My daughters birthday is coming up and I would like to get her a .22. She, along with her two older brothers have gone to the range and all learned with my dad's single shot .22. My oldest son 13, has his own, a gift from a friend, and I would like to get my "princess" her own.

Someone locally has the Rossi Single shot .22/.20/.243 for sale for $250.00 in new condition. Would appreciate any feed back on this model. Also I know I will catch heck for it, but she does like the pink stocks on some of the .22's out there. Suggestions?

Thanks for the input.

John

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with wings as eagles

I bought an ex-girlfriend's son one of the .22/.410 Rossi combos and taught him with it. It's a decent little rifle. The big complaint I had - and this is a big one, IMHO - is that the hammer spring is heavy, and little hands (he was 10, so not THAT little) have trouble cocking the hammer and maintaining muzzle discipline.

I think she'd be much better served by a Crickett or similar - that is, a single-shot youth-size bolt action. And if she likes the pink, then get her a pink gun!

I had a 20ga/50 caliber combo for a few years. It shot well but recoil was abusive. I would rather shoot my 375 H&H than shoot a 20 ga slug out of that thing. I sold it and bought an H&R/NEA, which is more expensive but better designed. If you were looking at a 22/410/223 or maybe 30-30 combo I would not be concerned. However I think you'll have trouble with the 20 ga and 243 recoil wise.

Just my opinion, but I would go with a bolt action. Marlin makes a nice bolt action .22 that is a great value for the small price, and it's very accurate.

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Misty

I bought my kids a Crickett a long time ago, it shot just fine. But, I was in a store the other day that had a Henry Mini Bolt Youth rifle, it was a real charmer and I'd like to get one for my grand daughter in a year or two. I don't think it's available in pink though, but they do offer it in orange.

I've looked at the Rossi's in the store and wasn't very impressed at all with them.

Take a look at the CZ 452 "Scout", it is a single shot youth rifle that will accept 5 round CZ 452 5 round magazines when the shooter is ready for a repeater, they are as accurate as the full size 452. I think the cost is around $280...

Another rifle I would reccomend is the Henry lever rifle, they offer one in "Youth" size. I coach a 4-H Youth Shooting Group, they normally shoot our club's Savage single shot target rifles, but occasionally we'll let them shoot repeaters, Ruger 10/22's, Rossi pump .22's, etc, and they love shooting my full size Henry .22 rifle (H001 model, the cheapest one). They are around $250....

I recommend a Ruger 10/22. You can cut the stock down and then when they get older you can buy a new factory stock or after market wood/synthetic stock and they will have a gun they can never outgrow and they will cherish it forever. You can buy CB long cartriges that have a little more power than a pellet rifle and are very quiet. They will work through the magazine but they don't have enough gusto to operate the bolt, so the bolt must be operated manually after every shot just like a bolt action rifle. For a shotgun a Remington 20 gauge youth model in pump or auto will be something they will never outgrow either. Just put a thicker recoil pad on it when they grow, or if they are like me, I prefer the youth model stocks over regular stocks and I'm 5'-9".

Don't overlook some of the traditional beginner rifles as well While my kids both learned to shoot on our Winchester 67 I eventually found an adult sized Savage 23 Sporter for my son and an original Stevens Favorite for my daughter. My son needed the adult sized stock and my daughter is left handed and needed something suitable.

I think Rossi offers one of those with a pink laminated stock...
Perhaps you can buy just the stock for that one for a reasonable price? Give them a call and see.

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Lost it all in a boat accident