How young were your kids when you brought them to shoot at the range?

[bullseye]

I took my older boy when he was 8 and my younger at 7. My daughter will have her pink cricket when she is 6. She wants to go now, and she's 5. God bless them, let them have fun and learn, my boys love shooting so much so that they got me interested in black powder and archery after they started.

 

[davemata]

I started at 4 with a 10/22, and when I have a kid they'll start at the same age with the same rifle.

 

[radioman]

I was 7 when my father first took me to the range and 9 when he gave me my first rifle. My daughter was 21 before I convinced her that the guns are not the bad part in the equation. After her first trip, like most former anti's, she couldn't get enough shooting!! She asked all the time if and when I was going so she could make time. On her third time she was shooting my S&W 629!! She's now 25 and owns two pistols of her own!!

I think the younger the better!!!

 

[travis]

My grandson is almost three and he loves to pull the trigger. I hold the rifle though. My daughter started about 12 on her own but she was shooting as soon as she could pull the trigger. My grandson knows his 123's abc's and the four rules of shooting.

 

[Maninblue1861]

Great topic. My boy is 5 now, and was toiling with the idea of introducing him to shooting, but was unsure if 5 was way out of bounds. Was thinking of picking up a 10/22 for the occassion, as original idea was to use a m1 carbine but noise and recoil (to a 5 year old) may be too much.

 

[Climbnsink]

Started my daughter at 6 with a red ryder. Range time can get boring for a kid(certain kids)so we take it slow. I don't care if she grows up to be a hobby shooter but I will keep her exposed so she knows safe gun handling. Same as swimming lessons.

 

[Independence Arms]

Started my son at 9, but he's big for his age. Introduced the guns earlier than that though, just to get rid of the "curiosity factor"

 

[Friday]

My Son was about 7 or 8 when he started shooting the air rifle, around 10 when we started going to the range. He shoots just about everything, handguns and rifles.

 

[Pilgrim]

My kids were in their 20's.

I remedied that with my grand kids. They were 5.

 

[Burgermeister]

My son was 11 or 12 and is 14 now. He "took" to it right away and goes to the range with me regularly. We just went to our first Appleseed together, had a great time and learned a lot. He has shot everything I own, from a Ruger Single Six revolver up through the M1A.

My daughter is 12 now and is not interested in shooting right now. I took her last year to the Gunpowder Pig II and the sounds of the Barrett, machine guns, rockets, grenades and cannon fire kind of turned her off. I'm hoping to get her out to the range with a quiet 10/22 this summer.

 

[BradM]

got my first shotgun at 12

 

[Flyer007]

6yrs nerf
7 airsoft and bb
8 .22lr
9 added 20g shotgun, 9mm, 5.56

9th b-day last yr

Last Thursday Pin shoot

 

[msdamato]

I was just thinking of asking this same question. From what I'm reading I guess my 6 day old is not ready yet

 

[MainelyFree]

single-shot air rifle @ 6yrs. old
single-shot .22 bolt rifle @ 7yrs. old

 

[pova]

My son was 10 for his first shoots.

 

[stoneypete]

Kylie was 5. I was testing some reloads and she was watching. I asked her if she wanted to shoot it, she said yes. Alexa was 8. She only went because her younger sister had already gone. Both of them, (14 and 12) are no longer interested in shooting. However they know how to do it safely should the desire arise.

 

[xtry51]

My youngest was (and still is) 3 when we started with him. He has a BB gun. He's been to the range a bunch of times around pistols and ARs. He's pulled the trigger on my daughters bolt .22 rifle, but I wouldn't call it shooting it since he can't hold it, it was benched and I was doing the aiming, but he loved it.

At first it was probably only 10-15 minutes of shooting due to him not wanting to wear ear muffs. Now he'll keep muffs on until you take them away from him

My 6yo son also has a BB gun and 11yo daughter has the .22 bolt gun and a M&P 15-22. I like keeping them to rifles since it's "harder" to shoot your self with one (obviously we all know to watch them anyway!), and it's easier to watch handling tendencies should they start getting a little undisciplined with the muzzle.

My daughter has fired a .22 target pistol, but the younger ones have not yet. I'm not sure at what age they will get to yet. I like to base it on when I think their safety has reached a level I'm sure they won't shoot me, at least not by accident

 

[Spanz]

Don't exactly remember, something like 6 or 7. I do remember getting them their first .22 rifles for their 10th birthdays.

 

[MrsWildweasel]

My son has been hunting with dad and grandad since he was 5. We started him early.

 

[MrsWildweasel]

Some of my sons fondest memories with his grandfather are, his grandfather picking him up from school and taking him hunting.