I'm tired of her dragging me out of bed at all hours to go blast an armadillo that's laying waste to her flower beds. I have a 39A that I keep by the front door, and it's got a red lens light on it. Great for armadillos at night, but too heavy for the wife. So...I need something that is: light, cute (this matters to her), scoped, and safe. Particularly want it to be safe. No semiautos. So should I go single shot? But she might need a followup shot. Bolt action? Heck, I just don't know, so any suggestions from ya'll are welcome. I'm kinda stuck and can't decide what to do.

http://www.ruger.com/products/1022DE/specSheets/11158.html

Pink Cricket. I don't think there all that cute, but understand why some do. Any experience with revolver's? I have the Ruger SP101 in .22LR. It is extremely reliable and accurate.

Only other thing I can suggest, is take your bride to BPS, Cabela's, etc, and let her handle every .22 firearm they have in the store.

I thought about the cricket, but it's a single shot. She has several pistols, but probably couldn't hit an armadillo. As for going to cabela's, I sort of wanted this to be a surprise.

This

And one more. How is a semi auto not safe? All the same rules apply to it as a bolt action, pump, or lever.

A semi in the hands of my wife makes me a little nervous.

If you are willing to swap the stock, I would say Savage Mark II FVSR 22LR. It's a good, inexpensive, accurate, bolt action rifle. It ships with a 5 round magazine, but you can get 10 round mags for it. It also comes with a picatinny rail already on it (no iron sights) and is threaded for a suppressor if you want to go that route in the future. The only bad part is that they put a cheap plastic stock on it that is way too low for a any cheek weld, more like a chin weld. You could go with a kydex check weld bolted to the original stock and get by. Something like this: http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00I3J8ERQ?psc=1

In the mean time, go get some powdered Tide laundry detergent and spread it in the yard like a fertilizer. Kills the grubs that the armadillos are eating.

Oh yeah, and hydrodip the stock to make it look cute.

Cz 452, 453, 455. They have synthetic stocked models if you want to dip it, or nice wood stocks for the classic "cuteness".

Ruger American bolt that takes 10/22 mags

Browning BL-22

A beautiful gun with a short 33 degree lever throw, very easy to operate. Light, accurate, won't pinch yer fingers as the trigger swings down with the lever. Not nearly as long or heavy as the Marlin.

Only problem is that you'll be fighting a distinct feeling of jealousy... Trade your Marlin in on it to offset the cost, maybe?

The finish on both the metal and the wood is top-notch, outstanding. Go over to the Browning, and you'll never look back.

Browning BL-22 Grade 1



They also make a micro version with a shorter barrel and stock, if required. Depends on the girl.

Don't get me wrong, I like the Marlin too but this addresses the problems she's having with your gun. Let her shoulder one, be sure to bring your bucks with you when you do.

Then you need to spend some time with her shooting cans.

But have a little faith in the wife. Our ladies can do a whole lot more than we give them credit for some times. I used to think the same kind of things about my wife. Now she outshoots me some days.

I've had her shooting off and on for years. Still...I don't feel that confident she's clear on how guns work. The last Dillo she shot, she thumbed back the hammer on the 39A and shot it, but didn't kill it right away. The Dillo ran and she told me that the rifle didn't fire the second time. Hmmm, so I asked what she did on that second shot. She said she thumbed the hammer back again and pulled the trigger but it didn't fire. Whew!

So they make that BL22 in a micro version? I'll look into that. And then I'll re-explain about that lever thingy and how it works.

Ooooo, that micro is cute and light and should work just fine for her. I'll call Cabelas tomorrow.

Marlin Xt-22 bolts with synthetic stocks are very light. You could paint the stock whatever cute color you wanted. I guess that basically goes for all the modern bolt 22s. I just prefer tube fed.

See! If she had that semi auto, it woulda gone bang the second time she pulled the trigger

I have a marlin bolt action with a scope. Great rifle. 15 or so rounds in the tube and only one shot at a time.

Get her a 10/22 and only load 2 rounds in the magazine. She can fire twice and no more. Actually the practice suggestion is the best idea. You always needs to get familiar with whatever you use; rifle, pistol or sledgehammer.

I'm pretty sure that we'll go with the BL22 Micro. Sounds like just the perfect rifle, and SHE thinks so too. Now...If I can just find one in Waco.

Thanks for all your suggestions. We'll dedicate the next armadillo to ya'll.

Deciding on the BL-22 Micro Midas 22lr was easy. Finding one was not easy. Called all over Waco and was told that nobody had one, and they couldn't even order one. Dang. Well, I fell back on a trusty old gun source and called Carter's Country in Houston (Treschwig location). They had one, but only one. Price was Ok so I bought it over the phone. Wife is happy. So am I. Now I have to decide what scope to put on it. I'll probably go fixed 4 power or maybe a 2-7. Prob won't paint it pink...

we have a pink S&W 15-22 in our house. It's been awesome, never a malfunction. We keep some Aguila Colibri 22lr ammo in it to make it a super quiet, bolt-ish like action, squirrel killer. It'll fire semi-auto with regular bullets though for range use. It's adjustable too so the whole family can share. Also, it's super light.

That is sorta tactical cute, for lack of a better term. That might be a bit complicated, or at least more so than the lever action.

That would be my wife's choice, in reality I know she would still make me get up and do the shooting. The she would tell everyone, "Look what my husband killed with my pink camo rifle".

To me the clear choice for starting off on a 22lr rifle is a Ruger 10/22. Don't even have to get a scope initially if you don't want to. Personally, I would stick with the cheapest, plain jane model you can find. It's literally has the most aftermarket parts of any rifle so if you fancy the rifle platform, then you or your wife can make it look like whatever you want. If not, "as-is" is most certainly a very usable rifle for many life times.

However, I high suggest a trigger job. we sent our to the following and have been supremely happy with the results. It was super affordable, easy and made a noticeable difference. Totally worth it to us.

http://brimstonegunsmithing.com/products/tier-3-basic-ruger-1022-trigger-work