Need Setting up my Daughter for hunting season

[Guest adamoxtwo]

Ok so I know that she is only 4 and will be hunting with me in two years, but I figure it's about time to get her shooting. What I am thinking is getting her a Smith & Wesson M&P 15-22 AR-15 so that I can get her treating and respecting a rifle with little fear. I was going to get this for her this year then next year get her a .223 upper for it so that she can hunt with that Caliber. I figured she will never outgrow an AR-15. My question is does anyone know if you can take the lower receiver from the S&W M&P 15-22 and put a .223 Upper on it? If not then I have to get the .223 model now and the .22lr conversion lit.....which I would like to avoid. Any suggestions?

[kb4ns]

Wouldn't it be cheaper to get a 5.56 AR and a conversion kit now? Why are you trying to avoid it? I used to have one of those conversion kits and it worked great.

[DaveS]

My personal opinion (and mine only) Only an EXPERIENCED hunter (I'm assuming your talking about deer hunting) should be deer hunting with a .223/5.56. There are better calibers (again, my opinion only) for a child to learn/hunt deer with. A Rossi or NEF Combo would be a good choice in anything BUT .223 for a child! Just my two cents! I hope I didn't open a can of worms! As far as a .22 goes, CRICKETS are great little rifles for children to learn to shoot. If she doesn't like shooting, you ain't out much money!

Edited October 16, 2010 by wd-40

[ShaunM]

My daughter is 6 and she can shoot with my help my Howa 243.

[whiskey]

You are going to be happier with a S&W AR in .22.

She is going to be happier with a little bitty pink gun that she can shoot comfortably. Not to mention that a single shot bolt action is about the perfect teaching tool.

I started my daughter at 5 with a crickett. She didn't care that it only cost a 100.00. She didn't care that the trigger had a little creep. All she knew was that she was wearing out empty water bottles at 15 yards.

In the end, it's going to be alot more about how fun you make the time that the two of you spend shooting than it is about the gun. Spend 100.00 on little pink rifle and then if she enjoys shooting, get her a .223 or .243 or both. I bought a .223 NEF to introduce my daughter to centerfire. Ended up selling it and steping up to a .243 Remington 700 SPS youth when she was 9.

[Guest buttonhook]

get the rossi three gun set with the .22lr/20 ga./.243

[Guest TnRebel]

get the rossi three gun set with the .22lr/20 ga./.243

+1 thats how I started my grandsons out

[Guest Broomhead]

My Dad just bought my 6 year-old daughter a Crickett, one with a pink plastic stock. My wife and I upgraded the stock to the pink laminate wood stock. She loves that gun, takes care of it like she used her baby dolls. We use full cans of diet soda, shaken, not stirred. When she hits them at ~10yrds the explode and she giggles like little girls do. Use diet soda so things don't get sticky when you start cleaning things up.

My advice, get a Crickett and get her interested in shooting. If she likes it, then upgrade her rifle to something more powerful in 4-5 years. I doubt she is going to kill a deer before you can upgrade. BTW, kids don't have very good attention spans, they can't sit out all day hunt like daddy does.

[ShaunM]

get the rossi three gun set with the .22lr/20 ga./.243

I think this would be a great option.

[Guest Bronker]

get the rossi three gun set with the .22lr/20 ga./.243

It works.

[Guest adamoxtwo]

Thanks for all the advise everyone. I have to say that I looked at the Rossi and wasn't impressed, but had not spoken to anyone who had experience with them. Most kids her age are asking to watch barbie or a cartoon, but she wants to watch the bone collector....and tells me repeatedly "Daddy you have to shoot it in the heart". I will take another look at the Rossi 3 barrel. I was just looking in the AR because I figured it didn't have a kick and she could grow with the gun. After listening to you all I do realize that a .223 needs to be in the hands of a pretty good marksman because of the velocity of the bullet and what little damage it will do. I will absolutely keep everyone posted to how this is working out. As it stands know I have the blind setup and she goes out with me (no weapons) and we are slowly getting use to being out there and quite. Baby steps......baby steps

[DaveS]

It's good are taking her. My grandsons all shoot rossi's and we like them!