Want a rimfire rifle for grandkids...which one?

[DeplorabusUnum]

My wife and I have 20 grandkids of all ages from 1-12. I would like to get a 22LR youth rifle to teach some gun safety and proper handling of a firearm at an early age. The parents are on board already. I do have 3 22LR pistols, but I'm thinking that a rifle would be better to start with than a pistol until they learn proper muzzle control.

I'm also thinking it would be better to begin with open sights and maybe when they're proficient with that, put a scope on. I don't want to spend a fortune. I just want a gun that functions reliably and that will be fun for them to shoot.

I also feel that a bolt action would be better initially than a semi-auto like a 10/22. So far I've found the Savage Rascal, and the Ruger American Rimfire Compact. Both get really good reviews, and won't break the bank.

I'm wondering if any of you folks have experience with either, or if there is another recommendation I should look at. Thanks in advance for any suggestions.

 

[Bill Raby]

My nephews both got Savage Rascals. Those really are great rifles. Single shot bolt action. Its amazing how fast kids can go through ammo with a single shot.

 

[stanmerrell]

The CZ Scout is the best for ages 9-16. The smaller rifles will be better for the real young ones...so yes, you probably need two.

 

[murphydog]

You're going to get a lot of suggestions.

If you are looking for new production, those are two good choices. Probably hundreds of used options.

Something else to consider. The older kids may outgrow a youth-stocked rifle and may already be too big for a Rascal. If so, for them perhaps a Ruger 10/22 and start with single loading the magazine. They should be able to develop into handling more rounds and full magazines pretty soon. The one year old, probably not. Happy shopping!

 

[robvious]

the suggestions are all good.. I would like to suggest starting out safety basics with an air rifle.. baby steps with the lil ones. pays off in the long run..

 

[Valmet]

I don't have any experience with the Rascal but the Savage Mark II is a fantastic .22 bolt-gun for the money. I have two and they get used a lot.

 

[outta_ammo]

Absolutely single-shot bolt! But Anschütz or Walther?






Don't worry, they'll grow into it...

 

[Greyman50]

I second an air rifle to begin with the younger ones. Much less noise and no recoil . Find some good safety glasses that fit them, make it second nature for them when shooting. Good luck.

 

[growr]

Absolutely single-shot bolt! But Anschütz or Walther?






Don't worry, they'll grow into it...

Now
THAT'S My style!!!!

Randy

 

[Mule Packer]

I was a Hunter Safety instructor for 28 years and the rifle that I preferred when teaching young shooters was the Henry Mini-Bolt. It's a bolt action, single-shot .22 that requires that the firing pin be manually pulled back before the rifle can shoot, adding that extra margin of safety.

Also, I found that one of the hardest things to teach young shooters is sight picture. The Henry Mini-Bolt takes care of that. It's fitted with high-visibility Williams Fire Sights using two bright green fiber-optic dots on the adjustable rear sight and one red dot for the front bead so when you teach sight picture, all you have to say is "Put the red dot between the two green dots, and then put it all on the target."

Anyway, that's just my two cents worth. Don't know what they're going for now. I was fortunate enough to get one at a very reasonable cost that Henry made available to Hunter Safety instructors.

 

[Golphin]

I would look for a old Winchester or Marlin single shot bolt action. You should be able to get one of those pretty cheap and they are great beginner rifles.

 

[kbm6893]

I bought my son a Ruger American Compact. He liked it ok but prefers semi auto. I already had a 10/22 so I treated myself and built a new 10/22 out of Kidd and Volquartsen parts. Have over $1000 into it but it shoots so nice! My old 10/22 is his.

I like having the American. I'll add the extension onto it to make it full size and use it myself. Nice that they use the same mags as the 10/22

 

[THE PILGRIM]

I'm also thinking a Bolt Action.
Probably go with a Remington Model 34.
I have one in the safe.
Otherwise I go with one of the newer ones already mentioned.
I like the Savages and Rugers.
With that many offspring, you might need more than one.

 

[bummer]

When my son was small, the Easter Bunny brought him a Cricket single shot from Keystone Arms. I guess you can get larger stocks for it as your grandchildren get older

 

[colt_saa]

We have a couple of ChipMunks that we have passed around the younger kids for the past three or four decades.

