30-06 for an 8 year old

[swampratt]

Yes that is what I said.
I was shooting with my son yesterday at Lexington.
My son is 24.
This other guy and his son and wife were there and having a little bit of fun shooting their .22 rifle.
The wife had a 38 new to her.. it was snappy and hurt her hand..I stepped in and let her shoot my 45 acp.
She liked it much better.
She had a 12 gauge and the husband a 30-06.
Wife was sore shoulder from the shotty and no way on the 30-06.. I let her shoot my .223 bolt action along with my .308 heavy barrel and my .243

She liked all of them... The husband loved the cheap scopes,, much better than his scope that came on his 770 30-06.
Which after shooting and cycling it I would not have one..Feed ramp is terribly very small and eats the guilding metal off the rounds.
Anyway onto the 8 year old.

His boy is very small maybe 55 lbs.
I had some 170gr gas checked cast loads seated on top of 11 gr of red dot..these are MOA rounds at 100 yards.
I let his wife shoot one and she was like what the heck..
Kick is very minimal.
Yea the 8 year old loved those rounds... he abandoned his 22 rifle and just wanted to shoot the 30-06.. wish I had taken more than 8 of those rounds with me..
Those are a hoot to shoot.. you can shoot those all day long and never get tired of it.

 

[chazroh]

There's something to be said to make shooting more enjoyable for the younger ones, keeps their interest. I'm also a fan of easy recoil loads and guns

 

[Cohiba]

That's awesome!!!

About that age I started with a 25-06, and progressed up to .300 calibers.........my dad's rifles. .300-Weatherby, .300 Win mag, and the one that kicked like an angry mule...his .300 H&H.


***One time at a family get together, my uncle let me and his son(my cousin) shoot his .10 guage shotgun.........if I remember correctly it was a Mossberg bolt action goose gun. Brother it kicked!!!

We were about 8-10 years old and gave those tin cans fits!!! Well, we'd shoot a few rounds........run over to the picnic table to get a drink, let our shoulders rest, and complain how that gun kicked...but we loved shooting it.

My granddad was tired of hearing us talk about how much it kicked and pronounced how he was going to shoot it and show us that it didn't kick anymore than a .16 guage shotgun.

He chambered that gun, swung it up to his shoulder, fired at that tin can and ............just stood there for about 8 seconds. He didn't say one word, handed the shotgun to my cousin, walked back to the picnic table.........grabbed a cold Coor's and still didn't say anything until he had finished that beer.


Just watch the kid and make sure he doesn't press his face close to the end-rim of that scope. My brother in law found out what a smooth action trigger job was on that .300 H&H.....the right side of his face was swollen for a few weeks and he got a couple of stiches!!!

 

[swampratt]

HA that is funny..My 30-06 has doted a few eyes and noses and the scope has almost 4" eye relief.
All my bolt guns and muzzle loaders I have modified the triggers.. I let people dry fire them a couple times before I load a round into them.
So no surprises that way.

 

[beastep]

Very cool man.