I took my boys shooting today for the first time. My older son does GREAT with our Savage Model 7a--he's a natural and had a blast. My younger son really enjoyed shooting it too, but he currently lacks the hand strength to load magazines all afternoon or to charge the 7a (which has a small, very stiff bolt lever). And he would like something lighter too. I was thinking about a 22LR single shot like the Savage Rascal or Henry Mini Bolt for him. Any suggestions on those two, or other similar options? Or am I approaching this the wrong way?
No idea on the Savage, but I looked at the Rascal and Cricket models when shopping for a .22 for the kiddo. They're alright, design and price wise, but ultimately I went with the Ruger Precision .22 for a few reasons.
It's pretty apparent from the designs of the youth model rifles that most kids will outgrow them in a couple of years, so I wanted to find something that would have long-term longevity, while also being kid friendly. The Ruger Precision .22 fits this really well primarily because it comes with a fully adjustable stock that can be made very short. The grip is a bit on the big side, though, so that's not perfect; however, it takes regular AR15 compatible grips, so there's probably a good chance that someone makes an aftermarket one for small hands.
The rifle is more accurate than I had hoped for, and has a good trigger right out of the box. The bolt is easy to manipulate, and the action is simple to understand, even for a little one.
The biggest downside that I found is that the MLOK handguard is not perfectly to spec, and I ended up having to use a Dremel to grind down the screws on the bipod mount I put on the gun, otherwise they would push on the barrel.
The threaded barrel is a big plus because you can slap a can on the end of the gun, which makes it easier to work with a kid on the range because then you can shoot without ear pro as long as you're using subsonics.
The rifle takes 1022 magazines, and therefore you can opt to set the capacity to whatever you want. Load single rounds for a single shot, or more at your discretion.
I'll also cop to some of the decision for this purchase being maybe a teensy bit selfish; after all, I can shoot it, too.