First gun for 10yr old son

M

mike444

Inactive
I'm looking for a good 22 rifle to graduate my son from pellet guns. I want to get him something that he can have for years to come and that I can shoot as well.

I'm considering:

Browning BL-22
Ruger American Compact
Marlin XT-22
Ruger 10/22 carbine
CZ 452 Scout (I love my CZ75 P01)

Thoughts? Other suggestions?

Thx - mike
 
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Ruger 10/22. I was a few years older than your son when I got mine as a birthday present, but I'm in my mid 50s now and it's still one of my favorite guns. Rock solid, reliable, and very modifiable.
 
Personally I would start with a bolt gun. Of the rifles on your list I would go with the CZ. They make great .22 rifles. If you go semi auto you should add the Marlin 60 to your list. Great rifles.
 
Bigfatts said:
Personally I would start with a bolt gun. Of the rifles on your list I would go with the CZ. They make great .22 rifles. If you go semi auto you should add the Marlin 60 to your list. Great rifles.
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So marlin 60 over the 10/22 or even the Remington 597?

Any other bolts I'm missing worth looking at?
 
Savage Mark II is accurate. I have found that my kids do well with it. And if it gets dropped I don't have to cry about an expensive rifle hitting the ground, just use it as a teaching moment.
 
My first gun was a single shot Rossi that you could change between .22 and .410. And my dad, being the wonderful father he was thought it was hilarious for the first time I shot a gun to be a magnum .410 in a gun with no buttplate. But between that and the 10/22 I got a couple years later I probably put a couple thousand rounds down range and I still have the Rossi and I'm giving it to my son when he's old enough, and my dad has my 10/22 because he uses it to shoot turtles at his lake house, because out of all the guns he has, God forbid he uses one of his and give me mine back.

Kind of like this one
http://www.rossiusa.com/product-details.cfm?id=113
 
Based on my behavior when I was 10, i would expect he'd concentrate more on the shot with a bolt action and would be tempted to blaze away ammo if he had a semi-auto. Maybe make him buy his own ammo or pick up all of his brass if he gets off track with a semi.

Data sample size to formulate this opinion: 1

ymmv
Good luck with it; tell us how it works out.
 
I would go with CZ, or a Savage FVT model.

A Savage Mk1 FVT is single shot bolt action, so perfect for smallbore training. A Savage MkII FVT has a magazine, so you can do smallbore, summer biathlon, etc.

I don't recommend a semi-auto for a first rifle, accuracy always suffers.

Jimro
 
Any other bolts I'm missing worth looking at?

Have a look at one of these arsenal-zmp22-102-1.jpg. Zastava .22 , cheaper than a CZ & with a better quality stock.
Use the money saved on a good scope.
 
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my first gun which I bought myself was a marlin mod 25, 22 bolt action which I still have. my friend bought a marlin 60 semi auto. I became a much better shot with the bolt action, my friend just liked to shoot a bunch of ammo to hear the noise. I suggest a bolt action to make him a better shot.
 
I'd recommend the Ruger 10/22 carbine. Reasoning:

1. Reliable and accurate.
2. Relatively inexpensive.
3. 'fun'.

-- also it was my first rifle @ age 10 and after untold 10's of thousands (maybe 100's of thousands), of rounds, I still have have it.

Certainly not opposed to a bolt gun as a first gun. Any Savage or Cz --
 
You have some good choices there. I know it doesn't help with the narrowing, but you might also consider a Marlin 39A or a Savage Mk II bolt which comes with the Accu-trigger.
 
Personally I would take a Marlin 60 over a 10/22 every day of the week and twice on Sundays. Better out of the box accuracy and just a nicer rifle for what I like. The 10/22 has gotten far too expensive for what you get. When it was a cheap little utility rifle it was worth the money, but not to me now. That is unless you plan to go the modded route and then you can do better for the money you'll spend in the end.
 
I started with a Stevens single shot bolt action some 40 years ago.

Still have it, and wouldn't sell it. Sure, it's not something I'd take out to the range anymore, but it still shoot great, and has gone through quite a few bricks of ammo- albeit slowly.

I shouldered it a few months ago and I can't get my face low enough to get a decent sight picture anymore, so maybe I need to check out the Brownells catalog for a higher front sight.
 
When my grandson gets old enough to have his own rifle (10 years old sounds like a good age to start) I'm letting him have a "very lightly used ;) " Henry 22 mag.

Iv'e got a feeling he'll be O.K with that,,,:D
 
Dad started me with a single shot so that is how I started my daughter.

I got a Marlin mod. 915YS for her. I know it is not something that will be as useful long range, other than she could start her kids with it.

I think the single shot is the best place to start for safety and skill building. She can knock the center out of a 10 shot NRA .22 target with it.
 
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