Other then then guns themselves whats some of everyone's favorite training aids for new shooters? For me it's comfortable hearing protection, safety glasses , a bipod at the least bipod and rear bag preferred ( sand bags and bench rest rests work but I've found them to be more trouble usually) a decent AO scope ( good scope shooting off a bipod to build confidence in their fundamentals then their usually pretty exited to try the "harder iorn sights or offhand shooting lol) but the best things I've that have helped are these sight pictures references.






Used to be beyond a pain trying to get people ( especially kids) to understand what their sight picture need to look like now I just pull out my phone and say " this is what your want it to look like while you aim , not this. Now just more your head around forward back left right till your looking at the sight and target just like the picture" and 9/10 times I get a " O ok !" And they start getting on target very quickly! Turns a hour long session of explaining, misunderstanding, re explaining , irritation to mabye 10min to get the basics and decent groups
Anyhow what's eveyone elese favorites ?

With my kids and grandkids, after they became familiar with the firearm I was going to start them with, I drew a picture of how the sight and target should look. Familiarization and safety rules first. How to check if its unloaded, how to remove the bolt for safe cleaning, how the safety operates. I let them handle the gun (under close supervision) till I thought they were ready for ammo and shooting.

My 9 year old grand daughter awhile back. I'm getting her ready for her first deer hunt. first rifle I bought her was a 22 cricket. has a peep sight.

for pistol shooting , my favorite training tool is an inert gun because we can really get the grip right I can get all around it , and we can learn sights.

for sights I have black card board cut outs of front and rear sight
I put a target down on the table and show them front sight then rear sight for alignment




for rifle a GI web sling I want them off the bench as soon as possible , you don't learn how to use your body if you sit at a bench too long
because benches are limited and kneeling rolls and mats we have a bunch of , prone with a kneeling roll for a rest
as soon as you start shooting groups that start to look good and are in the right place , it is time to get that rest out of there and get the sling on your arm in loop sling.
get that stretch in and get comfortable , take your nap you get so comfortable.

really no time for napping that is later , time to beat the time monkey
build that position , show them how to adjust their body to move the sights on the target
sight picture
sight alignment
respiratory pause
trigger sqeeeeeeeeeeze
follow through
call your shot

on a keep that trigger back on a semi auto and shoot off the reset

find that NPOA
test NPOA

get that position on a target mark it so that there is a reference to starting point everything else is personal improvement

move to seated or kneeling , build the position , show them how to move the body to put the sights on target , follow the 6 steps sight picture sight alignment , respiratory pause ......

get that on a first target mark it

Standing build the position , hasty sling
show them how to move the body to put the sights on the target

6 steps ....

this is the plan with Kids and appleseeders

drills to reinforce what you taught them , see the errors and get them fixed early.

really watch position , they will try to get out of position and the more rounds fired out of the position the more time breaking the habits they are forming.

that top sight picture the horse wrap and sleeping pad strips are coming out to get that eye lined up right

hard not to love that bottom sight picture

ALWAYS start with eye dominance
don't care what hand you right with , if your going to learn to shoot it is all new might as well shoot to the eye that works and not have to relearn it all later when you realized you handicapped yourself

as much as people want to see their hits less is often more when it comes to magnification when you can see the wobble , pulse , and such with high magnification , people try and fix this with fine motor skills , and you want them fixing it with body movement move those hips if prone
butt if seated
toes if kneeling or standing

we start the kids on air rifle most of the time with peeps sights , no noise , no recoil

Dominate eye is sure enough critical. Everybody thinks their dominate hand is the side to shoot from. One give away is they lay their head sideways across the top of the stock when trying to shoot from the wrong side. Easy way to tell is hold up a finger with both eyes open. Sight across it to a feature in the room. Without moving your finger cover up one eye. The finger will move when you cover the dominant eye.

Especially for children, my favorite is reactive targets. When starting out, it's over inflated balloons and .22 shot shells at about 10-12 yards. Eventually we go to standard ammo and balloons that shrink in size, then distance is increased. Once we hit 25 yards, cheap soda in cans and then as distance goes to 50 yards 2 liter bottles/1 gallon jugs shrink down to soda can size.

General practice afterwards, always ending on easier shots that are reactive in nature.

Let 'em be successful and end on a good/positive note, always wanting more. Like training puppies. Keep it light hearted and fun and always emphasize safety over results. This has worked well for me.

Groundhogs