[kbak303]

Good morning, I'm in need of recommendations for my 9 year old daughter to start getting into rifle shooting. She has taken to pistol shooting in the last year like a duck to water, is good with her sights, and now wants to branch out...so...decision time
I was looking at a Cricket, but my daughter is taller than the avg. nine year old, so I'm thinking...one year..maybe two...she's going to outgrow this....and I have to upgrade again.

baby-girl wants a S&W MP 15-22...and it has it's pro's with the adjustable stock...things like that...

however, I'm debating some other less expensive choices. The 15-22 will hit $500+ quick, but i'm worried about length of pull (to instill good habits and not crawling the stock, etc)
suggestions? I haven't had a rimfire since I was a kid...so I'm really in the dark here...

 

[MontanaMan]

Kbak take a look at the Marlin Papoose, I believe it's the model 70P, not positive. This little rifle comes in stainless with a composite stock and is a take down model with it's own floating case. The Popoose weighs in a 3 1/2 pounds and the magazines each hold 7 rounds. These are great little rifles, in fact you may just decide you "need" one for yourself.

Jesse

 

[canoeguy]

A Ruger 10/22 might be a good choice, fairly inexpensive, pretty reliable and accurate, lots of aftermarket stuff to trick it out or make it more accurate. Plentiful and cheap magazines. Certainly a rifle she would never outgrow.

 

[Eli Chaps]

Marlin Model 60. On the average they will out shoot a stock 10/22, they are very accurate, reliable, and inexpensive. My daughters have been shooting a 60 since they were little. There must be half a dozen or so inmy extended family and there are a bunch of kids and they all shoot the 60's.

Big smiles all around.

And if she wants it purdy, you can go put a pink metal trigger guard and bolt handle on it for her. ;D

http://www.diproductsinc.com/Products.aspx?CAT=3603

You can find a LOT of them out there in the used rack as they are the most prolific auto-loading .22 ever made so there's bunches of them out there.

 

[Lonnie]

+1 on the Model 60. It's what I bought for my daughter except she was 12. Before that I used a single shot Cricket but her and my son outgrew that so quickly it really was a waste of time. My daughter really likes her Marlin and she's a pretty good shot .

 

[GJinNY]

++10 on the 60. I bought a 60W back early 90's and had my 10 yr old daughter shootin it then. She's all grown up now and just last year she was shootin it just like a pro. Shoot the CCI Standards or Blazins out of it and she'll be keepin the fridge full of Wabbits and Skwurrels.

 

[MarlinXL7]

Hmm...she's bigger than the average nine-year-old, but probably not man-sized , so, while I'd suggest a Remington 597 (which comes in pink camo ), the LOP might be too long for her. The best bet would be a 60 or a 10/22--and between the two of those, I'd go with the 60. Or 795/70PSS (Papoose), if she likes hi-cap magazines like the new Shooters Ridge ones...

 

[Gunjunkie]

Get a Marlin . don't care 60 or bolt .. and either buy from Marlin or Sleezy Bay a spare stock if you can find one.. cut one to fit and save the other for when she grows out of it.. and you will have both so she can do the same to her kids someday.. ;D

 

[jmarriott]

Look at one of the CZ youth models. Then order a full size stock for later. Never saw one that did not shoot.

At nine a mine could shoot my full size 39a with a big eye relief scope but she did scope crawl to see through the scope. With irons she could just about shoot most anything from a bench. offhand the heavy rifle like the 39a and a ruger target rifle she could not even think of holding still. A little stevens model 15 worked well open sights and light weight good small LOP ect. She got 39a spoiled and did not like the single shot well.

I picked up a browning bl-22 for her this winter it is light weight and a little smaller on the stock size. (who am I kidding here I liked it very well) I have not settled on a scope for it yet.

 

[ncoop25]

I like the Savage mk ii youth. Just short enough for the kids but long enough for dad to shoot also.

 

[shooter69]

Get her a golden 39a and she will have it the rest of her life and think of you every time she uses it.

 

[me]

Bolts make good starter guns in my thinking. I still have the one dad gave me at age 8.

 

[Apex]

Well if you're worried about the size and weight of it right now, you could always slap a bi-pod on it. She will still learn how to shoot without having to bear the weight of it. Nothing wrong learning to shoot prone or from a bench. Then squeeze in some standing trigger time here and there.

 

[Thunderstick]

I once hired somebody to make a short butt stock on a Remington 870 20ga for my son. I needed it about 1 year......

Moral of the story is, the reach issue will be solved in a year or two.....unless you have the money to spend, by the rifle that will fit later rather than something that fits now that you'll replace later. The low recoil of the .22 will not hurt your daughter if she doesn't hold the rifle properly......but be next to her when she shoots to keep her safe!

