Build your own youth rifle

kodiakjack

kodiakjack

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Can someone point me in the direction of a good thread or website or book that would help me turn an old beat up single shot .22 into a cut down youth rifle? I'd like to give my little man a home made version of the savage rascal. Thanks for your help!

Ps. I tried the search function but didn't find anything.
 
You might have better luck with a refined search, or just making a direct inquiry that suits your needs.

What kind of .22?(shouldn't matter too much)? Are you planning on just cutting the stock, or shortening a barrel too? Keeping iron sights (if you cut a barrel, the front sight may have to be accommodated)?

Few good threads here on CGN. I used advanced search with keyword "shortening", and used 2 year history. Not too many youth .22's, but quite a few threads on stock n' barrel modification came up. What you'd like to do isn't really .22 specific.

Either way, there's a lucky little fella with a gem in his future!
 
Thanks For the advice! I'll did a little deeper with the searcher.

I was hoping to shorten the barrel too, but I guess it depends on how complicated that gets. I'm ordering this black and blue laminate stock blank for it. http://www.boydsgunstocks.com/content/Boyds/images/500/Products/WOOD/Blanks/A10016.jpg

Just gotta spend some time learning before diving in.

The rifle will be an old Cooey that was passed down to my dad. One of his brothers mangled the stock when they were kids. It'd be nice to see it reincarnated into something worth passing down.

By the way, are there any other ways to finish a steel barrel, aside from blueing? With that colour combo, I'm thinking a brighter, stainless-like finish would look nice. Or maybe flat black? I don't know, I'm spitballing here.

Thanks for your help :)
 
If you cut the barrel down, Cooey's are pretty soft steel. Shouldn't be too hard to cut a new dovetail to re-mount the sight.
 
kodiakjack said:
Thanks For the advice! I'll did a little deeper with the searcher.

I was hoping to shorten the barrel too, but I guess it depends on how complicated that gets. I'm ordering this black and blue laminate stock blank for it. http://www.boydsgunstocks.com/content/Boyds/images/500/Products/WOOD/Blanks/A10016.jpg

Just gotta spend some time learning before diving in.

The rifle will be an old Cooey that was passed down to my dad. One of his brothers mangled the stock when they were kids. It'd be nice to see it reincarnated into something worth passing down.

By the way, are there any other ways to finish a steel barrel, aside from blueing? With that colour combo, I'm thinking a brighter, stainless-like finish would look nice. Or maybe flat black? I don't know, I'm spitballing here.

Thanks for your help :)
Click to expand...

Depending on what kind of Cooey you have, You may not have to cut a barrel anyway. Kids grow quick, and barrels don't get longer. What model is on your hands?

Lots of options about what to do with your gem. It's like the sticky "Cooey make over thread" was made for you. Go through it, as all manner of cool things can be done. There is a recent post about non-blued coatings, and it can be quite a transformation.

If it's a "youth stock" you're planning on getting, you may be able to just alter what you have, and when the time comes for buying stuff, it'll be a "big-kid" stock.
 
camster said:
Depending on what kind of Cooey you have, You may not have to cut a barrel anyway. Kids grow quick, and barrels don't get longer. What model is on your hands?

Lots of options about what to do with your gem. It's like the sticky "Cooey make over thread" was made for you. Go through it, as all manner of cool things can be done. There is a recent post about non-blued coatings, and it can be quite a transformation.

If it's a "youth stock" you're planning on getting, you may be able to just alter what you have, and when the time comes for buying stuff, it'll be a "big-kid" stock.
Click to expand...


There's a Cooey makeover sticky?

Holy Cooey #### Batman! There's 43 pages of tips, tricks, and pics in there. God bless you Camster I can't believe I missed that.

I'm working with a badly mangled model 75. I haven't committed to anything yet, except a new stock (old one's a write off).

Thanks so much for the lead. Barely slept last night with all the options running through my head. Can't wait to get started and add my own makeover to the thread!
 
I have the Cooey my daughter learned with 20 years ago still but whne I seen the Savage Rascal I bought on just in case the grandkids ever make it this way.That or for a old grandfather to play with.
 
The absolute nicest kids' .22 I ever saw was a tiny little trapdoor affair, made, I believe, by Anschutz. IIRC, it had about a 16" bbl and weighed under 3 lbs. A friend of mine used to carry it when we went on our rabbit-snaring runs. Accurate as hell, too. I haven't seen one in about 40 years.
 
