Savage Rascal Single Shot Youth 22LR 16" Barrel Black Synthetic Stock

Bought this from Impact for Christmas 2014 for my 7 year old son. I had taken him shooting but my 597 Heavy Barrel was just too much for him to handle and was a safety hazard so I had to get something more suitable. Did a lot of research about youth rifles and this one is the only bolt action where you don't have to cock the gun after cycling the bolt. That cocking action on other guns is done with a round in the chamber and is very difficult for kids to do - a serious safety hazard if you ask me - kids need to point the gun in different directions to get a strong enough grip, etc. - no thanks. With this rifle, you drop the round in the chamber, close the bolt and it's ready to go. My son loves it. I was tempted to put a scope on it, but I like the included peep sights. I had a few troubles with it misfiring and read that the firing pin was sometimes too broad and not narrow enough. Also, I had some difficulty chambering rounds as the chamber was a bit tight. I called Impact and they gave me the info. for Savage. Savage took it back, fixed the problems and now the gun is perfect. I didn't deduct a star for this because they handled the whole thing perfectly and the gun is great now. I even love shooting the gun. It's incredibly light and is really accurate. My son is gaining a lot of confidence in his shooting - we've taken his friends sometimes and you can see a big difference - my son knows what he is doing. Couldn't be happier with this rifle. Very safe single shot bolt action - perfect starter rifle. About 50 bucks more than a crickett but I believe it is well worth it due to the concerns mentioned above.

I really like this little gun. I purchased it because of the price and I wanted a little non semi auto single shot 22lr to just blow some rounds down range. Very fun to shoot even for an adult sized frame and I don't have any little kids to teach or train but if I needed to, this is a great gun for a small young beginner. No 22 semi auto jams to worry about like my Remington 597 and no rinky dink little magazines to reload. Just drop a round squarely on the feed ramp and feeds so smooth. With some practice and a good set up, you could actually rapid fire this thing quite well if you really needed to. The first time I fired it, I also shot my Springfield Armory M1A .308 and a surplus Enfield #4 mk 1 and can honestly say that I had more fun with the little rascal than with both the full powered battle rifles! Its such a fun little thing to shoot, perfect for blowing off some rounds in between some serious full powered shooting. Great to practice the marksmanship fundamentals to improve your larger rifle sighting and shooting. My next range will be with my DSA FAL .308 and maybe a surplus 8mm Yugo Mauser but the rascal will be there too for some cheap practice training and most of all fun.