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looking for opinions for my 4 year old, im leaning toward the .17 for more load options and probably use it more as he gets older, this will a gun to introduce him to shooting but i might let him bring it to pop a piglet if the opportunity arises when he and i are comfortable with him shooting

The one advantage on a 22 is that you can get one that shoots 22short, long and long rifle. We have a little singe shot and a old Rossi pump that will shoot 22 shorts.. And my son loves that gun.. He calls it the "quite gun" . In fact the Rossi pump is one that I had when I was about 6 or 7.. Still have it and still love to shoot it..


Another option that I have is a little TC Contender in 223 that my son will start shooting for deer.. But I went on line and bought two inserts one for 22lr and one for 22mag and can let him practice with that and then shoot 223 when we go deer hunting.

get him a .22 for the age he is now and buy him a .17 down the road. When I was younger, I used to shoot bricks of .22's like they were going out of style. The .17 bullets are about $9 for a box of 50.

I have a .17 and love it, but with that being said, when it's time to hit a back road and shoot some turtles, I take my .22

huntersmky wrote:The .17 bullets are about $9 for a box of 50.

Shoot they used to be $9 a box. Cheapest I've seen them is about $12 for 50 unless they are on sale. You can get almost 10x the amount of ammo for a .22 for that price.

Get him a .22lr bolt action. A .17hmr is cool, but it really can't kill anything more than a .22lr can. I've tried shooting coyotes with my .17hmr, and it simply is not reliable. It's best for animals Raccoon size or smaller. The same size animals a .22lr will kill. Only benifit of a .17 is the increased effective range. Generally, a .22lr is about a 100 yard gun. A .17hmr is about 200. I know both are capable of longer, but neither are meant for anything past those ranges.

Teach him to shoot accurately with a .22lr, and get him something bigger as he grows.

I was going to say that .22 will be MUCH cheaper to shoot. Now .17 can be cheap to shoot too, but you need to look at something like the .17 Mach II instead of the .17 HMR or .17 Remington.


.17 HMR box of 50 is about $13

.17 Mach 2 box of 50 is about $7

.22LR box of 525 is $19.99

Marlin bolt action in .22 Magnum. Anne Oakley shot one....so do we

No question -- 22.

I did the math and found out I was reloading .223 cheaper than I could buy .17 HMR. I sold that gun the next week.

huntersmky wrote:get him a .22 for the age he is now and buy him a .17 down the road.

^^^ This!