View Full Version : Basic .22 Recommendations
Roguish Lawyer
02-21-2005, 17:00
Would appreciate recommendations for a basic .22 rifle for plinking and teaching kids to shoot. And maybe shooting a few raccoons too. ;) Looking for quality but with reasonable price tag given purpose.
Thanks.
Team Sergeant
02-21-2005, 17:22
Would appreciate recommendations for a basic .22 for plinking and teaching kids to shoot. And maybe shooting a few raccoons too. ;) Looking for quality but with reasonable price tag given purpose.
Thanks.
You are going to teach the kids to shoot??? Holy mother of..... You're kidding right?
Tell you what, you send them to me and I'll teach them to shoot, you can teach 'em to argue.....
TS
Owner of "Team Sergeant's Kiddie School of Shooting"
Roguish Lawyer
02-21-2005, 17:26
You are going to teach the kids to shoot??? Holy mother of..... You're kidding right?
Tell you what, you send them to me and I'll teach them to shoot, you can teach 'em to argue.....
TS
Owner of "Team Sergeant's Kiddie School of Shooting"
LOL -- NO! Not yet, anyway. But I do want to have a starter gun for them when they are old enough, and it might as well be the one I'm going to buy now if that makes sense.
How soon do I need to get their applications in for this school, anyway? ;)
Roguish Lawyer
02-21-2005, 17:28
This will be reciprocal, of course, although I'm not sure you want yours turned into little sophists just now.
You should hear mine negotiate for candy. LMAO
Roguish Lawyer
02-21-2005, 17:30
Seriously, any .22 recommendations? I'm buying one and would prefer to get advice now rather than abuse later. :)
Team Sergeant
02-21-2005, 17:33
LOL -- NO! Not yet, anyway. But I do want to have a starter gun for them when they are old enough, and it might as well be the one I'm going to buy now if that makes sense.
How soon do I need to get their applications in for this school, anyway? ;)
Whew! (I thought I was going to have to call Catwomen and appeal to her higher brain functions.)
Don't buy anything yet. Every year the gun makers come out with new guns and some are great. So unless you’re bent on a Ruger 10/22, wait. That’s my advice and worth every penny.
TS
Would appreciate recommendations for a basic .22 for plinking and teaching kids to shoot. And maybe shooting a few raccoons too. ;) Looking for quality but with reasonable price tag given purpose.
Thanks.
Rifle?
I believe several manufacturers have single-shot .22LR rifles, sized for children (Chipmunk?)
CZ line of .22LR rifles are of excellent value quality vs. price vise, atleast around here.
Pistol wise, when their a bit older, cant go wrong with the Ruger Mk II, been made for over 50 years and during the time i have worked with weapons, have not seen any major problems with them.
Team Sergeant
02-21-2005, 20:02
This will be reciprocal, of course, although I'm not sure you want yours turned into little sophists just now.
You should hear mine negotiate for candy. LMAO
My training is a little different, mine don’t negotiate…… :lifter
Sacamuelas
02-21-2005, 20:10
I believe Tuuka is referring to the "cricket" .22 rifle for children. He can correct me if I'm wrong.
EDITED... I, too, misread your post which asked for a RIFLE recommendation. Pistol stuff deleted. :o
Seriously, any .22 recommendations? I'm buying one and would prefer to get advice now rather than abuse later.
i see abuse and advice in your present and future...
pistol, a Ruger Mark II makes sense....it is versatile and can be used by a beginner and expert alike...rifles...that's a little more tricky...i bought my sons bolt action Marlins....they were a little big for them when purchased, but they can still use them...i still have the Marlin lever action rifle my dad bought for me 41 years ago....there is a rifle called the Chipmunk....it's .22LR, single shot, bolt action....good to learn on, but not versatile for the long run IMNSHO...
damn, that hurts....
but my biggest advice for you is to let someone here know before you sally forth with your 1-man weapons MTT....help is available...for a reasonable fee...
And maybe shooting a few raccoons too.
ah, now for that, i can sell you, at a one-time, good-deal price, a used, but very good Sako Finnbear, left-handed action chambered in .338 Winchester Magnum...works like a charm on racoons, coyotes, moose and lawyers....oops...strike that....and any other vermin you might need to rid yourself of... :D
I used to shoot a LE .22, and a Toz .22. The LE is quite heavy for a 22, and the Toz is quite light and nice to shoot.
I prefer the LE myself.
As for pistols, I second (or third? fourth?) the Ruger Mk. II. I've yet to put hand on a bad one.
But for your purposes, RL, I'd recommend a rifle, and a relatively inexpensive one. For such a thing, I'd vote for a Ruger 10/22 (yes, when it comes to .22s is about the only time I'd vote Ruger). It's relatively cheap, accurate, quite customizable (if you get to that point), and readily available... you can find them everywhere. If you and the kids really get into it, you can upgrade to something premium quality. But for a good rifle at a decent price, that's what I'd say.
Smokin Joe
02-22-2005, 05:09
RL,
Pistol....I would go with the Ruger MK II. (Like the one in the Pic)
Rifle.....I would go with this one Link (http://www.savagearms.com/cub.htm)
I have a Ruger 10/22 and I WOULD recommend it to most shooters but for beginners I recommend a bolt action because it teachs patients and the importance of single round hits. Kids (and some adults) lose sight of this when shooting a semi-auto rifle because of how easy it is to do follow up shots.
Also you might want to pick up an Air Rifle recoil is near the same as the .22 but if the kid starts flinching because of the noise you can put them on the Air Rifle.....same line of thinking as ball and dummy drills.
