A Long-Awaited Day

M

MikeH

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Oct 18, 2001
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Due to other family obligations, my son and his family came to our house for an early Christmas get-together yesterday.

Two years ago, on impulse, I bought a beautiful little youth model .22 lever action Mossberg and put it away for my grandson. My son, although raised around a house full of guns, has no real interest in them, and my daughter-in-law grew up in a non-gun family. So I told them of the purchase and that it would remain unmentioned to the grandson until they thought he was ready. He is now eight years old. Yesterday after we opened gifts, my son said, "why don't you show Austin his gun?", and my DNL concurred.

He was awe-stricken! After a safety lecture I handed it to him, and his face was a combination of joy and disbelief. For now the gun is going to continute to live at grandpa's house, and I am to schedule a range trip soon.

Life is good.
 
Good for you Mike, great age to learn firearm safety.

I have a Busse already picked out for my Granddaughter, LOL, she's one. Still some time for selecting her first firearm.
 
Good job!

I'll never forget my first 22. A single shot youth model. My daughter has it now, and one day it will be my son's 1st gun.

The first thing I ever shot with it was a wildly agitated can of Coke. It exploded in extrordinary fashion, just as dad had planned. That expoding coke left me with a tremendous amount of respect for what seemed like a diminutive cartridge. Any time I happen to be shooting with kids around I repeat this feat to demonstrate the power of the .22 caliber bullet. It works every time. ;)

.
 
Excellent Job Grandpa.
It gives me ideas for my Grandchildren, I was blessed with my first 3 months ago.
 
+1 to what everyone has said. Glad an awesome day like this finally came and you were able to gift such a wonderful lesson and hobby.
 
My Granddad gave me my first gun (a single shoot .410) when I was twelve years old. It was one of the proudest days of my life. He gave me safety instructions and the took me out in the back yard to shoot it. When we finished, he showed me how to clean it. My daughter's boyfriend has several guns and he had never cleaned them once. I'm passing on my Granddad's lessons to my daughter and her boyfriend. I hope I'm still kicking, to pass them on to my Grandson. He's too young to know it, but he already has his first gun, a single shot .410.
 
Extremely cool. Gives another good reason for visiting gramdpa. My boy is three and he has already said, "I want you to show me how to shoot guns, Dada. But not until I am older." I was stunned but y ryryryryryryryr very r pleased.
 
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Great story Mike! My 11 year old granddaughter wants to target practice when she visits next summer, and I imagine her soon to be eight year old brother will too!..:D:thumbup:
 
What a great grandaddy you are! If my grandpa was here when I was growing up, I bed he would do the same. I never got a chance to hang out with mine. I'm glad you are keeping guns in the family! That's awesome.
 
That is great Mike. I got my 2 oldest kids their first BB guns for Christmas and we have been shooting ever since. Both are very natural shooters and my daughter, even with a cast on her arm is shooting amazing already.

Garth
 
Excellent!!!! Youth firearms EDUCATION should be mandatory. Its THE best way to continue our freedom!
 
That is awesome :thumbup: It's always a great feeling giving gifts to children. . . It makes it that much better when they love them :D
 
That is great Mike! I bet he'll be a great shot in no time at all, and with you instilling safety he'll know how to properly use his new gun. I'm sure this will be a great bonding time for the two of you when you get to take him out shooting. :)
 
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