Teaching a kid to shoot...paper or steel/cans first?

[Glock 'em down]

Nothing quite as satisfying as hearing that...

 

[Jgibs0321]

I am specifically thinking of BB/pellet guns here, but the same could be said for rimfires. Is it better to let them learn to aim with iron sights on a paper target first or is it better to shoot cans, or swinging metal targets first?

I tend towards the cans first just to get some hits and then fine tune it later on paper when they are comfortable shooting cans. But I wanted to get opinions on what others think is the best method to teach. My daughter already has a red dot on one of her BB guns because she prefers that over iron sights, but I have a pellet rifle that is similar to a 10/22 that I want to use to teach iron sights with before moving up to the 10/22.

Paper, because you as a shooter need to learn to trust your sight picture and that your fundamentals are correct vs the whole instant feedback concept. Learned that from bullseye shooting 1911s, THEN you know that you know that you know when a shot is good and it makes the instant feedback targets even more enjoyable later on. Secondly, if the person ever gets into combat shooting, it will already be ingrained in them to trust their sight picture, and stay behind the gun in the event they ever need to do it live.

 

[Catt57]

My kids really preferred reactive targets when leaning to shoot. Nothing like that instant feedback of a well placed shot.