Keystone Crickett 22 LR Youth Single Shot 16.12 in. Pink – Superb Easy First Rifle

Description

The Keystone Crickett 22 LR is a first rifle, and it has been most of America’s first rifle for about thirty years. Single shot, bolt action, three pounds, thirty and a half inches long, with a pink synthetic stock.

The Keystone Crickett 22 LR is not a scaled down adult rifle. The length of pull, the weight and the bolt throw are all sized for a child, which is why it works and why an adult will find it comically small.

What the Keystone Crickett 22 LR gives you

• .22 Long Rifle, single shot, no magazine
• 16.12 inch blued barrel
• Blued stainless steel receiver
• Pink fixed synthetic stock
• Sights fitted
• Swivel studs fitted
• Three pounds
• 30.5 inches overall
• 1:16 twist, right hand
• Hard case and trigger lock included
• Crickett part number KSA2220

Why size is the whole point of the Keystone Crickett 22 LR

• A three pound rifle can be held up steady by a child who cannot hold an adult .22 at all
• Thirty and a half inches means the muzzle is where a small shooter can see it
• A short bolt throw is workable by a small hand without shifting grip
• Nothing about the rifle has to be adapted, so nothing gets learned wrong
• A .22 at this weight has no recoil worth the name, so nobody develops a flinch

Crickett KSA2220 specifications

• Manufacturer part number: KSA2220
• Caliber: .22 Long Rifle
• Action: bolt action, single shot
• Capacity: one round, no magazine
• Barrel length: 16.12 inches, blued
• Receiver: blued stainless steel
• Stock: fixed synthetic, pink
• Sights: fitted
• Swivel studs: fitted
• Rate of twist: 1:16
• Overall length: 30.5 inches
• Weight: 3 pounds
• Hand: right
• Included: hard case and trigger lock

The Keystone Crickett 22 LR comes with a trigger lock and a hard case

Zanders records a black case with a pink logo and a trigger lock as part of the package. On a first rifle that is not a marketing extra, it is the two things the gun most needs on the day it comes home: somewhere to keep it and a way to make it inoperable while it is stored. Neither is a substitute for a proper safe, and the lock and the ammunition should live apart from each other and apart from the rifle, but having them in the box means there is no gap between buying the rifle and being able to store it responsibly.

Single shot is the teaching feature, not a limitation

There is no magazine. Zanders records the magazine capacity as zero and no detachable magazine, because the Keystone Crickett 22 LR is loaded one round at a time by hand. For a rifle a child is learning on, that is the entire design argument. A new shooter has to think about each shot, an adult can see exactly what is in the chamber, and there is no second round waiting behind the first. It also slows the whole session down, which is what you want when someone is learning where the muzzle points.

Hearing protection that lets a child still hear you

This matters more on a youth rifle than on anything else we sell. A child in passive earmuffs cannot hear an adult correcting their grip or telling them to stop. Electronic muffs amplify speech and cut the shot, so instruction still gets through. Caldwell make youth sized electronic muffs in hot coral and neon blue, and they are the single best thirty dollars you will spend alongside a first rifle. Adult muffs do not fit a small head properly and leak at the seal.

Ammunition and optics for the Keystone Crickett 22 LR

A single shot bolt gun will fire anything, including the quiet subsonic and standard velocity loads a semi-automatic will not cycle, which is worth knowing when the shooter is small and new. Armscor 36 grain is the .22 we keep deepest, and Winchester Wildcat comes in a 1,500 round jug. If you want to fit a scope, Crickett make a 3/8 inch scope mount base kit for these receivers.

Where the Crickett goes next

Crickett build a newer generation of the same idea: the Crickett G2 in pink and in black. When a young shooter outgrows single shot .22, the Crickett Precision with a bipod is the target step up, and the Crickett 20 gauge Junior is the same youth-sized approach in a shotgun.

Worth knowing before you buy

• Three pounds, 30.5 inches overall. It is built for a child and an adult will find it very small.
• Sights are fitted. Swivel studs are fitted. No recoil pad, and none needed in .22.
• The Keystone Crickett 22 LR is a right hand action with a 1:16 twist.
• This is a rifle for supervised use. A first rifle is a teaching tool and it belongs in an adult’s hands between sessions, locked, with the ammunition somewhere else.
• The .22 Long Rifle cartridge is standardized by SAAMI, and Keystone publish the range at keystonesportingarmsllc.com.

Why the Keystone Crickett 22 LR earns its place

• Genuinely child sized rather than a shortened adult rifle
• Single shot, which is the right action to learn on
• A trigger lock and a case in the box with every Keystone Crickett 22 LR
• Light enough that a small shooter can hold it steady unsupported
• Crickett have been building this rifle long enough that parts and support are never a problem

This is for a child learning to shoot, with an adult beside them. It suits a parent or grandparent who wants the first rifle to be the right size rather than something borrowed and too big. It is a poor choice for an adult, for volume plinking, or for anyone who wants to shoot fast, and none of that is a criticism because the Keystone Crickett 22 LR is not trying to do any of it. Bought for what it is, it is one of the few products in this catalogue that will be remembered in forty years.