.22 single shot rifles?

[Armybrat]

Started reading a thread on another forum about some fellas who had bought these little guns (a Savage Rascal & a Cricket) to start their sons & daughters out with. Am glad to see these young dads still have some of the American values mine did.

Anyways, it all reminded me of a little Savage Springfield Model 120A I had forgotten about locked away in the back of a closet. Bought the rifle new for $15 in 1966 from my brother who was the manager of a Firestone tire store (yeah, they sold a few guns then too).

I also have a Winchester 67A.

Think I'm gonna cut the stock down a bit on the Savage Springfield for the 10 year old grandson. It looks just like this one:

http://www.cowanauctions.com/itemImages/ccc1409.jpg

[mr surveyor]

that's the exact same model I learned to shoot at about age 6, as did every other kid/cousin in the family. My grandfather must have bought it in the mid-late '50's and it was always available to us grandkids. By the time I was 9 or 10 and earning my 50 cent allowance (most weeks:o), I'd pick up my box of ammo on Saturday morning for my Sunday afternoon visit to the grandparents. Locally, shorts were 19 cents, longs 29 cents and long rifles were 39 cents. I bought a whole lot of 22 shorts until I was making a buck or two a week mowing for the neighbors:)

Personally, I wouldn't cut the stock down. Kids do grow, and they still want to occassionally shoot and enjoy the gun they "grew up with".

[Bawanna]

I agree, I'd get a crickett or a chipmunk or a rascal whatever and then graduate to that.

I still have 3 Chipmunks, one for each of my kids and waiting for future grandkid use. I got a couple for nephews in their youth too.

Neat little guns.

[CJB]

I've shot the Chipmunk, and like the reviewer said 20 years or more ago, I instinctively put my hand out for another round of .22LR. They're fun to shoot, even for adults.

[Salty]

Get the cricket or some similar youth rifle and take him shooting with you using the 120. Tell him the story behind it and give him some memories. Then is a few years pass the rifle to him.

[Bawanna]

I've shot the Chipmunk, and like the reviewer said 20 years or more ago, I instinctively put my hand out for another round of .22LR. They're fun to shoot, even for adults.

I wish I had pictures of my oldest son the first trip out when I let him shoot either my Glenfield 60 or 10/22.
He shot and just as you said put his hand out for another round. I'd only loaded I think 5 cause I wanted to see what he would do.
I told him just shoot again, he did and put his hand out again, I told him just shoot till it won't shoot, he course rattled off the last 3 FAST and the grin on his face was like he could rule the world.

It must have been the Glenfield cause I loaded him up full after that and I think it held 18. He had a blast.

He still likes to burn ammo, a lot and fast. Much more costly now.

[O'Dell]

That Savage looks just like the Remington 530 single shot 22 I have packed away in the attic. I bought it when I was eleven, and it was the first post BB gun I owned. I carried that rifle everywhere for several years, even to school on occasion.

[jlottmc]

I had a Chipmunk given to me for my first birthday. Wish I still had it, but that is another story. I did get my daughter a Crickett with the blued finish and purple laminated stock. Now I just need to find a patch of land around here where I can teach her right.

[ltxi]

The first firearm I ever fired was a single shot. bolt action .22. Don't remember who made it. I think I was 8, 9, or maybe just 10. I wasn't allowed to handle nor shoot anything else until I demonstrated both competence and proper judgement with that rifle.