Youth Rifle Builders

[trogers861]

Hi All,
I have spent the last three nights reading (at nauseum) about youth deer rifles. My son just turned five years old and I have a nine month old as well. My five year old already plinks on the .22 on the bench and accompanies me hunting. I want to build him a rifle that he can shoot comfortable (LOP and recoil). I am thinking of a .243 after my research. This is not something I have the bandwidth to research and do myself and would much rather entrust it to capable hands. I have plenty of referrals for smiths for building 'adult' guns--but does anyone have recommendations for a youth gun builder?

I'll end up doing an adjustable LOP stock so that my son will be able to use this rifle until he is at least 10--and my younger son will use it as well--so it will get plenty of use and I am more than happy to make the investment.

Any recommendations for youth builders is appreciated.

 

[kipper09]

I’m sure there are many guys out there that can build a great custom for you but I think ultimately it would be hard to beat this. My son and daughter use one I built and it’s pretty ideal. I put an mgm barrel on it and it’s honestly 1/2moa rifle if not a little better with factory eldx ammo.

The Hobbit Rifle

I've had a ton of interest in the gun I put together for my kids and I. Rather than addressing the same questions repetitively I decided to start a thread on it. My brother-in-law and I put two of these together a little over a year ago with great success. We wanted a gun with an adjustable LOP...

rokslide.com

There’s also one for sale on the forum as we speak.

WTS - 6.5 CM Hobbit Rifle

Selling my version of the infamous “Rokslide Hobbit Rifle”. Built this for my wife and son, but it just doesn’t get the use it deserves. This is a great rifle and fun to shoot. Super easy to carry with the folding adapter and only weighs 7#4oz. Total length right around 20” folded. Shoots lights...

rokslide.com

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[ResearchinStuff]

Tikka compact 223 is the easiest button

 

[Ferrulewax]

Bergara stoke would be another off the shelf option. If you really want custom, a chassis would be configurable to any size. 6 arc seems like a great option if you are building, or just drop a howa mini in a chassis.

Any AR stock will fit a chassis, so your options are pretty much unlimited for size and LOP.

 

[sierracharlie338]

For my kiddo I’m putting together a Tikka 223 compact in a chassis that will grow with her. Factory barreled action bolted into a chassis is pretty easy.

 

[PA HUNTR]

I recently picked up a 6.5 Grendel in a Howa mini action for the same purpose. Originally planned on a MDT Oryx youth chassis, but my good friend picked one up on black friday and ended up having to cut and weld it back together to shorten the lop. I’m currently searching for something with an adjustable lop as well.

 

[bnsafe]

Im probably gonna get my grandson a ar 15 5.56. That way he can shoot the infamous 77 tmk, shorten the lop pull in a heartbeat, learn how to handle a ar 15, keep recoil down. It also gives him a ar 15 when/if they get outlawed again. Im gonna get a 5 round mag for it and prob put 2 or 3 rounds in it for safety and let him go to it. I might even get the cmmg 22lr conversion kit so he can shoot 22lr all he wants with the same gun.

 

[Unckebob]

Does it have to be a custom rifle? Savage [and I believe Ruger] make accurate, if not gorgeous, rifles with stocks that are easy to fit to shooters as they grow.

My other suggestion would be to look at a Grayboe stock with an adjustable LOP. They have inlets for a lot of different rifles.

 

[Unckebob]

I recently picked up a 6.5 Grendel in a Howa mini action for the same purpose. Originally planned on a MDT Oryx youth chassis, but my good friend picked one up on black friday and ended up having to cut and weld it back together to shorten the lop. I’m currently searching for something with an adjustable lop as well.

Boyd's builds an Agility stock with adjustable LOP for the Howa mini.

 

[TaperPin]

Hi All,
I have spent the last three nights reading (at nauseum) about youth deer rifles. My son just turned five years old and I have a nine month old as well. My five year old already plinks on the .22 on the bench and accompanies me hunting. I want to build him a rifle that he can shoot comfortable (LOP and recoil). I am thinking of a .243 after my research. This is not something I have the bandwidth to research and do myself and would much rather entrust it to capable hands. I have plenty of referrals for smiths for building 'adult' guns--but does anyone have recommendations for a youth gun builder?

I'll end up doing an adjustable LOP stock so that my son will be able to use this rifle until he is at least 10--and my younger son will use it as well--so it will get plenty of use and I am more than happy to make the investment.

Any recommendations for youth builders is appreciated.

I think GA Precision makes a small rifle with downsized stock ($$$).
Any compact light weight barreled action with a small custom stock ($$)
Any classic style wood stocked rifle - have the stock shortened and shaped for kid’s hands ($).

The stock is definitely the key piece - I’m also looking for good stock designs. Will probably end up with something like a custom wood stocked youth model 7 Rem in 243, and buttplate with a number of spacers for lop.

