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Recommend 22 pistol for young shooter


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I also bought my son a m&p 22 at 12 it ran great after 1 range day he was bored with it picked up the glock 34 and was a natural with it they need to be comfortable my daughter is still shooting the 22 and has been at it a few years longer gun still runs great

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For what it's worth, my son is average size and when he was 10 he could shoot my 1911 9mm easily. He even shot my buddies 45 1911 and had hits on steel plates 6 out of 8 rounds from the magazine.
Chances are your son can handle centerfire just fine. Now for drawing and mag changes, that's more related to maturity and composure than age. I don't know if I'll ever trust son to run with a gun!

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  • 4 weeks later...

One thing I would advise against is a .22 conversion. I've had pretty awful luck with mine, it's a TSG conversion for my Glock. Every other round is FTF, FTE, etc. It's great malfunction practice but not something that a new shooter should have to deal with. 

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On 9/2/2017 at 11:06 PM, AzShooter said:

I would skip the Mark IV 22/45 Lite.   I've gone through 2 barrels already and still can't get it to shoot half as tight as my Mark III Hunter. 

 

I built  the first 22/45 lite in this area and had a lot of steel challenge shooters laugh, till I won every match. LOL  Some good volquarsen parts, and mag work make it 100% reliable,  lite and fast, accurate enough for steel challenge.  Don't skimp on the optic, I  put a C-More on mine then it all came together.   I shoot the federals cheap and reliable.   I reliably hit that steel at 35 yards.  22 ammo was not available for a while but I traded 9 major ammo for it, that little gun has about 40,000 rounds down the tube still accurate and reliable.   Requires cleaning after every match and practice session, mags as well. 

 

Now I don't see a lot of long barrel heavy 10/45's, the same hecklers are running the Lite.

 

Back to the main question.   The most import thing is that the gun fit the hand for a youth, my small hand go to, for my female friends is the CZ Shadow, fits small hands, it is heavy so it absorbs recoil, and it can be modified easily with just some spring changes to be a good production gun.  Lots of gun handling training, learning to lower the hammer etc.

 

There is a reason that all matches don't allow for drawing from the holster on 22's, it isn't safe don't recommend it, get a 9 mm, load up some mouse fart loads and let the kid have fun.

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  • 2 weeks later...

What about buying a 22 conversion kit for a larger pistol to move on to later? Seems like many of us do it the other way around and get the 22 kit after the principal piece. You could go CZ, Sig, Glock, etc. That way when he's ready to move up it will be a simpler step and he'll be used to the trigger, etc.

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  • 2 weeks later...

A cz 75 in 9mm with the 22 Kadet top end.  This platform would be very conducive to practicing the skills needed for action shooting and when he’s ready slap on the 9mm top end, change mags and he’s competing.   

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  • 2 weeks later...
My 12 year son is really starting to get interested in action shooting.  I've had him shooting a 22/45 for a couple of years now and he does really well with it.  It's not really set up well for action shooting though.  He's old enough that he would like to start practicing draws and reloads.  I would like to stick with a 22 at this point.  It's less expensive to feed it so he can shoot a lot more and I think the mild recoil is helping him develop good fundamentals.
 
Does anyone have any recommendations for a 22 caliber pistol that will allow him to work on reloads?  He has fairly big hands for a kid his age and is continuing to grow.  I've thought about the M&P 22 but don't really know anything about it.  What other options are out there?  Berretta 92 in 22?


I have an S&W MP .22 that has been excellent for 20-25k rounds. I’ve never actually cleaned the barrel, just lubed and swabbed the feed ramp and magwell with the action locked back.

Like others have said, he could probably handle a 9mm but there is a ton of value and good habits that get formed while shooting countless rounds of .22

He will learn faster and get much better trigger control by shooting a .22 than he will by jumping into a 9mm. This isn’t an age or size thing, most people would progress in their shooting abilities much faster if they learned to run a gun with minimal recoil fast and learn to see their sights without the distraction of a bigger muzzle blast before they tried to shoot centerfire pistols.

I’d buy both but make him practice the most with the .22, if he can shoot good groups with a .22 but they open up with a 9mm then he’ll be able to see that his mind and recoil are the distraction


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Star model B in .38 or 9mm is a nice, smaller copy of a 1911. Steyr makes a cool .22 version of their own 9mm, so does Ruger, so does S&W. I personally learned to shoot pistols with my grandpa’s Hi Standard, which I now own, and I have a second, threaded , heavy barrel version that I still take to the range. The Hi Std was designed as a trainer for the 1911 and is a great pistol.

Edited by xtian999
spellink
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It has already been mentioned but I also say the M&P 22 Compact is a great starter pistol. I bought one for my 7 year old daughter last year after she proved to me she was responsible with her single shot 22 rifle. We transitioned slowly to multiple rounds and her control is great with it. The gun eats any ammo we put it in and is a soft shooter. I enjoy it myself from time to time when I want to do some quick shooting. My only issue with the gun is the rear sight blade popped out of the gun and is no where to be found. I could send it back to S&W but I plan on replacing the sights to she can do some steel challenge matches with me. 

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