Starter gun for kids

[Wulf202]

Start with a rifle. Easier to hit with and a bit harder to hurt yourself with.

Get reactive targets. Steel. Clay pigeons. Balloons. Whatever you want to make it fun. I've trained alot of new shooters and have experimented many times. Steel is good because it's Re usable and gives instant feedback and a hit is a hit. Don't be too concerned with bullseye shooting until they start to show an interest in hitting smaller targets.

Grandpa had a pair of red Ryder and a pair of quarters. We'd race the coins by hitting them

[BrianV]

Great idea on the reactive targets...I just shot at cans!


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[BrianV]

Hmm, thought I had my ideal pellet gun for nephew now...and grandsons to grow into...but now rethinking the power. This is a great sale at Cabela's, but perhaps too powerful at 1250 fbs to practice on own 4-acre property? And even though it is supposed to be "Whisper" some reviews said it was loud.

http://www.cabelas.com/product/gamo-...dsPerPage%3D18


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[BrianV]

And the Benjamin I was looking at was 1200fps

http://www.cabelas.com/product/benja...Tz_stype%3DGNU


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[newracer]

You need to remember the pellets are only 8-10 grain, not a lot of energy.

[Wulf202]

Those fps figures are gathered with aluminum pellets. Which are inaccurate expensive and uncommon. Lead pellets will go much slower

[BrianV]

Excellent - thanks. I'll probably go with the higher rated Gamo, then.


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[Mick-Boy]

I have no issue shooting a pellet rifle in the house. It should be fine on 4 acres.

For general "new shooter introduction" guns I'd like to offer a different answer; A semi-automatic .22 rifle with some type of optic.


My reasoning - For a new shooter I want the experience to be A) Safe and B) Fun

SAFE - A 13 year old should be able to figure out safety with a handgun pretty quickly but why set a new shooter up for failure right off the bat. It's easier to be cognizant of your muzzle with a rifle. It's also easier to keep track of where the shooter's muzzle is pointing. This allows corrections to be made before there's an issue.

FUN - Hitting is more fun than missing. It's easier to hit with some type of optic (scope, red dot, whatever).

With my oldest I bought one of those single shot, bolt action .22s. We took it out once when he was 4 or 5. I discovered that the sights are terrible for a new shooter (A tiny rear peep and a front blade made for a frustrating few shots before it went back in the bag.) and single shot doesn't make for a lot of fun (It's hard to make an immediate correction when you have to hand load another round). Switching that boy to a 10/22 with a red dot gave him the chance to apply corrections immediately when he missed and once he got on target he could clang away with however many rounds I/we loaded into the magazine. He hit more often (had more fun) and I didn't sacrifice anything by way of safety.

As he's gotten older (8 now) I've been able to revisit iron sights with him. In fact some of his favorite guns to shoot are a SP100 in .22 and a little Rossi .22 pump. But I believe that getting him on target quickly and letting him just bang steel with a semi and a red dot made it a lot more fun early on.

[BrianV]

My favorite gun growing up was an open-sight bolt action .22.

The Gamo air rifle, with scope and producing 1,250 fps seems like a good compromise of what you describe while having a pellet that will not fly as far on those 4-acres. I'm also likely to get the Gamo pellet handgun currently on sale at Cabela's for $69...includes the blowback feature, should be fun, and I can teach proper gun safety and technique without a big recoil.

I do see a .22 in our future, but maybe next go-round. He visits annually, and I have two toddler grandsons that will grow into it.


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[Buff]

A couple years ago for mothers day I got the wife a Stoeger .22cal break barrel http://usa.stoegerairguns.com/x20-s2-suppressor to shoot rabbits around the house. It has enough energy to drop a rabbit at 25yds with good shot placement. She's probably run 1500rds <> through it and still shoots great and holds a nice sub 1" group at 30yds. The scope that came with it had the recital go loco and I replaced with a cheapo Simmons 3x9 I got of Amazon for $60.00. For the money it's a good rifle and has served the wife well.