 

[fatbacks]

Picked up a used XLR in the classified ads here and had TS Customs put together a barreled action with 18" 6mm Creed barrel. Absolute tack driver. Took the folder mechanism off the chassis and it fits my 9 year old nicely. He definitely doesn't know how lucky he is to have such a nice rifle - although I might put the folder back on and just keep it for dad.

 

[WeiserBucks]

Any gunsmith that can't build a youth rifle isn't a gunsmith.

 

[PA HUNTR]

Boyd's builds an Agility stock with adjustable LOP for the Howa mini.

Thanks for the info. I’ll check it out!

 

[trogers861]

Thanks everyone for the responses! Lots to look into.

 

[Jbuck]

I think GA Precision makes a small rifle with downsized stock ($$$).
Any compact light weight barreled action with a small custom stock ($$)
Any classic style wood stocked rifle - have the stock shortened and shaped for kid’s hands ($).

The stock is definitely the key piece - I’m also looking for good stock designs. Will probably end up with something like a custom wood stocked youth model 7 Rem in 243, and buttplate with a number of spacers for lop.

The GAP youth rifle has an adjustable LOP but the grip is too far from the trigger for my kids so I sold mine.

I called McMillan last fall and they said they had some things in the pipeline with grips made for kids and smaller shooters.

I've just recieved a McMillan U10 in their lightweight edge fill, and has the adjustable LOP and cheak piece. It was designed to have a shorter grip to trigger distance. I haven't got it together yet. So no real feedback yet.

 

[trogers861]

The GAP youth rifle has an adjustable LOP but the grip is too far from the trigger for my kids so I sold mine.

I called McMillan last fall and they said they had some things in the pipeline with grips made for kids and smaller shooters.

I've just recieved a McMillan U10 in their lightweight edge fill, and has the adjustable LOP and cheak piece. It was designed to have a shorter grip to trigger distance. I haven't got it together yet. So no real feedback yet.

Thanks for the response. I was focusing only on LOP and was totally overlooking grip to trigger difference. Definitely feel like that will be an issue with my 5 year old. Thanks for pointing that out.

 

[Sanford17]

I went with a Tikka T3x in 6.5 creedmore. Put it in a KRG Bravo and shorten the barrel to 18” got my 8 year old son. He now has a rifle he can grow with forever. We use a BOG tripod for hunting right now because of his size

 

[Allen Smith]

Hi All,
I have spent the last three nights reading (at nauseum) about youth deer rifles. My son just turned five years old and I have a nine month old as well. My five year old already plinks on the .22 on the bench and accompanies me hunting. I want to build him a rifle that he can shoot comfortable (LOP and recoil). I am thinking of a .243 after my research. This is not something I have the bandwidth to research and do myself and would much rather entrust it to capable hands. I have plenty of referrals for smiths for building 'adult' guns--but does anyone have recommendations for a youth gun builder?

I'll end up doing an adjustable LOP stock so that my son will be able to use this rifle until he is at least 10--and my younger son will use it as well--so it will get plenty of use and I am more than happy to make the investment.

Any recommendations for youth builders is appreciated.

Hi All,
I have spent the last three nights reading (at nauseum) about youth deer rifles. My son just turned five years old and I have a nine month old as well. My five year old already plinks on the .22 on the bench and accompanies me hunting. I want to build him a rifle that he can shoot comfortable (LOP and recoil). I am thinking of a .243 after my research. This is not something I have the bandwidth to research and do myself and would much rather entrust it to capable hands. I have plenty of referrals for smiths for building 'adult' guns--but does anyone have recommendations for a youth gun builder?

I'll end up doing an adjustable LOP stock so that my son will be able to use this rifle until he is at least 10--and my younger son will use it as well--so it will get plenty of use and I am more than happy to make the investment.

Any recommendations for youth builders is appreciated.

Our current starter rifle is an older Remington model seven. It is chambered in .243. My wife took her first and only deer with this rifle. It has and will continue to serve our kids well.
I just ordered a new Bergara Stoke in 7mm-08. My sixteen year old has a 30-06 that he take out for elk. We have some youger kids that can’t fit any of our more elk appropriate cartridges. We have a few other Bergara rifles and they shoot very well so when I held the Stoke I knew it would fit the bill. Plus it’s only 6lbs!
God bless and keep trying.
Allen

 

[01Foreman400]

All of mine started out with an AR-15 223 that I built. It has a 20” barrel with an adjustable stock and killed numerous deer with it. They all shot it great. The next gun they moved up to was a 6.5 Creedmor I bought off of here. It was built by Southern Precision and came with 2 McMillan Edge stocks. One is 12.5” LOP and the other is 13.5” LOP. This setup has worked great. The 6.5 CM is in the process of getting cut down to 18” and threaded. I bought a suppressor last year and it’s a game changer. I highly recommend one especially for kids.