Jericho 941
Member
- Joined
- Jul 5, 2011
- Messages
- 15
My brother is overseas and I am handling all of his affairs while he is gone, including his son who is nearing 10 years old. My brother and I have been shooting since we were about 6 years old and I think it is essential to introduce kids to guns as young as you can if you are in a gun-friendly family so they can learn the rules. The kid really likes shooting, and I want to get him his own gun so he can learn pride of ownership and enjoy a little bit of responsibility.
My nephew has been shooting the .22 my grandfather gave me when I was 10 and has taken a few varmints on his grandfather's land (with iron sights, at 50+ yards with a 40 year old rifle. The boy is a natural.), but I was always there watching him. I do not feel comfortable letting him carry a firearm at this age, so I have been thinking about getting him a pellet gun.
His father agreed with me and gave me the go-ahead to let him shoot cans on his own with an old Red Rider BB gun. We both did the same when we were kids and we still have four eyes between us. That said his birthday (10th) is coming up, and I saw a pretty nice single shot pellet gun at Walmart. I almost bought it on the spot, but it fires a .17 caliber pellet at 1200fps. That seems like it would definitely kill a rat or a squirrel, but is it too dangerous? At his age I had a S&W Model 13 so I have no clue what is appropriate.
I want him to be able to hit better than the Red Rider, but I don't want him carrying something that could kill a man. I would still be watching him most of the time, but I can not always be there and I wouldn't want to be. I think it would be good for him to do things on his own once in a while. It might make it easier to handle the army-child lifestyle for the next few years.
Any comment on the way I'm taking care of this kid are welcome (lord knows I need some advice sometimes), but my question is pretty simple:
Is a .17 caliber pullet at 1200 fps as dangerous as a .22 round?
Even though he is a really good kid and he is responsible with guns when I am around I want him to be able to cut his teeth with something that isn't as dangerous to a human being.
My nephew has been shooting the .22 my grandfather gave me when I was 10 and has taken a few varmints on his grandfather's land (with iron sights, at 50+ yards with a 40 year old rifle. The boy is a natural.), but I was always there watching him. I do not feel comfortable letting him carry a firearm at this age, so I have been thinking about getting him a pellet gun.
His father agreed with me and gave me the go-ahead to let him shoot cans on his own with an old Red Rider BB gun. We both did the same when we were kids and we still have four eyes between us. That said his birthday (10th) is coming up, and I saw a pretty nice single shot pellet gun at Walmart. I almost bought it on the spot, but it fires a .17 caliber pellet at 1200fps. That seems like it would definitely kill a rat or a squirrel, but is it too dangerous? At his age I had a S&W Model 13 so I have no clue what is appropriate.
I want him to be able to hit better than the Red Rider, but I don't want him carrying something that could kill a man. I would still be watching him most of the time, but I can not always be there and I wouldn't want to be. I think it would be good for him to do things on his own once in a while. It might make it easier to handle the army-child lifestyle for the next few years.
Any comment on the way I'm taking care of this kid are welcome (lord knows I need some advice sometimes), but my question is pretty simple:
Is a .17 caliber pullet at 1200 fps as dangerous as a .22 round?
Even though he is a really good kid and he is responsible with guns when I am around I want him to be able to cut his teeth with something that isn't as dangerous to a human being.