First time qualifier and dry fire in the city

[huntsman]

My daughter, 12 years old and shooting for the first time this year, qualified (by my standards) to hunt deer this year by grouping three shots in a row with her rifle within a 6-inch circle at 50 yards. Hurrah! I was beginning to doubt whether she would ever quit worrying about the noise (she wears foam plugs AND ear muffs). She at least took her time to make sure she was holding on before squeezing the trigger.

I have also started her practicing in the back yard dry-firing at a stick-on 3" target on the wooden fence. She has learned to hold through to after the firing of the pin and can hold steady about 80% of the time on that 3" circle at 25 yards. She is very honest about whether she was on target or not when the pin fired, and we aren't wasting any ammo to improve her aim. This way she is getting really used to aiming and firing the rifle she will actually use. Since we are in the city, we don't have the option of wet fire until we go to the range, which is only about once a month or so. Another benefit is that she doesn't think at all about the noise and recoil now with so many dry fire reps. The next live round she fires will be at a deer.

I hoped that lots of dry fire practice would allow her the reps she needed to get better and more familiar with her rifle without beating her up. It seems as though it is working so far. :grin:

[just learning]

huntsman, what type of rifle did you start her out on, what  brand name? I ask because my daughters b-day is in october and Im going to get her a 22lr rifle, but havent come up with one

[Jeff Vicars]

IMO dry firing is the best practice. A flinch is hard to get rid of. The Crickett is tough to beat for younger kids.

[huntsman]

Just Learning,

Welcome aboard to the wonderful world of teaching your own kids to shoot. We just started this year and it has been so gratifying to watch my girls (the two oldest anyway, ages 12 and 11) learn to respect and use a firearm. I hope you get the same thrill and sense of accomplishment out of it that I have.

My girls first dry-fired and then live-fired a scoped .22 bolt-action Glenfield Model 25. It's nothing fancy, but it is a bolt action and is scoped, just like the deer rifles they will eventually be using. Once they got comfortable with the .22 I introduced them to the deer rifle (only the 12-year-old gets to qualify this year; each one will get special attention their first year of hunting). I chose the 6.5 x 55 caliber Swedish mauser for several reasons, not the least of which is it's a darn nice caliber that has plenty of punch for deer-sized game without excessive blast and kick. Sidebar: it is very sweet-shooting and has me itching to hunt with it now, too!

I don't think the actual make/model of .22 will matter a whole lot as long as it can shoot fairly accurately, is mechanically sound, and similates to some degree what the child will be moving up to some day for hunting larger game. The rules of shooting, good habits instilled, and positive reinforcement from you will outweigh by far whatever type of gun it happens to be.

Good luck with your shooting lessons and first hunts!