GUNS FOR
kids need to learn about guns too, but by the time they’re 13 or so, there are a lot more guns they can effectively work with. With a few exceptions, none of the so-called youth guns are suitable for kids. There are several mini-sized bolt-ac- tion, single-shot rifles on the market. I’ve tried most of them and while a few are short and light enough for kids, most have terrible triggers. Ex- perienced shooters can sometimes manage a bad trigger, new shooters can’t. The Henry Mini-Bolt is only 30" long, has an 11.5" length of pull and weighs only 3.25 lbs. Every sample I’ve tried had a good trigger break- ing in the 2-lb range. My son Bat learned to shoot with this rifle and both of his sisters will too. With an MSRP of $249, street price should be closer to $200. A brand new kid’s gun from Thomp- son Center should be available by the time you read this. It’s called the Hot Shot and is a miniature version of the Encore rifle. It has a short length of pull and a good trigger. Overall length is 30" and it weighs an incredibly light 3 lbs. Like the Henry Mini-Bolt, you should be able to pick one up for around $200. At 10 years old, Bat is tall but skin- ny as a rail; a 5-lb gun is about all he can manage off-hand. Bat deer
W
hen I talk about kids I’m referring to those in their pre-teen years. Yes, older
KIDS
hunts with an AR. Even though the adjustable stock and light recoil make it a great choice for him, he still has to use a rest for accurate shooting. He really likes modern, military-style weapons and S&W’s new M&P 15-22 is his favorite fun gun. At 5.5 lbs he can manage it from field shooting positions, the stock is adjustable for length of pull and the top rail lets us swap differ- ent optics for him to experiment with. Now he can rapid fire steel plates or blast vegetables he liberates from the fridge. It is a great understudy/training rifle for him to learn with. With an MSRP of $569 this gun is a bit more expensive, but I promise you will enjoy it as much as a new pair of Tony Lamas. Ruger makes an excellent semi- auto .22 rifle for youngsters and you may already have one. It’s the 10-22. The Compact model is probably the best option for kids. It’s 34" long, has a 12.75" length of pull and weighs only 4.5 lbs. There are tons of aftermarket accessories for the 10-22 but the best might be the Timney 10-22 Trigger. This will correct the sometimes creepy and heavy factory trigger and make the 10-22 much more, new-shooter friendly. You can pick up a Ruger 10-22 Compact for less than $300.
and taped them to cardboard boxes. We went on hunts in the yard, and it wasn’t long until he had killed all sorts of paper animals. At 5, he progressed to a .22 rifle; a Henry Mini-Bolt that was light enough for him to shoot off- hand with an excellent trigger. After a few shots on paper, so
he could see he was hitting what he aimed at, we graduated to fun tar- gets. With mom at work, we’d raid the fridge and steal vegetables. We took crackers out of the cabinet, bought some balloons and lollipops. I even ordered some swinging steel plates. Why, when he shot these tar- gets there was a reaction; sometimes an explosive one. He found this excit- ing but also demonstrated to him the destructive power of a firearm.
Hunting Time When he turned 6 a friend who
builds custom rifles loaned me one he’d put tougher for a small kid. It was too heavy for Bat to shoot off- hand but the stock fit him, the trig- ger was crisp and it was chambered in a cartridge that didn’t kick him so hard boogers fell out his nose. I let Bat shoot a few shots at a deer tar- get and three weeks later he killed a spike buck. It was a heart shot at 60 yards that he still brags about. Over the last four years, Bat’s in-
terest in guns has become more pro- fessional. He’s more eager to learn how they work and anytime he has a chance to shoot a gun, like he uses when he plays his Modern Warfare game, he’s excited. Still, I make sure that whenever we shoot it’s fun. I try to end each shooting session with a game or challenge. This has had a cascading affect on
the other, younger kids. Bat runs in the house to tell mom about the cool things we did or how well he shot. Our two younger girls want to be part of that excitement. Both are still just a bit small for shooting, but they asso- ciate shooting with fun. It’s my job to make sure when they do start shoot- ing, that association does not change. This has even had an affect on my
wife. She was not a shooter when we met, but she was not afraid of, nor did she have any aversion, to guns. Over the last few years, Bat’s enthusi- asm over shooting has spread to her. We will both be attending a handgun course at Gunsite this year.
Safety Safety is also a concern. You need
As kids progress in shooting skill, let them ex- perience more modern or adult-like firearms. Remember, for a kid “new” equals excitement.
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to ingrain firearm safety into your kids. When I was in Junior High School, we were all given the hunter’s safety course. Get this; we even load- ed shotgun shells in the gym and shot
REALITY CHECK • 2011 SPECIAL EDITION
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