My Daughter’s First Shots & 7 Tips for Taking A Child To The Range
June 15th was National Take Your Daughter to the Range Day (NTYDTTRD), a movement to encourage women, young and old, to get out there and give shooting a try. Earlier this year I blogged about how my Munchkin received her first rifle for her birthday. After working with her on understanding firearm safety, we felt she was ready to take her first shots on this special weekend. Though there were no official events here in Montana, my husband and I made our own fun for her.
After fitting her with eye and ear protection we set up the range with a swinging bowling pin target. We placed her gun, a single-shot, bolt-action .22 caliber rifle in dark pink, in a tripod mount so that she could focus on just the sights and squeezing the trigger. The length of pull for the gun is still too long for her to use with the peep sights and because she couldn’t get her head close enough to the rear sight, she struggled with hitting the target.
Fortunately, we had a backup on hand and brought out a Smith & Wesson M&P-15 in .22 long rifle. We were able to quickly set the stock to fit her and explained to her how the crosshairs on the target would be just like an X to mark the spot. In a short time, she was hitting her target. Her dad and I were beaming with pride.
The following Monday I was on NRA News to chat with Cam Edwards about our fun weekend.
Are you looking to bring your child to the range for the first time? Check out my 7 Simple Tips for Taking Your Son or Daughter to the Range at Women’s Outdoor News.
