Need a rifle

[billrquimby]

You could always add a muzzle break on it for use on the range. It will cut down the recoil substantially. When you hunt, just pull it off and put on a thread protector. With the adrenaline surging, he won't feel a thing in the field, and with the break he won't develop a flinch on the range.

 

A muzzle brake is good advice, but I suspect you won't take it. Just remember that the .308's recoil is close to a .30-06's from a comparable weight rifle, and for an elk load, don't go above 150 grains. This will kill the biggest bull nicely if he puts it where it should go.

 

With a 7 1/2-pound .308 rifle, the difference in recoil energy from a 150-grain bullet at 2,800 fps and a 165-grain bullet at 2,700 fps is nearly 3 foot pounds of recoil energy, and that is about what a .222 or .223 generates! Jump up to a 180-grain bullet at 2,600 fps from that same 7 1/2-pound .308, and you've added a substantial 6.1 foot pounds of recoil to what a 150-grain bullet generates.

 

If you reload, load up some reduced loads for his first session on the range. Or get a friend to load for you, and work up to his elk loads. The .308 is a great caliber, but there definitely are others that are more user-friendly for small-framed young shooters.

 

Bill Quimby

[azpredator@work]

ctafoya - make sure the sope is properly installed to HIS settings. This will help him find animals in the scope a lot easier. I believe you made a caliber mistake going with the .308. It simply is too much gun for a small kid and will probably make him less determined to practice. I researched this a lot when my son was 11 last year and came away with 7mm-08. Much less kick which allowed my son to put a lot of rounds through the rifle and made him comfortable at time of shot. Hope it works out great for him and good luck...

 

"You might could kill somthin with 7-08 if you could find one with a bayonet attachment"

 

Shot placement and bullet type is key. My son has killed 3 bulls with his 7mm-08.

[ctafoya]

I do reload. I will for sure work him up from a light load. Any idea what it would cost for a break, and who could do it?

[cw4192]

LARK, I dont hear anything about .270?

[huntjunkie]

I have been very happy with the 7mm-08. I was alittle leary at first but it proved to work very well for my 10yr old daughter Mady. I bought the T/C pro hunter. Theres no action so it shortens the gun and helps with weight(good and bad) I bought the 24" stainless barrel and a VXI scope. I also put a limbsaver recoil pad on it. For practice i bought the remmington managed recoil ammo. It worked awesome! Then for the hunt we used nosler 140gr accubond. She never complained about recoil. Never scarred of the gun. The only draw back is you have to look a little harder for ammo. My next choice a 270. Her pic of the gun and her elk are on the youth hunting thread. Good Luck.

[cohntr6]

Have you found anything yet?

 

Last year I decided to have a .250 Savage made for my 10 year old daughter. My daughter is 4 foot tall and 45 pounds!! I found all the "youth' models to have a length of pull a inch or more than what my daughter could comfortably fit into. The .250 Savage has recoil in between a .223 and .243 but still obviously able to shoot a wide range of 25 caliber bullets. I also found reduced loads that I loaded for her (14.6 grains IMR sr 4759 and 87 grain Hornady soft point) that brought the recoil to less that a .223!! She is extremely recoil shy and would practice this load at the range. For deer hunting I used a different load ("hotter") and didnt feel the difference when shooting at a deer The .250 Savage is a 'dated' caliber but I find it a sweet shooting round and have been shooting it a lot myself!

My daughter was drawn for the youth cow elk hunt in unit 1 for this fall and I will be working a load for that hunt (probably a 110 grain Nosler Accubond or something similiar).

Bottom line is you need something that your son is comfortable shooting (both fit and recoil). There is lots of reduced loads for the .308.

Notice the size of the stock especially at the butt end.

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Hope it helps.

 

Jeff

[cohntr6]

OOps, guess you did.

[cactusjack]

You could always shoot the reduced recoil loads while your son is smaller, if you didnt want to work up a load.