Juniour sized guns of today??

[DCL_dave]

Don't worry, it takes a while for people to notice posts that don't contain the words "BSA Light Pattern", "Gem", "Falke", "pre-war", "BSF" and such like

Heheh

On the subject of junior rifles, I suppose the Crosman 13xx type fitted with a shoulder stock would fit the bill. I've never used one myself, but as a teenager I always hankered after a 1377.

I recently bought a 1978 Original/Diana 23 for my seven year old nephews to train with. It's perfect, although there's no scope provision. I say I bought it for my nephews, more correctly I bought it for myself using my nephews as an excuse. Really great, fun little rifle.

How about the Gamo Delta? That always struck me as an ideal junior rifle. Are they still made?

Our oldest lad had a Daisy 840 superpump as his first gun, which was then handed down to his younger brother when he got given a Gamo Delta with a synthetic black stock, both were great guns for nippers and absolutely brilliant fun for adults too

[harry mac]

i agree with edbears comments but i was airgunning from the late thirties,no restictions at all.that realy was airgunning heaven.

Aye, but having rickets made it hard to lift the rifle, and if your dad only earned 40 bob a week, he couldn't afford to buy you an air gun.
I remember when this were all fields!

[Hsing-ee]

The BSA Merlin is a biazarre piece of kit, not a toy, not a real gun, what the flip was that all about? I am investigating it shortly.

My Dad got us shooting with a BSA Meteor, same as the rest of you.

However, I think that I will teach my nephew and any other young 'uns on the HW30S.

I BELIEVE that the true inheritor of the 'junior gun' crown has actually been passed to the CO2 rifle, for example the Chinese copy of the Crosman 160 known as the QB78 can be modded to almost any stature of shooter, I think there was one on here for a 6-year old (supervised obviously), and there are fun and accurate rifles like the Walther lever-action and the Beretta Storm etc to get the kiddies interested.

I would NEVER use a repeater as a starter gun though, and I would chose the HW30 as it all starts with the sight picture and the trigger press (squeeze, whatever).

Dads nowadays all have PCPs and the kids want what their dads have got (apart from financial woes, beer-guts etc) so most airgun Dads buy a AA 200S for the son/daughter and keep it as a back-up to their AA S400. Innit?

I might have a look at a HW25 one day but it is not THAT much lighter than the HW30.

In response to edbear2's original post - Only POSH KIDS could be bought new air-guns in the 50s 60s and most of the 70s, and as we know, Posh Kids are responsible tiny adults who have huge estates to practice in....