Teaching a kid to shoot...paper or steel/cans first?

[C_Hallbert]

I prefer to teach young people to shoot on paper which incurs the establishment of a ritual that begins with firearm safety, range safety, sight adjustment and weapons care. Later, when they’ve demonstrated that they’ve taken it all to heart, steel is great…..

 

[ClintC]

I started my kids with steel targets, red dot on a 22LR. they know haw to use iron sights, but the red dot kept them engaged longer and not get frustrated with missing the target. Now my son make 7 and 8 hundred shots with a 6.5. This is what worked for my son. my daughter just really never got into shooting rifle. But her and my wife love to shoot pistol together. I just support there interest. My son and I are both into mid to long range shooting. You just have to lean to what interest them more.

 

[turkeyrun]

Reactive targets! Cans, cups, shotgun hulls, golf ball. Get a bag of those little, green armymen, dinosaurs, whatever; from Dolla Tree.

They can consistently hit those, group doesn't matter much. Then, move to a Bullseye and show them the variation.

We have shot 1000s of those army men with a bb gun and it never gets old.

 

[foghorn918]

I started my grandsons out on my dad's Marlin bolt .22lr that he had when he was a kid. We shoot paper. Then after that history lesson I move them to my M&P 15-22 with a red dot and then they're are hooked. My favorite quote from one of them was "Grandpa I'm not leaving until I shoot the bullseye"
Great memories!

 

[Profreedomokie]

When my son was four our family went out shooting. I would squat down behind him and let him shoot cans with my Python. I would reach around him and basically hold the gun while he pulled the trigger. The loads were light .38 spl. and it was just point shooting. After shooting a few rounds we finally hit a can and it went flying. He remembered and talked about that for years.

 

[Bahick71]

On Amazon there are some cool products. One is called blast bottles, $20 for six, come with a
Rope to hang them, shoot them over and over. Another is called clay claw, best clay bird
Holder I have ever found, $10 for 50, hangs on almost anything. Then blast hats, $25 for 12 they snap
On the top of cans, and can hang them with string. They are all fun, cheap, reusable, and
Reactive I made my kids learn to shoot with iron sights, and peep sights before using an optic.
Would let them shoot mine some, but there's were iron, until they were good with them.

 

[shotty]

I've always started out new shooters with a big can, at close range. As their confidence builds, the target gets smaller and further out.

 

[jakeman]

Milk jugs filled with water.

 

[dennishoddy]

Agree with cans or anything other than paper to start. Years ago was a 4H shooting sports instructor for an archery class. Kids couldn't hit the paper consistently but tape up balloons where they heard the POP when a hit got them excited. We'd also tie a string around an egg and lower from the top of the shooting bale onto the target 10 spot. Those kids LOVED shooting at eggs! Granted, too expensive now for that but instant gratification is what the kids I taught were after.

Absolutely.
I took rubber bands that would hold charcoal briquettes, tied them to a barbed wire fence with paper behind and let the kids shoot. A big burst of black showed a hit. A miss showed on the paper. Had to put a few repairs on the fence once or twice but it was worth it.

 

[Camo]

Started my daughter on balloons.