First 22 rifle for an 8 year old?

[crabo]

I took a friend and his 8 year old son to a 22 fun match. It is the 1/2 size shilouettes at 40-100 meters. It is a run what you brung and is just for fun.

They allow the youngsters to shot off of sandbags. My friend's boy loved watching the chickens fall and he wants his own rifle. He is not a big boy and as I watched him shoot his dad's 77/22, I noticed he was on the butt and I know his sight picture through the scope could not be good.

His dad has a Glenfield bolt action and I suggested that he get another stock that we could cut down and when he out grows it, put the original stock on it. I bought a friend of mine a crickett for his boys, and it worked great. I really think the youth sized rifle would be the best deal, because if you cut the stock off, the barrel is still full length throwing the balance off.

I found a great site for youth guns

http://www.ocshooters.com/Gen/kidsho...h-firearms.htm

Any recommendations or advice I can pass on?

Thanks,

Crabo

[ktw]

I put together a TC Contender Carbine for my kids; short buttstock, 18" 22lr barrel, red dot sight. Works great and can be easily changed into something else useful as they get bigger. The red dot has a very generous range of eye relief for kids of various sizes.

Interactive targets are also a great idea for young kids. I have a full set of the 5th scale 22lr silhouettes that my kids enjoy shooting from the bench. Animal crackers and charcoal briquettes are also good.

-ktw

[Sprue]

For auto:

I might suggest a Ruger 10/22 with a youth stock. As you know there are more aftermarket accessories made for this model than any other, hands down. Anything you may want will be available.

You might might also look at the Ruger 10/22 compact model. Its a little shorter both bbl and butt stock I think. If you want new.

For Bolt:

I would suggest the CZ 452 model with a youth stock. This rifle can be had rather cheap and its a real shooter. The long bbl version in this model is exceptionally accurate and is priced under 300. Great bang for the buck!

Otherwise, go to the local used stores and pick one up on the cheap and cut the butt stock.

[Molly]

I bought a "Davy Cricket" for my grandson when he was born, and put one of those little SKS scopes on it. I had so much fun getting it sighted in that I went back and bought another for myself. Now the ungrateful twerp not only outshoots me (gotta build up his confidence, right?), but he can hear the squirrels better than I can too! And now both my granddaughters are complaining "Well, where's MY rifle, Grandpa?

Yeah, they'll outgrow the Crickets in time, but they'll never outgrow what they learn from them. And they'll never outgrow knowing that Grandpa wanted to share good times with them. 'Taint the cost or the accuracy of the gun so much. At this age, none of them are going to be serious olympic competitors for a LOOOONG time. And most any .22 will shoot far better than they can at this point. A match rifle is a waste for them, and would be far too heavy for them to hold and shoot. I want to brag on them when they hit a pop can at 25 yards, so they'll ENJOY shooting. And I don't want to cry when they forget to zip up the case and the rifle slides out onto the gravel.

Molly

[James C. Snodgrass]

Crickets are dandy, I bought it for my oldest when she was 5 and she is 11 next week and shoots Big Bore IHMSA now and has a lot of very nice guns but still gets a big kick out of the cricket. I mounted a red dot on it and it is very accurate with proper ammo. I've shot bowling pins at 200 meters with it goofing off once. Surprised the hell out of me this nearly tiny rifle is as good as it is. The only fly in the ointment is it can be a pain to load especially for dads and granddads with big fingers.

[runfiverun]

those crickets are great, i cut down a winchester for my kids
and as they got older i either put on or took off a slip-on pad until they got big enough.
then got them a new one.
and passed the little win to my younger brother for his kids.

[RP]

got both my boys 22 one was a chipmonk could not find another but I got a davy cricket same guns to the look name is about the only diff. Both shoot as well as any long gun and it takes time to reload saving in ammo and gives them the filling of doing something besides bang bang bang. No my boys are 17 and 19 and they got grew the guns but now they get them out and carry them around saying how good a rifle it is and how fun they are to still shoot.

[hydraulic]

I bought a Marlin model15yn, I think they called it a Maverik or some such thing, years ago, for the first grandson. Single shot with a bushnell scope. The second grandson inherited it and they are both in Iraq, now, and the third grandson has the rifle. He is 10 and it won't be long before he will have to have a 10-22, but I now have a granddaughter who wants to shoot with grandpa so she will use it. The oldest grandson provided a great granddaughter before he left so I think there will be use for that little rifle long after I'm gone.

[Boerrancher]

I got my oldest boy one of those little Davey Cricket rifles. I started him out with CB caps. I was shocked at how accurate that little rifle was a 25 yds with the CB caps. We haven't shot anything in it other than CB caps so I can't tell you all how it shoots anything else. I will tell you though that the little cricket of my son's will shoot a squirrel in the head every time at 25 yards with the CB caps.

Best Wishes from the Boer Ranch,

Joe

[fatnhappy]

that's an "armscorp" youth rifle my son got from his grandfather for his 7th birthday. It's all steel and a decent trigger. I've been impressed with it so far.
It's made in the philipinnes.

[AZ-Stew]

In the early 80s I bought a Remington bolt action rifle with a detatchable box magazine. I cut the stock down to kid size on both ends, removed the barrel and shortened it to 18 inches, used Plastic Wood to build a Monte Carlo hump on the stock so the kids could align their eyes with the scope. I also installed the single-shot option parts that came with it. It's kinda ugly, but I trained my three kids with it and it presently sits in my safe, having already trained one grandkid, waiting for the other four grandkids to become old enough to use it.

