First family trip

ok so today was a pretty big day. I talked my wife into bringing the kids to the range for the first time today. Since they are only 7 & 8 she is a little bit weary about bringing them but I made a point to have a very valid reason for them to join. For the last 6 weeks we've been filling water jugs with shredded newspaper (even got the neighborhood kids involved) so we could do some ballistics testing on our SD ammo. After waiting out a rain storm we got onto the range and set things up. 4 Water jugs with Newspaper and water backed with 2 phone books taped together as a backstop. First up was the Speer Gold Dot 124gr 9mm round.
Petals were even and fully expanded.

Next was the 115gr ZombieMax 9mm. first shot was into Jugs, second shot was into the stacked phone books. The jug round opened evenly, however the copper jacket peeled back but the lead core just mushroomed . The phonebook round did not mushroom but also did not exit the second book. As a test, we shot a separate FMJ 115gr round at the books and it exited the back of them


After doing the testing, the kids got kinda excited about shooting, so we moved over to one of the target ranges.
After much poking and prodding....by the kids, they talked my wife into letting them shoot one of our pistols. I taught my son (8yo) gun safety using my G26 (cleared of coarse). So I loaded one round into a magazine, lined him up for the shot, and let him dry fire. After a few stance adjustments and grip techniques coaching, I loaded it and stood behind him reinforcing his grip. After the shot went off, I couldn't help but notice a smile on his face bigger than any smile I think I've ever seen before.
Next was my 7yo. daughter. we repeated the same process as above but with my wife's XD9. She was a lot less enthusiastic about shooting (I think she was a lot more intimidated by the whole thing). Needless to say the overall reaction to her first time shooting was the same as her brothers

Had to do a LOT of searching but we managed to find their casing before they cooled down. Keeping them both as momentos. The left is my son's and the one on the right is my daughter's.

Overall, an awesome day. Best part is, after shooting my wife's XD, my daughter asked me for her own .22 rifle
I'm a Proud Daddy tonight!

 

Thanks guys. Planning on etching their shell casings with all the info from the day; gun, date, who shot it, etc. Then putting them in their repective baby books

 

Thank you Mr. Gaston.
RJ, i am starting them now so that by the time they are teens they'll be marksmen. Incorporate learning gun related terms whn teaching them about our language. This way your 6yo. can correct the hotshot at the range when he refers to it as a clip instead of a magazine in front of the girl he's trying to impress!
There's a mental image for ya!