freddyfour
CGN Ultra frequent flyer
- Location
- Brant County, Ontario
I already have a BL22 lever gun for them to practice with. They both enjoy the lever gun, which is good because lever guns comprise of more then 50% of my firearms.
Can I get a recommendation for a fun .22 for the kids please
- Thread starter freddyfour
- Start date
For my family shooting adventures with my two now-early-teenage-daughters, I've discovered our enjoyment is somewhat less tethered to "what gun" they are shooting and more to what they are shooting at. They both started on Savage Rascals, upgraded to CZ 455 camp rifles, and then went to the 10/22. Much to my amazement, they lost interest in the 10/22 in favour of their CZs as the bolt guns were advantaged for the particular games we play, which are primarily accuracy related on reactive steel targets.
Action Target makes a couple of awesome .22lr targets - we have both their rimfire dueling tree and their rimfire plate rack. My kids LOVE a good battle against their parents where we assign a side of the dueling tree to the adults and a side to the kids, set a limit of 2 magazines per participant, and then it's the munchkins vs the adults. The Action Target .22 plate rack is also a blast, and when they were little they LOVED getting to pull the rope to reset. You could get both of these targets for close to your $500 budget, and I would wager your BL22 would be a riot. I guess you would need two BL22s to have a good dueling tree war.
Lately we've made a bunch of our own steel rimfire targets and have a tonne of fun setting up jungle lanes in the forest out at the farm. Here's the latest:
Whatever you decide you are a lucky guy, for if your experience is anything like mine, shooting with my girls constitutes some of the best days of my life.
Best,
Brobee
Action Target makes a couple of awesome .22lr targets - we have both their rimfire dueling tree and their rimfire plate rack. My kids LOVE a good battle against their parents where we assign a side of the dueling tree to the adults and a side to the kids, set a limit of 2 magazines per participant, and then it's the munchkins vs the adults. The Action Target .22 plate rack is also a blast, and when they were little they LOVED getting to pull the rope to reset. You could get both of these targets for close to your $500 budget, and I would wager your BL22 would be a riot. I guess you would need two BL22s to have a good dueling tree war.
Lately we've made a bunch of our own steel rimfire targets and have a tonne of fun setting up jungle lanes in the forest out at the farm. Here's the latest:
Whatever you decide you are a lucky guy, for if your experience is anything like mine, shooting with my girls constitutes some of the best days of my life.
Best,
Brobee
freddyfour
CGN Ultra frequent flyer
- Location
- Brant County, Ontario
Brobee, thank you for the thorough response. I like where your heads at. The kids would love the dealing tree. Only problem with the rifles i have is they just don't fit well.
Its pretty hard to go wrong with a Savage Rascal...my girls still enjoy theirs when the go for a squirrel hunt. Browning a.so does their BL22 as a youth gun in their Micro Midas version....it has a shorter stock and shorter barrel for a pretty compact gun that would fit a little kid ok too.
Henry makes a youth lever.
I enjoyed it more than the BLR.
Ruger makes a youth bolt action with the modular stock inserts.
I managed to pick up an adult sized one so this compact fits me.
They shoot well but are a tad on the heavy side.
A CZ 452 Scout might be another classier option......?
I enjoyed it more than the BLR.
Ruger makes a youth bolt action with the modular stock inserts.
I managed to pick up an adult sized one so this compact fits me.
They shoot well but are a tad on the heavy side.
A CZ 452 Scout might be another classier option......?
i have a GSG-16 as well. me & my kids freaking LOVE it
it ticks all your boxes.
~$500
adjustable stock
accurate
rail already there if you want a red dot. or use iron
lots of customization options if you want but you dont need to
ive put about 1000 rds. through it with no major issues
The only thing is its a bit of a pain to clean. Not crazy hard but you need tools a time.
It comes with 2 mags. Buy 2 more!
Huge plus 1 to this - my girls shoot a 455 version of the CZ scout (albeit with the unfortunately-now-discontinued camp stock)...I think it is their "forever" 22 as they have stopped growing, are both reasonably small framed, and the guns fit much better than the full-sized versions my wife and I shoot. It is a pretty big step-up in size though from the rascal, so if your youngest is pretty small, the intermediate youth sized CZ guns may still be a bit big.
