Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Rimfires 22LR bolt rifle for a 13 year old?

I had a Ruger American Target in 17hmr. It was an accurate rifle. I’m sure the 22lr version would be the same.

I went through this quandry last year .

I bought a pair of Ruger American 22LR bolt compacts. These are the non threaded, 18" barrel guns with iron sights and the short stock sets. One was for my niece and the other for my nephew.

To address the QC issues with the Rugers- based on having owned three of them now, I simply have not see them. I am not saying that the QC issues do not exist. I just have not seen it so far. All three of my 22 LR sporters have run like clockwork with regards to function and accuracy. The first was built in 2016 and was a full sized 22" sporter. It was a good little gun and in a weak moment I sold it.

The more recent compacts were both made last year in 2022 and work just as well as the 2016 rifle.

My niece loves hers and shoots the crap out of it. It shoots very well with CCI ammo. My nephew had a growth spurt early last year and had basically outgrown the rifle by the time I gave it to him . We found that my full sized CZ 457 American fit him better going forward. So that is what he got.

So, I wound up with his little Ruger compact . Even though that CZ is a good looking and accurate little rifle, I am not so sure I did not get the better end of that deal .

The Compact stocks are 12.75" LOP. Which at least a half inch too short for my stocky 5-10 frame even with hunting clothes on. So, I put a .6" solid black Pachmayr Old English pad on it and put it to work as my new "back door" rifle. It's always loaded and has a cheap (but good) 4x scope on it. The little gun handles like a wand in the woods.

I adjusted the trigger by removing the trigger blade safety and replacing the trigger spring with one from a ball point pen. The pull breaks like a glass rod at just over 2 lbs. After a few hundred rounds of use , the bolt travel is so smooth that with the magazine removed , it will run just by tilting the gun back and forth. And the tolerances are snug as well.

Like most rimfire rifles, it's accuracy is dependent on the ammo it is fed. With Sk Jagd Standard Plus, using the 4x scope it will put 5 shots into .5" at 50 yards which is nearly as good as my CZs shoot that same ammo.

I shoot my ruger american compact out to 500 yards..... It shoots good enough I spent extra to slap it into chassis just to get rid of the cheapo stock.

after the cz people got into a snit about the escort 22 from turkey being a cz clone i bought one . very nice rifle with real walnut stock with schnable forend. it is not a clone. many internal differences . and it is as or more accurate than the 3 cz's that i own. and it was less than $200. made in turkey by hatsan .

Cannot imagine giving a new shooter (kid version) a semi auto. New shooters need severe limits while learning to be steady under fire.

Yes I blew that up, but let them learn in a slow moving World.

67 is COC... 69A is COO.

One letter makes ALL the difference.

Love my fairly new 457 33WMR.

Love my fairly new 457 33WMR.

When I was a kid it was learn on single shot, graduate to semi. Back then it was a Rem Nylon 66.

Exactly the same for me.

There's a Marlin Model 80 with magazine on Gunbroker with no reserve which I believe is the same model bolt action 22 Jim In Idaho posted about here. It appears to be in pretty decent condition and has a grooved receiver. Bidding ends on 4-26 and you can buy at any time for $250. So far there's not much action on it with only a $50 bid. Might be able to get it for considerably less than $250.

Take a look at this Savage

Have had one for 6-7 yrs now

Accurate & perfect size for youngsters

I too wouldn't suggest a 10-22.....just yet

https://gunzonedeals.com/product/sa...synthetic-black-stk-black#product_detail

Great option, or maybe start them off with irons, or target sights:



Teach him how to really shoot first:

Shot the other day with the rifle above.

Then scope it, or put a different stock on it:


Start from the start if need be. OP still has not clarified what he really wants. Is it going to be just a range toy, or is the kid going to be hunting with it? Times have changed big time from when we were kids. I remember trapsing around in the desert with friends when I was the OP's kids age and even younger. Toting a 10-22 or other 22, shotgun, pistol etc. Killing every jack rabbit that presented itself. My dad focused more on target shooting, as he was not a hunter, so I shot on the weekends with him. He loved shooting the tacks off that held the target on the board, just to mess with me. A lot of it also depends on the kid. What are their interests?

I was at the range the other day with the rifle pictured above and had a 10 year old shooting that rifle. He really enjoyed it. Let his dad shoot it as well and he was very impressed with how well it shot for a rifle that didn't have a scope. Kind of an eye opener.

I bought a Winchester 67 for my 5 year old great nephew when he's ready to get started. When he's my age he can tell people he learned to shoot with a 130 year old rifle.

Win 69 for old school
CZ 452 new school

Bought a savage SS bolt with open sights but it is tapped. Will start with 1 at a time and progress from there. After he learns to shoot well enough I have a scope for him.
Thanks for all the replies.

Whatever, I'd never start a kid with a semiauto. Especially a boy. Most get into the lead in the air mode and accuracy concerns go out the window. Maybe OK though, if they have to buy their own ammo. Young ladies, not so much.

This, where we have tons of shooting in our Belding ground squirrel fields. Lead really flies when the first shot is a miss and they think they can score on running squirrels.

Good luck, and spend some time with them working on accuracy and precision.

There are a couple other differences - 67 is single shot ,both the 69 and 69 A use a magazine... My recommendation would be a Ruger American, very accurate and reliable.

I agree with the other differences, but the COO is the biggest difference, and by a long ways.

IMO, although there are a lot of nice old rifles out there, many have lousy triggers, and parts/magazines may be hard to come by. Just something to consider. In some ways we’re in a golden age of .22s, with a lot of relatively inexpensive ones that shoot really well. If I had a $300 budget, I’d take a good look at the Savages, and maybe the Rugers, then begin saving for something better like a CZ, Tikka, or maybe a Bergara, all of which have excellent accuracy according to fans.

I also think that a red dot is a good starting point for sights, as it allows the new shooter to concentrate on holding and trigger control instead of sight alignment. Scopes are fine, but some struggle with looking through them at first, and if the stock is a bit long, it’s worse. Red dots don’t have limited eye relief, so avoids that struggle.

Probably a good idea to buy local so the boy can handle the choices first hand.