my first rifle was a marlin semi. my dad handed me .22 ammo one at a freaking time. very annoying to an amped up young shooting machine such as myself.

probably for the best tho...

Great advice. I follow the same thought but start them with a single shot .22 bolt action, then on to the other styles. I make them memorize the rules of shooting too, They MUST be able to recite them from memory before they can shoot any gun. This includes air guns too.
yeah I'm a dick.

My granddad (WW2 marine) had me with a little falling block .22 -- you would have thought those rounds were gold the way he metered them out. Decade or so later doing the prone slow fire for a Garand match didn't seem so slow!

I must be too. Emily couldn't even look for one in the store until she could recite them. She started with a Red Ryder and up to a falling block .22. Kids can be responsible when they need to be, but they are distracted easily.

Good for you. All these shoot em up video games teach terrible gun habits.

My 8 year old has been shooting a bolt action .22 at his grandparent's house (40 acres) since he was 5. He loves it and is a pretty decent shot. Exposure and close supervision is the key to gun safety in my opinion, it removes any novelty related to guns and he absolutely knows that they are not toys.

I would start with a rilfe

- Definitely NOT an automatic. I'd get a break open single shot or a bolt action for safety and for learning that every shot counts.
- I would go with iron sight to start. Everyone should know how to shoot with iron sights - don't spoil a kid with a scope right away. The iron sights will be helpful for handgun shooting later on as well.
- Get a youth model that has at least a shortened length of draw. You want to teach the proper shooting stance / position which is impossible with a grown-up gun.
- Only allow shooting in a proper position (not off a chair!). Train prone, sitting, standing, sitting with shooting sticks.
- Make sure you have the dominant eye correct. A person can be right handed but left eye dominant. If that is the case, make sure to get a ambidextrous or lefty model.

Have fun shooting!

G

I agree with the single shot advice too. Ha, I had an old single shot Winchester brand .22 with a little short bolt. You still see these particular ones poping up in auctions.

And when I was 8 my dad used to take me on the skeet/claybird shooting circut with him. I had my own single barrel .410. I thought everyone was laughing at me so I made sure I didn't miss with my one shot. I now think they were smiling at the determined lil guy.

+1 ^

This is great advice. My only comment is on the suggestion to avoid a semi-auto. While I completely agree with the rationale, I would point out that you can always load a single round in a semi-auto to get the same effect. Once they have safely mastered that, you can load more in the mag without buying another gun. This keeps rifles like the 10-22 high on my list and a .22 pistol like the Ruger a good choice for learning and fun.

Lastly, I am a natural lefty. I recommend having lefties adapt to RH guns where possible. I have no problem with RH mag releases, rifle safeties, slide locks, etc. I have even shot a 1911 in competition without an ambi-safety by developing a technique to sweep the safety with my weak hand over the top as I push out. It's a right handed world out there. I'd like to be able to pick up any gun and be comfortable shooting.

still my favorite gun too shoot is my old single shot bolt action springfield rifle with iron sights.
my first gun and it always brings back memories of my youth. have to take off the safety everytime you work the bolt so it really enforced safety use.
we used something very simular in scouts. spent most of my free time at the range during the week of summer camp every year.

all that time wasted reloading the mag can be spent shooting. keep the box of ammo next to you on the bench and off you go. plinkplinkplinkplinkplinkplinkplink

10/22 would be a good choice down the road when you are ready to step up from a basic learing gun.

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