Traditional Youth Rifle

[rugerbh103]

My 8 year old daughter is dying to shoot her own deer. She says watching me do it is boring. She is actually a pretty good shot with her sisters 22. I was looking for a youth sized scoped inline, but she announced that those are ugly. She wants one that looks old. I have an extra T/C White Mountain Carbine that is a handy rifle. The LOP will probably be to long and might need to be cut down. Does anyone have any suggestions for a deer load that won't thump her to hard? I was shooting a maxi bullet over 90 grains of Pyrodex last time I shot it. If I recall correctly it had a pretty big thump to it. 60 grains was as hot as I could get a PRB to shoot accurately. I'm not sure if I can trust that load on deer? Not sure if this will work for her, any suggestions would be appreciated.

 

[junkman]

50 gr behind a prb should get you there.Last year a guy was using 1 50gr pellet in an inline for his kid.

 

[junkman]

What state are you in?If it's Michigan I could loan you my stubby rifle.It's a nice lite weight rifle.

 

[rugerbh103]

Thanks for the offer, but I'm in VA. Might be an excuse to make one.

 

[cayuga]

What kind of distance would she be shooting out to? If its close range, I had a friend that loaded 60 grain of Pyrodex RS and a patched roundball, and his kid (maybe 70 pounds soaking wet) knocked a nice little four pointer flat with that. The deer was about 35 yards. But every time the kid told the story, it got a little further away. But that's ok. We smiled about that too.

I have two traditional rifles that are carbines. They are not long range. And are a small rifle. One can take a scope even. I think they are 1-32 twist rifles. Do you think one of them could work for you?

 

[junkman]

Thanks for the offer, but I'm in VA. Might be an excuse to make one.

If you are handy with metal working it's not very hard to do at all.Cutting the dove tail for the front sight is probly the hardest part.That is what the piece of barrel that you cut off is for.You practice on that until you feel you can cut a good dove tail.And if you are into that sort of thing it can be really fun also.And after she out grows it you have a pretty cool wall hanger with a great story.Or you can pass it along to somebody else with a young shooter just starting out.Either way enjoy the time with them when they are young and take them hunting so later you don't have to hunt for them.

 

[Tannhauser]

I have a White Mountain carbine and I shoot the 240 grain T/C CheapShot lead slug and sabots over 80 gr 777. I'm sure an accurate but lower charge could be found. To make this a perfect youth rifle, I'd cut down the stock and then install a thick, grind to fit recoil pad.

I'll add the T/C Cheap Shot over 80 grains of 777 absolutely hammers Virginia deer at the close (inside of 100) distances I use this rifle. I don't think you'd need anywhere close to 80 gr for an effective brush gun load.

 

[junkman]

You might consider cutting the barrel also.A lot of weight can be shaved off by taking a few inches from the muzzle end.It will balance out a lot better also.She will not be trying to hold up all that barrel.

 

[Haksaw76]

The tc grey hawk is similar to white mountain carbine but stainless. Another good smaller choice.