At what age did you teach your kids to shoot firearms?

[Sigblaster]

My youngest daughter, 20 years old now, asked me this question just now. Apparently, she was having a conversation with her friends, and they all learned to shoot at around 12 or 13 years of age. I thinks that's way late. She knew it too, but it was a topic of conversation.

I told her that her and her sisters all learned around age 5. I think that's the right age where they can tell you honestly if their hearing protection is working properly. She remembers shooting at that age, but she was wondering if that's normal.

I believe that early instruction in the destructive power of fireams is essential to understanding why you should refrain from using them, and why you should actively employ them when necessary. Early familiarization, I think, is key to understanding their role.

Of course, I teach safety, and basic marksmanship fundamentals, but I also teach them the morality of firearms ownership and their usage.

What age did you get your kids out to the range?

 

[d.kaufman]

At 4 years old I started working with my daughter on fundamentals using a Red Ryder bb gun. At the age of 5 I bought a savage rascal single single shot bolt action. She's 10 now and can shoot just about anything, but is not a big fan of recoil.

A lot depends on the individual's maturity as far as progress though.

Here's a little collage of my youngest.

 

[churchmouse]

I started at about 8 with my sons. A bit later with the daughter.

 

[92FSTech]

I introduced them around 4 or 5, and progressed from there as their maturity level and physical ability grew. There are guns in our home...that's a fact of life...and I want them to grow up without some mystique or unsatiated curiosity that could lead them to make poor decisions. Safety and proper handling were the first things they learned, and any time they want to go shooting, I take them.

 

[DadSmith]

I started my children and grandchildren out with a Davy Cricket 22lr at 5. At around 8 I started them with a rough rider SA revolver. As they grew and were able to shoot larger calibers it went to 10/22 then AR-15 and 9mm usually Ruger or S&W made. My daughter was 14 and begged to shoot the 44mag. She was a tiny little lady. She fired it once and I said no more because the recoil was to great. She did hit the target at 25 yards. Now she owns a high capacity 9mm and a AR-15 in 556.

I wish the savage rascal was available then. It looks like a better training rifle.

My father started me out at 5 years of age my grandfather had my dad hunting at 4 years old. Different times back in the late 1940's.

 

[IUKalash429]

Not there myself just yet, but my dad taught 7-year-old me after I found his loaded Llama 1911 clone on top of my parents' armoire. We were never a gun family, but he used to help me spray paint my cap guns and Nerf guns black and remove those corny orange muzzle caps. I knew I had stumbled across something I wasn't supposed to find, and after holding it and playing with it I tried to put it back in the exact same spot. He knew. As punishment, he took me out to the back yard, taught me how to unload and load a mag, chamber a round, safe handling and sighting in, and then made me shoot it into the ground. I was scared to death, but did as I was told.

Fast forward a few decades and I still joke with him that it's all his fault, that this was the watershed moment why I'm such a gun nut today. He still has that Llama.

 

[DadSmith]

Just like teaching your child how to catch a baseball or dribble a basketball or catch a football or riding a bike. Start young and teach them right and you don't have to worry about them shooting themselves, friends, other innocent people.

 

[Alex Stuark]

i started at 6 with my son

 

[Thor]

As soon as my kids could understand language and carry objects I told them about guns, what they did and how they worked. They are learning machines, don't underestimate them. They can understand things that are dangerous (electrical sockets) but will want to experiment if you don't enlighten them. Teach them the consequences of using them.

When I was a youngster I found and learned to disassemble and reassemble my dad's M1 Carbine that was 'hidden' from us kids before he took me hunting with a bolt action 4.10; luckily for my sisters there was no ammo around. It would probably have been better if I'd had some positive instruction prior to that.

Treat your children as little adults, they will be adults soon enough and should have that knowledge. Lack of knowledge and understanding of consequences leads to tragedy.

Teach them early.

 

[PistolBob]

Rifles at age 8, handguns at age 9 or 10. We had a rule, you touch it you clean it.

 

[drm-hp]

I like this line of questioning, lots of terrific memories!
One of the first memories my daughter has is of her mother holding her in the garage while I was processing a deer that I had shot earlier that day. She started going with me hunting when she showed interest in being outside in inclimite whether at age four.
By six she was asking intelligent questions about shooting and we had been discussing the hardware and the mindset of what is going on. She first shot a single action, 22lr revolver that my father had.(She learned the steps involved in making a firearm discharge). She then went to a Cricket, then we shot Smallbore Pistol for two years starting when she was twelve. About this time she showed an interest in Squirrel hunting so we upgraded her to a Ruger 10/22 Deluxe w/Leopold 4x rimfire scope. She always did very well in school so occasionally I would pull her out and we would get lunch to go and we would go to the range for Daddy/ Daughter time! We typically had the range to ourselves, we would shoot, eat lunch, talk, shoot some more, clean up then go home for dinner. Too this day she is still hard on Squirrels! We built her a gorgeous 243 Win. on a small ring Mauser that has killed one deer , but she would rather just tag along with me than shoot another. She would just rather hunt/ shoot Squirrels!

 

[Magyars]

My son's and grandchildren all receive their first rifle at 7.

 

[Whisk604]

I have 3 daughters. I purposely bought toy guns that had similar functions to real ones so they could learn safeties, hammers, bolt throws, etc. I introduced those around 2-3 years old. By 4 I had them shooting 22's on my range and at 5 they shot their first squirrel. I made sure that the curiosity of firearms was never there. Just ask dad and we'll go outside and use whatever they wanted. I thought I needed to have boys in order to have hunters and sportsman but my daughters have proved me very wrong.

 

[Ruger_Ronin]

3 daughters as well, 2 who shoot with me. Original introduction around 3-4, progress determined by maturity. Basic awareness and safety pounded into them constantly. For a more detailed discussion visit this thread:

Early education

Folks can say whatever they like, but my opinion will not be swayed. (Mods, please delete post of found to be out of line, no hard feelings) All that being said, I have a strong conviction about teaching children the importance of firearm safety. Whether or not the child grows up with them in...

www.indianagunowners.com

 

[crewchief888]

i took my stepson at about 10 years old out for the 1st time. started him on my dads marlin model 99 22LR. only thing he wanted to shoot was my USPSA open gun. neither daughter ever expressed much interest, especially the oldest, she's very sensitive to loud noises. took my niece to the range at 23 the 1st time. started her with my RFPO MK IV 22/45.

 

[smittygj]

Started both my sons at about age 8 with .22's.

 

[1nderbeard]

I bought my boys a BB gun this year. The oldest is 6, the middle is 3. I have a younger one also but he's just learning to walk...

The 6 is probably a little too young. Not in maturity but in stature/strength. He has a hard time fitting the stock and pulling the trigger. My 6 YO is really interested in hunting. Last year we went and killed one the first time. The next two times I saw one each time but wasn't quick enough. He only lasts about 30 min.

I learned around 8-10. I can't totally recall the age. But I remember going squirrel hunting with my grandpa around that age. Shot at one and missed. It haunts me to this day....I've killed a few since though.

 

[drysdaleg88]

Young Marines we teach kids at the age of 8 years old on 22lr.

 

[flyingsquirrel]

BB guns at 6 and 8 years old. Girls listen more closely and are easier to teach in my experience

 

[Bill2905]

Age 26 for my stepson. Living in Chicago, he was trending in the direction of being an anti-gun millennial. After two hours of drilling the centers out of targets with a CZ 457 and meeting some nice people at the range, he walked away from the experience with a more open mind.