My daughter was 9 when she first shot a handgun. I gave her my Glock 19 (similar recoil to a full size 1911 in .45), but I only loaded one round in the mag until I was confident that she could handle the gun. This was specifically to prevent any issues with her dropping the gun or letting the recoil move it away from a down range orientation. Her first rifle was a .22 Cricket single shot that is still in my safe. She had to read the manual and pass a verbal test by me on the guns operation and gun safety before she got to take it to the range. I would pass that one on to her little brother (who is soon to be 8), except for the fact that it is pink. Guess I will have to pony up $100 or so for a brown one.parabelum wrote:Saw a guy giving his what looked like 10-11 year old daughter 1911 to shoot, nothing wrong with that if done SAFELY!, but she had her finger on the trigger prematurely and dropped the gun after she fired.
The point is to set a new shooter up for success, or at least safety, as much as possible. This is especially true if they are a kid. And doubly so if they are a boy (sorry, I know I'm stereotyping, but boys just seem a lot less calm than girls of the same age).