Starter rifle for 7 year old daughter.

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imabballer

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Just as the title implies, I am looking for a rifle for my 7 year old daughter. She's pretty small but has gotten very proficient with her bb gun and I would like to work with her some more and eventually take her squirrel and rabbit hunting with me. She's shot a .22 before, but all of mine are much to large for her to shoulder. I have seen the little "cricket" rifles but I've not been impressed by their quality. Do any of you have any experience with the little rossi .22/410 combo's? She is probably still too small for the 410 but it would be nice to already have it when she gets a little bit bigger to handle the recoil. I would like the rifle to have a very short length of pull and also would like it to be pretty light, so she can handle it while hunting. I have thought about buying a regular size .22 and having the stock cut down but it still looks like it would be pretty heavy. Any suggestions would be appreciated.

Thanks!
 
H&R makes single shot .22s that might work.
http://www.hr1871.com/Firearms/Rifles/sportster.asp

I don't see any with wood stocks, so that might make the length of pull harder to reduce. Most of their guns have a lot of interchangeable parts though, so you could probably shorten a wood stock and attach it. You could have the barrel cut down as well.

Without going through all of that trouble, the Cricket may be your best bet. A friend of mine has an older one that seems pretty nice. Maybe the newer ones have gone down hill. On the other hand, how little quality is too little for the purpose to which this would be put?
 
i have a rem 514, single shot bolt action. i've trained nephews on. when my daughter started shooting it it was to long and heavy for her. she would shoot out in the desert at cans and never had much luck. went to the range w/ me and shot off a block and loved it. so i cut 1 1/2" off stock and fore arm and was gonna cut barrel as this one was 26" iirc. walked into local shop one day and there in a barrel of barrels was a 20" barrel for a 514. lucky me. she loves shooting it now and can grow int barrel anyways. saved stock pieces but have 4 yr old twins who will be ready by the time older daughter grows out of it.
 
Here is what I did for a friends kid.
I bought him a new 10/22 (stainless).
Took off the factory plastic stock.
Took a old factory wood stock (many guys and stores have them laying around from builds) and chopped about 5" off the stock.
Mounted up a cheep ($30 wallmart) red dot.
The 10/22 is really pretty light, just way long for a small kid . when you chop and carve up the old stock they become pretty useable.
Some folks object to handing a semi repeater to a kid but I wasn't going to turn my friend loose without supervision and thought the semi would hold the kids interest better. Your kid-make your own choice.
In a way the 22 is better than a BB gun because for a small kid to cock a BB gun you can wind up with the barrel pointing in directions they should not be pointed . With the semi they can get the gun on the bench (where any small kid should start) load the mag and just yank back the op handle- all while pointing the gun downrange.
Chopping the stock can be a family project. slice it up them let the kid pick the paint color . Just don't be surprised if you get pink with a kitty!
When the kid gets bigger the factory stock goes back on and you have a "real" gun that doesn't look like a kiddy gun.
 
I went the cricket route and quickly moved to the marlin 15Y. GREAT little gun, made with same quality as adult guns.
 
I think kids that age should start with a manual action. I've seen the Henry mini-bolt and it is high quality. And short as the stock is, I had fun shooting it. Worth the money over the crickett IMO.
 
i started my girls off with an nef break action youth...

got the gun home, took it apart, primed it, painted the stock pink, put a scope on it (not sure which one, actually), set the zero for 75 yards, and loaded up on federal bulk packs of 22 ammo...

so, here we are, 6 years later... the oldest (now 9) is getting ready to enter her first shooting sports competitions this year. she'll be running an ar-15 in the cmp competitions, and a 300 wsm (w/ special handloads, of course) in the hunting rifle competitions.

her younger sister (6) just enjoys the ar-15... i doubt she'll ever compete.

so, here i am w/ a pink 22... guess i'll probably hang it on the wall because i doubt my son will get too excited about it, and both the girls have more or less left that gun behind...

anyway, my family had hours and hours of safe fun w/ the nef single shot...

my suggestion is to think safety first, and hold their attention w/ reactive targets (balloons are my girls' favored 100 and 200 yard targets, and eggs on golf tees are the favored 50 yard targets)...
 
Here's another vote for the Cricket. I bought one for my Daughter about 4 years ago and it has been great. Plenty accurate to 50 yards, light and easy for her to handle. When she graduates to something bigger this summer I plan to put her cricket up for the grandkids to learn on.
 
I (er, my Daughter) has the Rossi 22/410 in stainless and we love it. She's not ready for the 410 - according to her - so I have a blast exercising it on blackbirds in the summer. Rossi makes a good rubber buttpad for $7.00 through dealer or mail, but increases the LOP too much for my girl (age 12 but small-framed).

I would heartily recommend it.
 
The CZ 452 "Scout" is a top pick for a downsized yet still first quality kid's rifle. It has iron sights with a very clear sight picture or can be scoped. It is a repeater with a five- or ten-round magazine, but a blank magazine allows it to be used single-shot. Link

The Henry Mini-Bolt looks good on paper.
 
my 7 year old little girl just got a Henry youth 22. last week for her birthday
 
Henry Youth 22 levergun. Should fit her perfect. And there's just something about racking the action that makes it more fun.

I had a lever bb gun at 7 and loved it to death. Literally wore it out.
 
+1 on the CZ 452 scout. I bought one for my daughter a few months ago. She's only 8 weeks and has her own 22 and AR15.

CZ has awesome triggers and great reputation for accuracy.

Take a look at the EAA/Baikal imported BB. I have one in 22 mag and it's a very smooth action.
 
Another vote for the Henry MiniBolt. My daughter loved hers. I got it in black. She made me paint the stock "cornflower blue". It's a much nicer gun than the Cricket.

ETA: If she's small for 7, then the Henry Youth Lever will be a little big for her right now. My son is big for 7, and he's a little on the small side for the Henry lever. He loves it, mind you, and shoots it quite a bit, but it's not a perfect fit.
 
Keystone Crickett--

$99 at Dicks---

I bought it for the kids, but I have as much fun as the squirts---



DSC01522.jpg
 
The Savage single shot bolt has better sights than the Cricket imho. My 6 year old loves his.
 
Thank you all for the info! I am in the market for a youth gun also and will have a place to start my search.

Anybody know of a youth sized .340 weatherby??






Kidding! put the torch's down! :D
 
I trained all mine with a Chipmunk, not sure if they make it anymore, but it looks like the Crikett above.
 
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