Where to start with my 9 year old princess?

[jonb.]

I want my little one to start shooting but am unsure what gun and what class to have her start she's versed with her 10/22 and her Ruger so I just need a pistol she can rack with a light recoil. Any suggestions?

Edited November 29, 2012 by jonb.

[a.roberts]

Steel challenge would be a great place to get her feet wet. She could even shoot her 10/22 if she wanted to.

[jonb.]

No steel challenge on the days I can shoot.

[atbarr]

The new Ruger Mark IlI with aluminum upper.

[old506]

I personally would go right to open. That is my plan but I am 2 years away from you.

I have watched a couple of pre-teen girls "grow up" in the sport. One started in production, the other in open. The one in production struggled as it was kind of a tough situation to be in shooting Limited minor or have to figure out so many reloads in production. She was dead last every time she shot. The one in open excelled very quickly. The one that started out in production eventually went to open and then excelled.

Two open guns on my horizon in the next few years!

Edited November 29, 2012 by old506

[atbarr]

Absolutely add a C-more and let her shoot open. Go to Brownells and get a slide racker.

[EkuJustice]

If steel challenge is out then try some open minor. There is basically no recoil and the slide is super easy to rack especially with a slide racker. Your not dealing with reloads for the most part and allows you to work on the trigger pull movement etc in a gun thats super easy to shoot

[Alphamikefoxtrot]

Teach her about the dangers of boys.

Teach her how to not drive like a girl.

Teach her that daddy is always right.

Then buy her the prettiest, pinkest 22 you can find.

My boy is 6 and he has been shooting my/his 22 ar, 300blk, and ar-10 for three years. He just shot his first deer with my heavy optics gun. I recently built him a buckmark to start doing pistol work with and he loves it except that with the bull barrel, it is too heavy. He is getting a aluminum 22/45 for Christmas.

The main thing is that you teach her safety. After that I think that you should get her something that she likes, and that she enjoys shooting. The worst thing you could do is get something that scares her off early. You may never get her back.

[Thomas H]

Just as a comment---if you start her in Open, you are teaching her to have a solid target focus for everything she does.

And one of the hardest things to do with someone is to get them to focus on the front sight when shooting irons. If you are planning on having her do anything other than shoot Open for the rest of her life, I'd suggest getting her started on irons instead. Just my personal opinion.

I know plenty of people start their kids in Open and such---but I'd suggest 1) see if the local club will let her shoot (for no score) with a .22 conversion gun, and then change it to a 9mm later when she is used to the safety aspects of USPSA.

I do agree with folks that starting with a Ruger 22/45 or something similar (with iron sights) in Steel Challenge is by far the best way to go. However, if SC isn't available, see if anyone would allow the .22 conversion for awhile---then try a soft-loaded 9mm.

[lawboy]

Just as a comment---if you start her in Open, you are teaching her to have a solid target focus for everything she does.

And one of the hardest things to do with someone is to get them to focus on the front sight when shooting irons. If you are planning on having her do anything other than shoot Open for the rest of her life, I'd suggest getting her started on irons instead. Just my personal opinion.

I know plenty of people start their kids in Open and such---but I'd suggest 1) see if the local club will let her shoot (for no score) with a .22 conversion gun, and then change it to a 9mm later when she is used to the safety aspects of USPSA.

Agreed. And as a preamble to all of that, take some of your normal match days and do not shoot the match. If you have access to a bay to practice, spend that time with just you and your daughter. Build simple stage every weekend for like four weekends and run her through it a bunch of times with you ROing her with all the commands, etc. just like in a match. If she DQs, let her know it, explain it, then keep on running through the drills. Doing this a couple hours on three or four different days will GREATLY reduce the match stress for her, greatly decrease the chances of a real DQ, and give her plenty of gun handling and stage break down practice to get her started.

[Steve RA]

I'd somewhat disagree about the open sights as many people shoot everything, pistol, rifle and shotgun with only red dot/optics. As the red dots and optics get better, and they do advance rapidly, more and more people will only shoot some sort of optics all their lives.

[leas327]

I am in the "start them with a dot" boat. They are young kids in a sport that is dominated by grown men. From what I have seen they are nervous and timid for first few matches. Make it easy for them to get their hits and have fun. They want to see who they can beat. They don't care about divisions/classes or ranks. Make it fun for them first, get them hooked, then develop them into a shooter.

[EkuJustice]

Dot us easier to shoot by far and helps your grip trigger control etc. no worrying about aligning sights just concentrate on the trigger pull

[Hollowhandle]

When my daughter was ten she started shooting a 9mm 1911. She loved it. She doesn't really shoot .22 any more. I don't have an open gun so she shoots irons and I just reload more.

[Who Knew]

My son is 9 and has shot a two or three matches with his .22 open gun, once he realized how much faster he could go with the dots he changed over. We are now working on him shooting a 9mm 1911. Having said that, his first few matches were shot using iron sights in Ruger Rimfire type events and then progressed to Steel Chanllenge. He shot around 20 of these types of matches before anything with movement. For practice with movement I let him set up some different stages shooting at cans or whatever he wanted, I have no idea if he hit them or not because all I watched was his movement,the gun and trigger finger.

