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CZ 455 as a first rifle. Opinions?
Rack Ops
Member Posts: 18,596 ✭✭✭
http://cz-usa.com/product/cz-455-scout/
I am starting to look for a first rifle for my 5 year old boy. Like most, I initially gravitated to guns like Cricket.
More research led me to other guns like the Henry mini bolt and the Savage Rascal.
However, after researching several, and handling a couple.....I just can't get over how much they just:
a) feel (and sometimes look) like toys
b) have...awkward...safety controls (which I get, btw)
c) will be something that he outgrows in a few years....and then sits in the safe, drawing more dust than interest.
Anyways...I stumbled onto the CZ 455 almost by chance, and I think I am in love with this. It's double the price of my other options......but damn, it's a serious rifle....and when he outgrows it, I just drop another stock onto it.
Anyone here had the opportunity to handle one?
I am starting to look for a first rifle for my 5 year old boy. Like most, I initially gravitated to guns like Cricket.
More research led me to other guns like the Henry mini bolt and the Savage Rascal.
However, after researching several, and handling a couple.....I just can't get over how much they just:
a) feel (and sometimes look) like toys
b) have...awkward...safety controls (which I get, btw)
c) will be something that he outgrows in a few years....and then sits in the safe, drawing more dust than interest.
Anyways...I stumbled onto the CZ 455 almost by chance, and I think I am in love with this. It's double the price of my other options......but damn, it's a serious rifle....and when he outgrows it, I just drop another stock onto it.
Anyone here had the opportunity to handle one?
Comments
I bought a Chipmunk for my son to start with and he was able to handle it easily when he was 4. With a 2.5 lb weight, and a 30" OA length, he was comfortable with the gun. I bought that gun 25 years ago, so I don't know about the guns made today, but the one I have is well built and accurate as all get out. We still take it out sometimes just to play around with.
I wouldn't buy a "grow into" rifle. Getting something that fits now is important to achieving success. And success breeds enjoyment.
My daughter has outgrown her Henry. But it's of a size that an adult can still easily shoulder. And rip off a string of assorted .22 rounds.
She wants an AR. And is considering trading her Henry to help fund it.
I'll let her make that choice for herself.
My most valuable rifle is the one my Dad bought for $3 in the 1920's. It sits in the safe, slowly gaining more brown patina. Without a firing pin, it has limited usefulness, but brings endless joy when I hold it just right in the light and see where he scratched his initials in the stock.
I think you are right to avoid the cricket and similar.
Maybe help him pick something out for himself? My daughter and I browsed GunBroker for months choosing between blue and steel, wood or composite etc.
Good luck! You really can't make a horrible mistake, any way you go.
Much better quality than cricket, won't break the bank, can mount a scope.
darn hard to beat the CZ line of 452 and 455 rifles , ours are full size , I've got 2 and my older brother has 4 or 5 of them and they all shoot like crazy, if he can handle the size then i would go with it
+1 CZ quality is beyond reproach.
The 5 lb weight would concern me for a 5 yo. That is a relatively large amount of weight for a little kid.
I bought a Chipmunk for my son to start with and he was able to handle it easily when he was 4. With a 2.5 lb weight, and a 30" OA length, he was comfortable with the gun. I bought that gun 25 years ago, so I don't know about the guns made today, but the one I have is well built and accurate as all get out. We still take it out sometimes just to play around with.
Agreed on the weight. My consolation on that is that I intend that he will he shooting from a rest pretty much exclusively until I trust him free handing it.