First rifle for kids....

#3
Re: First rifle for kids....

I have a 30 years old Winchester 22LR that I learned to shoot on that was passed onto me, that I plan to teach my kids to shoot with when they are old enough.
 
#4
Re: First rifle for kids....

I have a 9 year old daughter, and I have been teaching her how to shoot with a 1969 Remington 40X in .22LR. I have a bi-pod and sand bag set up for her to shoot from, and at 25 yards she can now keep them in a silver dollar sized group for 25 shots.
I did start her off with a Ruger MK3 .22LR pistol. She can load the mag with the help of a loading tool, and load it, and slingshot the first round into the chamber, and hit a plastic bottle at 5 yards with about a 50% hit rate.
Nothing could make me more prowd. Get them out to shoot, they are the future. JPG
 
#5
Re: First rifle for kids....

my son got his first gun for his 8th birthday it is a ruger 10/22 compact i figure i can always upgrade it to a fullsize stock and barrel easily enough from someones takeoff parts in a few years
i learned to shoot with a single shot marlin bolt action and i hated that thing
 
#6
Re: First rifle for kids....

I bought my daughter a Henry Mini Youth bolt last month. She enjoys it. She is 6 years old. If I had it to do over again, I would buy the CZ Youth.

Gary
 
#7
Re: First rifle for kids....

Just got my nephew a Thompson Center "top shot", it is nice. Wish I would have went with the CZ youth model though. Not much price difference for a better quality gun.
 
#8
Re: First rifle for kids....

My daughter has a pink Chipmunk and loves it because it's pink. Mechanically it is functional, but hard to get the extractor over the rim on some ammo, so I have to do that for her. She still has a rough time cocking it more than just a few times. I'll move her up to a Marlin when she can reach the controls a little better. She's 7 and we were out this week shooting 8" ballons at 50 yards. Her favorite target is walnuts laid on a 2x4 because the explode pretty dramatically. Water bottles are good, too.
 
#9
Re: First rifle for kids....

I went with a Ruger 10/22... The thing is my kid's only 3 months lol. Now for the wait to pick up interest in shooting.
 
#10
Re: First rifle for kids....

From my experience, the best rifle to go with is the Crickett. It is definitely not the best by all means but it has some strong points.

1. Its cheap. It can get banged around, scratched, dropped, and you don't care.
2. Accurate enough and very reliable
3. Very safe. SIngle shot that has to be manually cocked
4. Iron sights and scope mount
5. Last and most important, size. I started my boys off with a different rifle, youth model, but was a little to big and they hated it. When kids get frustrated, its not good. The crickett is small enough kids can shoot off hand too.

Now, when they have outgrown the crickett, the cz scout (youth) is next in line and I can't wait. Sweet little rifles. Its just pointless to get one now when I know its too much gun for them.
 
#12
Re: First rifle for kids....

I have a Winchester Model 67 single-shot that my son is getting when he is ready. He will be the 4th generation of Bryant to own this rifle
smile.gif
Best I can tell, it was produced sometime prior to late 1944 and looks every bit as old, but the bolt is slick and it shoots well with any type of .22LR that I've run through it.
 
#13
Re: First rifle for kids....

I bought my son the Cricket/Keystone EX17hmr, it is a flatop heavier barreled gun, it's quite a handsome little rifle with the evolution thumbhole stock. I bought it for my six year old a year or two back, I got it for a steal($134.00 out the door) at Cabelas of all places. I put a Simmons 3-9 rimfire scope on it (because it had the most forgiving eye relief of all scopes I looked at).
This little gun is a blast to shoot!! I even enjoy shooting it, its very accurate (sub prairie dog out to 100yds anyway). I love the safety features, meaning single shot, manually cocked firing pin, ect. And it's also a gun my son and daughter can both shoot for years to come.


DSCF5611.jpg


DSCF5612.jpg


I'm thinking that from here, once he is big enough to shoot something larger(centerfire) I was thinking of building a short .308 or something similar and load it light till he is old enough to shoot with the big kids.
 
#14
Re: First rifle for kids....

