Our Next Generation of Shooters

You guys are doing it right! I started my kids out with the Red rider and shooting crackers. Pellet gun and 22 cricket rifle. They shoot in 4-H shooting sports and love shotgun, Black powder and do great with the 22's. They look forward to hunting season and prairie dogs any time. It really warms a fathers heart to watch them introduce their friends to shooting & hunting. Let's keep it going!
 
You guys are doing it right! I started my kids out with the Red rider and shooting crackers. Pellet gun and 22 cricket rifle. They shoot in 4-H shooting sports and love shotgun, Black powder and do great with the 22's. They look forward to hunting season and prairie dogs any time. It really warms a fathers heart to watch them introduce their friends to shooting & hunting. Let's keep it going!
Those were the days. Most kids now would not have a clue what 4-H is or that you can enjoy a sport with a gun or bow. I hope those days come back, but I am not that much of an optimist.
 
Those were the days. Most kids now would not have a clue what 4-H is or that you can enjoy a sport with a gun or bow. I hope those days come back, but I am not that much of an optimist.

I couldn't talk my daughter into 4-H shooting sports, she only wants to do market beef! Her high school also offers a lifetime fitness class that teaches Archery. The past two years we've sent at least one kid to Nationals. Last year we had a kid who had never handled a bow finish around 200 out of 900 HS kids at the National competition. We are only a 1A school and the only school in SE Colorado with armed Teachers and Administrators.
 
Those were the days. Most kids now would not have a clue what 4-H is or that you can enjoy a sport with a gun or bow. I hope those days come back, but I am not that much of an optimist.
All we can do is teach the youth in our reach about the outdoors traditions and hope that carries the future . I agree the prognosis looks grim . It's all too convenient these days. The tech world is trying to pull our youth away from real experiences and replace them with simulations of reality . The fact that so many parents allow these traps to be sprung puts much of the blame on us. We are in the second generation of the take over on reality, so many younger parents dont fight it , honestly, because they grew up living through a screen too.
Again, all we can do is introduce our kids to REAL living and hope for the best. Of course, it sure would help our efforts if silicone valley would go ahead and break off and sink to the bottom of the ocean. A man can dream, cant he ? :)
 
Great thread, and an important one. My older 4 boys and 1 girl are grown and were brought up to carry open the outdoor family tradition of hunting, fishing and outdoor adventure. It was gift given to me by my Father and Grandfather. I had a late surprise in life and now have a 9 year old. He's shooting the same Steven's Favorite .22 I shot when i was 6. His uncle passed him a Winchester single shot 20 gauge. I have several rifles that were passed to me from my Dad that he will graduate to as he gets older when it comes time to go Deer/Elk hunting. It's fun to watch them grow and learn.
 
So I have loved guns my entire life. My father was not huge into guns but however was a true outdoorsman and hunter. He didn't have a large collection of guns but every one of them had a specific purpose. My little boy is now 5 and I have him three guns already and would like to get some better ideas of what u guys are getting for your kids to get them interested in shooting and hunting and also guns for them to pass on to their kids. There is nothing like seeing a kid shoot a gun at a target and actually hit it where they were aiming, that smile and pride is simply contagious. I am so excited now that he is getting older to have a new hunting partner in the future!
A .22lr is the best for years cheep and gets them the round count they need plus it realy teaches them wind and drop. I would go 20ga for a starter shot gun around 10 years old in my opinion.
 
The .20 ga advice is sound. If you can get it in a Rem 1100, that helps a lot, too. Softer recoil. Ideally, we'd use a .410 of some kind for the kids, but unless you reload the shells, they are two to three times the price of the 20 ga shells and that's just ridiculous. I was fortunate to be a skeet shooter (already set up to reload .410), so I got a second stock for my Fausti O/U in .410, cut it down to fit my son, and got him started shooting clays on the ground to see the gun wouldn't hurt him, then we shot some skeet and he really enjoyed that (especially station #7! Should have just shot the first 25 shells right there.)

