Adults and mini rifles

[JSoko]

I'm 6 foot
I have 3 youth size
Marlin 15yn .22
youth 870 20ga
youth model seven 7mm08

I do a lot of walking for squirrels & rabbits
the .22 and 20 ga are easy to carry in the woods
the model seven is easy to carry also and easy to swing in a tree stand and stalking hogs

but my favorite deer rifle is a model seven in .308, its small compared to my 700

here are the Marlin & 870

 

[GAgunLAWbooklet]

Those chipmunk and little rascal youth rifles have a stock with about an 11 inch length of pull.

To me that is ridiculously short.

Like a Daisy Red Ryder BB gun.

However with a slip on rubber butt pad that extends it another inch or 1.5"

You could even pour a little epoxy into the hollow cup of such a slip-on recoil pad and increase the length of pull by another inch. Then just wiggle it off in seconds if a little child is going to shoot the gun.

 

[GAgunLAWbooklet]

WildBill, a very lightweight and compact 22 rifle appeals to me.

What I did about 20 years ago was sesrch pawn shops for a magazine fed bolt-action repeater, cheap. I picked up a Marlin-Glenfield model 25 with a seven shot magazine for about 90 bucks.

I cut the wood buttstock down by 1 inch and re-mounted the black plastic butt plate. That made the gun more compact and throws up easily to my shoulder while still giving me enough stock to put my cheek on and stabilize my head with the correct eye relief for the scope.

I hacksawed the barrel off at 16.25 inches,
down from what I think had been originally a 22 inch barrel.

Of course I lost the front sight but I didn't care because I knew I was going to scope this gun.

I cleaned up the muzzle cut with a file, then a sanding block, and then touched up the white bare metal with a black magic marker (and yes it needs retouching about every couple years.)

I put a cheap fixed 4-power deer rifle scope on it. If I thought that I would be using it a lot below 50 yards I would probably have opted for an air rifle scope with adjustable parallax but I figured I would mostly shoot this gun between 50 and 150 yds, so a standard rifle scope, 1" tube, 4X power, with a fixed parallax of 100 yards works for me.

(PS: the parallax error at 25 yards is only something like half an inch and you can deal with that by making sure your eye is centered behind the rear lens.)


I liked the final result a lot, and I ended up giving this gun to my best friend who didn't own a 22 rifle at the time. We've both taken it out and shot it a bunch over the last 20 years.

PS: Doing this to a more modern 22 rifle that comes with a hollow plastic stock will probably save you some weight compared to mine, which is solid wood.

BTW, there's no logical reason for me to have used see-through scope rings... they were the only kind of clamp-on rings for grooved receivers that I happened to have handy that day!
I didn't bother driving to a sporting goods store to get the right rings.

 

[GAgunLAWbooklet]

PS: That's a homemade sling which is really just a carrying strap, not a shooting sling used for support.
It is elastic and elastic slings makes the gun so much more comfortable to carry, but you can only use it on lightweight guns like this one.

 

[WildBillHimself]

That is a cool, handy rifle and you've given me something to think about.
Thanks!

 

[JSoko]

during the 60's we made our slings from an inner tube
I wonder if one of my old friends made/invented the rubber Ultimate Gun Sling