Kids: scopes or not, single shot or not

[Spotted Owl]

How did you start your kid(s)? Scope, no scope. Single shot or not? Why did you start that way?

We started with scopes and single shot. I never understood the no scope thing. I wanted them to be able to see what they was shooting at as best as possible. Single shot to get them to take his time and get the best shot off.

How do/did you start your young shooter and why?

Owl

[The Overfishin Condition]

I haven't started a kid yet, but I would say open sites are a good idea. No chance of them getting ringed, and they're apt to try more reasonable shots.

Single shot seems like a bad idea. Even deadly shooters sometimes miss by a little, perhaps one of the best attributes of a good shot is their ability to take a follow-up to make certain of things. Why cripple an animal to teach a lesson? Teach them the ethics of taking a good shot and they'll wait for one, sometimes you need a second round in less than 30 seconds anyway.

My .02- TOC.

[SImudBogger]

Lots of varibles to consider here. Age of child being the big one. If your shooting BB guns or .22's then i would say no scope. With a .22 i would suggest a bolt or maybe even a lever action like a henry or marlin. Semi auto wouldn't be a good choice for first gun IMO.

First hunting rifle i would say set it up exactly the way you will hunt in the field.

[Old Coot]

I started with a single-shot 30-30. Open sights. The reason I was started with that gun and no scope was that we were poor and it was cheap.

We hunted in a group of six people. 4 had scopes, two of us kids didn't. Everybody else was always seeing bucks thru their scopes, while we were trying really hard to grow horns but failing.

I started my kid with a .280 bolt carrying a 3 X 9 scope. I didn't worry too much about the single-shot thing. If he hit me with the first round, I was probably gonna die anyway. A repeating rifle allows a shooter to keep the gun shouldered while he chambers a second round. A single-shot pretty much requires that you take your eyes off the animal to chamber that follow-up shot.

One of the things we try to hammer home in teaching Hunter Ed is "know your target!" A scope makes that much easier in my opinion.

I'm not knocking single-shots. I hunted for 15 years with a #1 and took a lot of deer with it. If I hunted enough to justify it, I'd buy a Browning single shot for my primary rifle today, but, darn it, I don't.

[toas243]

I started my kid`s with open sites ,so they can really learn how to shoot with open sites ,thats how I learned and feel it`s good idea ,I still like to shoot open sites even though my eyes don`t work so good ,good thing there are peep sites ,Oh yeah the guns are savage .22 with a clip,they have to cycle the bolt so I feel safe with them and of course proper training

[sunshinefisherman]

Originally Posted by Spotted Owl

How did you start your kid(s)? Scope, no scope. Single shot or not? Why did you start that way?

We started with scopes and single shot. I never understood the no scope thing. I wanted them to be able to see what they was shooting at as best as possible. Single shot to get them to take his time and get the best shot off.

How do/did you start your young shooter and why?

Owl

Both my daughters (now 15) started shooting with my scoped Ruger 10-22 semi auto but for hunting I bought a H&R ultra lite youth single-shot in .243 with a Leupold Rifleman 3 X 9. I say the single-shot is fine, how many times do you get a second shot anyway?

I think they should learn the scope first. Later on you can teach open sights as a secondary skill.

My reason for going with this combo was primarily a value decision. I did not want to drop $1000 on a rifle & scope. I got both brand new for under $450. The second reason is that the H&R can become many other guns. With their barrel accessory program you can have any barrel from .223 to 45-70 to .410 to 12 ga. Take out one screw and presto, new caliber!

If I had it to do over I would not get the light weight model because the recoil in .243 is brisk. I would rather have them carry another 2 pounds than be afraid of the gun. I bought a .223 barrel and a .410 barrel for the gun which helped a lot.

For next year I will buy the wood adult size monte Carlo stock. This will help with the recoil and the fit now that they are bigger, or maybe I'll just let them hunt with my 45-70 guide gun. . . just kidding.

All in all the H&R is pretty versatile and economical.