Plink, plink, plink! First target outing with Daughter

[PreserveandProtect]

It was long overdue, but my 10 yr old daughter shot her first .22 today.

I bought it for her for Christmas, but for a number of dumb reasons, we only got to shoot it for the first time yesterday.

I shot it in the day before on a target, moving the scope all the way forward and setting the eye relief to where I thought it would work for her.

I set up a three piece set of swinger targets 100' out. Large is about 3.5-4," the smallest is about the size of the lid off a gallon milk jug. The middle is in between.

It's a Savage Model 64 .22LR, semi-auto. It has a 10 round clip, but doesn't feed properly with 10. Does well with 9. I'll have to work that out sometime.

She is very small and needed something small. It has a decent 3-5 scope with illuminated reticle.

I got our first pair of electronic earmuffs for her, I still use earplugs for .22's.

Got her a set of shooting bags, all at the same time.

First, safety lessons. Rifle, safety, downrange, loaded, chambered, call for empty (Let me take the rifle for now), call for load (Let me load for now), call for chamber (Yep, I do this part for now), and a number of other things.

I helped her setup the first shot. Plink! Big target swings

She continued to pick off the target with about 20 secs or so to adjust for each shot.

After the second clip, she wanted to do it herself. Plink, plink, plink!

Try the next smaller one....Plink!

Try the smallest one...miss...again...Plink! Plink!

"Dear wife, you have to come out and see MY daughter!"

Plink, plink, plink! Oooh Yeah!

Out of 5 clips (45 shots) she hit one target or another all but 5 or 6 times!

She's shot a paintball gun a couple times before and an air rifle once before. I got her a BB gun about 2 yrs ago, but she couldn't work the pump. She is still very small.

A couple more outings and I'll cut the stock to fit her. The trigger is very stiff and I'll try lubricating it, but may have to do some additional trigger work (Yes, I have some experience on this, but not with this rifle). Not a hair trigger, but something more manageable for her.

Sooo....Yep, I'm bragging about my daughter and couldn't be more proud!

If you've got a proud first shooting with your son or daughter, feel free to post it up. Safety Patrol or nay-sayers, please just enjoy the read and don't rain on my parade Thanks!

Did I say I was proud? That's my Girl!

[NuclearSociety]

Enjoyed this very much.

[WVBob]

Way to go. It's a joy to take out first time shooters just to see the look in their face. Last weekend two of us were going to shoot some backyard clays and another shooter asked to join us. So three of us went to the range and set up the thower. Turns out the one guy had never shot clays, been hunting all his 40+ years, just never shot clays. The look on his face when he broke three in a row was the same as the look on the 7 year old grandsons face when he made the .22 target spin. Just plain fun.

[wishIhada5.0]

cant beat some good old fashioned plinking its nice to see these sort of evenents taking place in young families

[LisaA]

Thank you for sharing this, PreserveandProtect!

[PreserveandProtect]

Thanks for all the kind words!

I know it isn't exactly gun rights related, but it does express how we share our knowledge with the next generation.

And I *wish* we were a 'young' family My daughter is young, but we're old enough to be her grandparents.

But that doesn't stop us from doing everything we can with her. I may be aging, but I refuse to get OLD!!!

I hope our experience encourages others to enjoy a similar experience and for others to remember theirs

Oh yeah, did I mention how PROUD I am of her?

[trex88]

That's awesome! I really need to take my little sister out shooting soon, she's 10 as well.

[PreserveandProtect]

That's awesome! I really need to take my little sister out shooting soon, she's 10 as well.

I recommend the electronic earmuffs and sandbags. Allows her to hear my instructions clearly and still protect her hearing. The sandbags allows her to concentrate on lighting the scope, aquiring the target, trigger squeeze, etc, without the weight of the rifle frustrating her.

For now we are going to concentrate on just those things. Then trim the butt of the rifle and use just the front sandbag so I can teach her how to hold the firearm steady and lock into position.

One step at a time. In a few years, I hope she's a better shot than I am ;-)

[trex88]

I recommend the electronic earmuffs and sandbags. Allows her to hear my instructions clearly and still protect her hearing. The sandbags allows her to concentrate on lighting the scope, aquiring the target, trigger squeeze, etc, without the weight of the rifle frustrating her.

For now we are going to concentrate on just those things. Then trim the butt of the rifle and use just the front sandbag so I can teach her how to hold the firearm steady and lock into position.

One step at a time. In a few years, I hope she's a better shot than I am ;-)

I'll definitely look into a set of those earmuffs. My outlook is that I'm not going to always be around when she's into the dating and whatnot, I'm already working in a different state, so if I can make sure she's a good shot then I'll have a little bit more peace of mind lol