The Old and the Young

[PRE]

N.b.-
Apologies for the sideways photos. I have no idea why they loaded this way.

You know it's going to be a great day when your youngest son drags himself into your room, half-asleep, and asks, "Dad, can we shoot today?"

This was a follow-up range session to a previous one, during which he shot a late war Model 1941 Carcano rifle. He did surprisingly well with managing recoil and staying consistent, but Intjink the ammo let him down a bit. Both of us had a hard time adjusting to the sight picture, which is very different from a typical rifle.

He really enjoys the early 1930's Savage .22 rifle we have, which devours .22 Short, .22 Long and .22 Long Rifle without prejudice. We used .22LR today and he started with small, dessert sized paper plates at 50 yards. He settled into a good rhythm and then became VERY focused. The photo below showing the plate is a 5-round group shot with buckhorn sights, and from an improvised rest. I'm still amazed at how tight that is...

He then switched to shooting the steel targets at 100 yards and had no problem keeping up a constant ringing throughout our property! He's getting a very good feel for this rifle, and is improving rapidly.

After supervising him, I took some time to work the steel with one of my AR's, and later switched to my Glock 17. There's nothing like some good range time with family, made all the better by seeing the improvement in ability and focus in the young. Life is good.

[MAP]

Wow!!!! He's a crack shot. Lucky for you he loves it.

My boys too (but living in the 'burbs' we have to wait till we go to the family "farm" to shoot). They aren't as good a shot however!

Son #1



Son #2



The "range"

[m3bobby]

Good to see the youngsters with good discipline. I loved going out shooting with my dad, I was probably one of the youngest people in the UK to be granted a firearms ticket, I was 12 I think and it took some convincing to be issued it. By the time I was 15 I had a9mm Browning, a Walther PP, a S&W 586 in .357 and my .22 rifle. I also had another 10 calibres on Ticket ready to buy some others but then the law changed and I had to hand them in.

My son is now six and I'm just trying to teach him gun safety, even though his guns are toys I beleive their never to young to learn and if he learns now he can take that through his life.

At a family and friends day at my last base, the RAF Regiment had a display/stall set up with all the service weapons. The kids were loving it but the Rock Apes were letting the kids point them at each other and fire the actions. I had a word with the Sgt and got told to F off as it had nothing to do with me. He was right of course but had those weapons been issued out of the Station Armoury and not his, he would never had any more. I don't have a problem with kids using guns but they need to learn the respect that goes with them, after all they are not toys.

[MAP]

Teach them young and right. My boys had their first rifles at 6 years of age. The rules were set and there was no "mystery". Never once did they feel the need to sneak a peek and show friends because they knew they could shoot with me (farm or the range) whenever they wanted. Too often guns are hidden away and considered taboo. And with kids being curious .... that leads to problems (you know the saying... Curiosity killed the cat)

[FALLSCHIRMJAGER]

Here in the UK you are lucky if you can fire a sling shot without the fuzz grabbing you! To be honest, I would be much happier bringing up my little ones knowing how to not only fire a weapon, but also appreciate the consequences of pulling the trigger. Great to see the kids learning from their parents who care to teach them what a gun is really all about. Leon.

[m3bobby]

^^^^ completely agree. It's only in the last 20 to 30 years this scare mungering has occurred. In the military we have people scared of guns, these are the ones that make mistakes that result in an accident. I'm sure there are complacent service people out there but in my experience, it's those that are scared of guns that have accidents. If this country (UK) had another World War, we would be screwed, and for many many more reasons.