Anyway, I'll leave you with a couple of pics of my two munchkins when the first started out on their shooting and hunting journey. It should provide some context on the perfect size of the rascal relative to the size of little kids:
Best,
Brobee
My kids preferred hitting things accurately, even as little ones. "Spray and pray/brass-flying"=fun for about 5 minutes but when the dust settled, they were far more interested in making shots count. A scoped rifle with a decent trigger-smaller targets at greater distances-always what held their attention. With kids, being creative with targets=also key. Want the shooting session to end fast-bring a pile of paper targets. lol
My gear bag (when the kids were young) looked more like I was packing for a picnic....BUT...for targets=empty soup cans, empty 1L apple juice tins, clay pigeons, and lots...and lots of balloons.
So..what to get? I'd put a WTB ad up for a 452 Scout or if you don't want to overpay for it, just watch the EE daily. Not that common, but they do pop-up from time to time. That barrelled action can go into an adult-sized stock from what I know of them, so room to grow. Granted, lots of 6' tall guys use those scouts too. lol
My gear bag (when the kids were young) looked more like I was packing for a picnic....BUT...for targets=empty soup cans, empty 1L apple juice tins, clay pigeons, and lots...and lots of balloons.
So..what to get? I'd put a WTB ad up for a 452 Scout or if you don't want to overpay for it, just watch the EE daily. Not that common, but they do pop-up from time to time. That barrelled action can go into an adult-sized stock from what I know of them, so room to grow. Granted, lots of 6' tall guys use those scouts too. lol
limit time
CGN frequent flyer
- Location
- Cliffs of Dover
Mossberg Balze, plastic, 25 round mags, dirt cheap to buy and run any .22lr ammo you can get.
shackleford
CGN Regular
- Location
- S. Ontario
This was my favourite starting out. Loud as all heck unless you used shorts.....
Had a rossi pump too.
Was fun when we got a 410 as well
Had a rossi pump too.
Was fun when we got a 410 as well
This was my favourite starting out. Loud as all heck unless you used shorts.....
Had a rossi pump too.
Was fun when we got a 410 as well
That looks like it would be pretty awkward for a small kid to hold. The sights don't look very useful either. Probably a fun thing for an adult to mess around with but I'm not so sure it would be a big hit with the kids due to the overall awkwardness of holding a revolving rifle.
Are there many options for aftermarket 795 stocks? The only ones I've seen is boyds stocks and the ATI Fiberforce..?
shackleford
CGN Regular
- Location
- S. Ontario
Couldn't hit anything
What is wrong with what they have been shooting? Are they bored with it and you think a fancy new gun would change it all? Given the ages, I suspect it has nothing to do with the gun.
Are you shooting a target circle? That gets boring really fast. The way to have fun is to have reactive targets. It can be a variety of things, but something that moves crazy after being hit is the best.
I've put empty plastic shotgun shells on the metal target stands of the 25 yard range. Those are a fun challenge.
Another funtarget is to make some way a golf ball is suspended as a target. I drilled out the ball, inserted a cotter pin, attached fishing line leader, and suspended it from some PVC pipe. A little like ladder toss but now with 22lr.
Are you shooting a target circle? That gets boring really fast. The way to have fun is to have reactive targets. It can be a variety of things, but something that moves crazy after being hit is the best.
I've put empty plastic shotgun shells on the metal target stands of the 25 yard range. Those are a fun challenge.
Another funtarget is to make some way a golf ball is suspended as a target. I drilled out the ball, inserted a cotter pin, attached fishing line leader, and suspended it from some PVC pipe. A little like ladder toss but now with 22lr.
freddyfour
CGN Ultra frequent flyer
- Location
- Brant County, Ontario
Nothing wrong with the ones they use other then they are just to big for them. Plus I would like them to try something scoped as well.
Agreed. I started both mine out on a Henry mini-bolt in stainless. Single shot bolt action, no mag, super redundantly safe. Has nice H-Viz fibre optic sights. You can eventually mount a scope on it but I pushed proficiency with iron sights first. Not a fan of scopes for newbies at any age. Safety and fundamentals first and foremost. Stock is made for small kids (mine started using it at age 5) and when they outgrow it is easy to sell or makes a great packable survival rifle. My youngest is 12 and still enjoys using it for upland birds on snowmobile..
