TargetTalk

One of my daughters started shooting in January of this year with our local small bore youth program and fell in love with the sport. Her coaches are truly amazing and by the end of April was shooting 530's on her 3p with her coaches Anschutz Match 54 rifle.

Learning about air rifle and the benefit of being able to practice at home we have been looking for months to try to find a good used air rifle which she won't outgrow too soon. This is where I'd like to hear what others have done or suggest with a rapidly improving young (14 y/o) shooter who is very driven to excel at this sport. With 4 kids I unfortunately can't just go buy one off the shelf so ideally I'm looking at used. I have looked at a couple Anschutz 2002 air rifles but that's about it.
Thanks

The 2002CA is a great rifle for a beginning precision shooter.
Both my daughters shot that rifle.

I've been told that Anschutz considers it a "Tank". It should last forever, although if you get one you don't know when the last service was, I'd recommend you send it off to someone like Joe Hein to have it serviced and possibly have the regulator replaced ... that way it'll be just like new.

It is a bit heavier than some of the newer rifles (Walther LG400, etc) but easily handled by a 14 year old. My youngest started shooting it at 13 ... she's 21 now and just switched to the lighter Walther.

BUT ... eventually they will want a new gun!

You did not tell us your daughter's age. My daughter is 11 and I shoot a lot of air rifle. I have struggled finding a rifle she could shoot. Recently I figured out she could shoot a CZ200 very well. She is hands off in that she can load and shoot it without my assistance. With other air rifles I had to help load, etc. It gave her such a confidence boost she shot her first match with me a couple weeks ago and wants to go shoot another match with me on Saturday. The stock is more kid oriented but works pretty good for an adult (in fact I bought 2 CZ200 rifles for both my daughter and my wife). They are also very accurate. They would be great for back yard practice, or competition, and not terribly expensive. Good luck in your search.

Two other guns to consider for a smaller shooter are the fwb p70 jr and wslther 300 jr. Both shoot as accurate as anything yet are lighter snd simpler. Weight is easy to add as they grow and positions get better. My 5'2" 13 yr old shoots the walthr 300 with 3-4 # weight added. Wants more but shes at legal max

Question, how tall is she, and what is her Length of Pull (LoP)?
The reason for this question is, will she fit a full size rifle, or will she need to shoot a junior size rifle?
I have seen some pretty tall young teens, so I will not assume her height.

I am 5'4" and shoot a FWB P70-jr. The junior size rifle fits me better than a full size rifle. In fact my coach said, if he could shorten the LoP even shorter (for me), he would. He had the LoP at the minimum of 11-3/4 inch. And this is without the extra bulk of a shooting jacket. Since I shoot for fun, not serious competition, I don't have a jacket. Plus my waistline is not constant :-(

Having said that about a junior size rifle, if she is anywhere close to fitting a full size rifle, I would go with a full size rifle. Then she won't outgrow the rifle. Unfortunately, I don't know how to properly size a rifle, my coach did the stock adjustments for me, by watching how I held and fit the rifle. Also full size rifles are either RH or LH, most junior rifles are ambi. And to me, what ambi means is, NEITHER RH nor LH. The pistol grip on the few ambi target rifles that I have tried (including mine) are just not as comfortable as the pistol grip of a true RH stock. And mentally, for me, that makes a difference.

Tip: Depending on where you live, you may want to consider wood or carbon-fiber vs metal stock. Where the ambient temp is HIGH, the metal stock can get too hot to handle. And burning your hand accidentally touching the hot metal is not fun.

I've shot the Anschutz 2002CA, and like it.
I would say any of the tier 1 rifles will give her good service.

Next, you should get her a properly fitted shooting jacket.
A full size rifle is about 11 pounds. Without a shooting jacket, that is a lot of weight to hold, and hard on the lower back.

gud luk

Hammerli AR-20. Super adjustable.

The Length of Pull (LOP) is what you need to look at and the average is about 11 or 12". That is if LOP is an issue. The Walther LG300Jr has the shortest that I have been able to find. The FWB Jr I think is about the same LOP, but if your trying to avoid buying another rifle later these may not be the rifles to buy. If she gets good enough to shot outside of the US then she may run a foul of the new proposed rule change which will make any stock that extends below 130mm illegal. The new rule may virtually make all the present and many past wood stock rifles illegal for competitions outside of the US (assuming USAS exempts them for us in the US). If LOP is not a real issue and weight is an issue then I would call Neal Steep at ISS and he can put an FWB Junior action which consists of an aluminum sleeved barrel instead of the steel sleeve and without the heavier barrel weight which the front sight sets on. Neal did this for Mitchel Van Patten when he was 12 and is still using the same rifle now that he is attending the University of Nevada Reno. Mitchel was small as they come when he was 12.

Is she going to shoot 3P or just standing with the air gun? If 3P, I would make sure that the gun is easily changed over between the various positions. If standing only, then the change over is not as much a worry. In either case, I think that you should buy a gun that she wont outgrow anytime soon. You mentioned the Anschutz 2002. That is a fine gun as long as it is a 2002CA, with the compressed air tank. One of our juniors has one that she took to college and regularly shoots in the 580s with it. Another interesting tidbit about a 2002CA is that it uses the same 5018 trigger assembly as the later 54 actions. If she also shoots an Anschutz small bore, each gun can be the emergency replacement trigger for the other.