Kids first gun
Via NIT, News 2 videojournalist Jerry Barlar is asking for advice on a 5 year-old’s first gun:
While talking to my son, on the way to school this morning, I asked him what he would like for Christmas. To my suprise (sic), and delight, he asked for a real gun that he could carry and hunt with.
I suggested a Crickett if a 22 would work for what he was hunting. Or, if not, a Handi-Rifle in any number of calibers. Both are inexpensive and durable. You want kids to learn the fundamentals first (gun safety, sight alignment and trigger squeeze) so tricked out ARs aren’t the way to go (save those for later). So, I’d get a single-shot or bolt action. And remember: kids, like adults, love reactive targets.
November 2nd, 2006 at 1:48 pm
Saw this at the gun store yesterday. Perfect for a 5 year old.
http://henryrepeating.com/minibolt.cfm
November 2nd, 2006 at 1:55 pm
I was thinking of a Crickett with a pink stock for my 8 year-old daughter this Christmas. I wonder what the wife will say.
November 2nd, 2006 at 2:17 pm
THe Henry or the Cricket are both perfect, though as teh father of a 4 1/2 year old son, I can’t imagine he is going to be mature enough in 6 months to warrant trusting him with a gun.
I know my neighbor lets his daughter 7 year old daughter shoot – and taught her at 5 – but girls are a bit different than boys.
I
would just make sure that child was responsible enough to handle a gun – and then if so sit don and disassemble and reassemble the gun and teach about firearms from the ground up (like with my son, who hates cleaning guns and always runs away – though he was interested in helping me reload last night).
November 2nd, 2006 at 2:35 pm
I think 5 is a wee bit young for a gun…then again to each his own.
November 2nd, 2006 at 5:04 pm
A lot depends on the kid and the parents. The kid that grew up on the farm next to me was plowing fields on his father’s tractor when he was four. My folks wouldn’t trust me with equipment but worked me just as hard. I can’t tell that either of us were harmed by it, nor did we cause harm to others.
Oh, yeah, Don’s grandfather died when he fell off his tractor and plowed himself into to the oat field. Don still kept plowing, and baling, which was a very dangerous undertaking on the old hand-tie balers.. Took three people to operate.
Speaking only for myself, I have grandkids living with me that are 10 and 9, neither are ready for their own firearm. Still we are trying to teach them. A lot depends on the kid.
November 2nd, 2006 at 7:56 pm
Don’t forget the Chipmunk. Basically same as a Cricket or Henry Mini Bolt
November 2nd, 2006 at 9:01 pm
I’m as pro-gun as anybody but the more I think about it…a 5 year old?…give me a break. Not trying to tell someone how to parent their kids but shit…5 year olds throw Legos/rocks/bite at one another when they get pissed off and still piss and shit their pants from time to time. I couldn’t imagine handing a 5 year old a loaded fucking firearm and saying “be a good boy, don’t point it at anyone” (or yourself).
November 3rd, 2006 at 8:55 am
I’ve seen a 6 year old with the Henry, and I think the design is perfect for the youngest shooter.
Shooting with a kid is quite easy actually. It takes more time and effort since you don’t just hand them a loaded firearm. It’s actually quite simple, you have to have a controlled shooting site and keep the kid completely within arms reach the whole time. You hand them single bullets to load themselves and actuate the gun. If their minds wander off the task, you take the gun away. You’re always right there to take control of the gun if they appear to be wandering. You’d be surprised how quickly taking the gun away makes them learn how to concentrate.
It still comes down to control, but I understand that no longer seems to be of much concern to parents these days.
November 3rd, 2006 at 9:53 am
Cricket, Handirifle, and Henry are all excellent choices. Savage also makes a single shot bolt action .22LR called their Youth Rifle, which is surprisingly accurate after about 200 shots to break in the spring steel trigger. And the bolt can be locked up by mom and dad separate from the rifle, which the child can then keep in his/her room because it is afterall their rifle.
The age of 5 is excellent to start teaching the responsible and safe handling of firearms. The advice above, that the shooting should be done one cartidge at a time in closely supervised (over the shoulder) safe ranges, is also sound.
Although she was 9 when I first took her to shoot, my daughter hit dead center in the 1″ x-ring at 25 yards on her first shot everwith her scoped Savage GY-1 22LR. The target hangs on her bedroom wall to this day.
It ain’t braggin’ if’n its true……
November 5th, 2006 at 8:24 pm
Go with a .22 Chipmunk. My older daughter (now 15) has shot one for years. Great gun, accurate and reliable. Crickett’s are ok, but not as nice (good service, though, as I’ve found out).