Teaching a 5 y/o to shoot

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Started my son with a good ole Red Ryder around that age

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My first firearm shot was dad’s 12ga semi automatic. Just the one shot but immediately after was grandpa’s .22lr bolt action. The.22 was a piece of cake after handling and shooting the 12ga. Literally showed me that there’s appropriate and not so appropriate weapons for people of all sizes/abilities.

Might be why I was never so curious about dad’s 12ga since I knew it was too big for me.

The stock on a red Ryder is too long for a 5 year old and kids that age really struggle with open sights and get easily frustrated. Resist the temptation to go that route.

Here is what I have done that has worked well for us:

1) get kids .22. Not yours or grandpas, one of the single shots made for kids with a very short length of pull. Savage, cricket, etc.

2) put a red dot on it. The biggest thing for kids that age is fun and confidence. Those come from hits. With a red dot, they don’t have to have perfect head alignment or eye relief (that will come). They will start hitting things faster and want to do it again and again, which is the key for building proper shooting fundamentals in someone with a 30 second attention span.

3) start her shooting prone off bags so that the gun is well supported and stable and you can easily focus on safety and fundamentals

4) get some reactive targets. Something metal that moves and makes noise when you hit it. More exciting than paper.

5) when you are ready to move to a centerfire, switch the optics to something similar (I.e. open sights or a regular scope) and practice that for a while to make sure that are comfortable and confident with the eye relief, sight picture, etc.

6) similarly, when you move to centerfire, make sure the gun fits with an appropriately short length of pull and use low recoil rounds to start and build confidence and then keep using them for high volume practice.

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The stock on a red Ryder is too long for a 5 year old

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Correct, the Daisy Buck Model 105 is much shorter. I’d recommend that and go from there.

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The stock on a red Ryder is too long for a 5 year old

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so cut it shorter, re-attach cut off as needed.

BB gun and she'll find out fast which eye is dominant. That's how I learned I was left-eye dominant, so I do everything righthanded but shoot long guns.

Red Ryder
Then a cricket without scope then add the scope. Use sub sonic and hearing protection so they are used to it. It’s a simple move to a ar-15 and they can kill deer at 6-7yr old.
Don’t push them but most kids will chomp at the bit to burn through 100s$ of ammo if you provide the right setting and equipment.

Find his dominant eye. The rest is easy. Don’t pressure him and always make shooting fun.

Teach him the rules and enjoy.

Sarted the 3rd -5th sons at about 6. Used .22 and 410. Moved up to 20 ga pump and .30 carbine before 10 years old. Various others after that.

May be an unpopular opinion, but teaching a child to shoot vs to kill is a different thing. If you want them to shoot, use a BB gun. If you want them to kill, explain to her what it means to take an animals life and that you only do that to feed your family.