So today was the day. Got to the range about 10am and set up some clay pigeons, soda bottles and a couple paper targets.
Started out with the iron sights (his choice!) and he did great. Broke some pigeons at about 25yds and was mostly in the 8 ring on a paper target.
I started him out loading 1 round at a time and taking a while between shots to reinforce safety stuff (is your safety on? are you sure it's not loaded?) and proper range manners. Our homework really paid off! NO safety issues at all.
After a bit we loaded up 10 rounds and let her rip. 8 pigeons down!
Switched to the optic for a bit, no real excitement there, he ended up liking the irons better; said he could see better.
Moved out to 50 yds and he was still hitting 8-10 rings.
Probably 100 rounds downrange and we had a ball! I never got behind the sights; nothing I hated worse as a kid than watching while someone showed me what to do. Better to coach with the kid doing the actually shooting.
In retrospect I was more worried about this trip than I needed to be. Also, the stuff we worked on at home (dry firing, safety, etc.) really paid off.