took my son out shooting yesterday

[Little Dutch]

I'm hesitant to post pictures with the current cancel culture.

Yesterday I took my 5 year old son out and taught him to shoot his Savage Rascal. I set up a small bench with bags and some steel at 10 and 15 yards. I started him without hearing protection and CB's. He figured out the sight picture pretty quick and was hitting the steel every time. After 5 consecutive hits I switched him over to Aguila 40 grain subsonic ammunition and put on his hearing protection. Those 40 grain bullets are heavy enough to knock over my small steel targets which adds some excitement to the mix. He did really well and hit the steel every time for quite a while. Towards the end he missed three in a row so we took a short break. Afterwards he knocked them all down another 3 times and we called it a day.

I was impressed with the whole thing. He took it seriously and showed good safety and control over the rifle.

I bought that savage for him as soon as I found out my wife was pregnant. I'm glad we finally got it out and that he enjoyed it and did so well with it.

His younger brother, still 2 years old, has his own Savage Rascal waiting in the safe as well.

[theGinsue]

Sounds like you had a great experience. It's never too early to start teaching safety, particularly firearms safety.

My grandson just turned 7 this month and with his parents permission, I think I'll be taking him out to the range some time this summer to shoot the single shot bolt action .22LR that my dad bought for my kids.

[.455_Hunter]

Outstanding!

They progress quickly. My son is 16 and working on NRA Junior Smallbore Distinguished Expert. Seems like we were just taking those tentative first shots...

[JoeRoss]

Great story, love hearing about kids learning to shoot.

Watch out though.. Taught my son early like that, later in the years he shot competition with me at times. He kept trying and finally one time, he did it. He beat me. He placed first that night, and I was second. I was so proud.

[buffalobo]

Very cool. Always one of the best days ever.

Bummed that am in a period(2 yrs) of waiting for next minion to come of age to learn to shoot.

[glock74]

That’s awesome. I have been talking my 8 year old son target shooting every 2 months. He loves shooting 22lr pistol’s and rifle’s.

[TRnCO]

a big thumbs up. Loving hearing stories like this. Hopefully the experience plants the seed in him to love the shooting sports as he grows.

[Squeeze]

I took my son to a Ragnar Tactical class last Friday. Last Christmas I bought him an M&P 2.0 w/ Holosun 507C on it. He literally out-shot 90% of the class. For 12 years old, the kid is a natural. Many of the adults were commenting and asking if he's had any other formal training. He pointed at me and said, "No, just my dad". Truly warmed my heart. It is such a blessing to be able to share these times with our children.

[fitterjohn]

Took my 9 year old again the other weekend. He finally outgrew the cricket single shot he said. Spends all his time shooting Henry 22 and my ruger mk3. Told me he is probably ready for me to buy him one of his own and a 10/22 so he doesn’t have to borrow mine lol. Always a great skill to pass on to your children.

[RblDiver]

Recently got a .22 that I'm looking forward to using to teach my fiancee's 6-year-old.