Pistol to learn on

[Mtbkski]

I have a 8 and 10 year old girls moving in with me. (Yeah, they are bringing their mother too ) Anyway, I want to get them out to learn good gun handling and do some shooting. Does anyone have any recomendations on what kind of pistol I should go with.

[ChamberedRound]

I'd recommend anything in .22 for that age group. They're fun, they're cheap to shoot, and they aid in the development of good shooting skills because recoil is not an issue.

[st.marys]

I'd start them off with a bolt action rifle in .22, not a pistol. You can pick up the youth chipmunk rifles pretty cheaply. They are single shot, fun to shoot, and scaled down for kids to develop good shouldering, trigger, muzzle awareness etc skills.

[Frenchy]

Under adult supervision only, .22 Ruger if you get the older models you wont pay as much, and you wont have to get a bull barell. Neos from beretta is pretty nice and affordable, but you will need to fix in the rear sights. A dab of locktight fixes them nice. In ruger you also have the single six and or copys of that are nice shooters and generally affordable. I agree with the Rifle also, I started on some thing similar in Canada the .22 coeey. Make sure they have good protection eyes and ears. Many people think they are shooting .22 and its ok to buy any ears.. They will some times be next to people with mag and S&W 50. Their little ears take a beating. Pellet gun and rifle is also a good starting point Also make sure they have a solid safety foundation right away, Kids rememebr much longer then we do. Heck, I remember my first phone number.. I was 7 when we moved from there, Cant remember a number since them

[TRB]

I'd start them off with a bolt action rifle in .22, not a pistol. You can pick up the youth chipmunk rifles pretty cheaply. They are single shot, fun to shoot, and scaled down for kids to develop good shouldering, trigger, muzzle awareness etc skills.

Rifle first. Well, actually, the Four Universal Rules should come first. Have them commit them to memory. They can recite the Rules on the way to range. Then the rifle practice may commence.

Prone position is the easiest for them to learn the basics because the weight of the rifle is less of an issue. Start them prone and then move to seated position. It can be either on the ground and properly braced on the knees or sitting on a bench at a table. It is also good to show them seated at a table on a sandbag to teach them the finer points of open sights. Once they have the basics down they can move on to handguns.

If you want to start them on pistols, then the weight of the pistol is an issue. One of the finest handguns to start on is the S&W 617. Since it is a revolver it tends to make them think about every shot, much like the Chipmunk rifle. There is almost no felt recoil and the trigger, shot single action, is a dream. However it is heavy at 45 oz. unloaded. So you're probably looking for a lighter pistol. The Walther P-22 is light (~15 oz.) and small enough that little hands will find it comfortable. It is nowhere near the quality of the Smith. But it fits. There are many others.

All of this said, there are ten year olds who will pick up a Glock 23 and get decent hits on the first try.

[IceFire]

For that age, definitely the .22. Negligible recoil, and ammo is CHEAP. For rifle, the Chipmunk is a good starter for little ones (and they even come in PINK!) and for handgun, there are several nice little .22 revolvers that would make good starters. Don't think I'd start them with a semi yet, as racking the slide could be an issue (hand strength would need to be built up.)

[mauser]

I got my wife and kids started with BB/pellet rifles. Next step for the kids was .22 rifle, then pellet pistol. (For my wife it was right from the BB gun to the .22 revolver). If the interest and dedication is there, then it's time for the .22 pistol. My wife and older son, ( about 11 years old at the time), had the desire, so they moved on to my Colt New Frontier .22. It fits small hands well, is easy to handle and it's fun to shoot. From there it was on to a .38 Special. That's as far as we went with my wife, but my son will safely and effectively shoot anything now.

[Emptymag]

When I was 10, I wanted something like THIS!

Fortunately my dad had enough sense to buy me a Marlin .22 bolt action rifle and he took the time to teach me what to do and what not to do with it.

I still recall when he and my mother split up, ( I was about 13) he told me he was leaving the rifle with me and my mom, but if he ever found out that I was "shooting birds or some other bullsh!t", he'd "bust that rifle over my ass!" I admit that I took aim at a bird ONCE, and I heard his words in the back of my head, lowered the rifle and went back to shooting the paper targets.

Anything I was going to suggest has already been posted, but I will say again that teaching safety (and listening to see if they UNDERSTAND what you are teaching) is THE most important thing that you can teach. I commend you for taking the time to do so and it's nice that everyone here is willing to take the time to offer advice.

[LorDiego01]

I second the Rattling Gun!

I think a BB rifle is the way to go if your children are too small. Thats how my dad got me started. Then I gradually moved to .22

[deepcharge41]

When my son and daughter was only 5 years, I already exposed them to the actual looks of from the 2 of my pistols and revolvers, and showed them the importance of safety first, dis assembly, cleaning, putting them back and took them to the range a few times and be exposed to the noises of gun shots and the wonderful fumes of gun powder, oh yeah, hmmmm smells good.
Then I bought an air rifle to expose them for proper handling, to shoot to the targets, and the minimum recoil of the rifle, then after they learned how to dis mantle, clean and putting back together my guns with my close supervisions only, including their air rifle, I took them to the range and practiced one bullet at a time until they became very, very confident on what they are doing to the gun and not to be afraid with gun but be afraid of their negligence to happen at all times.