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Better youth 22 than CZ 457 scout?

mrtoyz

Armchair Commando
Full Member
Minuteman
Jul 11, 2009
1,496
986
Western WA
Haven’t been in the 22 market in a bit. Looking for the ideal youth 22. CZ457 scout, 16” barrel, iron sights , 12” lop seems about right. Even threaded! Better options?
 
Buy a standard wood stocked CZ .22, cut the stock down with a saw, remount the pad, use it and add the stock back on as the kid grows.
 
The Scout was not threaded when I bought one for my oldest son over a decade ago, but it is still in use with my youngest son, who is a first grader. My wife, who is only 5'2", also learned on it. It is a great size for kids and accurate.

It's still heavy for little kindergartners or first graders, though. After watching my youngest struggle to hold it up, I actually set up a couple of sawhorses with a piece of plywood on top, and built him a position at almost the right height for him standing up, with my sandbag on top. He really liked plinking empty Campbell's soup cans from that position.

With it threaded, I would buy it in a heartbeat. It would be even better to shoot in the backyard with a suppressor.
 
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There's also the Henry Golden Boy Youth if you want lever action.

I bought a scout myself because I got a great deal on it from Sportsmans but now it's in a KRG chassis. I will swap it back to the Scout stock when the kids are ready to learn.

I shot it suppressed a few times with CCI Quiet (710fps) and all I heard was the click of the trigger.
 
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It's a fantastic youth rifle. It was my original plan to start with the youth, then when my son outgrew it, I was going to re-barrel it and put it in a full length chassis or stock.

But then he got kind of attached to it in it's youth form and wanted to keep it.

So I ended up buying another 457 and putting it in to a Chassis.

I say, save yourself that extra step/cost. Buy a regular 457 and put it in an XLR Element Chassis and then they'll never outgrow it.
 
Hadn’t thought about the Henry Lever Action. Good idea. Maybe I’ll do that one 2nd.
As I remember, the 12”’ish LOP isn’t bad for the average lady either. Unless someone comes up with a better option than the Scout. I think that’ll be it.
Love that I can change chamberings and stocks. Kinda wondering how I ended up with Tikka T1x’s in 22 and 17 and didn’t even consider the CZ at the time for myself. lol
 
It's a fantastic youth rifle. It was my original plan to start with the youth, then when my son outgrew it, I was going to re-barrel it and put it in a full length chassis or stock.

But then he got kind of attached to it in it's youth form and wanted to keep it.

So I ended up buying another 457 and putting it in to a Chassis.

I say, save yourself that extra step/cost. Buy a regular 457 and put it in an XLR Element Chassis and then they'll never outgrow it.
It depends on the kid's age. The regular 457 is great, but they need to be a teenager to use it, as it is too big for little ones.
 
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I started both of my kids on a 452 Scout, perfect starter rifle. my eldest easily graduated from there to a 452 American when my son took over the Scout.
 
It depends on the kid's age. The regular 457 is great, but they need to be a teenager to use it, as it is too big for little ones.

This is why I'm saying to pull it from it's OEM stock and put it in a chassis with a really short LOP.

The XLR can be configured with a very short LOP that would work for young kids
 
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I started both of my kids on a 452 Scout, perfect starter rifle. my eldest easily graduated from there to a 452 American when my son took over the Scout.
You made me go look it up, and I think the 452 Scout is what I purchased so many years ago, which explains why there is no threaded barrel. Sorry if I unintentionally confused anybody.