Gentlemen,

Thank you very much for your comments and especially for the messages of congratulations on my daughter's birth. Yes, it is somewhat late in the day for me and to a lesser extent for my wife as friends here who have met us know, but we are excited at the hunting and shooting possibilities ahead.

Unfortunately, my Kodak 1273 will only let me upload pics to the Kodak Gallery at the moment and not to my PC for some reason. I hope to sort the problem with picture uploads shortly and post them here.

Tinker,

I will buy a rifle from Steve but it will be for myself. I do live in a shotgun and ML only state and he does make some of the most beautiful MLs out there. Sending you a PM after this.

DoubleD,

Beautiful pics! Can't wait for my little girl to be as old as your granddaughter, though that would make me considerably older than I already am.

There's something about fathers / grandfathers and girls hunting and shooting together, isn't there?

9.3x57,

Thanks. Hope to move out of Ill-Annoy asw soon as I sell my house - and I know its not going to be easy in the present economy. Bad!

BigMaxx,

The 69 A is a 22 lr and it is very accurate though the metal needs refinishing and it could do with a better stock than the heavy target stock that it has on at the moment. I also have a Marlin 60 in 22 lr and have just told a friend that I shall be buying a WInchester 52 that he is selling . . . The idea of building a 17 HM 2 on the Brno action is because it would be a little different and since I don;t have any rifles in that caliber.

Huvius,

I don't have a 69 unfortunately, but I do have a 69 A that is nice though it is heavy as it is the target model. Haven't tried 22 shorts in it but I have a huge quantity of 22 lr ammo and I do get that cheap from Fleet Farm in Appleton or Kenosha when I visit Wisconsin.

Michaelj,

Thanks for the suggestions, but should I spend so much money now when my daughter will outgrow any work that I may do if I take the full blown custom route? She will get this at just 5.

John303,

I want my girl to learn to use a rimfire because I am nto personally sure that a BB gun teaches kids to shoot well . . . Just my experience as I started shooting a 22 lr at 9 back in the days when Moses wore shorts.

Farhan,

I'm not much of a shotgunner myself - have two cased A-5s which I shoot pheasants with. A Watson Bros gun from Michael Louca won't be my option unless I win the Powerball.

And two handguns - both 38 revolvers, one Iver Johnson and one Colt Detective Special. Not sure that I want my girl to start shooting a handgun over a rifle, though - just an old rpejudice, I guess.

WyoJoe,

Good to hear from you after a long time, my friend. Congratulations to your daughter on a fantastic choice - if my daughter asks me for a rifle when she graduates, I'll die a happy man.

Thanks, everyone, again, for your suggestions. My daughter will get all my guns when it is time for me to go. That said, I have some ideas now thanks to all suggestions here and shall post the pics as soon as I can along with my final decision. I am really grateful to everyone who posted here and to anyone who will post in the future.

Good hunting!