Shooting with... "The Girl"?

That's right, The Girl, My oldest daughter has become the next shooter in the clan. The Boy gracefully handed down the Keystone Crickett .22 rifle he started with to his little sis. And as it was he also handed down his knowledge and love for shooting. our first day at the range was a big day for my oldest princess, as it was for me and the Boy. Neither of us were sure how it would go down, You know, how long she would stay with it, or if the cold would turn her off. And at 5 years old she really hadn't shown too much interest in shooting other than shooting the bow with the Boy and an occasional shot with the BB gun. But nevertheless, she asked if she could come to the range, and there it begins.

Arriving at the range we walked her through all the safety rules, and the Boy walked her through the functions of her new rifle. We were now ready to shoot!! I sat her down at the shooting table, helped her load her first round of the Winchester .22 hollow points, resting the elbow of her support arm on the table, she pulled the cocking lever, peered through the peep sight at the 6" shoot-n-see target 20 yards away. After a moment she held her breath and squeezed the trigger. The rifle bucked gently and a green circle exploded onto the target just an inch or so south of the bulls-eye. With that first shot made, we cheered her on, and had a wonderful 2-3 hours of shooting.

Now I have learned something in this too. If you have read any of my previous posts you will know I'm not one who has much to do with pink, or purple or any of the more pastelly of colors. And there was a point in my life that I would have said that the plastic used in rifle stocks was chemically engineered to not allow any such pastelly color to adhere. I WAS WRONG. And I know this because the following day I found myself at Ace Hardware buying a can of purple, and a can of pink Krylon paint. As you can see in the new pic on the right, it adheres just fine.

All in all it is a wonderful new chapter, the relationship has grown stronger between her and the Boy, and she has been given something else that she feels good about. In closing let me say this, anything worth doing, is worth doing with your kids, and anything worth shooting, is worth teaching your kids how to shoot.