 

[clover leaf]

A full size Marlin or Savage (GASP) bolt action. Buy a youth synthetic stock for now and put the original back on as she grows. I really recomend the bolt action . CL

 

[Big Shrek]

This is the perfect Daughter/Wife combo.

First, buy a Marlin 60, preferably an older model with LSHO & 18-round mag tube.

Then, order a Boyd's Thumbhole Stock in Natural, and go get some Pink Aniline Dye & make it pink.
http://www.boydsgunstocks.com/MARLIN-60-THUMBHOLE-STOCK-p/640-217.htm
(black stock currently in stock, but you get to see what it looks like )

https://www.boydsgunstocks.com/Articles.asp?ID=256

Then, buy a DIP Pink trigger guard & slap it on
http://www.diproductsinc.com/Detail.aspx?PROD=156326&CAT=3603

Which reminds me, I never did take pics of the t/g IN the rifle...LOL

Anyway, for less than $250, you have a VERY happy shooting female!!

I'm gonna duracoat the barrel & receiver pink for her when I feel my painting skill has reached a high enough level

 

[Brian in FL]

I love my Marlins, but, for your daughter, I'd suggest a Ruger 10-22. The standard stock has a relatively short length of pull, but, if it's too long for her, you can cut it down. When she gets bigger, you can choose from a dizzying array of aftermarket stocks for her. You can really customize a 10-22 in so many ways, going one step at a time. Some options I would seriously consider would bed right off to get a Volquartsen hammer which wsill do wonders for the trigger weight and smoothness. When she's ready for a full length stock, buy her one of the many beautiful thumbhole laminate stocks and a carbon fiber barrel with its steel liner. The carbon fiber barrels will add a good deal to the accuracy without adding a lot of weight to the rifle. The thumbhole stocks come from a number of sources in a pink laminate if she's into that kind of thing.

I'm in the process of building a bull barrel 10-22 for my wife, who's about 5'1" tall. We ordered a beautiful laminate stock from Boyds, but it had a too long length of pull for her. I had a maple stock with a relatively short length of pull on my own Ruger, so I swapped it out for hers. I added an 18" Green Mountain bull barrel to it, and all I've got left to do is to install the Volquartsen trigger guard assembly to give her an excellent trigger pull. The whole shebang cost us a little more than $400 plus the cost of the donor rifle which she already had.

The sheer number of aftermarket parts for the 10-22's is truly amazing. One can even build one with no Ruger parts at all. A number of firms make receivers to use, instead of one from Ruger, and all the internal parts to make it work. You can build a super accurate Ruger for anywhere from a few hundred dollar's worth of aftermarket stuff to well over a couple thousand dollars. There's a whole industry devoted to naking aftermarket parts for them. If you want to get a good idea of what can be done with the Rugers, go to www.rimfirecentral.com, a forum for rimfire shooters and check out what some have done with their Rugers.

 

[swany]

I have cut down a lot of single shot .22s for learner guns that get passed around the family, I know the whereabouts of 8 of them but have lost track of the others.

The el cheapo Wal Mart special kids edition comes to mind with or without the pink stock as a lawyer proofed kids gun be prepared to do the trigger job on it.

An H&R single shot is a good one to begin with just buy the extra buttstock for the time it gets a deer bbl or shotgun bbl. From there you can always get her the better full sized options when she gets into it. Make sure you include a trigger job so she starts out with the way they should be, small hands are more sensitive and with less muscle to pull the barn door hinge off the door like the H&R triggers come with.

Good luck with your quest and thanks for keeping the next generation of shooters going.

 

[rhendrix]

I agree with Swany, get a good single shot and cut it down for her if you have to. That is what my dad did for me and that is what I started my children on and now my grandsons are shooting it. While a 10/22, as some have suggested, is a good little gun, it is not a beginners gun. Personally, I would never start a kid off with an automatic rifle. There are too many things about safety and marksmanship that you need to teach a new shooter and they don't need to be thinking about an auto rifle. You don't need to be worrying about one either when they make a good shot and out of excitement start whipping the barrel of th auto rifle around towards you and anyone else standing around.

 

[kerr]

Marlin makes some dandy youth rifles worthy of being passed down for many generations .
http://www.gunbroker.com/Auction/ViewItem.aspx?Item=226905825

Chipmonk is a fine little rifle but is very hard to cock for the little ones . I wish I had looked harder before I baught this one to be honest , but it was there so I got it instead. It is a fine shooter though and is on its second shooter now as No.1 grandson flat loves his Mountie. I too would stick to a single shot for new shooters .