrated.
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I always thought I was underrated as a child myself...

When my son was 4 I thought he was mature enough to get him a .22 for his 5th birthday. When he turned 5, I thought about his 6th birthday. When he was 8 1/2, he got a BB gun for Christmas. Maybe for his 10th Birthday.

His little sister though, thats a different story, way more mature at 4 years younger. Of course she runs in when I am watching a gun show of some sort, pauses for a moment and says "I don't want to kill anything, like deer." and starts dancing.
 
My eldest daughter fired off her first rounds at 6, using my old Mossberg 341 22 lr. A devoted (and talented) shooter to this day.:D
 
My son and daughter were both about 6. We have a BB gun shootin' gallery in our back yard. We shot both BB's and pellets. And through the years we accumulated 3 air rifles and 2 air pistols. We also had some hay bales for archery and crossbow. A couple years later we went to a real range at a Pocono resort and they got to shoot a variety of guns. They really liked the Uzi and the 22's. The 357, not so much. They're out on their own now and don't seem to be pursuing much interest. I'll have to work on my granddaughters.
 
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