Resale value? Who cares? Value to the education of future generations: Priceless!

Regards,

Stew

[JIMinPHX]

I'm a pretty big fan of the chipmunk.

http://www.roguerifle.com/images/Gunblast-com.htm

[TCFAN]

My grandson came down for a 1 week visit about 2 weeks ago.We decided that he needed his own 22 rifle. So we went to wal mart and I bought him a Henry lever action.

I thought that he might need the youth model but he is pretty good size for his age[10 yrs.] and the regular size rifle fit pretty good.

He took to this rifle like a duck to water.Went through 2 of the 550 bulk packs that wal mart sells in know time.

I wanted to put peep sights and a lyman 17-A front sight on it but he wanted a scope so I put a Simmons 22 mag on it.

Anyway he was one happy kid and the rifle shot real good for what it is.He can hit the 1/5 scale rams at 100 yards using a rest most of the time.

And I was real happy too.....Couple of photos below.....Terry

[Lloyd Smale]

Ive got a chipmunk deluxe with walnut and cut checkering that has stock figure that a guy would die to have on his deer rifle. Its not only pretty but a tack driver too. It was given to me at a shoot for my grandsons. Very cool gun and even grandpa loves shooting it.

[Boerrancher]

I love to see kids shooting. It does my heart good to know that there will be another generation of shooters.

[Molly]

Just a thought to pass along for all you guys who, like me, enjoy teaching their grandkids to shoot: There are a LOT of kids out there who don't have living parents or grandparents to tutor them. And if they do, the parents or grandparents often don't have the skills or interest for the job.

I've had a hobby of picking up cheap used 22's at gun shows for years. Then I clean them up, apply some steel wool and cold blue, and a little semi-gloss stock finish. Nothing fancy, but enough to make them look nice.

The kids are not hard to find: Your local church youth groups are an inexhaustable supply, especially when they find out they can invite their friends too. Limit your outings to 3 to 5 kids at a time, depending on their ages and maturity. Get the parents to sign off (Written permission, releasing you from liability), and give the kids some basic safety instructions before turning them loose on pop cans. I teach them about trigger pull, sight allignment, and the like, but there are three safety rules that are enforced rigorously!
1. The gun is to be pointed THAT way at all times. Period. No exceptions, no excuses.
2. Any violation of rule one means you're through for the day. Period.
3. The second violation of rule one - ever! - means you are through. Period.

The safety instruction always includes a big ripe red tomato popped with a .22 HSHP by way of emphasis. Some of the kids eyes get REALLY big when you ask them if they'd like for that to happen to them, or to their friends.

If a kid shows some enthusiasm and talent, and demonstrates some common sense, his or her parent(s) will be given the .22 rifle, with the understanding that it is to belong to the youngster when they come of age. The especially talented / interested kids are invited to learn reloading, bullet casting, and the rest.

I've been doing this for years. And the return on my investment would make a wall street guru turn green with envy! I once spend about 15 minutes showing a visiting youngster the mechanical process of loading ammunition (a 38 Special dummy round). I din't think much about it at the time, but something like 20 years later, I learned that my15 minutes had blossomed into a basement full of the latest reloading gear in the country, and a gun collection that made ME turn green with envy.

Give it a try. You'll like it!

Regards,
Molly

[crabo]

I took a group of 28 men and their sons on a sporting clays/ skeet shooting day. We had a men's meeting at our church on Saturday morning, starting with breakfast at 6:30. After the meeting I had a short lesson on gun safety and range etiquette. Then we went to the range.

Several years later, some of those guys are still shooting clays, and some haven't shot it since, but it was a big deal to them. I had a regular group of 4 that we would meet once a month and shoot sporting clays.

Crabo

[725]

I bought my kids a Henry single shot with open sights. My daughter loves it. My boy likes the 10/22. The small single shot Henry comes in two versions, open sight and scope mount. All well made and perfect for kids to learn on. Social life has a higher priority for them than shooting, but at least they have been exposed. Who knows, they may come around.

[BPCR Bill]

I have an old Remington Model 12 pump 22 gallery that I just passed on to my oldest grandson for his eleventh birthday. He's the only one that has shown an interest in guns so far and he loves going shooting with me. He realy likes shooting my Ruger #1 22 Hornet too. But he ain't getting that for a long time! He's signed up for the NRA Basic Rifle course this summer and maybe I can generate some interest in getting on our clubs Junior Rifle Team. Remember folks, there are ways for these kids to get scholarships in the shooting sports as well, either through your local clubs or the American Legion.

Regards,
Bill

[Throckmorton]

we went a different route and started the grandson with what I had..a 10-22.
Now before ya get ur panties in a bunch,he's sandbagged into a bench so muzzle control is very controlled,and we supervise him every second.
A friend sent me an extra stock he'd be experimenting with,to cut down.that was very nice of im and I"ll pass it along later.
My main point is,the hits really started when we got him a red dot scope.No eye relief to have to stretch his head for,just point and shoot.
He was not getting hits trying to figure out iron sights,and getting hits keeps their interest high.

If I had it to do over again,it would be with a bolt gun to slow him down,the ammo costs are killiing me !! but it's sure great seeing him shoot. !!