Shooting with my daughter – Need some advice

Question for the group.

My daughter got a new gun for her birthday. it is a 243, we have shot a lot of 22lr and bow so I know she can shoot and I trust that she is aiming for the center.

I took her out to start the process (she just turned 9) I zero’ed it in, then she shot off the lead sled groups were good and she was around the center.

I talked her into trying to shoot some off a sand bag. The groups were still good except they were all like 4 inches low.

She said the scope was fuzzy around the edge. I tried to get her head forward, but that seemed uncomfortable.

So the question –
1) Should I move the scope back? (i think there is some room)
2) keep trying to stretch her head forward
3) zero it for her (I have never had to do this before, gun shoots straight so i am thinking it is her setup)
4) assume she is jumpy, and just getting lucky

question for me, I assume that the “fuzz” around the outside wouldn’t affect bullet placement but I am trying to figure out why they were low

This is a youth model and we are shoot reduced recoil load.

Any comments are appreciated.

Thanks
John

This what i do for myself and my two daughters (and everyone else) that I have set up scopes for.

Loosen the scope in the rings just enough that is can be moved with a little effort. Have your daughter shoulder the gun (all the safety steps involved obviously) WITH HER EYES CLOSED. When she’s shouldered up and comfortable – open her eyes. She should have a perfect view through the scope. If she needs to slide her head back and forth to obtain a view, move the scope. Once it is set perfect for her relief, pencil a line on the tube next to a ring. Re-level the crosshairs and re-tighten.

If she’s struggling to see, she will be struggling to make consistent shots

Bring it up to your shoulder and move your head around a bit. Is it fuzzy in any of those places for you? eg, can you recreate the issue for yourself

If she’s good on the sled, take a pic with your phone. Than have her go on the bags, ask her if it looks any different, have her shoot, and take another pic.

See if you can spot any changes on the pics or by her description between the two different methods.

That’s all I got to start.

Thanks for the replys. We will be heading back out again soon and I will give these suggestions a try.

Thanks
John

Let me ask it this way. If the eye relief on the scope is set up so that it’s right for you (an adult) what are the chances that it’s right for a 9 year old?

The Lead Sled covers a multitude of sins. One of which is that since the Lead Sled is doing the holding of the rifle, body position, cheek weld, grip, pull line, etc literally does not matter. Now take the rifle off the sled and all those things matter a lot.

My guess would be that the scope isn’t blurry, but she’s strugging to find the sight picture because the eye relief is not set up for her length of pull. Which for 9 year old girl is probably about 4 inches shorter than an adult’s.

Do as Randy suggests and move the scope to adjust for her eye releif. But ONLY go as far back as is absolutely necessary.

Warning! Extreme care needs to be taken so she doesn’t get hit by the scope after you adjust the eye relief. Nothing will make a non-shooter out of a 9 year old faster than a good black eye courtesy of her own 243. A 9 year old is not going to have the body mass to absorb much recoil or hold the muzzle down if it wants to jump.

Grouse

TheFamousGrouse wrote:

Warning! Extreme care needs to be taken so she doesn’t get hit by the scope after you adjust the eye relief. Nothing will make a non-shooter out of a 9 year old faster than a good black eye courtesy of her own 243. A 9 year old is not going to have the body mass to absorb much recoil or hold the muzzle down if it wants to jump

x2 – 14 years old when I got my .270. first time out, whammo right over the eyebrow. Combine that with shooting dad’s 12 gauge when I was too small to handle = trouble.

I’m in my early 40s now and getting back into shooting after 15 years away. I’m really struggling to get rid of the flinch I developed when I was young.

You’re doing the right thing starting with .22 and moving up a little bit. Personally at 9 years I wasn’t ready for a .243 but every kid is different. Thumbs up for taking your daughter out!!!

Thanks guys, getting scoped was/is my largest fear.

We are taking this slow and making sure she is comfortable. The first few times I told her I don’t care where it goes so we had her chin/cheek off the gun just so she can “feel” the recoil. she handled it fine so we moved on.

I do understand your setup questions and I will do what Randy suggested. I wouldn’t say it was setup for an adult, it is a youth model and I am 6’2 290 so i had to make some adjustments in form to shoot it as well.

The led sled (with no weight) was brought in so she could just squeeze the trigger a few times first before putting it on her shoulder.

Like I said we are going to move really slow to make sure she doesn’t get one in the eye, and i do appreciate the advice.

Thanks again
John

What gun did you go with?
DT

I don’t have any shooter tips, but might there be concerns with her eyesight in general?

About 9-10yrs old my pre-puberty daughter started seeing less perfectly. Maybe something to check out.

I doubt the fact this is related to eye sight as she was on-target off the sled. It sounds to me like she’s struggling to find the scope picture because of the change between the Lead Sled and then shooting off of bags.

Individuals will shoot the same rifle to a different POI. IMO, this is most often due mainly to shooting mechanics when it comes to a scoped rifle. For example, my trigger pull on my Contender handgun has me consistently to the right by about .5 inches at 100. So I can adjust the scope to compensate, but they my fellow handgunner Jeff will shoot .5 inches left every time. So the handgun and scope are essentially right on.

Grouse

is she holding the for end when she is shooting without the sled?
if son she might be keeping the barrel down during recoil and shooting lower than a free (no hold) sled shot where the recoil lifts the barrel

Here is another thing to think about is getting some low recoil .243 so she does not develop bad habits.

http://www.hornady.com/store/243-Win-87-gr-SST-Custom-Lite/

This might help her during sight in.

Her cheek weld is different then yours so a lower set of rings might be better too.