Youth bp firearms?

[silly goose]

I've been looking around to find something for my son (9 years old), to learn to shoot black powder on. He likes to go to the range, and has his own rimfire, but that ammo is tough to find anymore. I have been on the lookout for a CVA squirrel rifle, and even a modest priced T/C smallbore (just missed one here on the forum a little bit ago). There doesn't seem to be much out there for smaller shooters. He is interested, he wanted to try my .50 the other day, but it started to rain. I'm sure I could have put 20 gr in it and let him have a rip.

I'm considering building him his own. I know it will be costly, but then I could restock it later for him when he's about grown up. Am I missing something?

 

[necchi]

I had my son shooting rimfrie way early too, and it was at 9 I got him his first ML.
I got the St.Louis Hawken by Traditions arms,, and I got it as a "second" from Deer Creek.
(slow twist,, single trigger)

It was $199 and I think it had a scratch on the barrel to make it a second. 50grns was plenty light for him at that age.
The metal butt was hammering him a bit and it was a bit long,, so I cut off the stock and added a Pachamar Grind to Fit pad at a 12 1/2 " LOP.
We never got a hard time at any `vous we attended about the pad.

It's still the gun he uses, I found the same rifle at a pawn shop with a rusted barrel for $100 and just swapped stocks. I think he was 16-17 when I did that.
All this was a lefty too, as we found the boy to be cross dominate.

Point is, all this to-do about a youth size gun, is really only about the LOP,
The weight and recoil of the gun doesn't matter much as the kids grow fast.
I remember at 11 he came by with his Grandfather and grabbed the gun from the locker to show off,
He looked at me and said;
"What did you do to this gun?"
"Why,,?" say's I.
"It's a lot lighter than it used to be!"

 

[ohio ramrod]

If you can find any T.C. Cherokees or Senecas they are an excellent youth gun. Also the CVA bobcats are decent for youths to start on. The nice thing about the CVA bobcats is the synthetic stocks are hollow which makes it easy to add a sock filled with lead shot and a few rags to hold it in place to counter balance the barrel. For youth guns I like to remove the butplate and add some lead counterbalance. :idunno:

 

[Richard McCullough]

Silly Goose, sent you a PM, I might have something here that will work for your youth

 

[Billnpatti]

Check this out. I don't think I would buy a finished rifle from them because you never know who is doing the building. Some folks on this forum have said that sometimes it's a good job but sometimes it is crappy. If you want to build it yourself, you can make it as nice as you want. http://www.sittingfoxmuzzleloaders...s Squirrel Rifle/K20 Kids Squirrel Rifle.html

 

[Dave Rosenthal]

Senecas can be hard to come by. A Renegade .50 carbine with a chopped-off butt plate would work wonders. If you use the correct saw (someone here fill-in what type please), you can put the chopped piece back on with a simple spacer when he grows up. A cushioned butt pad will work wonders (as mentioned previously) and NO ONE will say a thing, as even the Dog Soldiers recognize the need to involve our youth in our love of the Dark Arts!

Just an FYI: The standard BSA recommended loading for Boy Scouts to shoot ml's is 1 grain per caliber, so the 50 grain recommendation is spot-on!

May you & your son have many enjoyable years together afield!

Dave
BSA Merit Badge Counselor

 

[Roguedog]

I got the same gun. It is nice and light and with a moderate powder charge, very comfortable to shoot as well as being accurate. I am saving it for my daughter for when she comes of age. Not a bad little rifle.

Jeff

 

[flintlock75]

I bought my daughter a traditions deer hunter in .32 cal. she was 8 when I got it and I shortened the stock 4". this worked very well for her for a couple of years, at 11 I just added the piece back on and refinished it. Last year she asked for a big gun to hunt moose with so I built her a Hawken in .54 caliber. Kids do grow fast and her little sister has started shooting the .32 now at age 7.

