A friend of mines son has saved all of his money from mowing grass, animal sales, and other chores and he was all set to buy a .50 cal Desert Eagle pistol. He's in the 8th grade and like most boys he's all into bigger is better. His dad and I tried our best to convince him that a Desert Eagle, while cool, is going to be a gun safe queen for an 8th grader. It's not cheap to shoot, and for him, it won't be fun to shoot. He wasn't convinced.
A few years ago I let him shoot my .338 Edge and he did pretty good out to 600 yards in a little bit of cross wind (10 kts from 90 degrees so not a little) so I tried to convince him to go with a rifle. His dad asked me to help him convince the boy to get a .22 or .17 HMR since he didn't have one. I talked to him... ok texted back and forth... nobody frikken talks anymore... for over an hour and he wasn't convinced. He backed off of the Desert Eagle but wanted a 7mm Rem Mag Sendero like mine. Mines all tricked out with a Nightforce scope, Jewell trigger, Harris bipod with pod lock... it's not in his price range...
So Friday I met them down at a ranch and I carried my Savage MKII down with me. It's chambered in .22 LR (I wish I had bought a 17 HMR but I didn't realize how cool those are until i already had my .22). I put a Leupold 8.5x25x mil dot scope, that I retired from my 7mm mag, on a 20moa base. I "zero'd" it at 150 yards. It's a fun rifle to shoot. It won't drive tacks at 150 yards but it'll splatter cow schtuff and make a meadowlark duck out at 150 yards. gun)
The ranch owner has elevated his house about 15-20 feet up on stilts and there's a real nice deck to shoot from. The barrel sticks out between the deck rail slats so for an 8th grader he was in his sniper hide. I set up rocks at 75 yards, 100 yards, and 150 yards. He reluctantly shot it a couple of times. At 75 yards he had to hold two mil dots low... and that's what hooked him. He caught on quick... shoot a spotter round... move the point of impact in the scope to the target, shoot again and bam... right on the money... all with the lowly .22 rimfire. We even had a wind flag up so he could anticipate the calmest part of the wind. He emptied a 50 round box of shells over two days so he wasn't wasting ammo. He made all of his shots count. He even took a shot at a bird that his dad ranged at 230 yards. He held 4 dots high and the bird hit the road when the round hit. No critters were harmed in two days but that boy sure had a good time.
It's too bad .22LR ammo is at such ridiculous levels of scarcity and pricing... but it was worth every round to see the a youngin see the benefits of the lowly .22LR round...
A few years ago I let him shoot my .338 Edge and he did pretty good out to 600 yards in a little bit of cross wind (10 kts from 90 degrees so not a little) so I tried to convince him to go with a rifle. His dad asked me to help him convince the boy to get a .22 or .17 HMR since he didn't have one. I talked to him... ok texted back and forth... nobody frikken talks anymore... for over an hour and he wasn't convinced. He backed off of the Desert Eagle but wanted a 7mm Rem Mag Sendero like mine. Mines all tricked out with a Nightforce scope, Jewell trigger, Harris bipod with pod lock... it's not in his price range...
So Friday I met them down at a ranch and I carried my Savage MKII down with me. It's chambered in .22 LR (I wish I had bought a 17 HMR but I didn't realize how cool those are until i already had my .22). I put a Leupold 8.5x25x mil dot scope, that I retired from my 7mm mag, on a 20moa base. I "zero'd" it at 150 yards. It's a fun rifle to shoot. It won't drive tacks at 150 yards but it'll splatter cow schtuff and make a meadowlark duck out at 150 yards. gun)
The ranch owner has elevated his house about 15-20 feet up on stilts and there's a real nice deck to shoot from. The barrel sticks out between the deck rail slats so for an 8th grader he was in his sniper hide. I set up rocks at 75 yards, 100 yards, and 150 yards. He reluctantly shot it a couple of times. At 75 yards he had to hold two mil dots low... and that's what hooked him. He caught on quick... shoot a spotter round... move the point of impact in the scope to the target, shoot again and bam... right on the money... all with the lowly .22 rimfire. We even had a wind flag up so he could anticipate the calmest part of the wind. He emptied a 50 round box of shells over two days so he wasn't wasting ammo. He made all of his shots count. He even took a shot at a bird that his dad ranged at 230 yards. He held 4 dots high and the bird hit the road when the round hit. No critters were harmed in two days but that boy sure had a good time.
It's too bad .22LR ammo is at such ridiculous levels of scarcity and pricing... but it was worth every round to see the a youngin see the benefits of the lowly .22LR round...
