Best gun to teach handgun shooting

[sstewart]

As my grandchildren get a little older, I want to teach them how fun it is to shoot handguns. Looking for advice on what .22 to choose. Would consider reloading 380 light if that makes more sense.

Right now the Ruger SR 22 looks appealing. I'm looking for any advice on this topic.
I'm thinking age 7 or 8 is the minimum age, but advice on that would be appreciated also.
Thanks in advance

[Mr. AR50]

It's great having grand kids. I've got 4,(2 boys and 2 girls). I taught all 3 of my daughters and both of my grandsons how to shoot a handgun using a Ruger Bearcat that I've had for 30 years. My grand daughters aren't quite old enough to have a safe attention span, but their time is coming. I like the .22 single action for new shooters. While it's true that guns are only as safe as the people using them, the little Ruger SA is an excellent gun for beginners, with it's slow, deliberate rate of fire.Shooting it requires controlled, deliberate action. You have to think about what you're doing in order to shoot it. As they got older, and their skills improved, my daughters and grand sons moved up to .22 semi auto (Ruger MKII), and eventually larger calibers, in both semi auto and revolver. Hope this helps.
BTW, I think the age at which to start shooting is subjective. My oldest daughter didn't start until she was 10, but my middle and youngest daughters were ready at age 8, as were my grand sons.

Stay safe, enjoy your grandkids, and most of all, have fun!

[tommac919]

I tend to like .22 revolvers as a young kids learning pistol... Or I'd run a .22 semi with CB Longs ( cb cap power, lr case ) so the slide is worked manually.

After the basics and feeling confident, move up to the regular .22s.

[dakota1911]

Depends on how big the kids, and their hands are but I like to start with a .22 SA revolver also, then move to a .22 pistol.

[sqlbullet]

IMHO it doesn't get better than a Ruger Mark III.  Fits even small hands pretty good, easy controls, huge sights, easily adapted to optics, huge aftermarket, and dead nuts accurate.

[Hermit]

I started on pistols with a ruger standard(mk 1)

[rw]

IMHO it doesn't get better than a Ruger Mark III.  Fits even small hands pretty good, easy controls, huge sights, easily adapted to optics, huge aftermarket, and dead nuts accurate.

My thoughts exactly.. I love my 22/45

[NavyVet1959]

If you reload, you can load some .38/.357 mag loads down to about 400-500 fps and they will be even more quiet than .22LR.  It's been so long since I saw .22LR ammo in the stores (at anything other than scalping prices) that I would not recommend anyone buy a firearm chambered in .22LR.  I would also recommend either a single shot or a revolver so that the focus is on the shooting and not just how fast you can make it "go bang" like many kids (and adults) are likely to do with a semi-auto.  Start them with a single-shot rifle first and then let them go advance to a handgun as they get older and you feel more confident in their safety awareness.

[sqlbullet]

I don't shoot a bunch of 22lr and have a bunch of stockpile, so I have been checking.  I was under the impression that the shortage was abating.

[NavyVet1959]

I don't shoot a bunch of 22lr and have a bunch of stockpile, so I have been checking.  I was under the impression that the shortage was abating.

Well, I haven't seen a brick of .22LR at Wal-mart in quite a few years.  They've even removed the label from the place on the shelf where they used to place it.  Last time I bought .22LRs, they were around $7-8 per 500-round brick.  The label that used to be on the empty Wal-mart shelf was for around $22.  That's still a bit cheaper than I can load quite .38s for, but if I put up a bullet trap that allows me to recover my lead, my cost to shoot goes down quite a bit.

Working out the costs with today's prices:

$23.50 -- TUSA SPM primers; 1000 ct; PowderValley
$103.00 -- Alliant Promo powder; 8 lbs; PowderValley
$1.25 -- lead ingots; various places -- eBay, reloading forums, etc

My smallest mold for a .38 / .357 is a 105 gr Lee SWC, so I'll base my calculations on that.  You could save a few more grains of lead (and cost) by going the round ball route though.  For this load, 2.5-3.0 gr of Alliant Promo would probably work and you might even be able to go lower in handguns.  I'll use 3.0 gr for the calculation though.

I'll base these numbers on 500 rounds since we are comparing the costs to a 500-round brick of .22LR.

$11.75 -- primers
$2.76 -- powder
$9.38 -- lead
$23.89 -- TOTAL to load, assuming lead CANNOT be recovered
$14.51 -- TOTAL to load, assuming lead CAN be recovered

A 0.360" round ball will weigh 70 gr, so the lead costs would be $6.25 instead of $9.38 if you were to switch to it and could not recover you lead.

One items that I did not factor in on the reloading costs is the cost of beer that is consumed while reloading or casting the bullets.  My experience is that it does add a bit of cost to the reloading process, but those beers would likely be consumed with any other hobby that you had that occupied the same amount of time.

[sqlbullet]

Interesting.

LIke you, I doubt I will every shoot up what I have.  I cast, and I have a good steady source of lead.  After I clean up, ingotize and sell what I don't need of the lead, shooting is free.

I doubt the prices will ever return to pre-rush levels.  My wal-mart does have it in stock with some degree of regularity.  And the local Sportsmans Warehouse finally has a decent powder stock back on it's shelves.

[colt1911fan]

IMHO it doesn't get better than a Ruger Mark III.  Fits even small hands pretty good, easy controls, huge sights, easily adapted to optics, huge aftermarket, and dead nuts accurate.

My thoughts exactly.. I love my 22/45

This. I started my son on a CZ Scout 22LR rifle first. All the fundamentals and muzzle control is easier to control/learn and recoil is zero. Then the Ruger Mark IV. To be honest even though the pistol has little kick, he doesn't like it as much as the rifle. Fine by me for a kid/size/maturity or anyone of any age who isn't interested in public self defense with a lethal weapon.