Taking my daughter to the range Saturday and shes been shooting before but, she has only handled a .22 cal my Ruger 22/45 she did very well. I am thinking about moving her up in caliber my choices are my Taurus .357 which she can shoot .38's or my G19 9mm. I am thinking the Glock but the Taurus handles pretty good with .38+P so, if I just get .38 specials it should handle ok for her thanks. What do you think? Thanks
How old is she? How big is she? How big are her hands? Can she get a decent grip on the gun? Have you skip loaded a revolver to see if she is flinching?
The four most important things about kids and range trips are:
Be safe and consistant. Do not bend the rules.
Make it fun
Make it fun
Make it fun
Did I mention, make it fun?
IMO, from what I've seen at the range, kids are moved up way too fast, then get yelled at when they don't live up to dad's expectations and he gets frustrated by the problem he created. I've taught daughters and nieces to shoot, they all have CCW licenses now (they grow up). All of them spent way longer with .22 revolvers and .22 Semi Autos than they thought they needed. But they all shoot well now. Skip load a 4" Ruger GP100 with full house .357 ammo and it doesn't quiver when the hammer drops on an empty chamber.
I shot maybe 1,000 rounds of .22 out of a Colt .22 Police Positive as a kid before my dad let me shoot his .38 Special with reduced loads. It depends on the child. Some tolerate recoil and noise better than others.
Too much gun too soon is a big, huge, mistake, can take years for them to get over it if they ever do. The idea with young kids is to enjoy the experience and learn to be safe.
If you have a .22 rifle, or a .22 Hornet rifle, those are good too. I spent a lot of time with a Winchester 52 Sporter in .22LR before I moved up.
Mastering the technique, sight picture, gun handling, rapid fire accuracy, are best done with a .22. If you can rent a Walther PT22 that would be good.
Most important, again, make it fun. Work for smiles.
Fitch