Small 22 Handgun for Child (teaching)

[BCRider]

Tomorrow shovelling will be out of the question. The snow has changed to freezing rain, so we're getting a coat of ice over all the white stuff, and it'll be packed solid.

Ah yes... freezing rain. Lovely stuff. Nothing like coming out in the morning to see your Carsicle sitting there with its armor coating that thoroughly defies entry to start the engine without doing body work damage.....

I did 8 years of "penance" in Ontario some years back. All in all it was a positive thing but I don't miss the freezing rain nonsense... OR the Walls O' Ice at the end of the driveway left by the 5AM snowplow passing by that had to be broken up and tossed aside before I could drive to work.

 

[Trent]

I was listening to the police scanner while loading 9mm ammo tonight in the basement. Morton PD (nearby town) call comes in.

"Unit 2, I've got two cars pulled off the road by main street, don't know if they're in the ditch or what, stopping to check it out."

"Base to Unit 2, 10-4"

.... pull handle.. make ammo.. pull handle... make ammo... (x 50)

"Unit 2 to base, a lady got out to try to get her wipers unfroze, shut her car door, her car door froze shut. Boyfriend is on scene, locksmith has been called. I'm 10-8"

Yeah, it's one of THOSE kinds of nights out there.

Been a bit weird listening to thunder in February.

Not looking forward to what I find in my driveway tomorrow.

 

[shooter429]

Smith and wesson 317

Super lightweight like half a pound, 8 shots, DA/SA 3" bbl with fiber optic/adjustable sights. My kiddo loves the one I bought.

Shooter429

 

[RTR_RTR]

I would prefer a revolver for a newb, but most J frame .22s have a DA trigger only a gorilla could love and hammer cock effort can be a might much, too, for a small kid.

This is great for small hands, has two grips one can try that come with it. It's decently accurate and functions with most any .22 ammo.


Ruger SR22

Charging the slide / cocking the hammer / pulling the double action trigger all seem like they may be difficult for small/weak hands, at least based on my experiences with the SR22. I agree its a great size though

 

[capcyclone]

Without a doubt - single action revolver to start with. Ruger Bearcat is the only logical choice (my opinion). Good size, weight - and like others have said - it is a gun they will enjoy for YEARS - well after you are gone.

 

[Trent]

Oh, the Bearcat could be your answer, too. Cool little revolvers. I've always thought I'd like one, but never bought one. Hope the weather lets you have some fun, soon. You could bring it down here and we could shoot it on my range. It was 75 degrees today.

You Texans are really getting on my nerves:

.LOW PRESSURE LIFTING NORTHEASTWARD FROM TEXAS WILL BRING WINTRY PRECIPITATION TO WEST-CENTRAL AND NORTHWEST ILLINOIS LATE MONDAY NIGHT INTO TUESDAY. WITH WARM AIR FLOWING NORTHWARD ALOFT AND SURFACE TEMPERATURES HOVERING NEAR OR SLIGHTLY BELOW FREEZING...A PERIOD OF FREEZING RAIN IS EXPECTED AS THE PRECIPITATION BEGINS OVERNIGHT MONDAY. LIGHT ICE ACCUMULATIONS ARE ANTICIPATED ALONG AND NORTH OF A RUSHVILLE...TO LINCOLN...TO BLOOMINGTON-NORMAL
LINE. AS THE ATMOSPHERE COOLS ALOFT...THE PRECIPITATION WILL TRANSITION TO A RAIN/SNOW MIX TUESDAY MORNING. SNOW WILL LINGER ACROSS THE ILLINOIS RIVER VALLEY THROUGH THE AFTERNOON...WITH THE HIGHEST SNOW ACCUMULATIONS EXPECTED NORTHWEST OF THE ILLINOIS RIVER.

It's bad enough you flaunt your warm weather all winter long, but when you actually go out of your way TO SEND US SNOW, that's crossing the line!

FEUD! I DECLARE A FEUD!

(Still need to pick up this dang Bearcat. I've left two messages at the FFL who's holding it and haven't got a call back.. getting a little nervous...)

