Type of action for youth .22

Fish whisperer

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So my oldest daughter passed her hunter's education class on Saturday and I'm thinking I'd like to buy her a .22 for her birthday in October. My question is which action do you think is the safest for starting a kid out on? Obviously a single shot would probably be the best but I'd like to get something that she'll keep for years and not outgrow. I'm leary of a lever action since most of them don't have a safety other than the half-cock. I guess that just leaves semi-auto and bolt? Any likes/dislikes?
 


LBrandt

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Hard to beat a Ruger 10/22 so much you can change and add as she gets older.
 

2400

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Hard to beat a Ruger 10/22 so much you can change and add as she gets older.


A Ruger 10/22 is a great little gun and hard to beat.

You didn't mention your daughters age so it's hard to offer a suggestion. It is hard to beat a good single shot or magazine fed bolt action. I have one in the safe that's at lest 60 years old and shoots like a dream.
 

svnmag

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Bolt or break. The kid needs to learn to shoot with iron sights.
 


all4eyes

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Marlin model 25 bolt action clip fed. Teach the fundamentals first. Trigger control, grip, stance, sighting and so on. Positive side of a bolt is if one does have an issue there is only one round that can be cycled at a time. An auto if you like loading one round at a time until fundemantals are excellent and then you have trust and faith in her. Bolt would be my recommendation, but I do like the 10/22.
 

SDMF

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We need a presidential executive order compelling Remington to resume production of the 580/581/582 @ <$200 retail.
 


Ericb

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Thats a hard question. How mutch has she shot previously? Do you plan on getting her a doe tag? My son is 11 and starts hunter saftey on Tuesday. He's shot my walther g22 for the last 4yrs. With his lawn mowing money we split a gun each year. He has a Rem 870 20g, salvage .17hmr and a rem .243. Introducing and pier enjoyment you cant beat a .22 semi auto. If your altiment goal is a deer i would start working on somthing a little bigger. Most cartridges have a low recoil option which most youth will be able to shoot. I agree with everyone somthing small to teach the fundamentals. This may also vary depending what you allready own.
 
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Fracman

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Ruger 77/22 she will pass it down to her grandkids
 

Fish whisperer

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She's shot my Marlin 60 semi some and seems pretty comfortable with it. Her goal is a youth deer tag this fall. She has a 22-250 waiting for her that was a family friend's that was passed down. My plan is to have her to continue shooting my Marlin throughout the summer and then add in the 22-250 June/July to be ready for the season.


Thats a hard question. How mutch has she shot previously? Do you plan on getting her a doe tag? My son is 11 and starts hunter saftey on Tuesday. He's shot my walther g22 for the last 4yrs. With his lawn mowing money we split a gun each year. He has a Rem 870 20g, salvage .17hmr and a rem .243. Introducing and pier enjoyment you cant beat a .22 semi auto. If your altiment goal is a deer i would start working on somthing a little bigger. Most cartridges have a low recoil option which most youth will be able to shoot. I agree with everyone somthing small to teach the fundamentals. This may also vary depending what you allready own.
 

luvcatchingbass

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As much as I enjoy my 10/22 growing up my go to gun was an old Rem 700 scoremaster with iron sites. Great gun to learn on and I've been shooting it probably since around the 13 year old range till now at 31.
 

Sub_Elect

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I have the kids shooting a 10-22 scoped and a lever Henry golden boy. The thought the lever was crappy and didn't want to shoot it until I ran it. We were shooting empty shotgun shells on the ground and they could make them flip into the air with the 10-22 about every third shot, and wouldn't even pick up the Henry. I picked it up and flipped the shotgun shell I was shooting at until we couldn't see it in a dip in the ground. I reloaded it and set it back on the bench without saying a word. That was all it took for them to start shooting the lever. Now they split their time between the two guns. Boxes of 525 better beware when I bring those two kids to the range.
 


Norske

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I still have the bolt action, box magazine 22 my Dad bought for me when I was 9. It's a Marlin Glenfield that says Sears Roebuck on it. It is still accurate almost 61 years later. A semi auto may instill bad habits like "spray and pray" instead of deliberate shooting.
 

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Mine was a Lakefield Mark I single shot bolt action. Taught me the value of making the first shot count.
 

Ericb

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With the other guns in place i would go a semi. Load up a 30rnder and let them shoot. Any .22 i would start ordering ammo now. Its not hard for a kid to put 500 .22 down range quick.
 

Davey Crockett

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I started my kids shooting with a model 25 marlin, I had them try open sights for about a week then and I put a decent scope on it. Just to be safe I made them shoot it as a single shot when they were first starting out. We had a shooting bench two chairs and and a saw horse at the firing line , They were always competitive with everything they did so every time they shot they would have full fledged shooting matches between themselves and I egged that on for all I was worth. I used 50' indoor targets and had them shoot of the bench at about 100' and within a couple of weeks they were shooting some good scores. Eventually I let them shoot the silhouettes and spinner targets we had set up and loser had to set the targets but for safety reasons they both had to walk downrange. The model 25 will put bullets through the same hole all day long at 100' , The triggers are horrible but I had a gunsmith polish it up a little and it helped, If you can shoot good with a bad trigger you can shoot better with a good trigger. Another thing with the model 25 is you can dry fire them all day long and not hurt them. I see the High School shooting sports are catching on and what an opportunity that is for kids.

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With the other guns in place i would go a semi. Load up a 30rnder and let them shoot. Any .22 i would start ordering ammo now. Its not hard for a kid to put 500 .22 down range quick.


It's fun to pull the trigger and hear the bang but it all reality if you slow them down and make them think every round has to count they zero right in on it.
 

crashboombang

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Don't forget about pump action, fun to shoot. Bought a Remington pump gun for my son when he started out, lots of fun. A little easier on the ammo too, made him more deliberate on pulling the trigger. 20 years later he still loves shooting it, wife liked it too because it was "pretty", not a black gun. HaHa
 


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