TargetTalk

Hello All,

My daughter, who will be 15 in April has expressed an interest in shooting. I was able to get her signed up for a four session "Introduction to 3PAR" at a local club and the folks there seem very nice and knowledgable.

They are shooting precision rifles. I would appreciate any input you might have about starting out, what to beware of, mistakes not to make etc.

I am hopeful that after the 4 week course she will know whether she would like to pursue the activity, but I am already wondering what the logical steps are if she continues.

What do we do about equipment, how does she practice away from the range, are there rifles that are better deigned for younger shooters, does she fiti in that category ? etc etc.

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

jon

Whereabouts are you? I'm in the UK, so if this appears to make no sense that might be why...

The big disadvantage of starting out with precision (as opposed to sporter) is all the kit you need to be at all competitive. That said, it's what my daughter started in (air rifle wise, she was already a .22 prone shooter).

Equipment - see what you can borrow initially, there may well be club rifles (I'd think there would have to be, for them to run a course like that). Especially with a gun, do not be tempted to get something for her to "grow into". If it's too heavy, she will be unable to adopt a good position and will have to twist her back to support the weight. Cue horrible back problems. Similarly, clothing has to fit or she may as well not have it. But it doesn't have to be new and beautiful.

Yes, there are precision air rifles designed for younger shooters. Whether your daughter fits that description would very much depend on how big she is. My daughter's a couple of months younger than yours and shoots a Feinwerkbau P700 Junior. She's about 5'5. Before you look at the price and gibber, there are cheaper options, and secondhand is often a good option too. It was for us :)

How does she practice away from the range? Well, if you have a nice clear space which is 6 yards long and where nobody can walk into the line of fire, you can get a pellet catcher and set yourself up a home range. You do need to be sure that no matter what, you couldn't end up with an accidental shot going somewhere it shouldn't - so it needs to be nowhere near a window, for instance. We have ours mounted on a board my husband made which completely fills the window alcove and is too thick for a stray pellet to penetrate. And of course check what the local laws are where you live!

I think my main advice would be not to buy anything until you've asked an experienced shooter about it, either at the club or somewhere like this. The vast majority of people will have plenty of time to help and advise a beginner, and any decent seller would want you to only buy it if it was right for you and will not be at all offended if you want a second opinion.

Hi Jon,
I agree with Skylark.
When I started a youth club, one of the things I had difficulty with was advising parents on when it was appropriate to spend a large amount of money on equipment. An air and smallbore rfle along with a full set of leathers and firing point equipment cost about $6500 at the time. That became easy after a while. While there are other onsiderations, the most important part was "Does the shooter pratice without any prompting from the parent"...in other words, do they LIKE to shoot. If the answer was yes they do...my advise was let your pocketbook be your guide.
A club usually has equipment to loan and maybe will let it go out of the clubhouse for a while. This allows for participation without an initial "buy in".
Maybe there is good used equipment avialable...buying used might allow the shooter to be able to travel to matches they otherwise could not attend.
Ralph Goodwin
X-Ring Junior Shooters