Kids rifle manifesto

[crich]

.243 with a 108

6mm ARC with a 108

.223 with a 77

Suppressor brought .243 to near unsuppressed ARC and brought ARC to near unsuppressed .223, I can upload those too if people want to see.

This is pure gold and really puts things into perspective. My kids are too young to shoot yet but I never thought a .223 would move even that much.

 

[yycyak]

Why?

 

[Dumply]

First time what?

 

[SloppyJ]

My 6yr old son shot his first deer with my suppressed 300blk last year. It worked but I'm not a big fan. I got him a rascal 22lr with a red dot on it last Christmas. He's in love with it and is much better at it than I shot. Hell, at 25yds he's keeping up with me shooting coke cans. Great practice for safety and general handling.

I'm in a bit of a pickle right now. I can't figure out what to do for HIS first rifle. The selfish part of me wants to build a 6mm ARC AR for predator hunting and let him use that. I can build a 7lb rifle for a decent price but that'll be too heavy for him. I'm thinking the Howa mini in 6 ARC is the ticket with a light weight illuminated dot 3x9 or LPVO. I think a .223 tikka would be too big for him. I prefer the bullet selection of the 6mms and I don't think the recoil is much more. If so, I'll load him some moderate rounds and he can work up to it. Every option will be suppressed.

Is there anywhere that makes youth stocks for the howa mini or tikka 223 that maintain the lightweight needed for a kid?

Thank you for making this thread and thanks to everyone who have replied with some great perspectives on getting kids into shooting and hunting. Some very insightful information here.

 

[yycyak]

@SLDMTN just was on the rokslide podcast talking about the Hobbit Rifle he built for his kids. Might be worth looking at a TC Encore or even a CVA Scout

As a fellow dad, he made 2 comments that stood out:

- these rifles aren't light. Which is good. Cause lightweight rifles recoil a lot. Recoil is bad for kids.

- his shooting "Procedure" was to get the kid all settled in, dialed, and ready to go. Then, when kid is good, reach across and cock the external hammer. Very safe.

Alternative option. Tikka Compact.

My 6yr old son shot his first deer with my suppressed 300blk last year. It worked but I'm not a big fan. I got him a rascal 22lr with a red dot on it last Christmas. He's in love with it and is much better at it than I shot. Hell, at 25yds he's keeping up with me shooting coke cans. Great practice for safety and general handling.

I'm in a bit of a pickle right now. I can't figure out what to do for HIS first rifle. The selfish part of me wants to build a 6mm ARC AR for predator hunting and let him use that. I can build a 7lb rifle for a decent price but that'll be too heavy for him. I'm thinking the Howa mini in 6 ARC is the ticket with a light weight illuminated dot 3x9 or LPVO. I think a .223 tikka would be too big for him. I prefer the bullet selection of the 6mms and I don't think the recoil is much more. If so, I'll load him some moderate rounds and he can work up to it. Every option will be suppressed.

Is there anywhere that makes youth stocks for the howa mini or tikka 223 that maintain the lightweight needed for a kid?

Thank you for making this thread and thanks to everyone who have replied with some great perspectives on getting kids into shooting and hunting. Some very insightful information here.

 

[Formidilosus]

Is there anywhere that makes youth stocks for the howa mini or tikka 223 that maintain the lightweight needed for a kid?

223 is the answer, and tikka is the rifle. A ROKStok can be made as short a LOP as you would want.

 

[eric1115]

My 6yr old son shot his first deer with my suppressed 300blk last year. It worked but I'm not a big fan. I got him a rascal 22lr with a red dot on it last Christmas. He's in love with it and is much better at it than I shot. Hell, at 25yds he's keeping up with me shooting coke cans. Great practice for safety and general handling.

I'm in a bit of a pickle right now. I can't figure out what to do for HIS first rifle. The selfish part of me wants to build a 6mm ARC AR for predator hunting and let him use that. I can build a 7lb rifle for a decent price but that'll be too heavy for him. I'm thinking the Howa mini in 6 ARC is the ticket with a light weight illuminated dot 3x9 or LPVO. I think a .223 tikka would be too big for him. I prefer the bullet selection of the 6mms and I don't think the recoil is much more. If so, I'll load him some moderate rounds and he can work up to it. Every option will be suppressed.

Is there anywhere that makes youth stocks for the howa mini or tikka 223 that maintain the lightweight needed for a kid?

Thank you for making this thread and thanks to everyone who have replied with some great perspectives on getting kids into shooting and hunting. Some very insightful information here.

Man a .223 Tikka compact, cut down stock and grind to fit recoil pad if necessary would be my recommendation. Shooting .223 and 6ARC back to back there is a substantial difference in recoil, especially for a sub-100 lb kid. At 6 I'd guess he's below 70 lb?

 

[SloppyJ]

Man a .223 Tikka compact, cut down stock and grind to fit recoil pad if necessary would be my recommendation. Shooting .223 and 6ARC back to back there is a substantial difference in recoil, especially for a sub-100 lb kid. At 6 I'd guess he's below 70 lb?

