Rifles for the little ones (a recommendation)

[Wingnut13]

Hi guys,

Over the last few years as the little ones have grown up I've been buying a new rifle every couple years to build up the militia So for you guys who are looking for a little rifle thought I'd help you in your decision So here we go......The first two of the rifles are of the same action type, load single round, cock firing pin, and pull trigger.

First girl got a Henry Minibolt, stainless metal with matte finish and a black synthetic stock. It has fiber optic type sights. Safety on the left, though it's hard to move it's there. Things are a little rough on the Henry from bolt action (smoothed out over a couple hundreds rounds)to the stock, not bad just a little rough. O.K trigger good accuracy.

Second girl got a Pink Cricket. Pink synthetic stock and stainless barrel finish. The sights are about as simple as they get. The rear sight is a a peep sight though crude, flat metal (think of a washer). Adjusting the sight is painful, loosen up the screw and move the metal. There is no way to move the sight incrementally, just loosen and move. No safety present on this gun either. Again a little rough on the bolt movement but smoothed out over a couple hundred rounds of use. Also accurate to minute of squirrel or shaving cream can.

Third girl scores big! A savage cub, thumbhole wood stock, self cocking bolt accutrigger and a nice peepsight. The safety is located on the right side and is easy to operate. I wish I had bought this one first off. (can you tell I like this one?) This little rifle is great, on the other rifles you have to feed each round right into the chamber (big fingers a negative) the savage rams them right into the chamber as the bolt move forward (That slides nice). This is just as close to a big rifle in a little package you get from what I've seen.

For you Fathers (and everyone else) out there looking to set up you're young-in' with a nice training rifle hope this helps. There is only about an $80 ? difference between these rifles. Choose well. I'll be looking for one more rifle in the next few years..... Maybe CZ has something?

Take care guys. ~Wingnut13

 

[husker]

I have a lil Henry 22 lever action youth model for my 9 year old daughter. I think i paid $275.00 for it. any ways it fits her nice & shes very proud of it. & i like shooting it to. took it frog hunting once this summer. & I ran CB shorts threw it all night long. with zero feed issues. I love FROG LEGS

 

[LHRGunslinger]

Actually I ran across something on another forum today that might solve the issue of buyin em a new rifle every year because the LOP is too short now. That is if you don't mind the EBR asthetic. I introduce the HK416-22! Built by Walther which is owned by Umarex. I know it's a bit on the expensive side but hey that extra few hundred ya spend is nothing compared to how happy your kid is when he gets to shoot an "army gun".

http://www.hkparts.net/shop/pc/H-K-416-22LR-Umarex-Rifle-20-Round-p1744.htm

Here's a nice little write-up someone did on it in another forum.
http://hkpro.com/forum/showthread.php?129435-HK-416-D-Tactical-Rimfire-The-Good-amp-Bad

And of course you can never go wrong with a pain jane Ruger 10/22

 

[unwise11]

marlin model 60.
or a .17 hmr or maybe when theyre like 10 a .223

 

[Sam1911]

We looked at all those choices as well a couple of years back. The Savage Cub-T won out BIG time.

It's even my "go-to" gun for groundhogs in the yard. Very nice quality, FANTASTIC trigger (gotta teach the little ones on quality gear -- make them fight a 10-lb trigger and you might as well blindfold 'em, too), accurate, and I think I got ours for about $170 on red-tag sale at Gander Mt.

The Henry is nice. The Cricket is abysmal. There are some other nice choices, but the Cub is just perfect.

 

[husker]

WOW my lil girl would love that little Pink Savage Cub
Her go to fishing poles are still the Barbi & Sponge Bob poles from Wally World

 

[Pictures]

M&P15-22. Why? Adjustable stock, light weight. The thing was made for kids.

 

[Sam1911]

that little Pink Savage Cub

Careful though. It's not really pink. More of a subdued maroon. At least it is in our house. 'Cause my daughter has to share it with the little brothers. So it ISN'T pink ... capice?

 

[Dr.Rob]

I'm not sure there's one 'perfect' youth rifle. If I had to buy a new bolt action 22, I'd look at the Winchester Wildcat or a CZ. They come with adult sized stocks, but could be easily cut down for a mid-sized youngster.

Marlin's plastic stocked rifles are inexpensive and a replacement stock wouldn't break the bank. Engineering is stone simple but Marlin's bolt action rimfire triggers are horrible for precision 100 yard work, but on pop cans at 50 feet? Just what the doctor ordered.