Those rascals are awesome, I have one for my little guy, he is 5 1/2 now and came hold it correctly. It is awesomely accurate and will leave him some room to shrink his own groups. I set his up with a Fitco 2-7x28 and its excellent. He wasn't interested in the peep sights it came with as it "didn't look like mine" without a scope and a bipod. I was able to shoot of drinking straws out to 40 yards with it and its silly light and great to handle. This is the route I would go for a small kid, then use your modified Cooey when he gets to the 9-11 year range as its size may be better for the kid to handle. Either way, I think its and excellent project for you and I hope you post some results.
 
kodiakjack said:
...... I'm ordering this black and blue laminate stock blank for it. http://www.boydsgunstocks.com/content/Boyds/images/500/Products/WOOD/Blanks/A10016.jpg

Just gotta spend some time learning before diving in........
Click to expand...

There's a lot to learn for working to this sort of accuracy. If you're not a long time wood worker or metal worker that has had lots of time using a milling machine I'd suggest you start off with making the stock from cheap lumberyard wood laminated together to achieve the desired thickness. Learn your chops and skills on a $3 piece of stuff before committing to putting ANY tools to an expensive blank like that laminated one. There will be jigs to be made and methods to test and numbers to find for the stock inletting and action mortising. It may not even go well for the first one. If it doesn't there's no foul in making a second from the cheap trial lumber.

On top of that you can then try out the short size on your lad for fit and balance.

Things I've noticed with the small folks that shoot my club's Jr .22 rifles is that even kid's size is almost still too long a LOP. Also I'd suggest an adjustable comb. With higher mounted scopes the young'uns like to try to tilt their heads over and use their LEFT eye even though they are shooting rightie. This is simply due to a bad comb height. And it seems to change a lot as they get older. So an adjustable comb of some sort along with inserts for the LOP are both a good idea to consider. But then it's not a big deal if they will only be shooting with the plain irons. Only if you're using a raised sighting system.
 
I'm looking at doing something similar to a Cooey 75 I picked up recently. I wanna cut the barrel back to 18 inches and the length of pull already seems kinda of short. This gun is drilled and tapped with a scope rail. The comb is really low for a scope but I'm sure I can make it work.

I just love the stock on those 75's
 
kodiakjack said:
I was hoping to shorten the barrel too,

<snip>

By the way, are there any other ways to finish a steel barrel, aside from blueing?
Click to expand...

First, you are aware you cannot legally cut the barrel shorter than 18", right? Anything longer than that is ok.

As for finishes, it depends on how durable you like. At the cheap/easy/semi-durable end is Krylon rattle can paint from CT. It works pretty well, lets you try things for minimal investment and is easily available. At the tough end of things I would recommend Arma-coat, it is super tough and produces some very nice end results. Downsides are cost is higher and it is only available from one place:

http://www.arma-coat.ca/

It looks like you would want one of their sprayer kits: http://www.arma-coat.ca/frame.cfm?WebPageID=21

CGN member Murdoc represents Arma-Coat on the forum, PM him if you have more questions.


Mark
 
Papaclaude said:
The absolute nicest kids' .22 I ever saw was a tiny little trapdoor affair, made, I believe, by Anschutz. IIRC, it had about a 16" bbl and weighed under 3 lbs. A friend of mine used to carry it when we went on our rabbit-snaring runs. Accurate as hell, too. I haven't seen one in about 40 years.
Click to expand...

Sound like a Deutsche werke 22 single-shot marketed by Ortgies, as Model I. Great rifles for kids n' adult alike. Very tiny, but great performers.

kodiakjack said:
There's a Cooey makeover sticky?

Holy Cooey #### Batman! There's 43 pages of tips, tricks, and pics in there. God bless you Camster I can't believe I missed that.

I'm working with a badly mangled model 75. I haven't committed to anything yet, except a new stock (old one's a write off).

Thanks so much for the lead. Barely slept last night with all the options running through my head. Can't wait to get started and add my own makeover to the thread!
Click to expand...

Neat thread with lot of folk's ideas shared. Not all would be to my taste, as I'm certain not all mine tickle other folks' fancy. Some neat inspirations to be had regardless.
 
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