Thinking of getting my twin daughters both their own BB guns for Christmas. They turn 7 in December. Is a Daisy 105 Buck or Red Ryder a good starter BB gun? Anyone have any good gun safety videos maybe via youtube they know of.
Old school red ryders are great 
Are they big enough to operate the lever to cock them? Gun safety won’t probably be the best if they have to struggle to operate the gun. Might be better to wait a year.
Since the guns are very light, I’d go with the Red Rider. The longer gun is actually easier to handle for many kids.
No gun saftey videos that I know of. For me its was always preach and practice. I actually did this with there toy guns first. Preach and practice. Preach and practice. It’s worked in my household. I’d trust the 8 year old daughter to grab my .22 and shoot a rabbit in the yard. I wouldn’t let her do it, but I would trust her to do so. My 13 year old isn’t even a worry anymore. I beat gun saftey in to his head like no other. And still do. But he has proven himself time and time again that he learns and listens.
As for the bb gun, the red Ryder
No better time than now.
Beat the 4 gun safety rules into their heads until they know them by heart, and have them explain each rule AND what each means to them.
We added little sayings and gestures to help them remember the rules, like “Trick-or-TREAT EVERY GUN LIKE IT’S LOADED”. And scrunching our trigger fingers to remember “Keep you finger off the trigger until you’re ready to shoot.” Another was “BEE certain of your target AND what’s beyond”, using “Bee” (I’d make a buzzing sound to trigger their memory) and really emphasizing the “AND”
Let them handle the guns (unloaded) and watch them, correcting and explaining any errors that you see. Nonchalantly walk up to and around them and see how they handle thier muzzle direction.
Once you’re confident in their abilities, break out the BB’s and safety glasses!!!
Just last night we were handling real guns in the house, and for the 10,000th time I had the boys recite the rules and what the rules actually mean when a gun is in their hand.
Back to BB guns, I cut the stocks down about an inch using my miter saw when they were little kids. The factory length was just too long. I think they got them on their 6th birthday.
They still shoot their red ryders on almost a daily basis 
Those are fine and something I think most of us grew up using at least briefly. I got my son, who also just turned 7, the next step up pump air rifle that takes BB’s and Pellets with the hope he uses it for a little longer and then I can utilize it for suburban squirrel defense thereafter. I’d also be interested in some YouTube links. One nice thing with the air rifle is I need to load and pump it for him now, so he should have better safety practices by the time he’s doing it on his own.
Gun safety is the big thing. Even when I am out hunting with me I explain what I am doing and why I am doing it. and beating into his head. Every chance I get preaching safety. I allow him to handle the gun.
My son is 8 and he wanted to turkey hunt had him shoot the 410 and 20 gauge but when it came to pulling the trigger on a turkey he was not ready. We gave him multiple chances but he was not ready. I learned in this incident was not to push him. Now he wants to shoot my muzzle loader he says he is ready.
RR or Buck really depends on the physical size of the child.
I initially bought the RR for my son but realized it was too large and bought the buck. It is nice now having 2 (big and small) as now neighbor kids and nieces/nephews can use them.
No age is too young to start them out, just embed the safety into them.
The BBs do bounce back as they are hard steel so do wear eyes.
Maybe buy one of each of find a buddy with one and borrow to fit?
Thanks for the feedback guys. I ordered a couple RR off amazon for $29 each. I plan to hammer the 4 gun safety rules in to them. Can practice muzzle control without them loaded for them to learn more. Not sure how hard it will be for them to cock them back, so to start I will probably have to help with that.
These seems like a decent video to start with:
You must be logged in to reply to this topic.
