i was cleaning my rifle @ my work bench when my almost 3 yr old son told me he wanted to help. after a pause i told him to pull up a chair. i had already wiped off most of the carbon with a dry rag. i gave him a q-tip w a drop of fireclean and put him to work on the bolt carrier. he kept at it for about 45 min. thats a long time for a 3 yr old. it was an enjoyable afternoon w my boy. i even talked him through the bcg assembly. fireclean says its non-toxic and thats all i use. should i be worried about the carbon fouling? he washed up real good after he was done. i was not raised around firearms so was wondering if this is normal father/son bonding.
dissclaimer: no child accessible loaded firearms on property
Perfectly normal. But I suspect those on this forum would have a similar perspective. Asking that same question at another venue where the view might be counter to those shared here, might put you into the same category as those who club baby seals.
It is my view that education from an early age is important. Safety especially. For children who do not view things as being “off limits” often have a lesser amount of curiosity to explore when the parent is not present.
Expose your children to firearms progressively as they are able to process and safely integrate information. When my kids were old enough to sit up and hand me things, they have helped out around the house (and gun room) in as many ways as they could and were interested in. It was somewhere between 2 and 3 that one of mine understood the orientation of a pistol magazine spring and follower to the tube, and the buffer and spring to the receiver extension, all from helping dad.
Anticipate they will have shorter attention spans, will be easily distracted, and more accident prone, but let them help where they can.
My kids are ALWAYS around when I clean. One of the reasons I swapped to Frog Lube this year. They are allowed to pretty much touch anything that is NOT put together. So basically parts. They ask questions. I tell them what parts are and what they do. The only thing I don’t show them is how to operate any of the fire arms or put any together. I think that needs to be done at a much later date.
Just wait till they are old enough to stand on a stepladder, and drop brass into the Dillon 650 while you reload range chow…
Seriously, why the heck not? If you are following normal precautions, it sounds like a fun time with Dad. I used to help my grandparents clean firearms all the time, it was just another chore. You cleaned all the tools before you put them away - shovels, axes, hoes, shotguns, rifles.
As long as you’re ok with your kid touching carbon, brass, copper, and maybe a little lead, along with any other cleaners or lubricants you’re using. Hell, fireclean is non-toxic, but would you really want to drink it?
I started to teach my two oldest boys when they were old enough to understand. It was especially important for me at the time because I was in the Army and also a reserve police officer so I had a loaded handgun and duty gear around. In my opinion the younger the better assuming that they are able to understand. I made it clear from the start that they were not toys and they should never handle one without supervision from myself or their mom.
My three year old loves to help dad. She has an old pair of gloves she wears when handling brass and such. I got her a Red Ryder BB gun and we have been going over how it works, how to load it, line up the sights, etc. I also believe the younger the better and she seems to really understand the importance of it all. Honestly my biggest concern would be the friends they have over when she is older.
Agreed. I am far more concerned about the chemicals my son is exposed to when I am cleaning than him being around the firearms. He’s 4 and very interested in helping daddy. I take a teaching approach whenever he helps with cooking, maintenance around the house or vehicles, etc. Good age to start to instill a safety first mindset.
My wife is a pediatrician so I’m probably a bit more biased than others here… But I’d say it’s a bit early, only because of lead exposure risks. Wearing gloves, not handling the more lead-exposed parts (uh-hum, bolts, cough cough),well ventilated areas will help. And isn’t your kid technically two… ? Be prepared for them to hurt themselves on feed lips or a spring popping or something.
But hey its your kid and wife to answer to, so do what you want.
I have been wondering the same thing. Not so much about the cleaning aspect of it but just when to introduce firearms in general to my kids (one is 2 and the other is almost 4). I think my 2 year old is still too young to understand, but my almost 4 year old is to the stage where he is asks lots of questions. He often will ask me to sit with him and say “Let’s talk about …” which could range from a tv show or video game to our home alarm system.
I know the topic of firearms is going to come up at some point. My wife would prefer that our kids never see the firearms we own but she also realizes they are going to find out about them at some point. I told her that I would rather that we are the first ones to talk to them, instead one of his friends showing him a pistol that he found in his dad’s nightstand…
Perhaps cleaning part of a rifle or pistol would be good start?
For a while now any time I use a tool or knife or whatever I try to express that it is a tool. I tell him that tools a good because they help us doing something easier but if we don’t use them the correct way they can also make it easier to hurt ourselves or someone else. Like his toy hammer is not for hitting his sister in the head, it is for helping to put in nails.
i was wondering if there was lead exposure. i mostly shoot 855 and 193. he will be 3 in oct. does anybody out there know the approx chem composition of the gunk we clean out of our rifles. again, i clean and lube w fireclean.
thanks gents
My some went through the same thing round 4 or 5 ish. Looked at it as a great teachable moment to really begin instilling the 4 rules and common sense ideas for youngsters around fire arms. Don’t touch, tell an adult that sort of thing. If they are interested they will pay attention and learn it. To his day he has good muzzle discipline with everything but his Nerf guns. Is aware of muzzles when we are at the range or gun store… Don’t waste a good moment to make a difference in his life. Could mean life and death. Once he figured out that cleaning guns was work… not such a cool thing anymore
The whole lead, chemical paranoia is out of control IMO. I grew up with lead paint, played with lead toy soldiers, dunked my hands in kerosene while cleaning car parts and used real MEK to degrease stuff. According to my doc I’m in good health aside from high cholesterol. Use common sense. Don’t let your kid drink Hoppe’s or Frog Lube. Don’t let him stick his hands in his mouth… He’s more likely to drown or get hurt at the playground than die for touching the bolt of a rifle once a week.
Ya… too young… to many toxins and Lead. It is better to side with a caution, your kid has a whole life in front of him it would be terrible to start him off on the wrong foot.
As long as the kid is past the point of putting stuff in their mouth and washes their hands, when finished, I think it is a great Idea.
Hell, my 7 y/o daughter loves to sit and clean weapons with me. She doesn’t do very good getting the small crevices clean, but I don’t tell her that. And she loves using the bore snake!
I’d love to know that. I’ve tried to get away from shooting exposed base bullets in pistol and rifle as much as possible… Definitely when shooting suppressed.
I’d also be curious how much lead is on the dirty brass. I treat it as though all the fouling is lead, but I doubt it’s that bad.