 

[BCRider]

The call is probably frozen in mid air....

You may want to hold off calling out the whole state of Texas until you have the Bearcat safely in your hot little ha..... er... mittens.

 

[Trent]

LOL!

OK that made me laugh dude. Well done.

 

[Trent]

Ok. FINALLY found a night without snow or work or other obligations.

Here she is with her new Bearcat, happy as could be!

 

[Sam1911]

Awwww!

 

[Trent]

She's a cutie. All 4 feet of her.

We had to drive an hour each way to pick that up tonight. Just me & her. Left the rest of the kids and wife at home. She chatted me up the whole way asking questions about guns. She's also been following me down in to the reloading room every time I go down there, asking "what's that?" "what's that do?" (to the point it gets tiring!)

She's incredibly curious about firearms, which is part of the reason why I suddenly became incredibly concerned about getting her TRAINED.

My other kids showed no interest whatsoever until they were close to teenage years, nd even then, I practically have to pry them of their video games to get them to the range.

THIS little girl, she's throwing me a curve ball. She's showing an interest in arms much earlier than the others, AND that interest is MUCH stronger than the others.

Which concerns me. If she's old enough to follow me around asking about guns constantly, it means it's ABSOLUTELY time to train her on the proper use and safety of them.

Over the course of several evenings, I took her through the entire Basic Pistol regimen. The only thing left is live fire.

She's better educated about revolvers and autoloaders than some grown men I pal around with. She has memorized the parts, can tell a slide lock from a loading gate. She will not only correct you if you call a round a bullet ("THAT is a CARTRIDGE"), but she can also explain what the primer does, why the flash hole is there, what the powder does, and knows that the bullet is the chunk of metal that leaves the muzzle.

She's an incredibly fast learner.

She even corrected a friend of mine who was over last night, he let his finger drift to a trigger while I was showing him a WWII rifle, and she said "Dave! Get your bugger picker off the boomswitch!"

When I handed her the gun for the first time, and showed her how to check if it's clear, she pointed that finger straight as an arrow. I practically had to pry her finger off the frame to put it on the trigger to see if it would even reach.

Incredibly proud (and nervous) father.

Might have an Annie Oakly in the making here.. she loves riding AND guns, and she's starting both at a very young age..

 

[Trent]

BTW, any advice on perhaps lightening the trigger on the Bearcat some?

She's having a hard time pulling it (has to use BOTH fingers and shakes a little when doing it)

(It's about the same pull strength as DOUBLE action is on my Ruger SP101...)

 

[Sam1911]

Woah. That seems a bit odd. She won't have much fun or success with it that heavy. I'd say a gunsmith should have a look. Ours breaks at about 4 lbs, and the kids can handle it easily.

 

[Trent]

Yeah I was surprised by it for sure, Sam. I didn't expect a single action trigger to be anywhere NEAR this stiff. It feels more like a combat trigger on an L1A1 FAL than a single action revolver.

I can't find my trigger pull gauge or I'd give you an exact reading, will keep digging for it.

 

[squid841]

My son and I took the youngest granddaughter shooting, she's 8 but VERY small. I took my Wifes Walthers P22 for her to shoot and she loved it. She go's shooting/hunting with her Dad and has completed the junior hunter course here. In fact, all three of the grandkids have completed the course. She also shoots his "big Boy gun" his 1911, with reduced power lodes

 

[Trent]

EDIT ... doing more research

 

[Trent]

OK got a set of Wolff hammer springs on order, will also polish the engagement surfaces. See if we can get this thing tamed. Will post updates of before/after.

 

[Trent]

Stock trigger pull measured via electric gauge;

Min 4 lb 13 oz.
Max 6 lb 3 oz.
Avg 5 lb 10 oz.

Over 10 samples.

That's a pretty dang heavy trigger!

 

[murf]

take the cylinder out, put the base pin back in and dry fire it three or four hundred times. get the burrs knocked off of it. if it still doesn't lighten up, try the springs.

murf

 

[Trent]

I got the springs today from Midway (along with a bunch of other goodies!!!)

