At age four, my son is sure he's ready to shoot a gun. He carries his toy shotgun when we go squirrel hunting together, and tries hard to keep the plastic muzzle pointed in a safe direction. Once he can manage that without forgetting, then I'll be convinced it's time for a real pint-sized rifle.
When that day comes, we'll start with an air gun. Air guns are ideal for starting out young shooters for a number of reasons. The most obvious are the lack of both noise and recoil. Even the sound of a .22 fired repeatedly can damage a youngster's delicate hearing. And the recoil of just a light rifle can intimidate a child handling a gun for the first time.
The fundamentals of shooting an air gun are the same as for any kind of advanced shooting your child wants to do in the future. Responsibility, concentration, hand-eye coordination, steadiness, breath control--all are skills that will cross over into other kinds of target shooting as the child matures.
But the advantages of air guns go beyond the obvious. Air guns and the pellets they shoot are inexpensive. Several "beginner" air rifles are priced less than $200. As your child grows, you can trade up to guns that fit him or her without investing a small fortune in either guns or ammunition.
In addition, air gun shooting ranges are easy to set up, and require little space. With only a small amount of effort and ingenuity, you can convert a corner of a garage or a back yard into a safe, convenient place to shoot an air gun. If you have a place for an indoor range--which may be as simple as a big cardboard box lined with old telephone books--your child can shoot any time of day (and any time of year). Experts advise you to hang a heavy blanket behind the range. The blanket will stop wild shots and the noise of stray shots hitting metal objects, and prevent pellets from breaking anything behind the range.
Launi Meili, who won a gold medal for her shooting skills in the 1992 Olympic Games in Barcelona, is program coordinator for the National Rifle Association's "Aiming for Bright Minds and Bodies." The goal of her program, she says, is to show physical education and recreation teachers how to get junior and senior high school students started shooting.
Launi says the age at which a child can start shooting depends on the youngster's maturity.
"The first and foremost issue is safety," she says. "If the child does not understand that concept, he or she is too young to begin shooting. Once on the range, if a child turns around with the gun in his or her hand one time, the gun should be put away for six months or so until he or she absolutely understands the rules."
One thing that both you and your child must understand is that an air gun is not a toy. It is a real gun, and the rules for handling it must be the same as for all firearms. This includes wearing eye protection while shooting. Another word of caution: though a BB gun is a kind of air gun, BBs do not behave like lead pellets. A BB tends to ricochet more than a lead pellet, often back along its original trajectory, especially when it hits a metal target.
When your child reaches the point of being ready for an air gun and then masters the basics of shooting it, you can play target games. Kids like targets that fall down, make noise, and swing back and forth.
One simple game you and your child can play together reinforces the safety aspects of shooting. Cut some plastic wrap into squares about two inches by 2 inches. In the center of each square place a half-teaspoon or so of flour. Wrap the squares tightly around the flour and tie off each end with string or with a twist-tie.
Then tie a string across the area where you'll be shooting. Suspend each flour packet from the string. Each time the youngster connects with one of the packets, the flour baggie will explode in a puff of white dust. It doesn't take many shots for the child to understand that even an air gun pellet can be destructive.
So the next time your youngster asks, "Mom, may I shoot your gun?" you don't have to put her off with all the reasons why your .270 is too much gun for a 10-year-old. Instead, break out the air rifle and spend an afternoon introducing her to the fun the two of you can have shooting together.
Copyright (c) 1994 Carolee Boyles-Sprenkel. All rights reserved.
Home | Library | Hunting | Shooting Sports