Gun for my 8 year old?

cynthialee said:

Except those platic stocks will smack you in the cheek.
I have a Mountain Stalker which is the same gun as a Bobcat and if it is loaded with a moderate charge it bucks like a mule.
I had to put weight under my butt plate to calm it down.

You don't want the boys first go with a smokepole to be traumatic.

Click to expand...

I looked at a Bobcat this afternoon and thought it might be a good starter rifle for a great nephew. The weight is one of the things that concerns me a little.
Two questions.
When adding weight to a wood stock it's a pretty simple matter. You drill some holes and pour molten lead into them. That isn't going to work with plastic, so how did you go about it?
Did adding the weight tend to make the rifle off-balance when it's carried?
Thanks in advance.
The shop wants ninety bucks and that seems reasonable if the bore is good. We will check that tomorrow.

I added weight to a CVA bobcat plastic stock by removing the stock(it is hollow) puting a "sockfull " of 36 caliber balls into the stock and stuffing the rest of the hollow full of old socks. It really improved the balance for smaller kids. :idunno:

I put a bunch of lead under the plate and secured the lead in place with foam rubber. Seems to help. I got it up to 10.6 lbs but I need it a tad heavier. I just took it out about an hour ago and it was doing ok at 50 grains and a PRB. But once I took it up to 60-80 grains it was smacking me again.

I'd say a used kit flintlock (if you're gonna get him rifle, get him a honest to goodness flintlock). My first muzzleloader was a kit caplock by traditions and I found that I loved the whole thing.
At worst, you'll be out a few bucks and when he's old enough you can bring him back to muzzleloading by going to the range with your guns.
At best, he'll want to go shooting every weekend.

but bear in mind that kids rarely know what they want.

When my son was about that age, I bought a used

Deer Stalker.

which had a great bore and lock, but badly handled wood. I cut it down and reshaped the wood. I then added a shotgun butt pad before refinishing the whole stock.

By the time this was done, we had a very useful gun. The gun was in .50 which we preferred due to the light weight to carry and the fact that we had ball molds for that caliber.

Any concerns about this ball size is best answered by saying that recoil is best managed initially through loading lightly. Later, this is managed through training and enjoyment of the shots.

This gun could handle round ball or the heavier 385 Great Plains bullets quite accurately. Those do have a considerable recoil, so the lighter round ball should be shot until the shooter is well seasoned and ready.

As my son aged, we found that this gun was very handy for certain situations such as climbing stands or enclosed ones. However, it was finally sent off to my brother to teach his children to shot BP.

CS

8 years old? Here's a link to a longrilfe similar to the one I had at 8 years old: http://www.costumersnetwork.com/product-detail/BF01/kentucky-long-rifle/

I know I'm going to get ridiculed but 8 years old with a real gun, hunting....humm.

perfect age to start training to hunt and shoot but with strict supervision not alone.but i have to agree with mick on this-----jmho-----

Well, the boy already has a .243. Hopefully it is a given that all of the shooting and hunting activities are carefully and directly supervised.

But as to the age, most youth shooting sports use 8 or 9 as the starting age. NRA's YHEC varies by state, but 4H seems to be 8 everywhere. In Louisiana, we had them at 9. There was a healthy ratio of responsible observers and instructors for these practice and competition events.
I do not even see a minimum age for NMLRA Sub-Junior category.

I still stand by the recommendation of the .5o as a good caliber for the youth rifle. After all, the powder can be easily set higher as they learn to manage their shooting skills.

CS

My firearm lessons started at 5.

I remember being made very aware even at that age of how dangerous the guns were. My folks were dead set against toy guns. When I showed interest in them they were quick to start with the fire arm training. Guns were always real and always loaded as far as I was taught.
Properly supervised and trained a child can safely handle a fire arm as long as it isn't to large for the kid.

Children are capable of alot of things we do not credit them with.