Any particular reason to take the cylinder out before dry firing? Manual says dry firing is fine, but doesn't mention cylinder removal.

 

[Trent]

Swapped the spring, put the 16# hammer spring in. (THAT was a chore...)

She can barely cock the hammer (but at least she CAN now).

The trigger weight was reduced to an avg. of 5 lb 4 oz.

At least it's a pound lighter than her birth weight now at 6 lb 4 oz.

We're going to practice dry fire after school each night so she can build up some muscles and smooth it out some..

 

[Deltaboy1984]

Sounds like you got a winner now. Cute kid to boot.

 

[SHR970]

Adorable picture.....absolutely priceless.

If you are up to the task, remove the hammer and trigger and deburr the edges of the sides and the pin holes. Don't mess with the engagement surfaces unless you really know what you are doing. All you want to do is deburr them and ever so slightly round the edges.

Then let her dry fire it 200 - 400 times over a week or two. That will break the engagement surfaces in and deburr them. It will also get her used to the trigger pull and help strengthen her trigger finger and cocking thumb. 5 times around the cylinder each day X 14 days is 420 dry firings.

You can even add in six dry fires, open gate, simulate knocking brass out by running the rod, repeat. It's good hands on practice. A common complaint about 22 SA revolvers is the hassle of getting the brass out of the cylinder. Most people have issues with indexing while operating the ejection rod.

 

[Trent]

Adorable picture.....absolutely priceless.

If you are up to the task, remove the hammer and trigger and deburr the edges of the sides and the pin holes. Don't mess with the engagement surfaces unless you really know what you are doing. All you want to do is deburr them and ever so slightly round the edges.

Then let her dry fire it 200 - 400 times over a week or two. That will break the engagement surfaces in and deburr them. It will also get her used to the trigger pull and help strengthen her trigger finger and cocking thumb. 5 times around the cylinder each day X 14 days is 420 dry firings.

You can even add in six dry fires, open gate, simulate knocking brass out by running the rod, repeat. It's good hands on practice. A common complaint about 22 SA revolvers is the hassle of getting the brass out of the cylinder. Most people have issues with indexing while operating the ejection rod.

My 15 year old son and I wore out our thumbs tonight, dry fired it about 500 times. It's down to an average 4 lb 10 oz and smoothing up.

One thing I've noticed when I manually index the cylinder (at half cock with the loading gate open), it "binds" up at one point every revolution. This can also be felt when cocking the hammer every 6th time; for some reason, the action gets "tight" at that spot. Not sure what's causing that, but it also tightens up the trigger every 6th time it's indexed. The trigger will go from a light side of 4 lb 4 oz up to 6 lb 2 oz almost like clockwork, and back down again. That's a little concerning as it seems there's something in the action that's a little off-kilter. It affects the hammer pull as the cylinder binds, which I can understand.. but for some reason also affect the subsequent trigger pull to release it.

I'm not sure if it's contributing but one of the ratchet surfaces has a shiny spot towards the outside, maybe .1" - with a corresponding bright spot on the extractor to either side .. well, not an extractor, it's single action.. the part that isn't recessed that LOOKS like the extractor.

It appears either A) the base pin hole wasn't bored precisely straight or B) the chamber surface and ratchet wasn't surfaced at a precise 90 degree angle to the base pin bore.

There's no drag marks on the cylinder or cylinder stop notches (which makes sense as it binds up when the cylinder stop is completely disengaged and the cylinder is rotating freely).

Thoughts?

 

[Trent]

Update; it appears the cylinder is dragging the frame and the firing pin reinforcement - the bright spots on the "not the extractor" part are where it's hitting. One is binding hard, one not quite so hard, the other 4 clear and rotate freely.

This is the part that looks like an extractor but it simply metal left over from the cylinder surface, when they cut the chambers and recessed the cylinder for the rim of the cartridge.

EDIT: I believe I can correct this issue easily by polishing the surfaces that are binding. There's quite a mess of machining marks on the frame I can smooth out.