I think I have created a monster

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OAKVILLE SHOOTER

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I took my five year old son out shooting this afternoon. He will be six in November. I started him out with a .22 rifle right after he turned two, and he has been shooting .22 and .17 HMR in various rifles and pistols every since.

Anyway, today he started out with a .17 rifle and then a .22 pistol. He was shooting balloons and little green army men. Then I shot a water filled milk jug with an 8" stainless Colt Anaconda. After the water stopped falling, He said "dad, I want to try that" :eek:. So I loaded 1 round, set it on his sand bag and he shot the next jug.

After he shot the 44 a few more times, it was time for something else. He shot the 788 Remington .243 that I got him for Pre-school graduation :neener:. The first shot, I had my hand on the but plate to help tame the recoil a little. After that shot, he said "dad, I think I got it." He ended up shooting a little over half a box of ammo, all that was left in the box. The milk jugs and drink bottles were exploding all over the place.

After he finished off the .243, he went back to the 10-22 shooting army men and re-settable metal swinging targets.

All in all, we shot the Anaconda, 10-22, 77/17, Ruger MarkII, Ruger Bearcat, 788 .243, and Remington 750 in 35 Whelen (he did not shoot this.)

Guns: A couple of thousand dollars
Ammo: $100.00 +/-
Look on five year olds face exploding a milk jug with "his" deer rifle: Absolutely Priceless
 
You'll soon regret it. It gets expensive in a hurry :)

My 12 year old has Cadillac taste in firearms and doesn't know where money comes from yet .........
 
You'll soon regret it. It gets expensive in a hurry
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That's where the "monster" part came in.

It's o.k. for now though. It gives us something to do together that we both enjoy. As long as he wants to shoot, I'll buy the ammo. If it gets too bad, I see a job in his near future, j/k.
 
My 12 year old has Cadillac taste in firearms and doesn't know where money comes from yet .........
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At least with guns, he has something that will last a lifetime. Much better than toys or video games.
 
I started him out with a .22 rifle right after he turned two
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Do they stop putting everything in their mouth by two? My 9 month old daughter still thinks every thing is food.
 
Made the same mistake with my kids, and all three like to shoot now (2 boys and a girl). And the real downside is that I must now buy everything in triplicate! (My daughter just uses mine). :D My own personal collection is building MUCH slower than I would like because of it!
 
My kids dont have the sense for it yet 5 and 12 going on 4 but I'm trying slowly with airguns and the occasional shot with bigger stuff , I started young but I guess I was more sensible than most and my dad always had been a shooter so I grew up with them . Unfortunately most kids think that it is all a game and its hard to get that mentality out of them , Ive tried to explain by showing them the damage that a bullet can do to a tin can for example but it just dont sink in :banghead:
Like others have said could get expensive but now you have a range buddy :D
 
well i got my niece a .22 single shot bolt action used for $75. i figgured that a first gun should be just about indestructable. anywhooo, she just discovered this afternoon how much fun SAA are. her mom's gonna kill me. she's anti, and lives in anarbor michigan. i hear they aint too gun-friendly up there.
 
Your 5-year-old son shot a 44 magnum?
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Not once, but five times. The first time, I helped him hold the grip. The other four, he did it himself. He was sitting at the bench that I made for him and the barrel was resting on a sandbag. The 8" barrel does help tame recoil some what.
 
My 12 year old has Cadillac taste in firearms and doesn't know where money comes from yet .........
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I *so* know your pain.

Just bought this for my boy.

rem_770.sized.jpg


I mean, bought it today. He doesn't even know he has it yet. The lucky little ... yeah is at the BEACH.

And kudos to you Oakville. Not just for introducing your kid to shooting. But for spending time with your kid. For some reason, I think parents using televisions and game systems as perpetual babysitters is a little less common in gun culture. And we forge a greater society for tomorrow by our investments such as the one you made today.
 
I never got this kind of treatment from my father, but I bought him a Mosin 91/30 this year and I think I felt a joy similar to all of yours as fathers.

"I got something for you under the condition that you don't do something stupid like will it away to my sister." :)
 
Makes me remember carrying Dad's old '03 Springfield back up into the woods to our range. That rifle seemed so huge and heavy, Dad was strong and brave, and I was so proud to be trusted to carry his rifle.

Thanks for the memories, I think I'm going to go to bed, and dream of shooting with Dad.
 
You need to be very careful with young children as far as bone development goes when shooting large caliber firearms. They can sustain injuries that prevent bones, tendons, ligaments from forming correctly at that tender young age of 5. There small frail bodies were not meant to be hammered by 44 magnums and 35 Whelan calibers repeatedly. Keeping it to a minimum is probably okay, but keep an eye out for aches and pains in your child, and if he gets them from shooting, I would suggest getting him to a pediatrician.

All the best,
GB
 
Switch to 44 spcl

He is right about the bone injuries, he could get a stress fracture and you would never know it without an X-ray because it might only show up as a sore arm.

Its like those people who start out their kids on weight training and get carried away with it. The kid builds muscle fast and gets too strong and then catastrophic injury doing something to heavy.

I'm built like a gorilla but when I take my magnums out to shoot its 20 shots for them and hundreds of rounds with the mouse gun, (22 rifle or pistol). My 44 Mag is my back up deer rifle because my primary arm is a single shot 308. I don't expect to have to shoot it more than once and I'm more worried about my marksmanship than my ability to take a beating. Keep him shooting but remember he is still a munchkin.
 
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