what is a good .22 for my 12 yr old?

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colubrid

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I am looking for a starter rifle under $100 for my 12 yr old son. It will be mainly used for range shooting since we do not have any land for plinking or hunting.

Any suggestions would be appreciated.
 
the surplus romanian training rifles are nice at 60-80 bucks
SLG-ROM22.jpg

http://www.southernohiogun.com/surplus_rifles.html
 
My brother just picked up one of the Romanian trainers . He might miss this thread so you can PM SaLted peanUTs and ask him what he thinks about it, as a trainer for a 12 year old. I'm sure he would be glad to give you his opinion.
 
Check out a few gun stores and gun shows for an older Remington, Winchester or Mossberg. The best are either single shots or box magazine bolt action repeaters. I saw a decent Remington 510 single shot for under $100 at a gun show recently; the 511 a box magazine bolt action, sells for around $125-150.

The first rifle should be used only single shot until the trainee is experienced and responsible enough to handle a repeating rifle. That is the advantage of the box magazine, as it is easy to withhold the magazine until that point.

I never recommed a semi-auto for a first rifle. Most are hard to load single shot, and if the magazine is used, the trainee tends to want to spray bullets rather than learning to shoot well.

Jim
 
I agree with Jim K.
If you can spend a little more and would like something new take a look at the marlin and savage bolt action rifles.
 
Just got my Romanian trainer on Monday. I haven't had a chance to shoot it yet, but from all the reading and research I've done on them, shows me they're a pretty solid little rifle, that is usually very acurate. I've read range reports of guys getting dime size groups at 50 yards. Being used rifles, not all of them have shown themselves to be all that accurate though. they weigh in about 5 to 5.5 pounds use a three blade sight and have a scope rail on the receiver. Finding scope rings that will fit the rail has proven itself difficult for me, as the rail is very much an oddball 8 mm, though there are some out there with an 11mm rail. Magazines and some spare parts are available online from different sources. Look around at rimfirecentral.com there is is some pretty good info over there.
 
I prefer my Romanian 5 to 1 over my Ruger 10/22.
More fun to shoot and more accurate. The copy I bought was absolutely cherry, from Southern Ohio Guns. Like a miniature Mauser.
Be warned however, feeding the first round or two out of the magazine can be tricky.
 
I bought a Savage "Cub" for my 10 year old. It has a good, solid quality for its small size and comes with a nice "peep" sight. Cost approx. $150 new.
 
scope rings & stuff

I have a Romanian M69 myself. It is a great gun. But unless you can get the scope rings for free, why bother to spend $20 more on a $60 gun. This isn't the type of gun you want to spend money on. It is in my opinion a great iron sight plinker. The bolt feed system is rough and the crappy Taiwan magazines make it worse. You really need to spend time to correct all these rough spots to make this a reliable and presentable gun. The accuracy is there. The gun just doesn't say "youth" or "heirloom" to me.

Does anyone have an opion on the Rossi 22/410 single shot. That goes for about $100 and it is designed for a youth.
 
Just what SIZE 12y.o. is he?

If he's on the smaller end, then I highly suggest you look at the Savage Cub. It really knocks the Chicket and CricMonk competitors in the dirt, side-by-side. The full MSRP is only $149, so it's even priced less then them, also.


Now, if he's average to large, then be sure to check out the CZ452 Scout youth model. I've seen them from $149-$189, though I think the retail is over $200. Anyhow, it's top-quality with a single-feed blind magazine. You can then buy 5-10 rounders when he's ready for it as a repeater.
 
Victor
He is a large 12 year old at 110lbs and tall.

Any other opinions on the Rossi 22/410 single shot. That goes for about $100 and it is designed for a youth?

Also the CZ452 Scout youth sounds good but a bit on the high end of what I wanted to spend.

thanks for all the replies!


Would like more!

colubrid
 
Taurus or Rossi reproductions of the Win 62. Ilike the idea of the exposed hammer to indicate if its cocked or not with a round in the chamber, also dad does'nt have to spend time loading five round clips all afternoon.
 
Two more recommendations, then.

Savage make a couple of different youth models of a more full-size nature. Still have a rebated length-of-pull. The 93G-Y, IIRC.

Also, Marlin's 15Y, which is now the 915Y, due to their supposedly better T-900 trigger upgrades.
 
Any other opinions on the Rossi 22/410 single shot. That goes for about $100 and it is designed for a youth?
Click to expand...


I had the opportunity to shoot one that my father-in-law bought for around $75.00 from a store going out of business.

Solidly made little gun with respectable accuracy on the .22lr barrel. It was, of course, waaaayyyy too small for me at 6'7"....but operation was simple and trigger had a nice feel to it.

After a while, we broke the gun down (about 10 seconds) and put the .410 barrel on it. I shot a shell at about 15 yards and first thought was , ouch!$%$^$**......:what:

That little bugger bit my shoulder so hard that I thought that I was shooting a full power 12 gauge shell. It seems that little teeny gun with the very light weight does not absord recoil very well at all. I would not recommend letting a new shooter use the .410 barrel....it woud cure them of shooting for years.

Otherwise....pretty cool little gun that comes with its own backpack....
 
Rom 69 a bit crude to look at but simple to operate and they do shoot very well..somthing about that hand lapped match barrel. From what I have seen they shoot better than the DCM mossburg target guns even.
 
Try a .223 Mini-14. He will have much more fun with this than a .22 rifle. My son starting shooting a Mini-14 when he was 8. For extra fun, take him night shooting with cheap Wolf ammo. He'll think the fireball is cool.
 
Marlin Model 60

What? no one likes the marlin model 60?? lol

My two boys love the marlin model 60 due to the fact it has the tubular magazine & hold more than 10 rounds.

Theses guns can be purchased used really cheap ( between $25-$50)
at gunshows.
If you want new , then you could buy one at walmart brand new for under $100.00
I know someones gonna make me regret saying to go to wal mart,lol

Keep in mind, if you purchase a firearm from a dealer or local gun shop, your supporting your local gun shop and not Wal-Mart....

If you purchase from a local gunshop they almost always stand behind what they sell.
In other words, if something goes wrong, or you don't like the firearm, the local dealer usually stands behind his products & may offer to take it back in trade towards another firearm...
You can do that with wal-mart...

I can suggest an even better idea, but don't know if you'll like it...
Lots of people come to our gun shoots & test out all the different kinds of weapons for their own use or children.
And alot of gun shooting events allow children to shoot for free, i know we do...

That way you can try before you buy...
Thats my 2 cents worth
:)
 
Thanks for all the replies! My son and I are off to a gun show this saturday to buy ****?. I am not sure yet, I will let you all know when we get back.

Thanks

Colubrid
 
Another vote for the marlin model 60... I love that rifle. Used to have one when I was a kid, and took it everywhere when walkin in the desert in mojave.

I wanna get another one.


James
 
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