My 11 year old shooting his first centerfire rifle

DallanC · Site Admin Joined: Jan 18, 2005 Posts: 3572 Location: Utah

I got my boy a cow elk tag, his 12th birthday is just after our deer season ends, so he has to miss out on deer hunting this year because he is not old enough. He passed hunters safety last year so he got to hunt doves / upland game last year. They had some late season cow permits for the last two weeks of December. If we get good snow by then, the elk will be available, if its a dry winter like last year they will be really difficult to find.

Anyway in preperation I took him out shooting this past weekend. He is good with a .22 rimfire, getting better with his shotgun... I dug out my rugar #1V in .22-250 and let him start shooting a centerfire. I set up a target at a close'ish 50 yards and let him take some shots. He shot kneeling with the rifle on steadystix (a reasonable hunting situation). He fired a dozen shots and all were in a 6" ring. I congratulated him and told him if it was a deer at 100 yards, it would be one dead deer. I will take him out for another try with the .22-250 and if he is doing as good the next trip after that will be with the .243.

The end goal is to get him comfortable with holding / shooting a bolt rifle. I have a .270 with a youth stock that should be great for him and will take a cow elk easily. Its fun to watch them learn this stuff. I wish there were as many convienent places to shoot as when I was growing up, seems harder and harder every year to get hunting tags / find places to target shoot. I really hope the youth can keep up the interest in the sport.

-DallanC

Ominivision1

That is awesome Dallan, I did this with my 4 boys and could not be more proud. Congrats

shrpshtrjoe

Right On !! Dallan thats good stuff... Some of my best memory's are doin those things with my dad my boys 5 so it won't be long for me. Enjoy the time spent Very Happy

Pumpkinslinger

Good goin' Dallan! I'm betting you're both going to have a memorable season.

radar

Yep I can relate to that, both my boys started plinking at about 5 - 6 years of age.
The younger did some shooting for a school science project using my .22 and 5 different makes of ammo. It was real interesting. Kept him busy for hours then he had to do the stats side which was what it was all about. I'd taken a heap of photos of him shooting and the results I used to decide which round was the best in my gun "Winchester Power point" just over PMC of all things.

The elder boy took up competitive 10M air pistol and got a Gold medal at the Nationals for his age grow which was up to 21 years of age - he was 12.

Kids and guns are a good combination when everything is done right! And its good to have something you can pass on to them and spend quality time.

Vince

Great stuff Dallan. I am prepared to bet he is loving every minute of the shooting and "Dad time" too.

It's been an awful long time since I fired a 22.250, but I would have thought that the recoil would be in favour of the .243 round.

What would be the maximum range you could expect to shoot a cow elk mate? 100 yards seems fairly close to me, but then again, I am not familiar with elk and their habitat.

Fingers crossed for a successful hunt for the young fella come December mate. Pass on our good luck wishes mate. If your winter is anything like ours (been bloody cold here), there will be no shortage of snow on the ground.

Cheers, Vince

Elvis

good on you Dallan, Im jealous having a 22-250 and a .two for free aswell as a mighty .270, man that surely makes your job with the young fella easier.
alot of guys take reds here with a 22-250 Ive shot wallabies with my buddies that is a nice round for sure.
the NZ Hunter magazine had a great article on calibres for under 16s that is worth looking up. you have 2 of his top 4 choices Very Happy

keep us posted as to how he gets on.

Bushmaster

Excellent...Another Shooter/hunter.

When he gets his first Deer/Elk/Antelope HE can post on here and brag with the best.

DallanC · Site Admin Joined: Jan 18, 2005 Posts: 3572 Location: Utah

Vince wrote:

What would be the maximum range you could expect to shoot a cow elk mate? 100 yards seems fairly close to me, but then again, I am not familiar with elk and their habitat.

I expect a shot of 200ish yards. I've shot elk with a rifle as close as 30 yards before though. Depends on how lucky you get.

Quote::

Fingers crossed for a successful hunt for the young fella come December mate. Pass on our good luck wishes mate. If your winter is anything like ours (been bloody cold here), there will be no shortage of snow on the ground.

Cheers, Vince

2 years ago we had RECORD snowfall. Last year we had record LACK of snowfall. Its really wierd, who knows what the coming winter will bring.

Elvis wrote:

good on you Dallan, Im jealous having a 22-250 and a .two for free aswell as a mighty .270, man that surely makes your job with the young fella easier. Alot of guys take reds here with a 22-250 Ive shot wallabies with my buddies that is a nice round for sure.

Yea the .22-250 is all my dad would hunt deer with here, he's killed some big ones. I killed a bunch of deer with it too... and my wife got her first rifle deer with it (her first deer was with a hawkin frontstuffer).

Both me and my boy are left handed, one reason I love the #1's.

I had a rough time finding my .243, its a mint condition Rem700BDL... LEFT HANDED! Remington only made them a few years and they are SUPER hard to find (bench-rest guys buy lefty rifles shortaction remingtons to build competition bench rest guns out of). I located mine in Hawaii and had it shipped over. Nice gun, fun caliber. My wife has one as well, shot a caribou in Alaska with it: the 100grn Partitions went in one side and out the other. Plenty of power with the right bullet.

Quote::

the NZ Hunter magazine had a great article on calibres for under 16s that is worth looking up. you have 2 of his top 4 choices Very Happy

keep us posted as to how he gets on.

I would like to eventually find him a rifle in either 7mm-08 or .260.

-DallanC

stovepipe

The Torch is Passed!

Thank you for keeping it lit man...serious. W/o dads like you passing it on we wouldnt be here.

Good on ya and the kid!

DallanC · Site Admin Joined: Jan 18, 2005 Posts: 3572 Location: Utah

-DallanC

stovepipe

That's awesome! Excellent idea shooting from the sticks! Capstick is smiling down on you both!

I need to move to Ut. There's some good bushkickn' areas out there me thinks!

Bushmaster

Beautiful!! Nothing like a photo of a youngster, rifle and the county to make a man of him.

Elvis

great picture has got me thinking...

Aloysius

Elvis wrote:

great picture has got me thinking...

... that I want a grandson...
but for that, first I have to try kicking my daughters out of my house which is not so easy as long as they give "Hotel Mama" 5 stars...