Q. Dad's teaching me to shoot. What's the best BB gun for us? A. Start shooting with pellet rifles that are easy and safe to use. Look at the list below for our suggestions. Refine your search and choose using the unique Archer Pellet Guns RateAGun score. The lower the score, the easier the gun is to use.
Shooting pellet rifles can be a wonderful way to teach kids safe firearms handling and the responsibilities of gun ownership. They learn coordination, patience and observation too, with the right instruction from a parent, guardian, family member or other trusted adult or a scout group or club. The NRA's web site has a wealth of information for youth shooters.
The top requirements for a youth pellet gun are size and safety.
The best pellet gun for kids is a short, light pellet rifle that allows them to hold and sight the gun correctly. An airgun producing 1,000fps muzzle velocity will almost certainly be too big and heavy.
Safety is helped significantly when good mechanical safety features are built into the pellet gun. Because of the potential for injury during cocking spring air rifles—mostly "break barrel" guns—we recommend against almost all of them for youth use. Single shot pellet guns are preferable as the gun will automatically be safe after each shot.
It's excellent training for kids to start right by always using shooting glasses, just as adults should always wear them when using pellet guns.
The greatest aid to safe shooting is the shooter and, in the case of kids, the adult who is teaching them. See our Pellet Gun Safety page for more information on safe shooting.
