im looking to buy my son his first firearm.
I have been looking at the Henry youth bolt action single shot 22 and a Savage youth blot action single shot.
Any more suggestions?

I bought my grandson a Marlin XT22 youth model. Comes with both a 6 (?) round magazine and a dummy mag that makes it a single shot. Very good trigger. At 10 years old he had no problem with a -1" group at 25 yards. Very pleased with it.

The little Savage with a peep sight is what we had. Great trigger and the peep was easier to learn than regular notch open sights.
Ours has the thumbhole stock.

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Straight shootin'
SWCA#2439

Nice to hear you are starting him off with a single shot, I would let him in on the pick, it will be fun doing it together.

The Rossi youth multi barrel set (can't think of the official name right now) are pretty nice. It's a single shot with interchangeable rifle and shotgun barrels...my son's is a .22 LR and 20 ga., although he pretty quickly got bored with the single shot setup.

When I was 16, more than several decades ago, I knew nothing about guns other than I wanted one. went to a sporting goods store and bought a used .22LR single shot rifle "Western" brand for $6.00. Still got it. It is long and heavy but I still enjoy shooting it. and a box of 50 shells will take awhile to use up. LOL

Many years ago I started my youngest out on a Marlin 25Y. He's now 30 and still has it. Wonderfully accurate kid sized rifle.

My son started with a Henry youth lever .22, my daughter started with a little pink Savage Cub. They both picked what they wanted, and they started when they were 6. Both have been great little guns, its too bad the Cub was only a single shot. I understand the idea behind getting a kid a single shot, but a repeater isn't a bad idea. If its a concern, simply issue one round at a time until you feel confident in their abilities.

Not sure of the age of your son, but if it helps, I'll go through what I've done with my son. I bought my son a Cricket rifle when he was 5. Single shot, super safe with the "daddy button/cocker," small, and it turned out to be very accurate. I still grab it if I've got a squirrel to dispatch, it hits right where I need it to hit...

When he got a couple of years older, I gave him a CZ 452 Scout that I had bought when he was new born. Excellent quality rifle, and super accurate. It comes with a single shot mag plug, and that works great when you are training a young guy on trigger disipline, safety, and making sure they understand and appreciate taking accurate shots. I think that's a very important part to learning how to shoot. After I felt he had that part down, I gave him a 5 and 10 shot magazine to use... After a year like that, and I was sure he "got" shooting with the iron sights, I bought him a Leoupold scope for the rifle; he loves it.

He's 10 now, and I'm probably going to drag out the Ruger 10-22 that I bought new when he was born. It's been sitting in the safe waiting for him to get older.

Once he gets that down, when he turns 12, I'll drag out and give him the NIB Winchester 9422 that I bought for him when he was a baby. He should be a pretty good shot by then, and should appreciate it!

After that, we'll see what kind of revolvers he's interested in. He's got a pre model 34 that I've given him, but I only let him shoot it when I'm sitting with/hovering over him while firing. Handguns are a whole other level of safety concerns with kids...!

Have fun, and I'd recommend a single shot to begin with...

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NRA Life Member

When taking someone shooting for their first ever firearm experience is something I learned. Might I suggest with an exposed hammer, just a thought. Same reason starting a new pistol shooter will be a revolver with an exposed hammer and both in .22.

Good that you're teaching/letting your child be introduced to firearms. There are several good reasons why this is good.
You didn't say how old your son is. I may have rushed it a bit by some folk's opinion but there's not been any adverse effects with my kids or g-kids and this has been the method for many years now.
I started with a wooden stock Crickett .22 rifle so the stock could be easily shortened. It's now 26.5" overall length (legal min. is 26"). It's a typical Crickett single-shot bolt action w/ aperture rear sight and a cocking knob. This is for the little ones if you choose to start that early. Next step up is the Marlin 25Y Buckaroo, which is a good gun but if doing it again today, I'd also check the Savage Rascal but it wasn't around back then. Both are good though. Next and last step is a Ruger 10-22 youth model. All these are shot w/ open sights as I don't allow the kids to shoot w/ scopes until they've somewhat mastered iron sights. And by the time they've graduated to the 10-22 autoloader, they're old enough to help by using their own hard-earned money for ammo. Of course .22 ammo makes good Christmas gifts/stocking stuffers, b-day presents, etc. This way, by the time they get to the autoloader and buying some of their own ammo, they learn a little trigger control when it's coming out of their pocket.

dmar:
You are awesome!

thank you for all the good advice.

Might give the Ruger American Compact a look. Shorter length of pull and 18 inch barrel. I'm no kid but bought the R/A in 22 magnum and it is light and accurate.

My son went from a Red Ryder, to a Henry youth lever. It was a smooth transition. The bb gun makes giving instructions super easy without hearing protection. The youth lever is a great gun, small but not toy sized. For comparison my Marlin 39 was too big for him.

Thank you for saying that, I'm humbled by the comment. My son is such an awesome kid, and I'm just so glad to be able to introduce him to our hobby/passion.

When I was a kid, father just had an old single shot .22 training rifle that my uncle brought home from WWII. I absolutely loved it when we got to shoot it, and I couldn't wait to share the same experience when I had a son.

I'm excited to hear what the OP comes up with for his son, and hear how he reacts when he gets it...

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NRA Life Member

I went and looked a youth guns tonite for my son, I think im going to go with the savage rascal. thanks everybody!

CZ 452 Scout

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Regards,
Guy-Harold Smith II

Thumbs up to dmar's advice.

dmar,
Are you looking to adopt? I am potty trained, can feed myself, and have progressed up to big boy stuff. I'm available.

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Scoundrel & Ne'er-Do-Well

Another vote for the CZ 452.

CZ 452 Scout, handy little rifle..even for adults.

I own several CZ rifles..in 22lr, .22mag and .223 ..the Scout is a great rifle....

My youngest started on a Scout!!


For his 18th birthday get him a 452 or 455 FS.

CZ makes some beautiful firearms. True quality design and workmanship.
The only problem I have found is that on the rifles I bought the forends warped, but was an easy fix. Triggers have all been excellent!