Idle Observations From This Afternoon:

Awesome! Nothing better than teaching your daughter to shoot. Mine is one of my favorite shooting partners…

Awww…..very cute!

You have an awesome little girl.

Awesome, shooting fun and pt/ot at the same time. awesome! Great job!

Be careful not to let the catfish fin her, AD.

I happen to have two things:

1) a tripod sitting around doing nothing

2) your address

Have to see if I can’t get those two together tomorrow or friday…

I’m guessing she wasn’t the only one squealing in delight. You just have had more practice with your manly manly squeal.

I still squeal in dismay when someone shakes up the soda before I open it – and I open it using the factory supplied pop top, not even with a .22.

Good deal.

Starting them early is a great idea.

I’ve got my little ones on the ruger MkII because like yours even the smallest rifle is too big.

That’s some serious cute overload there AD!

good to see you teaching your lassy proper range protocol.

way to go….

Major cool Sir. Your daughter is learning that shooting done properly is highly enjoyable. May I recommend those small 6 oz cans of soda be targets from time to time. My kids love shooting them with the pellet rifle. The explosion of soda when struck is awesome.

Awwwww… AD, she’s so cute!! And with such good taste in guns, too.

If she’s not happy with the plugs and muffs, you could also try her on Aguila Super Colibri ammo, too… subsonic and primer powered only. No powder charge. I use it at turkey shoots so as not to freak the sheeple (remember, I live in MA!).

Both of you are so VERY lucky…you to have such a wonderful spirit to care for through life, and her for having such a wonderful father!

Old Squid.

MARk – Not Major Cool, That is “WAY PAST COOL !!”

She’s a very lucky girl to have a great father like you! But I think you are also pretty lucky to have such a great daughter Reminds me of my childhood with my dad!

Aww, so cute.

She’s a cutie! It’s good that she’s learning so young!

I LOVE that she’s learning to handle a firearm properly at such a young age! And to also use it as physical therapy is wicked cool.

Oh, gosh. This is fantastic. Thanks for sharing.

Your little girl is darling.

I despise bipods, but you appear to have a valid reason for one.

I always encourage folks to teach youngsters to use a sling to support the rifle, but I don’t know if that’s going to work, with her arm. Might be worth a try…

In any case, you do what you have to do to enable her to succeed. If she needs a bipod, so be it.

I started my 4 daughters a bit later than you have, but each child is different. I look at (1) do they want to go to the range, and (2) do I feel they are mature enough to behave responsibly on the firing line. If the answer to both is yes, then it’s time, no matter what their age is.

Nothing better than range time with your kids!

Well done, both of you.

Jim

That is great AD! And yes, determination CAN make those motor skills improvements, especially when she wants!

She is a cute one AD! I wish my dad had been as cool as you are when I was growing up.

AD sorry about this but I didnt know how else to get a hold of someone on here:
a few weeks ago someone who reads these comments anonymously messaged me about a gun range called Shooters Delight in Chambersburg PA, I tried to call them and they were out of business…did you have any other suggestions?

Freaking AWESOME!

Re #6: At last, a use for Dr. Pepper!

Your little looks super cute there, AD. I’m gonna have to get on the ex’s case to take the eldest shooting soon. (He actually knows what he’s doing; I don’t.)

I think Chris’s idea of a sling (especially a tight sling she wraps her Lucky Fin into, rather than the bullseye style “blood pressure cuff” target sling) will allow her to work without a bipod. I know when I’ve got the tension right, I can let my support arm go completely limp, and it’s solely sling tension and rigid longbones holding the gun at the balance — muscles in that off arm become irrelevant to the hold.

But bipods work fine, too.

As for range day with the Wee One. . .

My little monkey (3.5 years) went to the range for the first time a few weeks ago (we’re reenactors who live in the country by an Army post with an arty range, so it’s not the first time she’s heard gunfire — cannons make her giggle). My wife found out she hated actually firing her Chief’s Special she’s had for several years and never previously shot, and Squirrel Girl insisted on trying out the neighbor kid’s pellet rifle.

Daughter had to hold the stock under her arm, like a WWII Panzerfaust, just to reach the trigger, and she’s still hasn’t grokked “sight alignment”, but we’re working on it.

When we got home, she said, “For my birthday, I want a gun.”

“OK, sweetie, I’ll see if I can pick up something that you can shoot safely, with foam balls or something.”

“No, a gun like MOMMY’S, that puts holes in paper!” (This is similar to her reaction in the toy store when she got a toy cordless drill “like Mommy’s”. . . )

“Sweetie, I don’t think they make one small enough for your hands. . . maybe when you’re a little older. . . Wait! I’ll show you.” (Run off to go find airsoft Glock my wife gave me for Christmas. Cock but do not load. . . )

“See? you can’t even reach the. . . “

[CLICK!] (OK, that was a fluke. . .recock.)

[CLICK!]

So now we occaisionally do airsoft pistol practice in the living room (aluminum disposable pie tins hanging from her “bouncy horse” are great reactive targets). Susan does her own range clearance.

(Looks right, at stairs and kitchen) “Weady on the wight!”

(looks left at dollhouse and back door we never use) “Weady on the weft!”

(Looks downrange, at the entrance hall) “Weady in the center! The wange is weady!”

Of course, now the airsoft Glock is locked up in the gun closet, rather than on the bookshelf in my library, since it’s being used as a “gun” not a “toy”.

If things go well, someone may be getting a pellet pistol this fall. [BSEG]

The “Barbie Pink” .22 rifle is still going to wait a while, though. . . [chuckle]