Henry's New Mini Bolt Youth G2 .22 Rimfire Rifle

The concept of a youth rifle has been around for a long time, going back for at least 135 years. For example, in Remington: America’s Oldest Gunmaker, written by Roy Marcot and edited by Shooting Times’s very own Editor-in-Chief Joel J. Hutchcroft (copyright 1998), the author writes, “The term boy’s rifle has the connotation of a single-shot, child-sized, inexpensive firearm weighing less than five pounds and chambered for .22-caliber rimfire ammunition. Remington’s first true ‘Boy’s rifle’ was the Remington No. 4 rolling block rifle introduced in 1890.” The No. 4 rolling block was manufactured from 1890 until 1932, and it turned out to be one of the company’s best-selling models. Other major gunmakers may have had their own youth rifles even earlier.

Regardless, Henry Repeating Arms currently offers the new Mini Bolt Youth G2 single-shot bolt-action .22 rimfire rifle in two configurations. One comes with a black synthetic stock, and the other sports a synthetic stock finished in bright Muddy Girl pink camo. Both versions fire .22 Short, .22 Long, and .22 Long Rifle cartridges. We here at Shooting Times think these guns make the perfect platforms for teaching youngsters (boys and girls) the golden rules of safe gunhandling.

Speaking of the golden rules of safe gunhandling, it’s never the wrong time to review them, so here they are. We encourage readers to always use them, especially when introducing a new shooter to the joys provided by the shooting sports.

Rules of Safe Gunhandling

• Always keep the gun pointed in a safe direction.
• Always keep your finger off the trigger until ready to shoot.
• Always keep the gun unloaded until ready to use.
• Know your target and what is beyond it.
• Know how to use the gun safely.
• Be sure the gun is safe to operate.
• Use only the correct ammunition for your gun.
• Wear eye and ear protection as appropriate.
• Never use alcohol, over-the-counter drugs, or prescription drugs before or while shooting.
• Store guns so they are not accessible to unauthorized persons.

The Mini Bolt Youth G2 Up Close

Henry’s Mini Bolt Youth G2 is made in America. Like I said earlier, it’s a bolt-action single-shot rifle. The receiver is stainless steel, and it is just 0.88 inch thick and 3.64 inches long. For comparison’s sake, the receiver of my old Savage Mark I single-shot .22 rimfire target rifle is 0.94 inch thick and 7.8 inches long. Of course, that rifle is not a youth gun.

The Mini Bolt Youth G2’s barrel is 16.25 inches long, and the diameter at the muzzle is 0.62 inch. The muzzle is crowned. The barrel’s diameter at the receiver also measures 0.62 inch.

A green fiber-optic front sight is attached to the barrel with a slot-head screw. The adjustable rear sight is dovetailed to the barrel. It has two red/orange fiber-optic dots, a square notch, and a grooved black face. The sights are made by Williams, and they are that company’s Fire Sights. They are easily visible in various lighting conditions, except of course in darkness.

The rifle’s bolt has a flat bolt handle. And it also has a cocking knob on the rear end. Once the rifle is loaded, the bolt is locked down, and the two-position thumb safety is in the “Safe” position (more about the safety in a moment), the cocking knob can be pulled fully to the rear until the sear locks into the firing pin. You can feel and hear the engagement. The rifle is now ready to fire and will do so once the thumb safety is set to the “Fire” position.

The rifle can be decocked, but Henry says extreme caution must be used when removing a live cartridge from the chamber. Here’s the recommended procedure:

First, point the gun in a safe direction. Move the thumb safety to the “Fire” position. Grasp the cocking knob with one hand and pull it back. There will be some resistance. During this process, keep your hand firmly on the cocking knob, holding it back at all times. Hold the cocking knob back and use your other hand to depress the trigger. Depressing the trigger disengages the cocking knob/firing pin. Slowly move the cocking knob forward slightly and then take your finger off the trigger. Keep your hand firmly on the cocking knob and very slowly bring the cocking knob forward into a resting position. You can now remove your hand from the cocking knob. To unload the rifle, rotate the bolt handle up and pull the bolt rearward to open the action. Remove the live cartridge from the action.

About the thumb safety: It is conveniently located on the left-hand side of the receiver. It toggles forward and rearward. The “Safe” position is rearward, and the “Fire” position is forward. When in the “Fire” position, a bright red dot is visible on the left side of the receiver. Moving the safety is audible and tactile.

