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22 for my 6yr old daughter


Leavemeout
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First post anywhere so be easy on me. My daughter really wanted to go target shooting with me and I finally gave in and took her a week ago. Wasn't sure she was ready but she loved shooting my M&P 15-22 with a red dot with me holding the rifle and her looking into the red dot and pulling the trigger when ready. Concern I have is that the red dot doesn't require as much aim/focus as iron sights. She's only 6 so I may be going down a rabbit hole with worrying about iron sights. Safety is number one but don't want to start bad habits right out of the gate. Any guidance/thoughts would be appreciated. 

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Welcome to The Bore Site!

You're really the only one who can decide if she's ready to start shooting.  Mine wasn't ready by the age of 6, but that doesn't mean that yours isn't.  Just remember that things can go south awfully fast if you have your back turned "just for a minute."  With that said, I think the key at her age is just to make sure she has fun.  I think that shooting with iron sights is important for any shooter, but at 6, if she's not having fun, she won't want to shoot.  Let her shoot with the red dot and enjoy the time with her.

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1 hour ago, AirForceShooter said:

For starting off kids I really like bolt actions.

You're teaching them to shoot not spray.

At her age and size I'd consider a Cricket. Find a used one. And for the love of God, not PINK.

And most importantly, have fun.

 

AFS

I have bought Crickets for my granddaughters at 6 years of age, and they were PINK  :-) .  A bolt action single shot is the way to go for a first gun.  Cricket are good guns,  Savage makes one that I think is better but the cost is much higher.  

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A Cricket was my daughter's first rifle. I put a little scope on it for her and he loved it. Single action bolt is a very good idea - especially at that young age. At this point, as AFS said, the idea is to have fun. A bold (or lever for that matter) action will slow her down and force her to think about each shot. A red dot/scope will help her enjoy the experience a bit more until you feel she is old enough to understand how to site using irons.

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Thanks for the replies. I should have noted I only loaded 1 round each time and held the 22 at all times. I like the idea of a bolt action but she was so excited to shoot a big gun like Dad's ar that she may not give up the 15-22 in my lifetime. I thought 6 was too young in general too but she is a good kid and I was worried she could either lose interest or become too interested and get herself in trouble some day with a gun outside our home. Better safely trained then sorry was my thinking. Thanks again. And she does want the pink 15-22 but my safe has a no pink policy. 

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Savage Rascal for the kids.  Much, much easier on the adults as they don't have that silly cocking device at the rear of the bolt.   Much closer to a traditional bolt rifle.   Comes in various colors, too.  It's what we bought my now 8 yr old when he was 5.   Shoots the CCI Quiets nicely and doesn't scare the kiddo with too much noise. 

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It's more fun for the kids when they can hit their target.  I wouldn't worry about the red dot.  My kids started on a Cricket, prone with sandbags, and quickly graduated to a 10-22 with a scope for more accuracy (Ruger stock sights suck), still prone and on sandbags.  Then OD learned to use a sling and got rid of the sandbags.  YD got rid of the sandbags, but didn't want to use the sling.  Whatever.  I just wanted her to enjoy shooting, and she did.  They both enjoyed it till they discovered archery, then they did that instead, with their daddy.  They like it cause it is quiet.  OD hunts with a crossbow now, and target shoots with a stick bow.  YD prefers a compound.

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I don’t have any experience with rifles. But I recently rented an S&W shield .22 to teach a girl how to shoot. Not only did she love Shooting it, I really enjoyed it as well(I’m not the hugest fan of the triggers, so it surprised me how much I liked it).

Edited by Gun Shark
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On 9/21/2017 at 4:34 PM, Leavemeout said:

...I thought 6 was too young in general too but she is a good kid and I was worried she could either lose interest or become too interested and get herself in trouble some day with a gun outside our home. Better safely trained then sorry was my thinking. ...

There is no "perfect age" to train a kid. Only you can tell if she is mature enough.

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  • 3 months later...

i agree with bolt action  also . i started my girls at 8 and 10  with bolt guns  and moved on from there.  but i spent more time on every gun is loaded  , treat it as such  and we would do drills  til they got it right .   but a cricket sounds  ok .    i still got my old 22 bolt from when i was 7  

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The single shot bolt is the better idea, esp. If it is sized for a small child.

Not having one, I took my kids out for the first time on my Marlin 795.  Only 1 round per mag.  And an extra adult to watch who wasn't shooting so I could stay focused on the one who was.

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  • 5 months later...

Here is my youngest with her Cricket. 

Kind of a pain to load but I wanted to start her with a single shot. 

 

She chose the target  she wanted to shoot the bad guy.

AED96206-23E2-4F57-945C-F311C4289836.jpeg

Edited by ZMBKLR
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My daughter stated at a very early age with a cricket rifle at age five, but before that she was shooting my browning buckmark hunter .22 pistol with scope off sandbags at age 4, with me sitting right beside her and she was spinning one of those rubber gopher targets almost every time at 15-20 yards and loving it.  Now she is 17 years old, killed 15 deer, a dozen turkeys, unknown number of rabbits, squirrels, ducks, etc. and shoots on her high school trap team and shot a 191 out of a possible 200 in 16 yard singles at this year's Iowa SCTP state trap shoot!  As long as they are properly supervised and having fun, let them shoot!

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My daughter stated at a very early age with a cricket rifle at age five, but before that she was shooting my browning buckmark hunter .22 pistol with scope off sandbags at age 4, with me sitting right beside her and she was spinning one of those rubber gopher targets almost every time at 15-20 yards and loving it.  Now she is 17 years old, killed 15 deer, a dozen turkeys, unknown number of rabbits, squirrels, ducks, etc. and shoots on her high school trap team and shot a 191 out of a possible 200 in 16 yard singles at this year's Iowa SCTP state trap shoot!  As long as they are properly supervised and having fun, let them shoot!


That’s awesome... but... no hogs?


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No, no hogs LOL. If you shoot the hogs in Iowa, some farmer gets very upset [emoji51]


Just give him a couple hundred bucks and call it good. :P

Seriously, there aren’t any Wild Boar up there? Come down to Florida and go to Chappy’s Outfitters. Great people and an over abundance of hogs in the state. There is no season here either. They are pest animals.
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1 hour ago, Gun Shark said:

 


Just give him a couple hundred bucks and call it good. :P

Seriously, there aren’t any Wild Boar up there? Come down to Florida and go to Chappy’s Outfitters. Great people and an over abundance of hogs in the state. There is no season here either. They are pest animals.

 

Nope no wild pigs here.  My daughter would love to go shoot some pigs, as long as she could grind them up into sausage!

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My son which i started the same age loves the MP 22 and a Heritage revolver. I also got him a Henry lever but he didn’t like it then, front heavy.

 

now my son is 13 and likes clays with light load 12 gauge too. 

 

One step at at a time.

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  • 4 weeks later...

I have taken many children shooting over the years and the #1 lead delivery system for small shooters I have found is the Savage Rascal (wood stock)

Accu trigger, peep sights, cocks on opening, short length of pull, light, single shot and accurate

 

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  • 3 weeks later...

My daughter started shooting at 5 with my hands around hers and me pulling the trigger. At 7 she got a Cricket from Santa, and I slept on the couch for a week... ?

Later, after the D I V O R C E  and I got into competition shooting she would drill the "New Shooters" on the Four Laws Of Firearms on the way to tech them to shoot... 

We are now discussing when her 5 year old daughter will start shooting... ?  and yes, we will be using her original Cricket!

The Cricket was a reasonable price, and has been easy to maintain. 

That's my thoughts, and several othe rmembers too!  

Hope that helps you out...

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