8 year old boy wants a "real" hunting rifle

[sixonetonoffun]

308 is what my girls started with. Definitely cost of shooting was a contrbuting factor. But they were a bit older and had gone through hunters safety. Never regretted the choice. May not be as flat a shooter as a 6mm - 7mm but really inside 300 yards it performs at the same ballistics as a 7mm rm and nearly any other cartidge you can name.

[tufrthnails]

Just FYI while I was looking I found some pretty sweet prices on Trophy Hunter Packages here: http://palmettostatearmory.com/index.php/firearms/rifles/savage.html

[tufrthnails]

Don't take me to the flogging table! I got my son a Ruger American Compact .243 win. Primarily because he liked the trigger so much better then the stock axis trigger. But I also didn't need the weaver scope that came with the savage. So basically for a little less I got the rifle with a knock-off accu-trigger but without a scope and rings, both of which I have plenty for his skill level of shooting. The thing that really surprised me is that he noticed that trigger was much better. Now he doesn't know that I actually bought the rifle I made up that I just couldn't afford it yet and he would have to wait until his B-day to see if I could get the money together that we were just going to see what fit and felt good. Side note momma is pissed.....She was not ready for her little baby to be shooting a big boy caliber! Now if I could just get a buck to walk out in front of him this December when he goes to the camp with me.

[sixonetonoffun]

Thats very cool!!

[JASmith]

He should be very happy with that rifle!

One can reduce the recoil even further by going with one of the lighter monometal (GMX, TTSX, etc.) bullets and loading with muzzle velocity so that the bullet is traveling about 2100 fps at 300 yards. Even so, we assume that the bulk of his medium game shots over the next few years will be under 150 yards. These shorter ranges will give plenty of margin for bullet function.

Should he be interested in varmint shooting too, then go for a load that produces similar or a tad less recoil.

As he develops confidence in the rifle, he can graduate to full-power loads in those lighter pills and a tad, later, the 100gr classic hunting bullets. BTW the monometal bullets are likely to be better game harvesters that the 100 gr lead core bullets, with the possible exception of partition bullets.

[tufrthnails]

I picked up some 58gr hornaday Vmax bullets to load after I shoot the 95gr I have left over from last year. I am going to start him at the range on them. I haven't looked at the book yet to see what powder they have data for kinda hoping I have something on the shelf I can use for now. I know I have a can of hogdgon superformance powder. My cousin called me because he got his butt chewed walking in the door with it in his hands. I had sent it home with him to put in his safe since my son loves sniffing out presents. We got a good laugh at her expense. Then got accused of hiding the purchase from my wife, which wasn't the case at all so we laughed about that as well (they know us really well).

[fgw_in_fla]

Ruger?
Nice rifle. I'm sure he'll do well with it.

And we'll all try not to let him know his father is a traitor.

Ruger...... Hmmph.

Check your PM's.

[tufrthnails]

:cool: PM's checked and thanks.

[shoalwater]

I'm building my boys (6 & 4) a 6x45 for the simple fact you get the killing power of the larger 6mm billets but felt recoil of the 223 case. Plus I have a ton of 223 brass and quick run through the FL die and you have brass ready to go.

[tufrthnails]

I'm building my boys (6 & 4) a 6x45 for the simple fact you get the killing power of the larger 6mm billets but felt recoil of the 223 case. Plus I have a ton of 223 brass and quick run through the FL die and you have brass ready to go.

This is an interesting thought. I am curious what kind of velocities and energy you are expecting to get out of them. There is a huge difference in the amount of powder behind a .243 win and a .223 rem. My time and Budget at this point doesn't allow for "building" him a rifle, but that is still a very interesting build to me.

[shoalwater]

I plan to load 87gr Berger match grade VLD Hunting bullets or hornady 85gr IB's, should be around 2750 out of a 20" barrel. Plenty of energy for the short shots they would be taking on game, but still fast enough to let them shoot steel out to 1000 yds as they get good enough.

[JASmith]

I plan to load 87gr Berger match grade VLD Hunting bullets or hornady 85gr IB's, should be around 2750 out of a 20" barrel. Plenty of energy for the short shots they would be taking on game, but still fast enough to let them shoot steel out to 1000 yds as they get good enough.
Good choices for the start of their hunting careers!

Start with the one that the rifle likes better unless both produce excellent groups.

There may be value in looking ahead to larger animals too. The VLD bullets, while gaining a lot of interest, do tend to break up on shoulder bone sooner than the bonded bullets. Hence they are fine for lighter deer weighing less than about 125 lb. The 85gr IB will take one comfortably into 200 - 250 lb class deer. As they gain experience, try going with one of the 75 to 90 grain all-copper hunting bullets will make the rifle good for all North American deer.

Go here for a discussion on bullet performance: http:// (http://http://shootersnotes.com/ideal-bullet-weight/"]Ideal Bullet Weight)[B]Ideal Bullet Weigh (http://shootersnotes.com/ideal-bullet-weight/)

[shoalwater]

Those 80gr Barnes TTSX kind of caught my eye as well. I turned a buddy onto the 55gr TSX's last year for his boy to shoot out of his 223 and the results have been great. The all copper bullets are great on game, just to expensive to plink with. I may just have to develop a hunting load with the Barnes and a long range steel banging load with the Bergers.

[JASmith]

Those 80gr Barnes TTSX kind of caught my eye as well. I turned a buddy onto the 55gr TSX's last year for his boy to shoot out of his 223 and the results have been great. The all copper bullets are great on game, just to expensive to plink with. I may just have to develop a hunting load with the Barnes and a long range steel banging load with the Bergers.
If you have the range, sight both to the same POI at 300 - 400 yards. They should track close enough that you can use the same wind correction and sight picture from the muzzle out to 200 -300 yards. After that, you'll likely lase the target anyway, so differences in drop and drift way out there wo't matter as much.

You can do the same with two different rifles. See the Paired Rifles (http://shootersnotes.com/articles/paired-rifles/) discussion for more thoughts on the topic. The principles for paired rifles work equally well for different bullets in the same caliber. Ensuring a common point of impact at 200 - 300 yards generally keeps even fairly different bullets and calibers in the sweet spot for medium game over all normal hunting ranges.

[Zoomworms]

Here the link to the thread on the rifle I just built for my boy in 6.8 SPC (http://www.savageshooters.com/showthread.php?38517-6-8-SPC-Axis).

The 6.8 is the Hammer of Thor on hogs and the round is ideal on whitetail out to 300 yds or so.

I'm in the same boat with my Nine year old, this year he is shooting my 6.8. Its a great round and its a good fit for him with the adjustable stock.

[basshawg42]

my son is 14 now and will be shooting a 6.5 creedmore this year. When he killed his first buck at 10 he was shooting 22-250, the buck was a 9 pt that weighed in at 200 lbs. he killed 2 bucks and three does with that 22-250 none ran more than 20 yards. But that 6.5 creedmore has no kick at all no more than that 410