The rifle’s trigger is a simple affair. Our sample’s trigger pull measured 4 pounds, 14 ounces on average. That’s for five measurements with an RCBS trigger pull scale, and overall, there were 10 ounces of variation between those five measurements. There was a bit of take-up, and letoff felt a bit spongy, for lack of a better word. This is certainly not a match-grade trigger, but you wouldn’t expect one on a youth rifle, now would you? The fingerpiece is smooth and measures 0.16 inch wide at its midpoint.

The diminutive aspect of the Mini Bolt Youth G2 is accentuated by the petite one-piece synthetic riflestock. The length of pull is a scant 11.5 inches. Total length of the stock is 20.5 inches. The height of the checkered buttplate is 3.85 inches. The grip and the fore-end feature molded-in checkering. The fore-end is just 1.05 inches thick at the front where it meets the barrel, and then it flares out in the gripping area to 1.96 inches at its widest point. It tapers back down to 1.55 inches thick about 1.5 inches in front of the trigger guard. The trigger guard is molded into the stock, and the buttstock has a raised comb.

The Mini Bolt Youth G2 measures 30.25 inches overall and weighs 3 pounds, 4 ounces.

How the Mini Bolt Youth G2 Shoots

Despite the less-than-stellar trigger pull, the Mini Bolt Youth G2 was nicely accurate. The results of my accuracy evaluation are listed in the accompanying chart, but the overall accuracy average was 0.91 inch for three, five-shot groups with eight .22 LR loads fired at 25 yards. Six of the eight loadings averaged under an inch. All loads tended to shoot low by about an inch, and slightly to the right. I especially appreciated the Williams Fire Sights because they were easy to see and easy to align properly with the targets.

My best accuracy came with the CCI Quiet-22 Semi-Auto 45-grain RN loading. It averaged 0.50 inch. Its average velocity was 851 fps measured 12 feet from the gun’s muzzle with a Competition Electronics ProChrono Digital chronograph.

Second place in terms of accuracy also went to a CCI load. This one was the Clean-22 High Velocity 40-grain RN, and its average accuracy was 0.65 inch. Its velocity averaged 1,109 fps. Two loadings tied for third place accuracy-wise, and they averaged 0.70 inch. The CCI Mini Mag 40-grain CPRN’s velocity averaged 1,175 fps, and the SK Standard Plus 40-grain RN’s velocity averaged 1,011 fps.

Wrapping up the loads that averaged under an inch, Federal’s #711 Gold Medal 40-grain RN loading averaged 0.75 inch for accuracy and 1,099 fps for velocity, and Norma’s TAC-22 40-grain RN averaged 0.80 inch for accuracy and 999 fps for velocity.

I have to admit that I had almost forgotten how much fun it is to plink away with a .22 rimfire single-shot rifle. After spending a pleasant morning at the shooting range with Henry’s Mini Bolt Youth G2, I’m thinking I need to break out that old Savage Mark I target rifle I mentioned earlier and see just what kind of accuracy I can achieve with it. But that’ll have to wait for another day.

Being that the Mini Bolt Youth G2 is a single-shot rifle, it is capable of shooting .22 Short and .22 Long chamberings as well as .22 LR. I didn’t have any .22 Short ammo or .22 Long ammo, which are both getting harder and harder to find at my local gunshop these days, so I didn’t test-fire the gun with those chamberings. That’s probably not much of an issue here, unless of course you want to start your youngster out with lower-velocity ammo. As it was, the .22 LR loadings I fired didn’t have all that much felt recoil or muzzle jump, especially the standard-velocity types.

I think the Henry Mini Bolt Youth G2 is a great gun with which to start a youngster in the shooting sports. It’s sized just right for a kid, and it’s nicely accurate. Its retail price of $335 isn’t too shabby either. 

MINI BOLT YOUTH G2 SPECS

• MANUFACTURER: Henry Repeating Arms Co. henryrepeatingarms.com
• TYPE: Bolt-action single shot
• CALIBER: .22 S/L/LR
• CARTRIDGE CAPACITY: 1 round
• BARREL: 16.25 in.
• OVERALL LENGTH: 30.25 in.
• WEIGHT, EMPTY: 3.25 lbs.
• STOCK: Synthetic
• LENGTH OF PULL: 11.5 in.
• FINISH: Matte stainless-steel action and barrel, black or Muddy Girl camo stock
• SIGHTS: Fully adjustable rear with two red/orange fiber-optic dots, green fiber-optic front
• TRIGGER: 4.88-lb. pull (as tested)
• SAFETY: Manual cocking knob on bolt, manual two-position thumb safety
• MSRP: $335