HTH
Jack Moroney (RIP)
02-22-2005, 06:44
I taught my daughter to shoot with a single action Ruger Blackhawk pistol. After the first six rounds she had tight shot groups. I liked the single action pistol because it required her to refocus her effort after every shot and provided a margin of safety that a semi-automatic doesn't for beginners.
Jack Moroney
How about a quality air rifle instead? My father taught me sight alignment, trigger control and proper breathing with a high quality air rifle. I was able to practice in the backyard using a pellet trap, allowing me to shoot much more frequently. (Incidentally, the birds somehow learned not to alight on our neighbors' rooftops. :rolleyes: )
When it came time to begin hunting, he bought me a scaled down .50 muzzleloader, which I intend to pass on to my kids. That choice forced me to learn to stalk properly to within fairly short range (unlike my hunting friends who still can't hit anything without a scope) and really drove home the "one shot, one kill" ethos.
But then again, I'm just an Okie...
bberkley
02-22-2005, 10:30
Oops, just read that you were looking for a rifle.
You might consider getting a surplus .22 target rifle from the CMP (http://www.odcmp.com/Services/Rifles/caliber22.htm). You would need to join an affiliated club and have some proof of marksmanship participation. All the details are on the site. Our club has purchased several of the Kimber and H&R .22 target rifles for use in our Smallbore Marksmanship Program.
I personally recommend the CZ rifles for general use. They offer a "Scout" model that is scaled down for smaller shooters, and they also offer a "Trainer" version that has a longer barrel (24 inch I think) and has a full size stock. All of the CZ rifles that I have handled have been quite nice looking and have been very well built especially considering the price. If I am not mistaken, they run between $150 and $350. I also recommend the Browning Lever action .22 (BL-22) I personally have one and AM has one that I have carried untold miles and shot everything through with no malfunctions a pocket knife couldn't fix. The Brownings run about $300+, $300 being entry level, plain rifle and + being engraved, gold inlaid etc, etc.
The only problem with an air rifle in this country is that in order to get a good quality rifle, you will spend at least as much $ as a good .22, probably more. That being said, all the investment is up front, as pellets and compressed air are quite cheap.
In my experience, the CMP .22 rifles are very nice for the smallbore shooting they were designed for, but if I recall correctly, they are rather expensive for what they are. IMO anyway.
I would recommend staying away from a semi auto for a first gun, as they allow for near instant follow up shots. While I am a fan of instant follow up shots for some uses, basic marksmanship is not one of them. A bolt or lever gun will do everything you need one to do. Maybe go with a 10/22 later, just to play with and hang crap off of.
For what it's worth, I started with a little Beretta Tomcat/jetfire/bobcat/ whatever the hell they call their little pocket pistol with the flip up barrel chambered in .22.
Good luck, Sing out if I can help in some way.
frostfire
02-22-2005, 13:18
I personally recommend the CZ rifles for general use.
The only problem with an air rifle in this country is that in order to get a good quality rifle, you will spend at least as much $ as a good .22, probably more. That being said, all the investment is up front, as pellets and compressed air are quite cheap.
In my experience, the CMP .22 rifles are very nice for the smallbore shooting they were designed for, but if I recall correctly, they are rather expensive for what they are. IMO anyway.
Air.177,
how about Gamo rifles? They are well made (rather accurate and I practiced with one to save $ on ammo) and modeled after hunting rifles.
The spring (lever) model has more recoil than my friend Ruger .22
I think they are excellent for basic exercise (B.R.A.S. etc.) and rather cheap (<$250), not to mention the cheap pellets as you said.
Air.177,
how about Gamo rifles? They are well made (rather accurate and I practiced with one to save $ on ammo) and modeled after hunting rifles.
The spring (lever) model has more recoil than my friend Ruger .22
I think they are excellent for basic exercise (B.R.A.S. etc.) and rather cheap (<$250), not to mention the cheap pellets as you said.
I am not a great fan of ANY break-barrel air rifle, as in my experience, they never seem to close exactly the same way twice, causing the sights to be lined up differently and hindering accuracy. That's my take on them anyway. And concerning Gamo, The store I work for used to sell them and had TONS of returns and eventually droped the line because of this. Granted, the ones we carried were around $100, I was not impressed. For air rifles, I was referring to a side lever Pneumatic or a precharged compressed air rifles, both of which tend to be more money than your average .22. Also, any of the air rifles mentioned is going to be significantly louder than a .22 with CB caps or Colibris, for the "Raccoon" end of things.
Once again, the opinions stated above are those of the author and feel free to disagree with any or all of them.
Good times,
blake
Detonics
02-25-2005, 01:07
Look over the Marlin Model 39 lever action. These guns are phenomenally accurate and reliable. Lever action lets you control the tike's rate of fire better than with a 10/22.
JAGeorgia
03-06-2005, 08:51
How about a quality air rifle instead? My father taught me sight alignment, trigger control and proper breathing with a high quality air rifle. I was able to practice in the backyard using a pellet trap, allowing me to shoot much more frequently. (Incidentally, the birds somehow learned not to alight on our neighbors' rooftops. :rolleyes: )
When it came time to begin hunting, he bought me a scaled down .50 muzzleloader, which I intend to pass on to my kids. That choice forced me to learn to stalk properly to within fairly short range (unlike my hunting friends who still can't hit anything without a scope) and really drove home the "one shot, one kill" ethos.
But then again, I'm just an Okie...
That pellet trap and smaller bullseyes worked great in the garage on ice storm days. :munchin Reminds the supervisor to stress muzzle direction too! Note on .50 muzzleloader: Nothing is more addicting than the smell of blackpowder smoke for hooking someone on hunting. :D
But then again, I'm just a Dad.