So my 8 year old daughter has been shooting .22’s for a few years now and I introduced her to my AR late last year. She of course informed me she wanted one of her own. The biggest thing I had to overcome was the weight. My rifle is not not too heavy and is pretty bare bones medium contour midlenth barrel with only the only fluff being a Vortex red dot and a TLR1-HL, but obviously for a petite kiddo it isn’t exactly light. I knew I needed to aim for a lightweight rifle that she could actually shoot without always having to have it supported on a bench or rest. I started out with Aero receivers with the lower being a standard receiver and the upper lacking the forward assist, a Midwest Industries G3 Lightweight ML rail, Faxon 16" midlength pencil barrel, H2 buffer, SLR Rifleworks Sentry gas block, Battle Arms Development stock, Vortex Venom 3moa red dot, a Dead Air muzzle brake (suppressor been in jail for almost a year…), and a spare 2 stage trigger I had sitting in the parts bin. Overall with a 10 round pmag it comes in at 5.6lbs. After getting the gas tuned and with the brake it is a very soft shooter and the kiddo loves it. It is def fun to see the looks on some peoples faces when my 8 year old is touching off a legit AR and grinning ear to ear. I could have shaved some more weight, but it became a matter of cost versus weight savings.
