spiderjohn
Regular Member
Hey Now,
I recently bought a Marlin 795 .22 lr in order to teach my son about gun safety and have some father/son bonding time. Finally got a chance to show him the rifle and we we went over safety rules and had some practice sessions with him going through the routing of loading an empty magazine into the rifle, operating the safety, etc. I was impressed with how quickly he picked up on it and seemed to take it seriously. It seems sometimes 11 year old boys don't take anything seriously but he listened and showed great handling skills with it.
The next day we went to the range. I had about 300 rounds and 3 magazines and we again went over everything again. I got the typical 11yo 'roll of the eyes yes I know dad' but i reminded him that this was serious and that these were the things we had to do to be safe. I had him load the magazines and watched as he loaded the magazine into the rifle, activated the bolt, and clicked off the safety. He fired about 5 rounds and I stopped him and gave him some pointers. He slowed down and started hitting the target right on.
After about 50 rounds he was doing excellent. The target wasn't too far away, about half way down the range. I brought it back up and put a piece of tape about 2" long on it and sent it about 3/4 of the way down the range. I said you get a dollar for each time you hit the tape. He really concentrated and I ended up giving him $7 on that magazine of 10 rounds. We did that a couple more times and then i was out of money and said we just shoot for fun now!
We alternated turns after that and had a blast. I had him remove the magazine after it was empty and click on the safety each time after making sure there was no rounds in the chamber. We only had one instance at the end when he was putting the rifle in the case after he had verified it was empty and the safety was on...he brought the rifle back and swept me with it while taking it to the case. I took the chance to again tell him about how we always assume it's loaded and showed him the proper way of handling that situation. He realized right away what he did wrong and I had him go back and bring it safely out and put it in the case.
We'll be going back this weekend if it works out. My son is quickly moving towards teen years....not only will this be a great gun learning experience but I hope it will be a bonding experience for both of us. He is already talking about wanting to try a pistol out....I think my .45 is a bit much for him but after a couple more rounds at the range I may rent a .22 pistol.
Just thought I'd share.
I recently bought a Marlin 795 .22 lr in order to teach my son about gun safety and have some father/son bonding time. Finally got a chance to show him the rifle and we we went over safety rules and had some practice sessions with him going through the routing of loading an empty magazine into the rifle, operating the safety, etc. I was impressed with how quickly he picked up on it and seemed to take it seriously. It seems sometimes 11 year old boys don't take anything seriously but he listened and showed great handling skills with it.
The next day we went to the range. I had about 300 rounds and 3 magazines and we again went over everything again. I got the typical 11yo 'roll of the eyes yes I know dad' but i reminded him that this was serious and that these were the things we had to do to be safe. I had him load the magazines and watched as he loaded the magazine into the rifle, activated the bolt, and clicked off the safety. He fired about 5 rounds and I stopped him and gave him some pointers. He slowed down and started hitting the target right on.
After about 50 rounds he was doing excellent. The target wasn't too far away, about half way down the range. I brought it back up and put a piece of tape about 2" long on it and sent it about 3/4 of the way down the range. I said you get a dollar for each time you hit the tape. He really concentrated and I ended up giving him $7 on that magazine of 10 rounds. We did that a couple more times and then i was out of money and said we just shoot for fun now!
We alternated turns after that and had a blast. I had him remove the magazine after it was empty and click on the safety each time after making sure there was no rounds in the chamber. We only had one instance at the end when he was putting the rifle in the case after he had verified it was empty and the safety was on...he brought the rifle back and swept me with it while taking it to the case. I took the chance to again tell him about how we always assume it's loaded and showed him the proper way of handling that situation. He realized right away what he did wrong and I had him go back and bring it safely out and put it in the case.
We'll be going back this weekend if it works out. My son is quickly moving towards teen years....not only will this be a great gun learning experience but I hope it will be a bonding experience for both of us. He is already talking about wanting to try a pistol out....I think my .45 is a bit much for him but after a couple more rounds at the range I may rent a .22 pistol.
Just thought I'd share.
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