i am looking for a 22 bolt action for my kids. Thing about the Cricket, Henry and Chipmunk is the heavy effort required to cock the hammer. I have an old Winchester 67 and watching my 11 yo daughter try to pull back the cocking knob, well, she sure isn't paying attention to the muzzle, just trying her best to cock the rifle! Are there any youth rimfires that cock on opening ?

The Rossi single shot looks ok, but do you have to manually left off the trigger to de-cock? Not exactly what I want.

any suggestions?

We bought our girls a Savage Mark I Y .22 LR . It is a single shot bolt action . So far no problems . Our girls are aged 12 , 10 , 7 , and 1. The 1 year old isnt shooting yet . Good Luck !

The marlin 25 YN cocks on opening. That said, my suggestion is to drill the cocking piece on a chipmunk and put a knob on it that sticks up. I have made a fork that fits over the knob, and when I think my kids are old enough to handle the responsibility of cocking it themselves I'll put it on a strap they can wear on their wrist.

At this years SHOT show I talked with the chipmunk guys and asked why they didn't put a T knob on it, their reply was they prefer it being stiff enough an adult is needed to assist, which isn't such a bad thing IMHO.

I think the best one, and the one I am getting for my 9 yr old son, is the CZ. It can be updated with a 5 or 10 shot magazine later, and is accurate as hell.

For adults it makes a very nice 22 rimfire truck gun in my book.

Price is not much more than the Marlin

I trained both my boys using the Marlin 25Y. I had to work the trigger down to a reasonable level, but it was an OK starter gun.

I too vote for the CZ, my 8 yr old really enjoys it. Very accurate with good quality for the price. Be sure you get the right rings that fit, 16mm I think, Millett's are the ones I bought.

Jim

I'd have to vote for the CZ!

My father bought one for me when I was about 12 and more than 30 years and 70,000 shots later it is still working perfectly. (I used to shoot it seriously in competition lest you not believe the number of shots).

Some of the other rifles mentioned above suffer from either hard cocking or hard trigger pulls. Neither one is conducive to keeping a young shooter's interest up (particularly a hard trigger).

Fixing the trigger on some of these economy rifles is difficult due to their design (basically, anything NOT a bolt action) or quality of steel. The CZ suffers from neither problem.

Think of the CZ as investment for your *grandchildren*! You can't wear one out, so that is pennies per year...

I've taught many 6-15 year olds to shoot, and a bolt action is far and away my choice. All the safety of a single shot (good chamber visibility, etc.), with a simple design.

Don't underestimate the importance of easy cocking and a nice easy trigger for those small fingers! If anything, a 3.5 lb pull is MORE critical for youngsters than adults.

Just my opinion -- worth twice what you paid for it!

jpb