Thread: First rifle for daughter

Hi guys, i wana get my 5yr old daughter in shooting now that she can understand looking through sights we live in town so im thinking an air rifle to start with but they are so heavy? Eventually i would like her to come possum hunting with me so a youth 22lr would be in the future but just for now what does everyone recommend?
Cheers

I went through the same thing with my daughter and ended up buying a series of single shot .22s including the savage rascal.
Ended up with the Ruger American bolt action with the changeable rear buts.
It means as she grows we can change from the shorter but to the longer but.
I believe CZ do something similar now as well.

I went through the same thing with my daughter and ended up buying a series of single shot .22s including the savage rascal.
Ended up with the Ruger American bolt action with the changeable rear butts.
It means as she grows we can change from the shorter but to the longer butt.
I believe CZ do something similar now as well.

We started both our kids off with a 177 aur rifle , the least powerful we could find (and still have it too) and just had them plinking in the back garden at our house in suburbia.
Just plonked them on a chair with rifle resting on a fold out table.
Then started with the basics in firearms safety etc , pointing safe direction and so on and really drummed that into them first before we worried about them shooting live targets or being able to lift rifle. Then went to 22 bolt on a rest at range or bush and just moved up from there to our wee marlin papoose semi out hunting when we were confident they were safety conscious . Perfect rifle for them as super light and would hand it to them when time to shoot but we carried it ourselves.

If you can find one, I highly recommend the Thompson Centre Hot Shot break barrel single shot.
I used one of these for my kids and still have it. It is the coolest little 22 to shoot, even as an adult. They stopped making them so second hand will be your only option.

The thing I like with using a break barrel is that when it comes time for them to be walking with you carrying a firearm, you can tell at a glance that the gun is safe if the action is broken. Later they can progress to a single barrel shotgun following the same safety rules.



https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zBA337f9ovk

a rascal or crickett would be the way, both are small single shot b/a
issue with airguns is that they tend to kick forwards then back so migrating from air rifle to 22 is a different experience.
the 22's will even shoot 22shorts for no kick at all

Five years old is really young for shooting anything and in town you need to start with an air-rifle.

I would wait another 2 years until she has some upper body strength (7 years old?) and then find the lightest air rifle available that is not 'firearms category' classed. Start her out with this on a bi-pod.

I started with a .177 at 8 yrs old which gave me the strength for a break barrel air rifle. Ended up a .22 small-bore and .308 full-bore champion for my class in NZ.

yup, I second that air rifles are a waste of time (although I learnt on one)
An air rifle would be preferable if you were to leave them to shoot away un supervised, but until they are a bit experienced that is not a good idea, so you might as well start em off on something more enjoyable to shoot.

Then there is the price of ammo, an air rifle is the obvious winner there.

Or even something like an old bsa single shot bolt action . I have one of those buried somewhere in the safe and that is quite a light 22 and can be picked up cheap enough . the wood on my one is in perfect nick too...
If you get stuck I would consider selling you the air rifle and the BSA on the cheap if you like as we don't use them anymore.

Originally Posted by 40mm

yup, I second that air rifles are a waste of time (although I learnt on one)

An air rifle is not a "waste of time". At 8 years old I used to practice on my own in town for hours until I could hit the red tip off a match stick at 10 yards.

Also when I was 8 years old there is no way I would have been ready for the 'power' of a .22LR. I remember shooting my friend's prize bull in the testicles with my air rifle at 100 yards (he ran through two fences....shit I got a hiding for that )

i had my first air rifle at 8, was a diana. then moved to a larger bsa meteor. got my 22 when i was 12.
but the tiny 22 rifles today would have beem nicer than the airguns to learn on

Originally Posted by 40mm

yup, I second that air rifles are a waste of time (although I learnt on one)
An air rifle would be preferable if you were to leave them to shoot away un supervised, but until they are a bit experienced that is not a good idea, so you might as well start em off on something more enjoyable to shoot.

Then there is the price of ammo, an air rifle is the obvious winner there.

I'm not sure if I agree there @40mm . If you live in a built up area such as we did and want to teach how to hold and use a rifle safely and actually shoot the thing a low power air rifle is the perfect choice in my opinion .Ours is a 177 with only around 500-600 fps so unlikely to do any serious damage to property or penetrate a fence . we used to just put plastic bottles etc up against the compost heap as targets and never had any issues with collateral damage . You should not leave the kids unsupervised for starters if they are learning and being a break barrel and being young enough that they cannot open the action is preferable in my opinion as they cannot load the rifle without you doing it for them so won't unexpectedly be popping off shots. And the extra kick and mechanical noises from an air rifle prepares them mentally for a proper rifle in future.
But that is just my personal opinion.....
A bit different if on a farm or somewhere open I guess.

Originally Posted by Hermitage

An air rifle is not a "waste of time". At 8 years old I used to practice on my own in town for hours until I could hit the red tip off a match stick at 10 yards.

Also when I was 8 years old there is no way I would have been ready for the 'power' of a .22LR. I remember shooting my friend's prize bull in the testicles with my air rifle at 100 yards (he ran through two fences....shit I got a hiding for that )

Ouch! Fair call, I did enjoy shooting my .177 endlessly.
I guess I am spoilt with the .22 now.

Originally Posted by Ftx325

I'm not sure if I agree there @40mm . If you live in a built up area such as we did and want to teach how to hold and use a rifle safely and actually shoot the thing a low power air rifle is the perfect choice in my opinion .Ours is a 177 with only around 500-600 fps so unlikely to do any serious damage to property or penetrate a fence . we used to just put plastic bottles etc up against the compost heap as targets and never had any issues with collateral damage . You should not leave the kids unsupervised for starters if they are learning and being a break barrel and being young enough that they cannot open the action is preferable in my opinion as they cannot load the rifle without you doing it for them so won't unexpectedly be popping off shots. And the extra kick and mechanical noises from an air rifle prepares them mentally for a proper rifle in future.
But that is just my personal opinion.....
A bit different if on a farm or somewhere open I guess.

Yeah, I get that. good pint about the back yard etc.

True about the recoil thing.

The good thing about a Savage Rascal is they are so narrow through the wrist for their little hands.
The for-end is is also narrow and light. It’s not all just about length of pull.
I put a little plastic suppressor on our one to take the bark out of it. I liked the fact they cock lifting the bolt, the muscle memory and operation doesn’t have to change when migrating to a larger rifle. Most other single shots seem require manually pulling the hammer back separately.