Ruger’s single-action .22s are the best way to learn.
Teaching children to appreciate firearms should be a high priority. It prepares another generation for the joys of shooting and ensures that the Second Amendment always has citizens interested in its defense. We all learned from someone, so it only seems fair to continue passing that knowledge along.
Of all the firearms types in existence, pistols are the hardest to teach safely, especially to young ’uns. Children have a limited attention span, no experience with the subject and can easily be frightened by a gun’s recoil and/or muzzle blast. Few would argue that the .22 rimfire is the way to introduce youngsters to guns, and I think Ruger’s single-action pistols are the best way to teach them safe and effective pistol handling.
Why single action?
There are a ton of .22 pistols available, most are easier to reload and faster to shoot. Those are the same reasons I think a single-action pistol is the best way to teach a child. A single-action pistol has a time-consuming loading process that forces the shooter to manually turn the revolver’s cylinder while inserting a single round into each of the chambers.
By encouraging a child to go slow, you can teach them to pay attention to the orientation of the muzzle while loading. Since the loading process takes time, there are plenty of opportunities to talk the child through what’s happening and why it’s important to always pay attention to where a pistol is pointing. Magazine-fed pistols load in an instant, so there is little time to teach or talk. One moment the pistol is empty, and the next it’s loaded.
Another advantage of the single-action pistol is the slow firing pace. Even if you want to burn
