8yr Old Shooting My .54 - Minimum Powder Charge?

Very Awesome Video! You even taught him some basic knife safety from the looks of it. He cut away from himself and you didn't even remind him. :thumbsup:

Makes me remember when my kids were little, but they didn't get to shoot my ML, only the modern things.

GREAT job both of you. :hatsoff:

That's an awesome photo. Midget hunters.

It would be interesting to see what sort of penetration you got with 30gn. I let a 9 y/o put a couple of roundballs into a eucalypt tree with that load & couldn't dig them out so I'm guessing close shots on small pigs etc would be deadly.

That is awsomw, it took me back to when my son was litle and just learning to shoot!!!!!!!

Great job!! Get-em shootin early and chances are the'll do the same for your grandchildren. My son was shooting my 54 with 70gr. 3f at ten yrs old.(just a few shots, not all day. He wanted to see what the huntin load for him would be) Of course at 12 he's 5'4" and 155 lbs and has been shooting with me since he was 4yrs. old. and he wants to try my 100gr. load. Should be fun. Congrats on a well trained boy. :hatsoff:

Thank you guys for the compliments and encouragement. I was afraid y'all would roast me for the way his fingers were all over the triggers before the rifle was capped. :redface: It was his first time and he was so excited. You could not have wiped the smile off his face with a 4" grinding wheel. :rotf:

I tried to get him to slow down and relax. But he wouldn't have any of it. As soon as I got the caps on he would yank on the set trigger and about 1/2 second later --- BLAM!! He had a great time and his shoulder is fine today. No bruising. I got home from work this afternoon and had not even set my lunchbox down yet, "Dad........ can we go shootin' tonight?" I should have expected that. My wife tripped over her own feet and almost fell down laughing. Between snorts and fits of uncontrolled laughter, she managed to say, "See what you started?!"

Ah well, there's worse things in life for an 8yr old to be addicted too. Black powder ain't so bad. There are some territorial shoots coming up in July. We'll see if he can win some medals.

ChrisHarris said:

He had a great time and his shoulder is fine today. No bruising.

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Something for your "someday" file. My wife's standard deer load with her 54 cal is 60 grains of 3f. Almost no recoil, and it sure snuffs deer to the 50 yards she's used it. As your boy ages and deer hunts start to loom, I wouldn't hesitate to move him at least that far up the powder measure.

Today, I'm taking my 10yr old daughter to the range for the first time. She'll be shooting the same rifle. We'll start out with 20grs and go from there. I'm excited.

She did great. We started out with 20grs of 2F in the Green Mountain .54 barrel. She hit a few 10's. We shot several rounds at 20grs, 30grs, 40grs...... and she wanted to load it up even more. So I went ahead and gave her 50grs and finally 60grs. She said it definitely kicks at 50grs and 60grs but did not hurt. I was worried, so I kept reminding her to pull the rifle in tight to her shoulder so it did not slap her. She did very well.

We spent most of the day shooting 30grs. I installed the Lyman peep sight on the tang. After that, she could not miss the bullseye. She took the last shot of the day with 50grs and nailed a perfect bullseye.

Good job! :thumbsup:

40grs 2F through the factory TC .45 barrel. .445 ball and walmart ticking. She shot a goose decoy at 25yds.