Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunting Rifles Boy's first rifle, first shot

Just have to share one of life's special moments of a boy with his first shot from his first rifle.

We have no kids, but three young nephews who live in California.

When they come visit, we give them a good dose of BBQ, outdoor visits to ranches and parks for fishing, hiking, birding, exploring and swimming.

They have gone hunting with us in the past a couple of times and shot with a borrowed 22.

Last year, one asked if he could have his own 22 for his birthday. We went down to the local shop and he picked out a nice Marlin 22 bolt rifle with a Leupold 4x, which is amazingly accurate, and he went to town shooting up as much 22 as I could find.

This summer he turned 9, and before his visit this summer for a few days, I picked up a nice 1960's vintage R700 in 243 which looked almost new. A bit of searching turned up an old wood ADL stock, which I had cut down.

First thing when he and his brothers arrived, they saw the rifle and took turns painting it and applying stencils. I did not help much other than explaining the process, but gave them free rein taking turns with stencils and spray cans.

The boy in the picture loaded up the rounds under my watchful eye - 80 grain Barnes TTSX's with 43.5 IMR 4831, which I had worked out beforehand with some testing. It is slightly below full power of 45, but an accurate load and still above 3,000 fps.

Yesterday, we put it all together, and borrowed a Nightforce scope from another rifle.

After practicing at 15 and then 50 yards with his 22 and 4x scope on 1" dots, he said he was ready to try the deer rifle at 100 yards.

On his first shot, my wife and I thought he had missed the paper entirely which we found hard to believe as he had been very accurate up to that point. So we had him try a different target and it was almost a perfect shot. So, we stopped and walked downrange to take a look. Turns out the first shot was so neatly in the black, we could not see it against the black backer.

Hard to know who was more excited, him, my wife and I, or his mom/my sister who was watching. His mom, who has mostly turned Californian but still has some solid Texas roots in her, was so excited and saw how happy all of the boys were commented on the way home that "this is really fun and safe. I'm glad you are taking them. I want to learn and bring [husband] to learn. He would enjoy it if he just tried it and saw what is really going on. This is really different than the movies."

After they packed up and left, my wife and I sat at the kitchen table, had a cold beer and just smiled looking at the pictures.

Here he is with his rifle that he painted with his brothers, his own loaded ammo, and his first ever shot with a centerfire rifle.

A great day all around, which I thought others might enjoy.

That's dang cool. He'll be pissin and moaning about BC before you know it.

FISH ON! Set the hook, man! SET it!

You only think you still own that Nightforce.

Wow that scope is almost as big as his smile! Awesome!

There has been no greater joy than bringing kids like me into the shooting sports. I had no family into it growing up, but a couple men stepped up and gave me access & direction. Were it not for them I doubt I'd have any familiarity w/ hunting & shooting... Much less be a devoted loony! Gotta pay it forward!

Excellent shooting on the young man's part. Just fantastic all the way around.

looks like he's ready!

Way cool !

God's own work you're doing there Jeff. Keep it up and there may yet be hope for Kalifornia.

Love it! Good stuff...

Outstanding!

Dang if knot!

LOL.

jeffbird, very cool stuff - good on ya.

Super! You have to be at the top of his list of favorite uncles. Well done!

A hearty Amen from the back row! Nice work jeffbird, love the pic!

Thanks guys!

That's cool .... I took a kid from church with his grandfather this spring. Never shot a gun in his life and did the exact same thing with my 257R. The huge smile on both him and his g-father made it all worth it.

Should have seem him smile after that when I pulled out the Single Six.

Good work!

You are a good Uncle, and Aunt I am sure.

Good job.

twofish

No drug rehab for that boy in the future good job ....

Awesome!