Teaching a 9 year old

I was hoping someone had some advice on a place near Andover area where I can teach my 9 year old to shoot. He has been shooting a BB gun and ready to move up to a 22. Where can I shoot around here?

You could check Minnetonka Gun club up near Nowthen. They might have open shooting for non-members.

There is a gun/range club in Blaine that might work. They have outdoor and indoor range shooting and trap/skeet.

https://www.metrogunclub.com/

The closest places are Metro in Blaine, Total Defense in Ramsey and MN Firearms Training in Anoka.

Looks like another one opened up in Coon Rapids too called Modern Sportsman, its by Northtown.

rumriverrunner wrote:

I was hoping someone had some advice on a place near Andover area where I can teach my 9 year old to shoot. He has been shooting a BB gun and ready to move up to a 22. Where can I shoot around here?

I’d pick up some .22 short CB caps or CCI’s Quiet Rounds [long rifle] and make a target in the basement or in the garage. These bullets move at about 700fps and make very little noise. The bullets will not go thru a standard 2X4. A 24″ square box filled with packed newspapers will stop either bullet with room to spare.

The reason I suggest this is because the last thing you want is to have distractions. In the quiet of the garage or basement and loading as a single shot you can get him the hands-on stuff at a learning pace without all of the peripheral noise and motions of a shooting range. Once he’s shooting well inside and has a full understanding of what the gun can do, then move him to a range and full powered ammo.

Of course you’ll need to schedule your indoor practice when you can be assured that there will be noone else in the area if in the basement or come bebopping in the garage for a bike or anything, unannounced.

I have two 2X12’s nailed together in the garage that are my backstop and spend quite a bit of spare time with the .22 using the quiet rounds just to stay in touch with trigger pull. I use the 1″ stick-on target dots and after ten shots move the new dot to the side of where I just put ten pounds. When one side of the wood stack is peppered up pretty good I turn the stack around. When one side is used up I flip the stack end for end.. When both sides and both ends are used up, I cut the used portion off and start all over again. Another option is one of those very dense archery target blocks about two feet square. Both of these rounds will penetrate about 6 inches. With 6 sides to use up there’s a ton of target shooting in one of them.

I spend a lot of time at the range, but I love to shoot and do so in the garage where I can squeak out about 34 feet using these less powerful rounds. Not only do I stay in touch with a very controlled trigger pull, but I also simply find this shooting relaxing. Trust me, these two rounds are super quiet and at the short range found either in a basement or a garage, they are very accurate. And getting him accustomed to using hearing protection and eye protection. All of this can be learned safely and quietly at home. I buy the CCI Quiet rounds by the brick if that’ll give you an idea of how much I shoot in the garage.

To give an example of how quiet these rounds are, I was shooting in the garage with my back to the service door, which I had open, and the neighbor was working in her garden and never so much as asked what I was doing.

Doing this allows you to get the kinks out before he hits a regular range.

Jimmy, I’d be proactive with some ventilation if shooting indoors.

Right. I have fans running in every room including the lower level so there’s always air movement. I’m accustomed to the air flow and just took it for granted that most newer homes around here have to have the systemic air exchange fans. Good point though! Thanks for the reminder.