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Teaching kids how to look through the scope and understand the reticle.

bsnyder

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Mar 8, 2020
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Ok parents! How did you do it? Did you draw a picture then have them look and it then through the scope? What others tools did you use. I plan on teaching my nephew. Not worried about fit as it's in a chassis and will be set for him and off a tripod. More interested in how did you get your kids to understand looking through the scope. I've started his 22 creed build so he can shoot coyotes with grandpa and dad until he's old enough to go on a hunt with his aunt and uncle.
 

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You'll see its instinctive....kids naturally know how to use a scope. Just tell them to put the crosshairs on the target, its the loudness that throws kids off. Double up hearing protection with plugs and muffs, eye protection and teach some trigger control and muzzle control and its done. Potty training is much harder than teaching a kid to shoot with a scope.-WW
 
Low power scopes. My daughter learned shooting with a daisy red Ryder and then graduated a suppressed 22-250 with a 6x scope.
 
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Mine used a 10-22 on a bench. Filled some old water bottles. Seeing them explode when they hit it really got him fired up!!!! Like akdad said…. Make it fun!!! They really do learn quick 😃
Blowing up water bottles with food coloring definitely makes it fun for them. I started with 22's and a 17 HMR. Looking through the scope was very instinctive for both girls and required almost no directing. More time was spent showing them how to adjust aimport by sliding the rear bag or the rifle in certain directions.
 
Bought my son a pellet gun (gammo) and target when he was 4 or 5.
Showed him how to shoot out in the yard and he was smacking the target in a few minutes.
I then went in the house and he went on a hunt in the yard trees.
I thought well that's a good start...30 minutes later he came back with 4 birds...most of which were NOT LEGAL!
A couple years later I laid down a few cans on a farm road and let him shoot with my scoped 223, and smacked every shot.
At 10 years old I figured he was ready for a true deer rifle...He shot his first deer with a 243 @ 150 yards and hit it right behind the shoulder right thru the lungs.

Well, now 20 years later, since he has always been an excellent shot with rifle or shotgun...when I build a rifle, I go tune loads and call him in to come shoot after I've confirmed load development...just to make sure. LOL
 
My dad would buy us a brick of 22lr and a big bag of animal crackers, started with iron sights, red dot, scope with actual cross hair. Biggest issue was length of pull for eye relief, chassis and guns actually built for kids have fixed most of that now. I've had zero issues starting them with a red dot seems like an easier transition.
Bowling pins and swinging steel targets will keep it fun, a suppressor was the best thing I've purchased for teaching youngsters or new folks. My nieces and nephews absolutely love the suppressed 22's they'll wear blisters on our thumbs loading mags.
 
The last 3 or 4 kids I have taken out to shoot for the first time all surprised me with their response after they looked through the scope, "looks just like something video game". They already knew what to look for and when they saw it, they knew what to do with it.
 
I started all my kids and grandkids at around 5 years old, with cricket 22 with a scope. I sit or lay beside them and teach them first how to get the full view in the scope and how to hold on the target.
Once comfortable we start shooter, teach trigger pull.
Always make it fun.
Once they get pretty consistent on paper I always go to step 2. That's when I set up a board and on that board I place 3 spent 12 gauge hulls standing up. Once they hit that consistently I lay empty hulls with the spent primer facing us. The next target is to shoot out the spent primer.
We used to shoot steel until one day I was standing behind them as they were going to town flipping steel, all of a sudden something hit me in the forehead, confused I got hit again in the chest, and again in my hand.
I shut it down
 
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