Buying a Ruger .22 LR rifle: Bolt-action or semi-auto?

Here's how the Beretta 71s look with the can removed and thread protectors installed.
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I'd never shot 2 guns at the same time. It seemed like a good time to try.

This is a Beretta 9mm Carbine. When my wife and I moved into a country home, this was going to be my Coyote gun. As it turned out, I've seen one Coyote in 12 years.
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I got into "trading" when I was buying and selling motorcycles. I wasn't doing it for a profit, I just wanted to try a lot of things. The same feelings carried over to my gun interest. I had the Bushmaster .223 listed online and a guy called and offered a Thompson .45 in trade. Heck yeah. I want one of those. This was the commercial version and it was pretty. I soured on it in a hurry because it was heavy - heavier than my M-1 Garand. Still, it made an interesting showpiece.
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Twenty years ago, there were a lot of pistols being sold from Europe. Mot of them were ex military or police guns. In many cases, the guns had never been issued. I bought this Makarov for $215. The design was based on the Walther PPK. The machining was a little rougher. I had to polish the barrel of the safety to get it to work smoothly. The frame was alloy and the gun was light. The 9x18 is a strong round for a gun this size (9x17 = .380, 9x19 = Luger). It functioned reliably and was surprising accurate, It was not much fun to shoot.

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Another surplus gun, a Walther P-1. The modern version of the Walther P-38. This was a well made pistol. it was double action on the first shot. it was big enough to make shooting 9mm fun.
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Colt Frontier Scout - .22lr Old Colts are better than money in the bank.
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I had some big iron too. This Ruger Redhawk in 44 mag was a boomer.
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Last and the least was this Smith & Wesson Model 61. This 22 was tiny - a true pocket pistol.
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Thanks for the space to share my stuff. I enjoyed my walk down nostalgia lane. As much as I enjoyed owning some of these guns, the new stuff is much better. I love the Springfield 9mm pistols. They are easy to operate and shoot when you pull the trigger. I like the Springfields better than the Glocks because of the grip safety. Remember, when handling guns, it is considered bad form to shoot yourself or a loved one. Play safe.
 
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Good point. And for that reason I think the bolt action is the way to go here. I definitely don’t think it’s a good idea for them to be learning to shoot with a semi-auto.

I have about a dozen .22s in the safe. 10/22 and various others among them. My oldest is 6 now, he started shooting last year. I started him with a bolt action and plunger action because I wanted him to learn from a more procedural standpoint. Pick up the gun, check the safety, open the action, verify it's safe, chamber a round, aim and shoot, repeat. For a child I think it's a much better approach than having the ability to pop rounds off as fast as you please.

Just my 2 cents!

But out of all my guns the 10/22 is my personal favorite.
 
I have about a dozen .22s in the safe. 10/22 and various others among them. My oldest is 6 now, he started shooting last year. I started him with a bolt action and plunger action because I wanted him to learn from a more procedural standpoint. Pick up the gun, check the safety, open the action, verify it's safe, chamber a round, aim and shoot, repeat. For a child I think it's a much better approach than having the ability to pop rounds off as fast as you please.

Just my 2 cents!

But out of all my guns the 10/22 is my personal favorite.

Totally agree. This is why I think the bolt-action wins for teaching the young ones to shoot. I want them to learn the safety first and how to actually handle it as oppose to just being able to squeeze the trigger and fire off round-after-round. At least until they get comfortable with shooting in general.
 
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Totally agree. This is why I think the bolt-action wins for teaching the young ones to shoot. I want them to learn the safety first and how to actually handle it as oppose to just being able to squeeze the trigger and fire off round-after-round. At least until they get comfortable with shooting in general.
You may have opened Pandora’s box.
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I've owned both. I agree with MOAB. Another thought ....here when kids go hunting they get three rounds. If you want to teach marksmanship, the bolt action and limited ammo helps, according to the marksmen i have known. Also it is easy for your daughter to clean, maintain and learn how to handle safely. Plus easy for you to check all the time that it is safe. "Bolt out or not honey?"
 
I taught my son to shoot with a ruger 22 bolt action when he was about ten. They were very happy to see him show up at ski biathlon when he was ten.
We would grouse hunt with ten rounds. Sometimes we ate a lot of pasta, other a lot of grouse. He got the point.
Also i think loading individual cartridges when your fingers are cold builds character......but maybe that's just cause i'm old.
 
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I got back into a little target range shooting last year and had a chance to try out another guys Ruger 10/22 and it was really fun to shoot. He’d done a few mods and the accuracy was very good, the main thing I noticed was how easy it was to stay on target with the automatic just having to squeeze the trigger vs my bolt action cz. Both my 22s are great shooters the CZ with the right match ammo will put 5 rounds in the same hole at 50 yards, I reworked the trigger down to 1# that passes the drop test and has no creep with a yo-Dave spring kit. I’ve got a few 5 round clips but mostly use a 1 round block and hand feed one at a time, I’ve been told hand feeding rounds one at a time keeps them balanced better. My other 22 is a 1959 Mossberg lever action that reminds me of the daisy BB gun I had as a kid, it’ll shoot about anything including CB caps and it’s Really accurate, light weight and holds 20 rounds. Scope is as important as the rifle, I tried a few different brands and put leapolds on both of mine the optics are really bright and
clear.
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I've been around guns pretty much my whole life. For teaching your kids to shot...the bolt action is way safer around them and learning to shot and where that muzzle is pointing. Bolt action, you have to load another round in it yourself to shoot. The semi, it's ALWAYS ready to go off again right after pulling the trigger. Not as safe around a child learning to shoot.
I have both...I love my 10-22. The only thing I have done to it is finally putting a scope on it.
My vote is the bolt action for teaching your children. That's what I started out with many years ago.
As a firearms instructor and youth shooting coach, this is spot on. Henry is a manufacture of some very fine .22s. They have pump and lever action 22s. If you are looking for a small caliber rifle for the Jeep, their survival rifles are very cool. AR-7
 
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