Got my son a Cricket 22 lr for Christmas. I left it with the open sights to teach him that first. He might get a scope for Christmas.
[img:center]
Alexwithhisfirstrifle.jpg
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#15
Re: First rifle for kids....

My 8 and 10 year olds shoot my .22lr CZ 452, GSG 5 and my 1926 .22 SMLE Lee Enfield trainer. Most of that shooting is done off a rest or a bipod as they have trouble holding what are really adult sized guns in off hand position. They both love the GSG5, I have it all tricked up and its like MW2, they can shoot near 500 rds in a session, my fingers hurt reloading mags.
 
#16
Re: First rifle for kids....

my daughter is 3 . i got her the rossi .410/.22 combo , i am in the process of shorting the lop for her . it's a nice little rifle combo for $100
 
#17
Re: First rifle for kids....

<div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Originally Posted By: Fuscalino</div><div class="ubbcode-body">My 8 and 10 year olds shoot my .22lr CZ 452, GSG 5 and my 1926 .22 SMLE Lee Enfield trainer. Most of that shooting is done off a rest or a bipod as they have trouble holding what are really adult sized guns in off hand position. They both love the GSG5, I have it all tricked up and its like MW2, they can shoot near 500 rds in a session, my fingers hurt reloading mags.</div></div>

Time to teach them that if they want to shoot with the adults, they have to load their own mags like the adults.
 
#18
Re: First rifle for kids....

We live on some land and my son still totes his bb gun all over the place on his 4 wheeler. Under supervision he has moved to the 22lr, then to the AR. When I finish my 6.5 he wants to move up to that. He will be 10 next month.
 
#19
Re: First rifle for kids....

I was trying to decide on a rifle for my niece (10) and nephew (7) to shoot and have settled on a CZ Scout. High quality peep sights are available direct from CZ, the triggers are good and, unlike some of the cheaper kids' guns, it is built on a real action. An all around win that won't be abandoned as soon as they can step up to a 10/22.
 
#21
Re: First rifle for kids....

My plan is to go with a ruger 10/22 with a blackhawk stock, this way I can adjust the length, I am also going to go with an inexpensive scope just to keep it simple to start with. I would prefer a bolt action but think the length is more important, I will probably be just putting 1 round in the magazine to start with as well.
 
#22
Re: First rifle for kids....

<div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Originally Posted By: 2brothers641</div><div class="ubbcode-body">From my experience, the best rifle to go with is the Crickett. It is definitely not the best by all means but it has some strong points.

1. Its cheap. It can get banged around, scratched, dropped, and you don't care.
2. Accurate enough and very reliable
3. Very safe. SIngle shot that has to be manually cocked
4. Iron sights and scope mount
5. Last and most important, size. I started my boys off with a different rifle, youth model, but was a little to big and they hated it. When kids get frustrated, its not good. The crickett is small enough kids can shoot off hand too.

Now, when they have outgrown the crickett, the cz scout (youth) is next in line and I can't wait. Sweet little rifles. Its just pointless to get one now when I know its too much gun for them.
</div></div>

That's what I bought for my daughter. The stock was too long but the gun was so cheap, I cut the stock off and let her shoot it that way until it was too small. I glued and fit the cut off piece back on and she is still shooting it.....any time anybody else wants to! She's 10 and she'd rather shoot her P22 but will still shoot the rifle. I'm glad I got the bolt because she shoots the P22 as fast as she can and I think she may have done that with a 10/22 as well. Now she's starting to shoot at steel and that slows her down some. She likes to see it spin.

On the other hand, I bought a Crickett with the plastic stock but in 17M2 for my grandson and they can hardly find shells for it in West Texas. Should have got him the 22 also.
 
#24
Re: First rifle for kids....

I don't have any kids, but I shot a BB and pelet gun until I was about 12. Never shot a .22lr until I was almost a teenager. But hey, hundreds of birds and squirrels met their match with my red rider!
wink.gif
 
#25
Re: First rifle for kids....

