spectr17
02-08-2003, 02:39 PM
Here's a method for a teaching youngsters to shoot
By Tim Renken, St. Louis Post-Dispatch
02/07/2003
So your kid got a shotgun for Christmas? Now he (or she) is begging you to take him or her out to shoot. Whether you yourself are a hunter or shooter or not, here is how to introduce your kid to the lifetime of fun and satisfaction that the shooting sports can bring.
This method is the one used by Willis Corbett, volunteer training instructor at the Busch Conservation Area range.
The first step is to take (don't send) the kid to a gun safety class or a hunter safety class, preferably both (see below). The next step is to take the kid and the gun out to any gun range or a rural area where it's safe to shoot a shotgun. Take ear protection and a couple of boxes of the least expensive shells with No. 6 or No. 8 shot.
Make a big deal out of it. Have the kid make targets beforehand. A double sheet of newsprint will do, but wrapping paper is better. Ideally, a shotgun patterning target has a 30-inch circle with several inches of extra space all around. Stretch the paper out on a fence or, best, fabricate a target holder out of scrap.
Observing all safety steps, have the kid practice loading and unloading the gun. Then have the kid "dry fire" repeatedly. Make sure the feet are right, the gun mounted properly, both eyes open, the trigger squeezed, not jerked. If the learner has trouble holding the gun up to fire, Corbett says, put it on a rest like a fencepost or a bipod made out of a broomstick.
Pace off 30 yards. Then have the pupil shoot once at the target. Go see what happened. The idea here is to show what a shotgun does downrange. See if most of the hits are within the circle. Did the pattern go high, low or off to either side?
Replace the paper and shoot again. Make sure every shot is fired right. Here's where good habits are created.
Keep shooting this way. Then try a few shots at the paper at longer ranges, such as 50 yards. These patterns will show how a shot pattern spreads and becomes ineffective at these ranges.
Then you might switch to a different target, such as a can on a fencepost or, better, a can hanging on a string. Start out at, say, 20 yards, then 25, then 30. It's fun to see the can fly straight back when it is centered in the pattern - the thrill of success. Don't shoot at glass or trees. Pick up the empty hulls.
Then have the learner shoot at the can at longer ranges, again demonstrating the limits of the shotgun.
If the gun's recoil causes the kid pain (it shouldn't if the gun is a 20-gauge, made for a kid) he or she might not be mounting the gun firmly against the shoulder or getting the head down on the stock. Chances are good that the gun doesn't fit the kid. Yes, a shotgun is like a jacket, it must fit the shooter in all of several dimensions.
Shotgun fit, though, is a complicated subject, more complicated with a kid because he or she is growing. Many hunters don't know much about shotgun fit. More likely to know about fit are trap, skeet and sporting clays shooters. The best source, of course, is a shooting instructor.
For most kids, especially younger ones, shooting at cans is fun for a long time, Corbett says. For many kids, it's enough. Much later comes shooting at clay targets thrown with a trap, with the thrower standing near and just behind the shooter so that the target is flying straight away. Angle shots come still later, much later.
Better, of course, is instruction on a clay target field, preferably under the eye of an instructor, like Corbett, with experience in teaching kids.
You can get a schedule of classes in Missouri online at http://www.conservation.state.mo.us/areas/stlouis/ or by calling 314-301-1500 or 636-441-4554 . In Illinois call 618-462-1181.
By Tim Renken, St. Louis Post-Dispatch
02/07/2003
So your kid got a shotgun for Christmas? Now he (or she) is begging you to take him or her out to shoot. Whether you yourself are a hunter or shooter or not, here is how to introduce your kid to the lifetime of fun and satisfaction that the shooting sports can bring.
This method is the one used by Willis Corbett, volunteer training instructor at the Busch Conservation Area range.
The first step is to take (don't send) the kid to a gun safety class or a hunter safety class, preferably both (see below). The next step is to take the kid and the gun out to any gun range or a rural area where it's safe to shoot a shotgun. Take ear protection and a couple of boxes of the least expensive shells with No. 6 or No. 8 shot.
Make a big deal out of it. Have the kid make targets beforehand. A double sheet of newsprint will do, but wrapping paper is better. Ideally, a shotgun patterning target has a 30-inch circle with several inches of extra space all around. Stretch the paper out on a fence or, best, fabricate a target holder out of scrap.
Observing all safety steps, have the kid practice loading and unloading the gun. Then have the kid "dry fire" repeatedly. Make sure the feet are right, the gun mounted properly, both eyes open, the trigger squeezed, not jerked. If the learner has trouble holding the gun up to fire, Corbett says, put it on a rest like a fencepost or a bipod made out of a broomstick.
Pace off 30 yards. Then have the pupil shoot once at the target. Go see what happened. The idea here is to show what a shotgun does downrange. See if most of the hits are within the circle. Did the pattern go high, low or off to either side?
Replace the paper and shoot again. Make sure every shot is fired right. Here's where good habits are created.
Keep shooting this way. Then try a few shots at the paper at longer ranges, such as 50 yards. These patterns will show how a shot pattern spreads and becomes ineffective at these ranges.
Then you might switch to a different target, such as a can on a fencepost or, better, a can hanging on a string. Start out at, say, 20 yards, then 25, then 30. It's fun to see the can fly straight back when it is centered in the pattern - the thrill of success. Don't shoot at glass or trees. Pick up the empty hulls.
Then have the learner shoot at the can at longer ranges, again demonstrating the limits of the shotgun.
If the gun's recoil causes the kid pain (it shouldn't if the gun is a 20-gauge, made for a kid) he or she might not be mounting the gun firmly against the shoulder or getting the head down on the stock. Chances are good that the gun doesn't fit the kid. Yes, a shotgun is like a jacket, it must fit the shooter in all of several dimensions.
Shotgun fit, though, is a complicated subject, more complicated with a kid because he or she is growing. Many hunters don't know much about shotgun fit. More likely to know about fit are trap, skeet and sporting clays shooters. The best source, of course, is a shooting instructor.
For most kids, especially younger ones, shooting at cans is fun for a long time, Corbett says. For many kids, it's enough. Much later comes shooting at clay targets thrown with a trap, with the thrower standing near and just behind the shooter so that the target is flying straight away. Angle shots come still later, much later.
Better, of course, is instruction on a clay target field, preferably under the eye of an instructor, like Corbett, with experience in teaching kids.
You can get a schedule of classes in Missouri online at http://www.conservation.state.mo.us/areas/stlouis/ or by calling 314-301-1500 or 636-441-4554 . In Illinois call 618-462-1181.