Youth rifles - suggestions?

Crickett

savage rascal. comes in walnut, blue, green, black, purple, yellow, and pink. They also shoot very well. bought pink ones last year for my 2 granddaughters.
Also you can decock it if you need to.

Davey cricket. Bolt action, pull striker, right size. I know it comes in pink but not sure about wild colors. I have a black for my grandchildren. Good start.

savage rascal. comes in walnut, blue, green, black, purple, yellow, and pink. They also shoot very well. bought pink ones last year for my 2 granddaughters.

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I would go this route if I did it again, although my kids liked the Cricket. I don't care for the pull method of cocking and the Accu-trigger is very nice.

http://www.savagearms.com/firearms/model/rascal

I have cricket for my boy and it seems good for him.

I got my daughter a 10/22 with a pink wood stain. They are available in purple, blue, green, and red. They look pretty good.

Get the Savage. The cricket is of good sound design, but I have found their triggers to be hard and gritty and some kids have a hard time cocking the cocking piece.

The colors you are looking for are also available on a 10/22. There were a few pink ones (synthetic stock) at the local Dick's sporting goods a few days ago.

I vote Rascal. Thats what I'll get my daughter when the time comes

Something to keep in mind is do you want your kids to do Appleseed in the future.

If so, you want a box-magazine fed rifle because the course of fire calls for a lot of reloading.

I got a Rossi Youth Combo for my one daughter and while it is a fun rifle for plinking, it wouldn't work for Appleseed so I ended up getting a Marlin 935.

If you go with Crickett avoid the ones with the lock in the stock. It's in such a spot that it basically adult-proofs the gun. For safety on these guns just remove the bolt and loop lock through the frame. I have no experience with the rascal yet, it's interesting though as a pack rifle. It may be easier to fit a tube stock on to reduce size.

A nice informative thread. I was planning on getting my grandchild a Cricket. Just don’t know if it’s a boy or girl yet. But the Rascal sounds like it may be more pratical.

I chose Rascals for my boys because they come with a peep sight. Much easier to teach sight acquisition with it.

CZ Scout. They come in beech stock. They used to come with a pink stock that was beech underneath. When the kids get older you can change the stock out to a bigger stock so they can shoot it the rest of their life, or give it to their grand kids to keep shooting. They will never wear it out. I have already bought my 2 yr old granddaughters theirs. Planed ahead just to be safe.

I have seen some information on the Ruger American. It comes in two sizes, I guess you could say youth and adult. The nice thing is as the kids grow older a longer stock insert is available to bring the rifle up to adult size. Like Henry Ford once said we can sell you any color you want as long as it's black.

I have a Stevens "youth rifle" from the early 1950's. It has a pull to cock design. It still works great and shoots very accurate. The point is that you won't likely find a more durable design than pull to cock design. They have the least number of moving parts of any firearm I know about. That means there's less to go wrong.

But either the Crickett or the Savage would be a good choice IMO.

Buy just one gun that is "your" gun that you are letting them use. Multi-hued crickets and such will be quickly outgrown and gathering dust.

My choice is a single shot Handi-rifle in .357 mag with a super short youth stock, a youth stock and the adult stock that came with it. I can fit it to any youngster and let them shoot hand cast .38 spl reloads cheaper than the stupid prices that you pay for .22 rf these days. If the youngster ourgrows this rig and continue to show an interest and proficiency in shooting, I buy them a Ruger or Savage centerfire bolt action and then teach them to hunt.

One more thing, it the gun is "my" rifle, there is no issue over me keeping the rifle secure in my safe rather than letting them take "their" gun home with them.

check out the ruger american rimfire compact. You can buy several stocks with different length of pulls for both adult and youth shooters.

The Savage Rascal is a great first rifle and the AccuTrigger is outstanding!

I would not buy a 10/22, it's not a good idea to give a new young shooter a semi-auto rifle. The savage is a bolt action single shot rifle with a great trigger and it's in all the colors you're looking for. (and you won't break the bank buying 2)

Another vote for the Rascal. Real rifle with good sights and great trigger for miniature person. Gave my daughter one with bright pink stock. She loves it. The peep is a bit fiddly but does adjust very finely and has a very small aperture great for young eyes. I put a Lyman globe sight on the front and she shoots it effectively in preference to the $1200 Anschutz at the club because of its lightness (no, not because it's better!)

I went with Stevens single shot and then Winchester Model 90s but you could also go with a Papose it was called ity is a break down that stores in the stock and just hand the kid one bullet at a time if you can even get 22s if not then the Handi Rifle is the way to go.

Single shot is a great idea for a first gun. It makes sure young shooters are thinking at least a little between shots. We had the Stevens I now own when I was a kid but I have to admit once I got my hands on my dad's Model 60 I was hooked for life. I still have a couple of them. They are just way fun to shoot. I have a 795 too which is great because of the weight. It might be a good choice for kids if you only load one round at a time in the mags. It's plenty light enough for young shooters.

I started my kids off with the Stevens but they graduated to a 60 in a short time but we had a really good place to shoot. I had them shooting an SKS not too long after that. We built swinging targets for it and they couldn't get enough of that. Now both my son and daughter challenge me for the most accurate shooter in the family. I even have my wife shooting pretty good now.

The OP did not give the age of the kids and right now my great nephew is six and that Stevens his father and step grandfather shot and he can shoulder it and hold it up himself which is plenty good for a kindergardner that yet does not weigh forty pounds.