I really like the chipmunk 22LR for small young kids. It's lightweight, short, small, compact (You get the gist).
It's the perfect rifle for the little ones starting out and it can always be used again for the grandkids latter or when friends want to train their kids.
Just try to find one of the tiny rifles with metal open sights (I have seen some with plastic open sights).
Mine has metal sights and it looks way better than some of the plastic ones I have seen.
Later on they can step up to a larger framed (full sized rifle)but a little rifle just sparks a kids interest and sometimes I hear them say "Hey thats my size!", with a grin on their face.
Hope this helps........SmokeRolls
 
#26
Re: First rifle for kids....

i also have a model 22, winchester 22 rifle which my son will learn to shoot on in a cpl of years. I bought him an auto orid. 30 carbine for his first deer rifle, its small little recoil and with reloads can shoot some stout rounds for this caliber. he's 3 now so it will be a few years before i think he will be ready to shoot.
 
#27
Re: First rifle for kids....

I bought my Grandkids the Cricket, and I think they simply outgrew it too fast.

I also don't like making safety into something that's imposed on them by gun design. They need to learn it from the beginning as a human issue. If I can't trust them with that, they're not ready for any gun.

The Cricket is overly burdened by safety issues, especially with the bolt lock and special fastener for takedown. They're really more pain in the butt than benefit. That's my personal opinion.

What I'd really like to do is get something like the Savage Cub, but built around the MKII barreled action, and have the option of swapping stocks on them as the kids grow up. That's the only thing that's really needed in order to be able to accommodate a young shooter. Other than that, starting out with an 'adult' gun is my own personal preference.

...And hey; I got by just fine as a kid using a full sized rimfire, tucking the stock under my armpit.

Greg
 
#28
Re: First rifle for kids....

Cricket. Here's a pic of my son (6 now) from a year ago. Damn fun little gun. Had an issue with him losing interest due to the irons, so I got him the accompanying mil-dot Cricket scope and base to go along with it. Now we alternate between range sessions with the optic and without. He had the controls figured out inside of an hour, and can completely operate it on his own. You cant tell from this picture, but he is wearing safety glasses, and we are working on cheek weld and trigger control. I figure that when he outgrows it, my 1 year old will be about ready to take it over. You can find them consistently for $99.00 all the time. Cheap, a lot of fun for the kids, and easy to teach safety with. And it is true, shoot-n-see targets and anything that reacts will keep their interest longer at the range.
IMG00176-20110514-1128.jpg

IMG00175-20110514-1128.jpg
 
#33
Re: First rifle for kids....

Hey Brother
do the M&P 15-22. I got one for each of my boys and they think they're hot shit dumping the mag out and reloading Costa style. LOL!!! Fairly accurate and fun as hell. Plus relatively inexpensive. The only downside is our ridiculous non-collasping stock law. They are small (obvioulsy) and would do well with a shorter LOP. I forgot, also, they start to learn their way around an ar platform.
 
#37
Re: First rifle for kids....

My first rifle (not of the bb gun and pellet gun variety) was a browning .22 semi auto with iron sights. I have thought about selling it a million times to fund other projects but I can't bring myself to do it. I suppose that will be the first one.
 
#38
Re: First rifle for kids....

<div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Originally Posted By: Indypendent</div><div class="ubbcode-body">Surgeon Scalpel/.223 Rem. Hehehe. No, seriously...I'm that ridiculous. It won't be the first one he shoots on his own though. He did send the first round down range with it though, with a string and his grandmother's help, with me behind the rifle.



Uploaded with ImageShack.us



Anyone else notice the look on Grandma's face?

Uploaded with ImageShack.us </div></div>
 
#41
Re: First rifle for kids....

<div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Originally Posted By: jerseymike</div><div class="ubbcode-body">What was the first rifle you purchased for you kids?

Contemplating on what to buy for my little one.

Im sure im in the market for a .22LR </div></div>

I started my boy with a Savage Cub when he was five. He has now moved up to my Mark II BTVS and 40XB.
 
#42
Re: First rifle for kids....

I've handled the Cricket and it just feels too cheap. I'm really leaning towards the Savage Cub or the CZ. He's got a brother just 2 years behind him so this gun will get used.
 
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