Got my 12 year old a pellet gun for Christmas. When I was a kid I had one along with all my friends. We killed anything that moved, and eventually progressed to war games and shot each other. Pellets really hurt, but maybe no worse than a paintball at close range. So times have changed and my wife is not happy he is even getting the gun at all. She wants it to be used for targets only. I'm inclined to let him shoot rats and pest birds like starlings at least. What do you think?
You'll shoot your eye out kid.
Srsly, gun safety and supervised target shooting first. Rural areas only for critter/ pest shooting later on, city folks will call 911 at the sight of any gun.
got mine when I was that age... I still have it... lived at the edge of the jungle in Panama... and shot all sorts of little lizards and stuff... never shot them at another person though... i know kids that did and always thought it was stupid... part of my firearms training I suppose... dad never touched a gun untill boot-camp... go with paintball for shooting at other people... with proper gear (eye/face protection)
my son will prob get that air rifle in a few more years... but you have to be careful... I was shooting it in my backyard some years back and had the cops called on me (cop asked to talk to my kids as that's who he figured it was lol (oldest was 3 y/o at the time)
We are pretty rural, and obviously I will not turn him loose like my dad did to me. He is a lot more responsible at 12 than the teens down the road who were duck hunting behind our house and rained buckshot down on my wife last week.
If your son is hunting he needs to take a hunter safety course to get his license. After that watch him like hawk.
You'll put an eye out with that, kid!
pilotbraden wrote: If your son is hunting he needs to take a hunter safety course to get his license. After that watch him like hawk.
No kidding. Modern pellet guns are not your dad's Daisy. Make sure he understands that this is to be treated like a real weapon, because it is one. (Man injured in pellet rifle incident dies - pellet lodged in his heart.)
Heck, they even pellet gun uppers for ARs. (...that sort of thing is purchased by those people who want to practice daily)
Gun Safety and Supervised Target Practice. When he demonstrates maturity and respect for the weapon, then target practice by himself.
Gun Safety while hunting is another level up. He sees a starling, but is it a safe shot?
As a student, I had a patient when I did geriatric medicine. He had been shot in the head decades earlier by a (ex?) girl friend or something. Not much mental capacity left after the injury, but 60 years later, he was still around. Anyway, in full continuity of care, when I did pathology months later I had him come through for an autopsy. We cut up his brain and got the "bullet" out. It had left a hole in the brain after 60 years about the size of a golf ball. On examination and after lots of discussion, we finally figured out what it was. It was a 22 caliber pellet. Yeah, he got shot and his life was destroyed by a pellet gun.
bearmtnmartin wrote: We are pretty rural, and obviously I will not turn him loose like my dad did to me. He is a lot more responsible at 12 than the teens down the road who were duck hunting behind our house and rained buckshot down on my wife last week.
they were hunting duck with BUCKSHOT ?????? obviously they weren't planing on having any duck left to eat ...
I'd say target only at least for now. Having air powered guns around as a kid can be a great thing. Ya see, all I had were water guns. Now I have an arsenal.
Realistically, you don't want your kid aiming at a moving target at least until he is taught to target shoot and I would suggest teaching him to use it as a real firearm and learn the four rules. A lot of new ones are damn near as powerful as a .22, especially those .17 metal pellets.
If you want him to be able to shoot with/at friends, get an airsoft or paintball gun. Those are made for that.
I understand your son is mature, but I would still suggest the above stated. THEN move on to rodents. Then the almighty .22, followed by.... a .308. 
I can't say anything, I had my niece out at 6 shooting with us, took some discussion with her mom, till I pointed out she started out younger than that and hasn't shot anyone yet. That said she turns 11 this coming Feb, and her soon to be stepdad bought her a red rider bb gun for Christmas. Anything more than 400fps is kinda overkill unless you're hunting.
That said the .22 caliber breech break spring guns are absolutely stupid. Some of those are.creaping up around 1000fps.
Check your state laws. Here there is a strict law about killing ANY birds indigenous to the state, even trash birds like grackles. If you want to teach target practice, that's fine, but be very, very careful when it comes to anything that bleeds.
stroker wrote: Check your state laws. Here there is a strict law about killing ANY birds indigenous to the state, even trash birds like grackles. If you want to teach target practice, that's fine, but be very, very careful when it comes to anything that bleeds.
Along with anything migratory. MBTA prevents you from killing any migratory bird.
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