Guns for my Son

A

Andrew Bornman

New member
Samuel was born Tuesday morning 6lbs 8oz and 19 inches long!!!

What should I buy him? I don't plan on toy guns for him. Rather he will be taught as I was that there is no such thing as a toy gun, but that all guns can be fun toys.

We plan on having other children and I would like to get several basic weapons for each child while weapons are legal and relatively inexpensive. I plan that each one should recieve the same set to allow for interchangeable parts, ammunition, and accessories. Fairness is also a consideration.

I think that a .22 rifle, a centerfire rifle, 12ga shotgun and a handgun in either .357 or 9mm should do the trick. However seeing as we plan on 5-6 children and as I am not wealthy I cannot afford high priced weapons. I want to select guns with a good price to quality ratio. The guns selected should cover both hunting and self-defense.

My thoughts on each type of weapon is as follows.

The first gun I believe should be a .22 rifle. I like the marlin Model 60 for an autoloader and the Marlin 25N in bolt-action. I lean toward a boltaction because I think it will make the young shooter take more time to get the first shot right rather than spraying and prayin.

I am not certain which gun should be next. It would definately not be the handgun due to the greater skill and attention required to safely control where the muzzel is pointing. I think that the rifle would perhaps be best due to lower recoil than the shotgun.

Centerfire rifle: Probably a surplus mauser. I really like the 6.5 sweede but would consider a rifle re-chambered for a standard caliber. In some ways I am tempted by the SKS due to the fact that it is more suited for self-defense but I don't like the short range of the 7.62x39 for hunting.

Shotguns are the one group of guns that I don't get really excited about. Perhaps I should consider not including the shotgun due to the fact that I don't really care about them that much and the only guns less likely to be resticted in the future than shotguns are black powder guns. I wouldn't even be considering buying a selection of guns for each of my children when they are in infancy if the political future wasn't so cloudy.

My favorite handgun is the CZ75 however the prospect of purchasing 5+ CZs seems a bit expensive. I think that the makarov is a bit more reasonably priced. I also like the Bersa. I think that the handgun should be very concealable. I can conceal the CZ but the Bersa disappears even better. I really am nowhere close to deciding what handgun is the best choice for this situation.

I could use some input on this.

I wish that my grandpa or great-grandpa had bought a few subguns and machineguns to pass on when they were cheap following WWII.
 
I really like that idea of a Swedish Mauser. Either a M96 or M38. My sister's first centerfire rifle was a scoped M38. A couple years ago, when Big Five Sporting Goods carried tons of nice M96's, I bought one, then made it a habit to buy them for my father, father-in-law, and a couple good friends who wouldn't take money for helping me out in a big way. Classy gift, in my humble opinion. Now the Swedes are drying up, maybe another Mauser like a Czech VZ-24 or Yugo M-48? Or a Lee-Enfield, either a No1MkIII, No4Mk1, or No5Mk1 Jungle Carbine. All pieces of history that may not be available when your son is old enough to have one...
 
For a first rifle, definitely a Chipmunk Arms ( or whomever bought them out ) 22 single shot is the best! It is actually scaled down to fit 8 to 10 yr olds! And at 2 1/2 lbs they can hold it correctly. Manual cocking piece, of course. Beyond that, the sky's the limit ( the sky and Your wallet) all the way up to a 50 BMG!
crankshaft
paranoia is definitely in order when You realize they don't want You OR your kid to have any real rights.
 
Congrats on the new addition to the family :)
My sons first was a Marlin .22 auto loader.
Good starter ;)

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We preserve our freedoms by using four boxes: soap,ballot,jury, and cartridge.
Anonymous
 
Congrats!

And whatever you intend to buy, not only for him but for any other children you may have, better get them soon. And ammo. Don't forget that, because it may soon be made illegal as well.
 
Conrats!
Being a Gramps myself, and from that viewpoint, here's my master plan.
The first gun is going to be a semi beat up .22. What we are going to do is refinish it together. I figure that he can do all the grunt work :) like sanding the stock and such, and Gramps<--Hey! Thats me! :) can do the high end stuff :). This way, he gets memories, a good object lesson and a gun. I get time with him. Win, win all around.
 
My ideas and the reasons;
22-any bolt acton.Bolts will shoot any ammo from cb to LR.Therefore the chance of finding ammo will increase.A auto you are limited to normaly LR and in some guns a couple of brands
center fire-inexpensive-enfield in 308.308 will be one of the last calibers to go off the market.
handgun-S&W K frame.I prefere the M 19.You cn shoot both 357 and 38 therefore doubling your chances of finding ammo.
SHotgun-A good quality pump.Mossberg 500 in a good choice.Not very expensive and all over the place used.
My choices are mostly determined by cost and what ammo if any will be around if most guns are banned.There are many other choices but I would stick with the most common calibers.

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Bob--- Age and deceit will overcome youth and speed.
I'm old and deceitful.
 
Congrats and wow talk about starting early
;-). All good investments for the future, especially with todays laws.
Regards,
Anand
 
I had a Stevens single shot lever action rolling block when I was a kid. It was ancient even then but I still see them at gun shows occasionaly and I'm always reminded of how much fun that little rifle was to shoot. They made them small for youngsters. Very rugged and simple. I don't think there is anything like that on the market now a days. What a shame. Like most, I learned with a BB gun.
I think that to teach safety and basic knowledge of how a gun works you could get just about anything but a real nice replica 36 cal Colt Navy will teach volumes about powder and caps and bullets and cleaning.
 
'... while weapons are legal ...'

I would expect that bolt action hunting rifles will be the last to go. So, I think it makes sense to put them off.

For a youth rifle, the Marlin 15YN (single shot, bolt action .22) seems to be higher quality than the Chipmunk, IMHO. Check out Marlin's web site for more info on this excellent youth rifle.

For a centerfire rifle, I'd suggest something adaptable for both self defense and hunting. I recognize the 7.62 x 39 and .223 rounds are not optimal for hunting, but ... it is hard to beat an AK or AR for basic self defense needs. And, I think they'd be passable for survival hunting purposes. Romanian AK's seem to be of reasonable quality ($350), and there are some AK's with milled Bulgarian receivers out there ($400 to $600, from what I've seen). AK mags are still reasonable - the East German ones seem adequate. The SKS would be a reasonable alternative, especially a 'Sporter' that takes AK mag's ... and, of course an AR is going to run over $700.

One other note about the AK's - while they don't have the fine AR reputation for accuracy, they are generally accepted as being reasonably accurate. And, they have the excellent reputation of nearly always working, under any conditions ... not a small consideration.

Regarding a shotgun, I think you'd be wise to buy some for the kids. The Remington 870 in 12 gauge seems to be the classic, 'always works' shotgun - I don't know if I've ever heard someone bad mouth the 870. Shotguns probably have more 'life' in terms of legality, but who knows ... perhaps we'll soon hear that 'no one needs a magazine for their shotgun ... one or two shells is enough'.

For handguns, I believe the readily concealed sidearms are most in danger. Thus, I would recommend a very concealable handgun, and small .38 or .357 revolvers would be good basics.

I think you're wise to consider this issue. Don't forget parts and ammunition.

Best wishes to you, and congratulations on the birth of Samuel. I hope you have many wonderful hours together. Samuel has a head start already ... he has a Dad with vision and wisdom.

Regards from AZ



[This message has been edited by Jeff Thomas (edited October 30, 2000).]
 
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