I also started him off with a Ruger 77/22 in .22LR...only to discover when he went to shoulder it, he was putting it up to his LEFT SIDE. He writes and uses scissors with his right hand; never suspected he'd be a 'lefty' when it came to shooting. He figured it out anyway. Kids are great that way. Once we built him a Ruger 10/22 together (using the Brownells BRN-22 receiver) he was all about shooting again! He said the semi-auto brought the fun back to our range outings. I have to agree with him. Can't go wrong starting ANYONE off with the .22 LR. You can get ammo for $0.03 a round (again) which has been nice. Stock up!
 
I put together an integrally suppressed 10/22 a little over a year ago to teach my son (7 yrs old at the time). Nothing more fun that popping clay pigeons with that thing where the thwack of the bullet hitting the target downrange is as loud as the report of the gun.

It's working well, he has zero flinch and has started shooting further out. I will move him to a bolt action 223 (also suppressed) once his arms get a little longer.

Beats the heck out of the featherweight 270 my uncle taught me to shoot on.
 
Yea, 22 ammo is reasonable and available again. I got the ok to stock up on it for Christmas last year. Bought 6k Remington thunderbolts! The 22 conversion on my daughters AR eats um like candy too ! Too much fun !
 
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I would like to share a sad story, but one that needs to be on everyone's mind.

About 30 years ago, my sons were in Scouting here in So Cal.

One of the boys in the troop went to a friend's house after school. They dug into the dad's closet and found the 9mm pistol that the boy's dad used doing part time security work.

The parents of either boy had not taken the time to teach them what to do if they found a gun. They didn't know how to handle it. They weren't taught not to touch it.

Tragically the 12 YO scout lost his life. :(

At the following parent meeting, the parents of the young Scout that lost his life were there. A few of us leaders that are shooters thought we were going to hear how horrible guns were and no one should have them.

To the parent's credit, they asked the Committee Chairman to address the other parents. The mother could not speak, the father pulled a check out of his pocket and handed it to the Chairman. With tears in his eyes, he begged us all to teach the rest of these boys what to do if they find one. Teach them to go find an adult, how to handle them only with an adult present.

The check was enough to put on very good program for the next five years. As a Hunter Safety instructor and Merit Badge counselor, I had the privilege of heading up the Troops shooting program.

The program we put on required the boys to attend 4 out of 5 safety meetings each year prior to being allowed to attend the shooting camp out. The boys were taught how to safely handle all types of firearms. The camp outs always had 40-60 boys out for a weekend of shooting. NEVER A SINGLE ACCIDENT OR ISSUE. (wish the boys acted that well on other outings, LOL)

On Friday night before leaving on the trip, I would always circle the boys up for a last minute safety talk. The safety talk was always closed with "Gentlemen, you are about to have to opportunity to participate in a Man's Sport, Little boys are not allowed to come. Leave the Nintendo and horseplay at home. If you cannot act like a young adult, you do not belong on this outing, go over to your Mommy and go home!"

I was raised around guns, my boys were raised around them, and now my grandsons are being exposed. I have never denied my sons or grandsons the opportunity to look at them when they ask. I believe that is one of the reasons there has never been a problem.

So many parents today think they can hide them from kids, then tragically when they find one, curiosity gets the better of them, and someone gets hurt.

Of course, I am preaching to the Choir here.
 
Well put, and an all too common sad story. I fear it's not the last time a similar story will play out either.
The more people that FEAR guns, the more those accidents will happen . Parents that are afraid of firearms never expose their children to them. The poor kids only have mentors in the form of violent video games and shootum up movies on TV.
I dont lock my forearms away unless other families kids come to our house. My kids have been taught to ASK if they can handle one of our firearms. I NEVER EVER UNDER ANY CIRCUMSTANCE leave a loaded chamber in one of my firearm, EVER. Loaded clips in a couple, yes. Those are defensive weapons that are kept out of sight, but convenient FOR ME to get to if needed. No one can walk in my home, pick up a firearm , pull the trigger, and have it go boom .
But back to the point, my kids grew up respecting all firearms , they have never had firearms kept from them, firearms hold no mystery for them and they always ask before they touch. It should be required that every home that holds a firearm should have to have that firearm shot in the presence of the children that live in that house . They should also be taught firearm safety as a requirement to have a firearm under the same roof. As gun people, I know we all do that anyway. It's just the people that buy a gun because they are scared or inherit firearms and just throw them in a dresser drawer or under a matress , loaded, that need this requirement pushed on them.
 
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