First rifle for the little one?

jibjedi

jibjedi

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Hey guys, just wondering if someone might be able to suggest some possible options for my daughters first .22 rifle? She is only just closing in on her first birthday, so she is a ways off before she will get to use it :) But I would like to find something that I can possibly have as somewhat of a project.

As a military surplus collector for the most part, I am drawn to firearms with nice wood stock sets, and less interested in composite rigs. What sort of options are out there in older .22 rifles that are quite small overall?

Kind regards -TT
 
Admit it, this is for YOU instead of her.

I don't have kids but after I was given an old Stevens Crackshot I became a bit of a nut for what was called "boy's rifles" from back in the day. So I've managed to pick up a fair number of older single shot and pump action rifles intended for smaller "folks". I find them great fun to shoot with my ammo tucked between the fingers of my support hand as a four finger "magazine".

But I still think that they would be too large for the truly small and young. So all in all for new I'd say that a Savage Rascal is about as good as it gets. I've seen reports where the cocking tail such as found on the new Cricket or the older single shot Cooeys can be hard for small fingers to pull and latch. That's where the #### on opening of the Savage bolt comes in.

I would suggest that you not get a nice old rifle for her first gun. Why? Because if you start her early enough as it sounds like you will want to do that even the short stock on a Rascal or Cricket will need to be cut down even more to let her get her eyes in place with the sights in a proper manner. And you don't want to be shortening a nice old classic.

If done right you can cut up and get the stocks on a Rascal all set so it starts off a good two inches shorter than stock and put back the two one inch extensions to bring it back to factory length. And by doing this ahead of time the pieces can be set up with "trim shims" that match the saw kerf so the tapers don't have steps in them. And you can make up a new butt plate to fit each of the two new lengths. I can't imagine being more prepared for her than that. But you can do that in a week of spare time. What are you going to do with the other 5 or 6 years until she's old enough?
 
just get a CZ Scout and be done with it

edited because someone's going to recommend a Cooey.

great choice for kids with strong hands, but pure misery for smaller/younger/weaker kids

just get a CZ Scout and be done with it
 
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Be patriotic. Lots of old Cooey's out there in need of a loving home.

Brewster20 said:
Red Rider BB with compass in the stock.
Click to expand...

I went this route (actually, the pink version of the same Daisy BB gun) for my daughter, and regretted it. The new production ones are piss poor. It takes more strength than a typical six year old has to work the lever.
 
grelmar said:
Be patriotic. Lots of old Cooey's out there in need of a loving home.



I went this route (actually, the pink version of the same Daisy BB gun) for my daughter, and regretted it. The new production ones are piss poor. It takes more strength than a typical six year old has to work the lever.
Click to expand...

my daughter used to #### hers my putting the muzzle on the ground, and two handing the lever. i think she was 5 at the time.

you can get her a co2 pellet rifle tho
 
Lol you guys are tooo funny.
I have 2 boys, 3 and 1 and I cant wait till they shoot.
However imo a pellet gun is great for 6 and under.
7-8yo for first .22s.
We can all agree atleast that new shooters are important.
I have my grandfathers Cooey that I will pass down.
However Im leaning towards the rascal or cricket.
If its for you, just buy a CZ and hand it down later.
 
Check out the Thompson Centre Hotshot .22 cal break action. North Pro in Saskatoon has them. Small, light, has a spacer that can be removed to shorten the LOP and is good for left or right handers.
 
my daughter has a savage cub, which is a tiny bit bigger than cricket.
cricket will get outgrown at a young age, cub can last longer.

my daughter started shooting my sks at age 9, LOVES IT. if you have one of them, maybe buy a used stock for $20 somewhere, and cut it down. lots of fun with barely any kick.
 
Great info fellas. I appreciate the input. I do have to admit, that it is mostly an excuse to get another project going. But with all the other firearms related projects, plus the never ending life projects ...it will take damn near 4 years to get a nice little rifle fixed up for her, the way I would like to see it.

And hopefully by the time she is 8, she will be ready to shoot my M1 carbines :)
 
I got my son a Henry mini bolt and the fit was perfect, but the loading a single rnd at a time is getting boring. He really liked my SR 22 , but was only comfortable shooting from a bipod . If you get one of those miniguns I would recommend buying the cheapest one possible because they will quickly grow them . I had it listed on the EE , couple days ago as we are moving up in size. He kept asking me if he should keep his first gun:) Amyway it was taken off the EE. He's 9.
 
The TC break open is a great little gun.
I'm of the opinion that maybe a bolt action 22 if the youngsters are
going to hunt later on.
This way they can practice and learn on the offerings of the bolt rifles.
 
Pink savage cub...single shot,peep sight, 3 1/2 lb ,and a great trigger.My granddaughter practiced a lot,shot some grouse and this year stepped up to a 243 and shot her first mule deer.getting the first rifle right is really important and a 22 single shot with a good trigger is the best choice
 
It's been said already in this thread but I'll give you my impressions based on my daughters:

1) The Lakefields/Cooeys, even the "youth" single I have, are all too long LOP. Same with the 10/22 and Nylon 66.
2) I also tried my daughters out on some of the original "Boy's Rifles" (including a Favorite, A Crack Shot 16 and a Little Scout 14 1/2); but found the drop on the comb was too much for them to enjoy shooting these
3) After a lot of different trials, I bought my older daughter a pink Savage Rascal, the younger one has a purple(ish) Crickett
4) Rascal has been OK but occasional extraction problems
5) Crickett has been good BUT the cocking effort (as BC Rider mentions) dampens my younger daughter's fun

At the end of the day, my recommendation so far is the Rascal, for ease of operation; I haven't tried the T/C break action yet.

YMMV - Good luck!

p4avRJv.jpg


The Rascal is here on the left, Crickett in action on the right (ya I know they ain't holding them right here (sigh) but we keep on 'em while they shootin'):

dF5xzIm.jpg


NCBB
 
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Oh, heck, since we're sharing picks...

Here's the reason I bother to keep working instead of just wandering off into the bush on walkabout for a decade or so... With her Pink Daisy. She would have been 5&1/2 at the time.

She could hit stuff then. A little more than a year on, she's getting better.

And the fact she has trouble working the lever isn't all bad. Means dad (or mom) has to, which keeps things to a nice safe pace.

training_day.jpg
 
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