Teenagers and shooting,

[BIGJOHN621]

My son first shot at age 10 with me and now, only 2 years later shoots a 2" group at 100 yards with "his" Mini-30. He's always been a big kid so we skipped the 10-22 and went straight to the big boy. We go over the safety rules in the car on the way, before uncasing, and while at the line. We do this each and every time. Also I won't let him use a rest anymore to shoot because in the woods, or in real life, there is no such thing all the time. I'm very proud of the little guy and he loves it. This is one of the last things in life truly passed down from father to son and I'm proud to give him a rifle I got from my dad and tell stories of "when grandpa took me shooting". Even more amazing is when the old man can join us. Not too frequently these days due to age and health, but we have been lucky enough to have had a few precious days we all will never forget.

 

[Fitch]

To the OP: Well done sir, well done indeed.

My daughter, being raised in CA, wasn't much for guns and shooting. However, when we moved to PA she finally agreed to take a handgun safety course. By then she was living in her own condo, BS in civil engineering, MS in structural dynamics, PE in PA, NY, ME. Finally got her to the range and she loved it! She had a great instructor for the class - he ended up with her asking me when we could go to the range.

She shot well from the first shot. She was a roper, rodeo for 10 years, has terrific hand-eye coordination. Hitting the target in the same place shot after shot is no problem for her. She also has a Mossberg 500 20ga for home defense in addition to her 4" GP100.

My Niece begged me to teach her to shoot when she was a senior in HS. She played 4 years of HS basketball and went on to play 4 years of varsity college basketball. Another coordinated girl. We went through a 4 hours session at the dinette table about safety, manual of arms, handling the guns. I had dummy rounds so she could paractice clearing semi-autos. She has excellent strength so none of them were a problem for her. I started her with the .22 revolver but she kept begging to shoot the G19. Finally I gave up and had her load a magazine for the G19, get on the line, put in the magazine, rack the slide, and go ahead with it. My word but she likes shooting that pistol, and she shoots it very well.

She went back home to Rochester but knowing she would be back I did some experimenting and found a load that jams, or stove pipes, or something about every 3 or 4th round. I loaded up 200 of them. When she came back down with her dad to visit, we went to the range. I gave her a refresher and the box of ammo, explained what it was, and left her to it. Well, after she finished that 200 rounds she could clear about anything almost with out looking. She's an athlete, realizes the value of practiceing more than normal movements, and loved it.

She and my daughter both have their concealed carry permits in NY now.

Fitch

 

[Rocketgeezer]

Ye olde softy. I'm thinking that little girl has you wrapped around her (trigger) finger.

Thats not the half of it, she wants her own gun now, a 45, (I would keep it of course) she wants a silver one with black grips, LOL

 

[wlhump]

Daughters and shooting

I started teaching my daughter (and son, but you asked about girls) when she was about 7. I have an Anschutz target .22 with a nice scope and a light trigger. Set it up on a couple bags and (after repeated safety instructions) taught her to put the cross-hairs on the metallic silhouettes and then with a smooth squeeze, to “knock 'em down.” The sweet light trigger, the 11 pound .22 LR rifle soaking up the "recoil," the bagged setup and “reactive” targets made shooting a lot of fun. It all started there. The key was to keep it safe and make it fun with targets that moved/clanged, did something rather than just punch a hole in the paper.

I continued to push the safety and training while progressing up through .22 LR rifles and pistols, my .38 Spl. /.357 Mag , 12 ga. Etc. She has become an excellent shot.

Was very proud on several occasions at how well she learned the safe handling aspects. Once, in a gun shop where I was looking at a new 1911, I handed my her the pistol in front of salesman. Even though I had just checked it in front of her, she dropped the mag and racked the slide to recheck it herself, much to the surprise of the salesman.:smile:

Another time, watched her train her rookie cousin how to shoot her SR9c and multiple times rebuke her to keep the finger off the trigger, watch where its pointed, etc. Basically repeat – retrain all the safety instructions before allowing her to load it and start to shoot.

She now is 22 yrs old and has her concealed carry and is a well informed and active gun advocate. She’s very safe and a very good shot.