gun for my little girl

Y

yow25

New member
I need to get my daughter a rifle for fun/varmits. It will be used for targets mainly. Would love to take he coyote hunting. Would you say 17 hmr or 22 mag as her new rifle
 
17hmr is a great varmint rifle, but probably not enough for yotes. I'd recommend 223 for yote duty (and works great for varmints as well).
 
You might consider one of the CZ 527's in 204. Extremely light recoil and it can be had in a rifle coming in just a little over six pounds. Add a good lightweight scope and it's a package small hands can handle with confidence.

I don't know how old your girl is, but if she's just starting out shooting get her into a small 22 long rifle first. For a child one of the little single shot chimpmonk style rifles is great. If she's bigger get a CZ 452 American with the single shot adapter. Add the light centerfire when she becomes confident in her shooting. Like "the fly" said any of the rimfires are really to light for coyotes.

I have two grand daughters that started just this way when they turned six and seven. there 12 and 13 now and both love shooting. The oldest just got my Ruger #1 in 243 for Christmas and the other a Model seven Remington in 308. They both shoot in the 4H shooting club locally and whack the behind off most of the boys. Starting them out with a 22 long rifle in a size they could handle is the best thing you can do for a youngster.

The girls at the reloading bench.

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Christmas last year, the smile tells it all.

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Her first one inch hundred yard group.

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I have to agree with IDBob about the .22lr, especially to build confidence, ability, safety, etc., and then move into the .204 Ruger.

I used to have a .17HMR until I got my first .204 and quickly realized it was almost a redundency in calibers with the .204 having better ballistics, range, and terminal wound capabilities, with no more recoil than the .17HMR.

The .17HMR ammo is a little cheaper to buy up front, but can't be reloaded so that is a factor also.
 
CZ American in 221FireBall with a 50gr Sierra BlitzKing.
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No joke before I ordered my Dtech I never even owned a gun that expensive myself let alone buy a child one. But at the same time if you can give them the best you can right.
 
I have a 10yr old and a 13yr old both boys. Neither one of them is very big physically. If she's never shot much before go with just a .22LR in a youth sized gun. Gun fit is a huge thing in teaching someone to shoot. If she has been shooting and you want to get her a hunting gun skip the mag rimfires and go right to a small centerfire like a .22 Hornet, .204 Ruger, .222 Rem or .223 Rem. All of these can be loaded light and cheap. We have .17HMR that the boys shoot but its not something I'd give them to take coyote hunting. It will do and has done a few coyotes but it takes proper shot placement and newer shooter might not be able to do that. Personally the last thing I want is when introducing someone to hunting is have the critter they shot at run off wounded. Not a good first impression. Make sure they have enough gun to the job even with a marginal shot. That being said my 13yr old now shoots a .243 with 75grn Vmax's for hunting and my 10yr old while not being old enough to legally hunt yet (12yrs min. here in Ontario)spends his time with his Savage Youth in .22LR or my .17HMR for longer range stuff. I think for his 11th birthday I'm going to get him a NEF in .22 Hornet or .204 Ruger and let him shoot that for a year to get ready for hunting. Starting kids off right deffinanlys pays off in the long run. He's my oldest with his longest shot to date. A European Hare taken with one shot at 376yrds with his .243. He was shooting from where the pic was taken and the hare was sitting on a snow drift in the hedgerow by the dark clump of trees over his shoulder.

Tim


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Get her a single shot 22lr. She will learn to make that first shot count, the importance of which can not be over emphasized. I would get an inexpensive one and teach the values taking care of it. Youngsters tend to get distracted at times and it may get dropped, banged up, not cleaned, etc and with an inexpensive gun thats not a real big deal. I had to resist the temptation to get my kids a nice gun for starters and was glad I didn't go whole hog. For my part, as I look back, it was more of my own pride wanting to get them a nice gun to start with. IMO, kids are given too much to soon and when they get to be young adults, they go into debt to have better things right away. Start small, make'em work and wait for bigger and better. Just a little advice from a guy with a lot of gray hair.

As an added note, I just got two of my grandkids their first shotguns, both inexpensive single shots.
 
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The 22mag would be my choice, if its her first gun. my twin boys are 9 and they love their Remington VLSS in 204 ruger. my oldest is 12 and he loves his custom 222Rem mag. i hade built for him, its a howa 1500 action Shilen match grade barrel, as soon as i figure the pictures out i'll post it.
 
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How old is your daughter ?

I think Cricket makes their little single shot bolt action rifles in 22 lr , 22 Mag , and 17 HMR . I have one in 22 LR and one in 17 HMR that I got for my daughters to shoot . Now they have outgrown them and they keep trying to claim my rifles .
 
As usual, greg223 has sound advice. If you don't want a 22 LR, of the two you mentioned I'd pick the 22 mag.


ELJ
 
I would get an NEF/H&R single shot in either .223 or .22 LR and then order the other barrel from the factory. I'd have a gunsmith do the trigger over to about 3 pounds. Have her do her first shooting with CB caps and then subsonic hollowpoints.
For coyotes and other varmints, I'd go with a 40gr. bullet like the V-Max or Ballistic Tip. These are deadly to over 200 yards and they have less recoil than the 50 gr. loads.
With the .223, she'll be able to shoot more often because of the low cost and still have a full 300 yard rifle. Heck, with the 64gr. Winchester game load, she even has a capable 100 (or a little over) yard deer gun. That's ALOT of versatility!
 
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I would get an NEF/H&R single shot in either .223 or .22 LR and then order the other barrel from the factory.



You can not use rimfire barrels on centerfire frames or vice versa.
 
Well, I stand corrected on that one! Thanks Crapshoot!
I think these rifles are so inexpensive though that getting one in each caliber would be a viable alternative, especially compared with some of the choices that were suggested. Ideally, the T/C Carbine would be the best choice but compared to the NEF (even two NEF's) would be somewhat pricy!
Again Crapshoot, thanks for the correction. Predator Masters is absolutely one of the best forums I've ever been on. --- Mike
 
My first choice would be the Savage Model Mark 1-GY Youth model single shot 22 LR with the Accu-Trigger. and a Simmons 4X 22Mag scope. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grinning-smiley-003.gif Have her take a Hunter Ed class, then buy a few boxes of Federal 550 Round 36 Grain Copper Plater Hollow Point Bulk ammo. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif I wish all kids could start out with a mentor like you. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/ooo.gif
Frank
 
Since you said varmints I would skip the rimfires unless you just mean ground squirels. A light center fire would be in order. I agree with the guys saying .204 Ruger, .222 and .221 Fireball.

For a kid this would be a great gun and the right size Remington Model 799
 
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