 

[DOUBLEDEUCE 1]

A few people have cut down the CVA .45 cal Kentucky rifles to start kids on. You might find one fairly cheap to fill your needs. My brother did one and trained his sons. Very accurate shooter too. :hmm: :thumbsup:

 

[silly goose]

It looks like Richard M and I are going to be able to work out a deal, and get my boy shooting bp with his own rifle. I am quite excited as my boy and I spend as much time as we can doing things together, and he does really like to learn different things. I wish someone had exposed me to bp 30 years ago.

I can foresee the trouble already though, because when I visit sites like Track of the Wolf, he is always chiming in on what powder horn and such that he thinks would look good with my gear. Now he will be picking out his own. :wink:

I am so happy to be able to include him in the black powder lifestyle. I know he is going to love it. Thanks Richard, and all for your input.

 

[fleener]

Glad to hear that you are close to getting a new rifle for your son.

I have 2 boys and they are both big strapping young men now. I wanted to build them each a gun that they could use when they were young, and when they were full grown.

I settled on a Vincent half stock rifles. Light and full size. My boys grew into these rifles really quick.

My youngest is 15 and has been shooting his for a few years now. He takes great pride in his rifle and that I made it for him.

I am a bit slow, and it took me a while to do each build, that was also part of my planning.

I had the TC Cherokee and Seneca for them but they never got used so I sold them. The triggers on these rifles are really bad, I have owned 3 or 4 of them.

Fleener

 

[strato50]

This may be because I started off with a Bess but my Traditions Kentucky .50cal flintlock feels like a twig next to it!

Even a couple of my 'regular gun' buddies asked me whether I had mistakenly ordered a youth model... so there you go! It feels very light and I doubt smaller hands will have an issue with it. As it stands my trigger hand is probably too big for the gun!

 

[Billnpatti]

I'm anxious to see what you got. When you get it, post some pictures of it on the forum for all of us to see.

 

[Rifleman1776]

I started my sons out with H&A underhammers. The stocks are two piece. I would buy the rifle and an extra rear stock. One big screw holds the stock on. A saw reduced the pull to child size. I kept the cut-off and could add slices back as the kid grew. Wasn't pretty but worked just fine. Eventually I could put the original stock back on. Actually, the rear stocks are so simple and basic in shape, you could probably make your own with simple shop tools. There is a company that carries on the H&A (style) line. I forget the name. Someone will jump in with that info, I'm sure. FWIW, my family won stacks of awards with those H&A underbangers.

 

[bpd303]

That would be Pecatonica River for one of the suppliers. http://www.longrifles-pr.com/underhammer.shtml

 

[Rifleman1776]

That would be Pecatonica River for one of the suppliers. http://www.longrifles-pr.com/underhammer.shtml[/quote]

Good. Thanks.
From Pecs picture, it looks like the buttstock screw set-up has been changed since the olden days when I sold and shot them. At that time the screw hole was very deep and the screw short. Finding a screwdriver long enough was the hardest part of changing the buttstock. The screw sold by Pec is long.

 

[Billnpatti]

Deer Creek Products in Waldron, Indiana has the parts, too. That's where I got mine.

 

[hanshi]

Builder, Mike Lange, builds rifles for youths; he calls them Rugrat guns. You can probably get one for less than a Cherokee. I have one in .45 (I'm small) and it's a great rifle. And you will have a rifle built to his measure rather than a one-size-fits-all gun. Mike's a top builder and does beautiful work.

 

[Kapow]

How would you feel about adopting me?? :grin:

 

[Rifleman1776]

Builder, Mike Lange, builds rifles for youths; he calls them Rugrat guns. You can probably get one for less than a Cherokee. I have one in .45 (I'm small) and it's a great rifle. And you will have a rifle built to his measure rather than a one-size-fits-all gun. Mike's a top builder and does beautiful work.

I don't reccomend making a substantial investment in a rifle for youth. The reason is kids grow. :shocked2: Yep, really they do. And some at an astonishing rate. Usually they start growing taller and having longer arms about one week after you present them with a nice new (expensive) rifle. Six months later it is useless for them and becomes a dust catcher. That is why I was, still am, such a big fan of the H&A underbanger style rifle. Not a big investment, shoots great and can 'grow' with the user.