I found that the 22 magnum was a PERFECT 'step up' for a kid wanting something 'bigger than a chipmunk' but not quite yet an 'adult' rifle. My nephew has enjoyed shooting a bolt action Marlin .22 mag over every rifle we've ever offered up for him shoot.

 

[unwise11]

Doesnt savage have accutriggers on the MKII's now?

 

[kimberkid]

When Abby was born ...
I picked up a Sears Ranger 22 nice shape and good peep sites and had a stock cut down to kid size ... perfect I thought. She turned 6 I introduced her to it ... she thought it was ugly and had zero interest.

So I picked up a birch Cricket (I also have a grandson that is 2 years younger and soon to be introduced to shooting) ... as noted above the sights are crap, she shot it one time and didn't want to shoot again.

After a year or so, we were at Walmart ... she saw a pink cricket ... promised she would go with me and shoot it so we got it ... the next week we were at a gunshow and I found a scope mount for it and put a red dot on it. That was 2 years ago and she hasn't shown any interest in it since we first got it home nor has she shot it yet.

I still have hope.
She's 10 now ... maybe she'll like my SiG-522?

At any rate, I now have plenty of excuses to find/try new 22's

 

[fragmag]

I know Savage makes a MK II with the accutrigger. I wasn't aware of Marlin selling a MK II though.

LINK

 

[oldfool]

cannot dispute those who seek other/better (sights, trigger, etc.), but the Chipmunk/Crickett has always been a good solution for us, 3 generations worth
(the Chipmunk was far better quality than Crickett though)

always did put substitute sights on 'em, our current two in safe (black Chipmunk and pink Crickett) both wear Millet 1" tube 3 moa red dots

we focus hard on having safe fun w/ child
(two adults per child, one adult to closely supervise child, the other adult to closely supervise the other adult)

they do outgrow 'em fast, but if learn safe shooting w/ gun is fun, they graduate to better sights, triggers, rifles with more attention to better technique quick enough
(ain't like we don't have others in safe, Browning S-A, BL-22, etc)

 

[chicharrones]

Just this past summer, I bought my daughter a heavily discounted Remington Model 5 youth model with a pink stock. USSG still imports the rifles (Zastava Z5) since Remington quit bringing them in to the US. http://www.ussginc.com/index.html Davidson's and Bud's carries them if you can't find them locally.

It is well made of all steel and wood, not counting the butt plate and the single shot magazine plug. http://www.ussginc.com/pdfs/catalogpg6.pdf

I like that it can use 5-shot magazines once your young shooter has progressed past being single shot shooter. The Z5 youth model is heavier than the tiny single shot rifles like the Cricket, and is probably best for shooters around 10 years old and up because of the weight.

Another bonus is the trigger is adjustable on any Z5 and I found a full size stock from Stocky's stocks so when my daughter grows, the rifle can grow with her.

 

[wombat13]

My daughter will be turning five soon. At what age did you all start your kids shooting a .22lr?

 

[Captcurt]

Buy the kids a Real Gun.

For some unknown reason many gun manufactures make the mistake of designing a gun that is , not only difficult to cock, but are downright dangerous for little people to handle. When a friend wanted to purchase a rifle for his grandson (age 8), I suggested a Mossberg Bantum. That way the kid wouldn't have to thumb the hammer back, which is almost impossible on some of the singleshot guns. I also suggested a 243 instead of a 223. No flames, please. I know that a deer is dead if hit properly, but how many kids can hit them properly? At least a 243 will give him a little more leeway. Since Caleb is small I loaded some 90 speers at around 1700fps. The kid has taken 4 deer in 2 seasons with it, including a nice 8 point. The rifle has spacers that can be added as he grows. Mossberg also has a pump shotgun with the same features that we will probably order for him this Christmas..

 

[chicharrones]

My daughter will be turning five soon. At what age did you all start your kids shooting a .22lr?

It just depends on your kids and your circumstances. Some kids are not mentally mature enough to handle firearms at the same age another kid is ready to be cut loose and hunt on their own.

In my case, I started my daughter on air rifles around 9 years old. The easiest for her to shoot is my CO2 powered Crosman 2260 since it doesn't have a break barrel or have to be pumped. I didn't start her on a .22LR firearm until age 11. I didn't get to start my two stepdaughters until they were 17 and 18. That was due to their biological father and not their maturity level (His permission was granted, BTW).