Yeah he's around 60lbs soaking wet. Looking at the recoil numbers yall are right. Looks like I'll be grabbing a .223 and some 77tmks.

 

[ElPollo]

Yeah he's around 60lbs soaking wet. Looking at the recoil numbers yall are right. Looks like I'll be grabbing a .223 and some 77tmks.

And buy a suppressor. Makes a huge difference. Recoil is a thing for kids, but so is muzzle blast. A suppressed 223 bolt gun is about the most fun rifle combo there is.

 

[Mikey_B79]

I'm in a slightly different situation as my local hunting regs require 6mm minimum caliber for hunting big game, and suppressors are viewed as evil deathcans and prohibited instead of effective PPE.

With that in mind, my son started with a 10/22 so he could spend more time behind the scope. We then progressed to a Savage MkII bolt gun before starting on centerfire, he's fired my own .223 (heavy target rifle) before moving up.

Eventually I found him a NOS Remington 700. Was a youth model with short stock, chambered in .243 Win. Pre-RemArms takeover. It worked fine while he was still growing, he seems to have stopped at a stout 5'3" however (at 16 years old). But still has a decent reach and fairly broad torso.

Eventually I upgraded my aforementioned .223 from a Triggertech Primary to a Diamond, so relocated the Primary into his rifle. It's now bedded into a black Friday sale Grayboe Outlander. The recoil pad isn't ideal but still not the worst thing ever. The flip side is the gun is light enough to carry all day, shoots quite well with 80gr+ hunting bullets, and doesn't kick obnoxiously hard. I *wish* I had something like this when I started hunting!

 

[Dexter Grayson]

Pretty sure my boy is left eye dominant. Anyone got suggestions for lefty .223 bolt guns or should I build hobbit style rifle?

 

[SloppyJ]

And buy a suppressor. Makes a huge difference. Recoil is a thing for kids, but so is muzzle blast. A suppressed 223 bolt gun is about the most fun rifle combo there is.

Good on that front. I have 7.

 

[SloppyJ]

Pretty sure my boy is left eye dominant. Anyone got suggestions for lefty .223 bolt guns or should I build hobbit style rifle?

Due to a corneal disease I had to teach myself to shoot a bow and rifle left handed. While I'm swapping all of my rifles over to lefties, I can run a right handed bolt just as quick if not quicker. The only downside is it forces you off the stock more.or at least it does for me. I've been using it more as an excuse to purchase/build the rifles I want.

Tikka makes the t3x lite .223 in left handed models.

 

[JDBAK]

223 is the answer, and tikka is the rifle. A ROKStok can be made as short a LOP as you would want.

Is a short LOP Rokstock an option now?
I ordered a standard 13.5” LOP in March, didn’t see shorter as an option.

Being short, with short kids, 12.5 or 13 would be ideal.

 

[Formidilosus]

Is a short LOP Rokstock an option now?
I ordered a standard 13.5” LOP in March, didn’t see shorter as an option.

Being short, with short kids, 12.5 or 13 would be ideal.

Any stock can be cut down.

 

[JohnJohnson]

A lot of this recoil/blast stuff applies to adult shooters/hunters too, especially since the majority of hunters don't practice much. It's not an exaggeration to say basically everyone would benefit from a suppressor.

 

[JDBAK]

Any stock can be cut down.

Gotcha.
Despite my jabs at the asthetics of the Rokstock, I’m just the sort of guy to make it worse!

Very much looking forward to shooting the thing, thanks for your efforts. I’m learning a lot here and on the podcast.

 

[ResearchinStuff]

The lop on tikka compact stocks fit kids from about 55# and up. It's better if you raise the comb though to get their eye lined up with the scope. Rokstock is the easy way, my tikka stock mod thread is the cheap way.

 

[Raygun15E]

Due to a corneal disease I had to teach myself to shoot a bow and rifle left handed. While I'm swapping all of my rifles over to lefties, I can run a right handed bolt just as quick if not quicker. The only downside is it forces you off the stock more.or at least it does for me. I've been using it more as an excuse to purchase/build the rifles I want.

Tikka makes the t3x lite .223 in left handed models.

I’ve been looking for a left handed Tikka .223 for a few years. The only ones I can find are outside the U.S.
I’m also not finding any used lefty Tikkas. It seems once a lefty buys a rifle, they keep it
Maybe @Unknown Munitions can order them direct for us lefties?

 

[SloppyJ]

I’ve been looking for a left handed Tikka .223 for a few years. The only ones I can find are outside the U.S.
I’m also not finding any used lefty Tikkas. It seems once a lefty buys a rifle, they keep it
Maybe @Unknown Munitions can order them direct for us lefties?

Well lucky enough for me my son is right handed. But yes, finding lefty rifles is a struggle. I don't have a problem running right handed bolts since I grew up shooting right handed but I'm trying to make everything consistent with left handed rifles for me. This is part of the reason that I love my "custom" builds that I can swap the bolt faces on. I can swap a barrel and bolt face in about 20min and my rifle still feels exactly the same. It's a little more upfront cost but I think you save it on the back end for sure.