[calvinc78]

my girl is 8 and Im going through the same right now... shes great with the .22 single shot and shes wanting to shoot hand guns next.... thinking a nice Walther P22 in hot pink and go from there

[MarkCO]

There are a TON of shooting sports and USPSA Open is about the LAST place I would put a new kid learning safety, trigger control and sight alignment. Shooting is about the Fundamentals and if those are not taught correctly, you rob the opportunity for excellence.

A 22/45 Lite is a great tool for teaching many aspects of sporting firearms and can certainly be used in Steel Challenge. I have an 8 year old and an 11 year old. We started off with some BB guns, then .22 rifles followed by .22 pistols and some .223 off the bench. The older one has progressed to shooting matches, a little centerfire pistol and a little shotgun. I am taking the approach that both are unique and I want them exposed to everything wholesome. They play team sports, one is in band, one in choir, both took Hunter safety and they love to shoot. But I realize my job as a parent is to lay a wide foundation of exposure, encouragement and nourishment. When I see them become passionate about something, then I am going to give them everything they need to excel there.

I say see what lights up HER eyes, take her to as many match styles as possible and let her shoot. Find the lady shooters and encourage her to talk to them and ask questions. The first few mathces for each boy, I did not shoot. It had to be about them, not about doing what they thought Dad wanted them to do.

[Carmoney]

She should continue to enjoy learning the fundamentals with her rimfires for a couple more years. Sorry, but 9 years old is too young to be shooting USPSA matches.

[Avezorak]

She should continue to enjoy learning the fundamentals with her rimfires for a couple more years. Sorry, but 9 years old is too young to be shooting USPSA matches.

I disagree with this statement. I do feel like 9 is too young for most kids to start shooting USPSA, but I have seen 8 and 9 year olds who were light years ahead of a large portion of the adult shooters in this sport.

[MarkCO]

Agree that 9 is probably too young, but again depends on kid. We have a junior who has DQ'd a lot and it is apparent got started a little too soon. Rimfire Challenge and Steel Challenge are much better venues to start with after the safety and fundaments have been gone over several times at the range.

[JimmyZip]

My 12 soon to be 13 y.o. got her start on her 10/22, and then I put an Archangel stock on it and a red dot, she has been happy with it so far. I got it for her when she was 9, put the Archangel on when she was 11, and G-pa just bought her her first centerfire rifle, a lefty AR. She loves to shoot her iron sighted 22/45, but her upper body strength is lacking to rack the slide on a Glock or anything else with a standard recoil spring.

She really likes the 22/45. She will get to shoot the AR after her 13th on the 11th of Jan. I think a rimfire pistol is a good way to teach pistol fundamentals. Light recoil, and cheap to shoot, it seemed like a no-brainer at the time.

JZ

[DialTone301]

My daughter (11 now) started competing last year with a custom Ruger MK3 and a 10/22 shooting Steel Challenge and Rimfire Madness. Next year she will be shooting a CZ Shadow Custom in Steel Challenge and USPSA limited. We picked limited so that she could concentrate on the shooting and worry less about reloading/stage layout. She picked the CZ because it was the only 9mm she tried that fit her hand well and she thought it was the easiest to shoot.

[Ultimo-Hombre]

Lots of valid opinions here. Every kid matures at a different rate.

My son has enjoyed shooting since he was strong enough to hold a 22 to his shoulder. I tried to expose him to center fire pistol at 9 years old and in hindsight feel it was a mistake. I believe he was more keen to "be like dad wih a real pistol" than to actually handle a center fire gun.

I also chose to introduce him to competition last season (12 now) in steel challenge. Again in hindsight would have done it different. The pressure of "competition" was a bit too much. I would reccomend, like others have, spending a full season on "private" stages first. Setting up a COF, using a timer and formal commands and even tracking performance. Just keep it only about you and your kid. No other distractions. Bottom line is kids just wanna be wih dad, be LIKE dad and have fun.

My take is this, don't be in too big of a hurry to turn your kid into a shooting/competing buddy.

Instead just enjoy one on one time shooting wih them.

[mwc]

My 11 year old son is shooting his first official USPSA match this weekend. He is shooting a glock 17 lower with a Tactical Solutions .22 conversion upper. Its light weight works really well for him. The tactical solutions mags hold 15 rounds and drop free which is another plus. He has been shooting it in practice for a year now. My focus for him is to be safe, have fun, and get used to the routine of matches. We will switch him over to 9mm when he has shown he is comfortable with it in practice.

My 15 year old son is still having fun shooting limited minor with a glock 34 with 22-23 round mags.

Edited December 5, 2012 by mwc

[Eric_Vmax]

Since my 9 year old has been to a few of my IPSC shoots we have been looking for a gun that he can easily handle. I came across the Hammerli Trailside .22, I handed it to him and he could rack the slide with no problems. We are going to start working on shooting with that, worst case I have a great plinking gun that he can someday give to his son/daughter.