My dad started me earlier and I got to fire .22s supervised at age 7. I wasn't cut loose to hunt solo until age 11. (Birds and rabbits, not deer.)

 

[chicharrones]

When Abby was born ...
I still have hope.

Good story.

 

[Mudinyeri]

You might want to add a Marlin 795 to this list. They're inexpensive, reliable and fairly accurate. I bought one for right around $100 with an inexpensive scope for my son's 10th birthday in June. I'm not real happy with the mounts on the scope - they keep coming loose - but the rifle is a good little shooter and a good size for kids in my son's age range.

 

[Omaha-BeenGlockin]

Recently purchased a Savage MkII to get my youngster started out--she turns 7 next month and I didn't want a semi-auto where things can get mechanically complicated and too easy just to pull the trigger without thinking.

I mounted a Leupold Rifleman 3x9x40 and will sight it in next time I take my deer rifle to the range.

If she really takes to it--I'll probably get out the Dura-coat and give it a pinkish hue.

Use Loc-tite on those scope mounts and you should be ok.

 

[unwise11]

since im a kid, i have more reasoning than ya'll right now
ok im 14.. heres my shooting career(addiction) from the beginning.

age 6, introduced to a daisy bb gun by my grandmother, taught to shoot off a rest and controlling trigger and breathing. i got good. popping cans as far as the gun would go.
i was purchased a better air rifle, and returned it and then returned that one. dad didnt like the quality as i remember, so i ended up with a remingtonairmaster77.
i still have it, even though i got mad and threw it in mud last year when it didnt shoot a squirrel i aimed at.
anyway. shot that a bunch, and then i was introduced to the winchester model 67, 22 short and long and long rifle. but could only shoot it at grandmas.
so i had purchased air guns to bring home from age 7-10.
age 10 i fired a winchester 1200 12 guage pump. with buckshot. lost interest for a year in that.
then at 11, i shot a glock at a gun range, a glock 19
then i was hoooked for sure, i pestered dad to shoot his guns, so he took me to the range.
the year of 12 and 13 i was with an abusive stepdad and was removed when he pointed a gun at me and i had well. whatever..... fought him. i guess. he hurt a kid.- not cool. i got big and got guns, now he's divoriced from my mom and scared to hell by me. and won't be coming back around i wasnt shot, he wasnt shot, i was punched and kicked. he is lucky to be alive due to the fact i got my switchblade taken out of my room when i was at school- he planned this.

now i own a .22 marlin model 60.
a winchester 1200 12 guage.
and a howa model 1500 .308

dad got a membership to a gunclub. i got a job at a gunclub. i shoot, he shoots, i finally got what i wanted.
he also broke and bought himself an AR15. its the good life.
-age 14, addicted to shooting. sleeps with 2 guns in room.
crazy how stuff happens.

overall, i reccomend a bolt action like a savage, i always wanted one of those. due to the hammer.
i got used to it though. i've taken around 70-100 squirrels with the model 67 alone.
i dont count the 12 guage, though i once killed 2 with one shot.
but make sure your kids pick out the gun. it doesnt matter if they pick one that isnt as good, they will feel an attachment, i didnt pick the model 67, it picked me. but it doesnt always work that way, my brother is 6, he doesnt like guns. he knows i have "sniper" as he calls it.
but he's a late bloomer to the family tradition, by the way, my grandma is an fbi air marshal, who is a good shot even at her age. but was once very good.

 

[Omaha-BeenGlockin]

Future---there's so much wrong there---I don't know where to start.

since im a kid, i have more reasoning than ya'll right now---WAAAAAY WRONG---read this in 10 years and you'll laugh at this yourself.

i still have it, even though i got mad and threw it in mud last year when it didnt shoot a squirrel i aimed at.------Firearm ownership and use require more maturity than this--enough said?

he is lucky to be alive due to the fact i got my switchblade taken out of my room when i was at school- he planned this.---Death threats?? REALLY?


but make sure your kids pick out the gun. it doesnt matter if they pick one that isnt as good, they will feel an attachment---The next time you're paying the bills--you can pick---How about we just do without instead?

:banghead:

 

[unwise11]

I capitalize at school, I dont care here

 

[Coal Dragger]

I don't think he is referring to your punctuation and grammar pal.

 

[philpost]

I'm guessing capitalization was the least of what Omaha was referring to, but I appreciate Future's perspective, and would like to wish him the best in the future and good luck on the job. Just PLEASE be safe around your 6yo brother.