Little boys and guns

[Frogfur]

Recently my son and my grandson hoped in the rig for a lesson in guns, gun safety and just plain shooting fun!
He is learning from his father as his dad learned from me. Assume experience for me. I got a fire going while dad and his boy got some trigger time. We are starting him out with his BB/pellet gun.

Here, he learns how to load it, one at a time.

He learns to make sure the safety is on. I drove home the point "you should never shoot your sister" with your BB gun like i did and get in trouble!

Little guy runs as fast as he can to look at his target.

Before we left, he got to shoot a full cylinder of .22 magnums(with assistance from dad)thru my Ruger, Single Six, single action revolver. It was like a .357 for him.

A great time had by all. That little boy wore himself out and fell asleep on the way home.
Man, that day was what i have waited for, for the longest time. To see that. It was heart filling.

 

[redcoats1976]

ah yeah,i remember my dad showing us how to shoot.bought us each a BB rifle and we had a huge woods in back of our house.first time i shot the 12 guage i thought my arm was going to fall off.

 

[Tone deaf]

My dad started teaching me when I was about that age. As I kid, I loved guns and motorcycles. Come to think of it, as an adult, I still do.

If I think back over many years of awesome wilderness experiences (including lots of shooting), it all started on days like those.

Congrats and cheers.

 

[45WinMag]

My range doesn't allow anyone inder 7 years old to shoot, and I don't have an outdoor option around here. Have to wait two more years.

 

[I Break Things]

That's awesome. I remember my dad teaching me gun safety with his .357 when I was about 3 or 4 and teaching me how to shoot with the .22 he learned on. My best childhood memories are from shooting with my dad and his buddies.

 

[Caleb]

My old man taught me how to cut up limes and pack smokes, and that's about it. Ain't that some shit?

Very cool, I'm glad you guys had a good time.

 

[LeftyF2003]

I started my son out with a Red Rider BB gun when he was 5. We have a little cabin in the mountains in Vermont with a pellet trap and a bunch of cans. He is very safe and understands that you never shoot when anyone is in front of the firing line, how to carry a gun properly (pointed at the ground, safety on) and never to assume it's not loaded. We also never shoot anything that walks or flies, just paper targets and cans.

He's 15 now and is shooting a .177 pellet rifle that does around 1300 feet per second. He can write his name in a target at 30 yards.

 

[Tone deaf]

I started out with a Benjamin single shot .177 pump pellet gun, then onto a Marlin bolt action .22lr, then a single shot 20ga, up till I was about 12. Then I moved on to 12ga Winchester Model 59, Ithaca 20ga pump, Marlin 30-30, Remington 742 (.308) through high school. I did occasionally get to shoot a .22lr and .38 special wheel guns, but my dad (Mr. Safety) is less enthused about handguns (I think it is more about the length of long guns making muzzle control more obvious). The Ithaca pump was in the closet of my dorm through college, We'd go out shooting and/or hunting every now and then. Something tells me that wouldn't fly these days.

All three of my kids shoot and have had my basic gun safety training, although it is nowhere near as comprehensive as my dad's. We haven't had nearly as much gun time as I had as a kid. So, the training continues (as it does for me), forever.

 

[cmh6122]

Before dad got assigned to the 42nd Inf he had spent nearly three years teaching men to operate everything from .45 to the 37mm cannon. For my 14th birthday I got a Remington nylon 66. It is in my closet today 48 years later next Sunday. Dad had taught all of us to shoot, and handle firearms with the care they deserve long before.
They are not toys, but they belong to our legacy.
I became master of all things from .45 to 155mm, but was an artist with the M60

 

[Frogfur]

My old man taught me how to cut up limes and pack smokes, and that's about it. Ain't that some shit?

Very cool, I'm glad you guys had a good time.

Thats cool. I learned how to balance a glass of beer in a pile of salt on the table at Little Bo's bar with my pop and uncles.

 

[Frogfur]

I started my son out with a Red Rider BB gun when he was 5. We have a little cabin in the mountains in Vermont with a pellet trap and a bunch of cans. He is very safe and understands that you never shoot when anyone is in front of the firing line, how to carry a gun properly (pointed at the ground, safety on) and never to assume it's not loaded. We also never shoot anything that walks or flies, just paper targets and cans.

He's 15 now and is shooting a .177 pellet rifle that does around 1300 feet per second. He can write his name in a target at 30 yards.

This one is a Crossman. Good starter.