The ChipMunk is a single shot bolt actin rifle that is still being made and can be had in several variations. The Cricket pictured beneath it is a plain jane youth rifle that is also offered by the same manufacturer

I do not believe in looking for a youth air rifle to start young shooters with

We have always used Aguilla Colibri and Super Colibri as the first ammunition for our young or novice shooters. This ammunition has no powder.

Aguila .22 Super Colibri 20 Grain - YouTube

The projectiles are pushed with just the power of the priming compound. This moves a 20 grain projectile out at about 550 FPS. That puts it in the lower air gun power territory and eliminates the need for your young shooter to get used to two different rifles in a short period of time

We actually do the same thing when starting the novices on revolver shooting, Aguilla first.

No recoil and no muzzle blast

For older novice shooters that can handle a larger stocked firearm, I like to use the a Pump rifle. I have some older Remington 12 and Winchester 61/62 pumps, but Henry and Rossi make some very reasonably priced rifles in this category if you do not already own one

 

[Lowa]

I second an air rifle to begin with the younger ones. Much less noise and no recoil . Find some good safety glasses that fit them, make it second nature for them when shooting. Good luck.

I'm sorry, do you think a 5# 22lr has recoil?

Lever actions and single shots take 22 anything. I like shorts in my revolvers.

 

[BB57]

There are plenty of options but a few things to consider.

My preferred choices for small children are bolt action rifles that cock on opening and do not depend on having to pull on a cocking piece to cock or decock the rifle.

The Savage Rascal falls in this category and has a decent trigger to boot. It's my number 3 choice.

The Rock Island Armory M14Y is a similar design but with a detachable box magazine and there are advantages to that. You can single load the rifle by placing a round in the magazine and then having the student load the magazine into the rifle. The main advantage is that the student won't outgrow the design quite as quickly and that makes it and similar youth sized magazine fed bolt designs my number 2 choice.

CZ makes their 457 Scout and like the previous 453, 453 and 455 models, it's a superb rifle. The 513 farmer was based on the 452 action and is also good, albeit with a heavy trigger. Any of those rifles in a youth sized stock is a great choice. They are magazine fed, but can be single fed with a single shot adapter. Any of these would be my #1 recommendation.

The Keystone Crickett and Chipmunk rifles have cocking knobs but are ok as they incorporate a trigger operated firing pin block to prevent ADs if the cocking knob is pulled back but skips just short of the sear. That makes them an acceptable fourth choice.

Henry makes bolt action youth .22, but it also uses a cocking knob and does not incorporate a trigger safety. I'm a firm "no" on that and similar designs, but I'm biased. Way back in the day I was a small bore instructor at a summer camp and retired many of their older classic Remington and Winchester single shots for that same reason due to an AD caused by small hands losing their grip on a cocking knob with significant spring pressure. Good range procedure ensured the round went safely down range, but one was one too many for my tastes.

I'm a lever action fan, but not for a first training rifle. Lever action, as well as bolt action or pump action repeating rifles with a tubular magazine are difficult to visually clear to confirm the magazine tube is empty and no rounds are hung up in the carrier. It's far to common for someone to cycle them until rounds stop co ing out the ejection port and have the last round hang up in the tube, then get chambered when the shooter closes the action on their "empty" rifle. It's a much bigger problem with .22 LRs with small side ejection ports that make visual confirmation very difficult.

Designs that are very open, like the 1890 Winchester, mitigate this risk and I'm not opposed to using one or the similar 1906 as a training rifle.

 

[BB57]

I second an air rifle to begin with the younger ones. Much less noise and no recoil . Find some good safety glasses that fit them, make it second nature for them when shooting. Good luck.

It's an ok starter, but once a student wants to shoot, air rifles just don't do it. A high quality, high velocity air rifle will also have as much recoil as a .22 rifle, just not always in the same direction.

Get something chambered in .22 LR that can also shoot .22 Shorts. The noise is minimal with .22 shorts or CB caps.

.22 shorts worked great in the old gallery rifles like this 1890 Winchester

 

[Buzzzer]

We started all our kids out on a "Cricket" (made by Rogue Rifle Company, I believe), at around age 5. Now that they are adults they still love shooting and all have their own firearms.

I still have it (hoping to one day take grandkids shooting with it, if grandkids ever come along). The absolute cutest little rifle ever...

 

[pasound]

10-22's for the older kids, Cricketts for the younger ones. Crickett has the advantage that they are one shot only, then reload.