Help with sons shooting

[PF_JM]

Without reading everyone else's advice I would say do A LOT of dry fire, like 10:1, lighten up the trigger. Limit live rounds to quality shots, emphasize comfort and relaxation, make sure length of pull is not to long and that their is proper eye relief for the optic. His confidence in that cold bore shot will be the most important. Once the confidence and mechanics are there transition to alternate firing positions and rests.

 

[Molon Labe]

I would load up some 50-60% H4895 loads...that powder is known to be fine with reduced recoil loads.
Do the research first before you do anything!
This will drop recoil significantly. Then he is still practicing with the rifle he is hunting with.
But if it is flinching then maybe .22 for a bit?
If you don't reload yourself I think there is ammo available in the retail world that is low recoil.
You could also change up the butt pad as long as it doesn't effect length of pull.

Make sure the trigger is set right as well...100yds to 200 the way he presses the trigger is magnified.

 

[cerec_cat]

Thanks for all the advice. We will be going again this weekend. Btw his rifle is the youth model Savage with the Nikon scope. We will be shooting the .22, and practicing with plenty of snap caps with his hunting rifle

 

[Neverenoughhntn]

.... another thing.... right, wrong or indifferent... growing up, we lived on 5 acres that was semi secluded. Any time a deer, turkey, etc came onto the property, my dad would let me grab the rifle and snap caps. (Obviously in a safe direction and supervised) I would sit there and dry fire on the critter over and over again. Great practice for a kid learning holds, trigger control, cycling the bolt, etc.... Obviously, this isn't something everyone can do depending on where they live, but I believe it helped me a lot by the time hunting season rolled around.

 

[awaldro7]

If you hand load you might want to load some light bullets with light charges for him to practice with. If you don't hand load there are a few companies that make managed recoil loads. Also put a limbsaver recoil pad on the rifle. The biggest 2 things that helps me shoot consistently accurate is #1 follow through with the shot. Make sure that you keep looking through the scope after the shot and don't raise up immediately. #2 gently pull the trigger and let it surprise you don't punch it.

 

[mallard833]

A lot of great suggestions with snap caps and shooting mechanics. A couple other things to try are having him shoot at a lower magnification if the scope is variable. I find that people who don't shoot a lot are more likely to punch the trigger when the crosshairs go over the bullseye resulting in a pulled shot. With a lower magnification, you are more likely to concentrate on the target and squeeze the trigger without seeing every little movement in the crosshairs.

You could also have him try shooting at a very large bullseye, similar to what a lot of people do to cure target panic with their bow.