 

[Kris Ford]

I posted this in the Firearms thread, I know you'd like it!

 

[defcrew]

My sister had the notion she was not going to expose her son to guns and so forth. No toy guns, etc. One day he was running around the yard using a plastic toy piece of brocolli (talk about an odd toy) as a pistol and she kind of relented. Not sure if he ever got into shooting real guns. My folks are pretty anti-gun though not anti-2nd amendment but Dad did buy us our first shot guns and showed us how to use them. It's a pretty big part of male culture in most rural places. Sort of a right of passage. I bet the kid had a blast.

 

[Tone deaf]

My sister had the notion she was not going to expose her son to guns and so forth. No toy guns, etc. One day he was running around the yard using a plastic toy piece of brocolli (talk about an odd toy) as a pistol and she kind of relented. Not sure if he ever got into shooting real guns. My folks are pretty anti-gun though not anti-2nd amendment but Dad did buy us our first shot guns and showed us how to use them. It's a pretty big part of male culture in most rural places. Sort of a right of passage. I bet the kid had a blast.

My dad was strongly anti-toy gun and pro real guns. However, safety always came first. Even with toy guns they were not to be pointed at people. Oddly, I think that most of my sisters would be willing to give up our second amendment rights based upon the false narrative that it would make us safer.

 

[KSG_Standard]

My Dad bought my brothers and I a Marlin .22 when I was 9. He taught us to shoot and all about gun safety. He would fill up bottles and jugs with water or other stuff, so that we got some good visual feedback when we shot. I went on my first solo deer hunt when I was 13...took a nice 8 point with a Marlin .30-.30. I'm greatfull for my experiences with my Dad.

I taught my boy with a Ruger 10/22 and as soon as his arms were long enough, he took to all my bolt actions pretty well. He likes the handguns better though.

 

[Roberteaux]

I first began to learn about gun safety and shooting when I was eight years old or so. I was given my first .22 rifle on my 11th birthday, and my first shotgun at age 12.

I began to teach my kids about gun safety at the same age. The boy wasn't all that interested in shooting, but the daughter took to it readily enough. I began to bring her to the range with me when she was 10, and by the time she was about 15 she was very good with rifles, shotguns, and handguns.

She still visits the range with me on a fairly regular basis. She routinely out-shoots me with handguns.

About four years ago, MLP member bildozr and I met at a local public range to do some shooting. While we were there, I took this photo:

This is the ten year-old daughter of a local deputy sheriff, who tagged along with her dad for a little paper punching fun. Had to grin at the sight of her-- reminded me of taking my daughter with me to the range when she was about the same age.

Florida has issued more concealed weapons permits than any other state-- and if what I read recently is true, about 60% of them were issued to women.

--R

 

[Tone deaf]

My Dad bought my brothers and I a Marlin .22 when I was 9. He taught us to shoot and all about gun safety. He would fill up bottles and jugs with water or other stuff, so that we got some good visual feedback when we shot. I went on my first solo deer hunt when I was 13...took a nice 8 point with a Marlin .30-.30. I'm greatfull for my experiences with my Dad.

I taught my boy with a Ruger 10/22 and as soon as his arms were long enough, he took to all my bolt actions pretty well. He likes the handguns better though.

Are the Marlins both bolt actions? Those are the two rifles, that I used the most over my lifetime, .22lr and 30-30 Marlin bolt actions.

 

[Frogfur]

Thats what we constantly talk about with common sense folks. Above, and what you discribe rob. Regular everyday gun owners simply enjoying the shooting sport
In a very average way. If we don't show them how, we ourselves could not be responsible gun owners.
Thanks for sharing that man.

 

[KSG_Standard]

Are the Marlins both bolt actions? Those are the two rifles, that I used the most over my lifetime, .22lr and 30-30 Marlin bolt actions.

The .30-.30 is a Marlin 336, lever action. I don't remember which model of .22 it was...it had a box magazine instead of a tubular mag.

 

[Caleb]

Thats cool. I learned how to balance a glass of beer in a pile of salt on the table at Little Bo's bar with my pop and uncles.

Yeah well, I didn't get the chance to pass the two points of fatherly life skills that the old man bestowed on me, cutting limes and packing smokes, to any kids of my own. Which is probably a good thing, as it's about all I got. I guess I could stick with family tradition and not teach any potential sons how to fix anything, how to fight, the birds and the bees, basic finances, how to shoot/fish/hunt, how to haggle, how to tie a tie, how to shave, or how to avoid tbe wrong crowd.