Good load for my son?

My son wants to shoot my ML.He is a big kid for his age(8) 4'11"120lbs.He has a 4-10 single shot that he shoots and he can handle easy.What would be a good load with light recoil?60 grains FF?Is 8 a good age to start shooting ML?I will load it ofcourse.He can identify all the parts on a flint and cap lock and how they work,same with his bb gun and 4-10.I dont let him shoot a gun until he can tell me how it works.

 

[CrackStock]

Crowhop,

We need a bit of info on the gun involved.

My son started with a T/C Seneca .36 with .22 grains of 3f after some work with a singly loaded .22 rifle.

He quickly moved to a Lyman .50 DeerStalker with a cut down stock and shotgun recoil pad attached. We loaded .490 balls patched with the T/C precut patches and 50 grains of 3f Goex. This was shot up close until he became accustomed to shooting MLs when we moved further.

I liked to staple playing cards to bits of lumber ends as a target. This kept up his interest and also demonstrated the power of the balls that he was launching.

I believe that the NRA YHEC uses 60 grains as their max charge for the ML portion of their events.

CS

 

He's gonna shoot my Lyman GPR 54 CAL.I'm gonna have him use shooting sticks.

 

You did'nt mention what caliber you planned on using. I'm assuming either a 50 or 54 in which case, 60 grains of FFG would be just fine considering his size. And he is a good sized boy for his age! Future football star maybe?

 

He told me he wanted to shoot it,I sayed I needed to get some info on a load.I knew I would get it here.I hope he likes shooting it.If he does I'm gonna have to pawn one of my centerfires to get him a new ML :grin: Thanks :thumbsup:

 

[LarryB]

My grand sons have shot from the time they asked to on.The youngest at 4 years. We load for them and have one hand on the cross sticks. They usually start with one of our ladyies guns ( because they are smaller) and reduce the powder as much as necessary. ( 20 gr of 3f) We let them shoot until they start digging in the dirt looking for ants between shots. That may be 3 shots and some days the whole trail. We don't push. As they got older they got their own rifles and now the oldest is 17 and you just can't beat youth. Something about young eyes and old eyes and practice.

 

[CrackStock]

I would let him fire a round or 2 with 50 or 60 grains of 2f in it, but I would be looking for a cheap Deer Stalker to lop off the butt and install a shotgun recoil pad. Load them light and give him easy and entertraining (Yes, I saw the typo and left it :grin: ) targets to knock over.

CS

 

[WV MZL HUNTER]

I run a NWTF JAKES day and I have had kids as young as 4 years old shoot Muzzleloaders. I only use 20 gr. 3f in a T/C Buckeye hunter gun.
( It's smaller ) Girls and Boys.
To be honest they do not want to stop shooting, they love shooting the blackpowder guns and do not want to move to the rest of the things going. :thumbsup:

Most kids liked shooting the Muzzleloader than the shotguns. Shotguns kick harder, not enough wait.

 

[WV MZL HUNTER]

WEIGHT :redface: spelling :redface:

 

[john12865]

He told me he wanted to shoot it,I sayed I needed to get some info on a load.I knew I would get it here.I hope he likes shooting it.If he does I'm gonna have to pawn one of my centerfires to get him a new ML :grin: Thanks :thumbsup:

Just pawn it, you known deep down inside that you really don't want that center fire thingy anyway :grin:

 

[sduve]

My 10 yr old is small for his age(80 lbs) and for the last 2 seasons he has used 60-70 gr FF with a roundball in 50 cal. He already shoots trap with grandpa using a 12 ga O/U and 1 1/8 oz loads. As long as the gun fits him and fear is not implied, they can shoot quite a stout load. IMHO

 

Thanks to all for the info. :grin: