My son has been handling my .22LR quite well, and I would like to get him some additional training and possibly let him compete. Would anyone have any suggestions? We're in the Shelby County area.
I would recommend getting him and yourself after all it is a family activity to an Appleseed event. This is a great place to start for a youngster. Learning proper technique at an early age will be a great start.
Kids shoot free so only you would have to pay.
Adaptive Consulting and Trainings Basic Pistol 100 course. See our forum at the bottom of the INGO page for more information or pm or email me. Steel challenge is a great way to get a youngster into competition especially with .22.
My son started shooting local steel challenge type events with a .22 when he was 11. I agree with Coach; steel events would be a great place to start. It's relatively informal and steel is a friendly format for new shooters (you just stand in one place and shoot five plates, for the most part).
However, it is critical that your son first learn safe gun handling, the specific safety rules for USPSA & Steel Challenge type shooting, and the range commands. It will really disappoint him to get disqualified (ask my son about that sometime).
All good points above, but I wanted to clarify something Deaner said. He knows I mean no malice, but I want to point out that safety is important for the sake of it, not b/c of the possibility of disqualification. The rules of DQ offenses are based on safety.
We really don't care about the DQ, but we do care about whether or not the child is endangering himself and others. I still remember my father telling me "You can't say your sorry. Sorry won't fix it. Once someone gets hurt, it's too late."
I hope this post is helpful. My point is that the goal is trying to teach him to understand the essence of the rule (safety) rather than just knowing that DQ= go home and not get to finish match.