Loading for Youth

[Ralt71]

Hello,
A good friend of mine is looking to get his 10 year old daughter her first rifle and take her hunting this year. He has asked me for some help on caliber, make, and reloads. I thought I would pick everyone's brain here.

My thoughts, knowing the first couple years of hunting she will be inside 150 yard, in all reality probably inside 100 yards. We won't need to factor in speed to fight wind or distance drops etc.. just need to feed it enough speed to stabilize. I'm thinking of going with bullets known for penetration, monolithic (prefer the TSX or TTSX) or potentially a good penetrating bullet like the AB or Partition. If we go this route with the idea of running them slower... am I counter productive on what the bullet is made for?

My daughter is 9, she hunts with a 7-08 and I have TTSX with lower powder charges in that gun for her. it does great.

I've given him a couple ideas on calibers for her, but I don't know what he will pick yet. She is very sensitive to kick, and noise both.
My top pick to him was a 350 legend. About as mild manner as you can get with a large bullet. I also told him to check out some of Howa's mini actions in 6.5 Grendel possibly, my nephew hunts with this round and it does great for them on little Texas deer haha. A couple others I mentioned to him, great rounds that she can grow with and hunt more game with as she ages and her shooting matures;
6.5 CM
6.5x55 Swede
7-08
260 rem
25 creed

Either way, feel free to share your thoughts, ideas, or anything you have done that works well.

 

[xphunter]

At those distances, even a reduced load will have enough impact velocity to perform.

Since she is recoil sensitive I would consider 22 Creed or 22GT, 6 GT or 6mm Creed, and the 25 Creedmoor.
Depends what is minimum caliber where she will be hunting

 

[FNWhelen]

I have been loading an 30-06 with 130 grain bullets and h-4895. I have found it to group well and very low recoil for kids and others. If you have a gun she likes I would look to see if there is a H-4895 load for it.

 

[JMRhino]

Hello,
A good friend of mine is looking to get his 10 year old daughter her first rifle and take her hunting this year. He has asked me for some help on caliber, make, and reloads. I thought I would pick everyone's brain here.

My thoughts, knowing the first couple years of hunting she will be inside 150 yard, in all reality probably inside 100 yards. We won't need to factor in speed to fight wind or distance drops etc.. just need to feed it enough speed to stabilize. I'm thinking of going with bullets known for penetration, monolithic (prefer the TSX or TTSX) or potentially a good penetrating bullet like the AB or Partition. If we go this route with the idea of running them slower... am I counter productive on what the bullet is made for?

My daughter is 9, she hunts with a 7-08 and I have TTSX with lower powder charges in that gun for her. it does great.

I've given him a couple ideas on calibers for her, but I don't know what he will pick yet. She is very sensitive to kick, and noise both.
My top pick to him was a 350 legend. About as mild manner as you can get with a large bullet. I also told him to check out some of Howa's mini actions in 6.5 Grendel possibly, my nephew hunts with this round and it does great for them on little Texas deer haha. A couple others I mentioned to him, great rounds that she can grow with and hunt more game with as she ages and her shooting matures;
6.5 CM
6.5x55 Swede
7-08
260 rem
25 creed

Either way, feel free to share your thoughts, ideas, or anything you have done that works well.

I created some youth "reduced recoil" cartridges in 7-08 with Nosler 120gn Ballistic tips and they were extremely effective. My youngest, who was approximately 10 YOA at the time, killed several whitetails from 60-200 yards with the reduced loads. I don't recall my exact recipe from back then but there are better resources these days to assist.

Hodgdon offers a section for creating reduced recoil loads located here: https://hodgdonreloading.com/rldc/

I have also loaded some for my 7-08 with Barnes 120 TTSX with great results. I have them loaded with a max charge of CFE 223 and I am getting 3000 FPS out of a 16" barrel. I also have a similar load for the Nosler 120BT with Ramshot Big Game. I am pushing both as hard as I can with no concern for mono vs cup 'n core. I didn't load them as "reduced recoil' rounds, but they are not punishing by any means. Maybe a little snappy...

 

[jimbires]

I'll mention this first so it's covered , or I'll forget . kids relate the bang with the kick . always have them wear ear plugs "AND" muffs . the quieter it is the less it will kick .

I've done a fair amount of these reduced loads . I'll give you how I'd do this , you can pick out what you like .

I'd use a short action cartridge . I like the 308 family of cartridges for reduced loads . I've worked with a 308 , 7mm-08 , and 260 . these all worked out well with no signs of any problems and all were accurate , beyond " good enough " hunting accurate . why I'd stay away from long action cartridges , I had a problem . I was reducing a 30.06 load , using the IMR SR ___ powder , I can look at my notes for the exact powder if you want . I ran into powder position sensitivity . if I pointed the BBL up and lowered to the target it was perfect . if I had the BBL pointed down , and raised it to the target , it would hang fire . I tried case fillers with no luck . H4895 powder could solve this problem , I don't know .

I would ONLY work with H4895 powder for reduced loads . it seems to be a very good powder for this application . I have not had any position problems using it . this is something you should test , before the kid shoots it , to be sure though . Hang fires could turn into a disaster .

I always use a light for caliber bullet . I go towards the more frangible bullets . my thoughts , lighter bullets are lower in recoil . more frangible , because the velocity is reduced to where a tough bullet might not expand . the lower velocity seems to allow these frangible bullets to penetrate well .

I've posted a lot of my reduced loads work on the Nosler forum . if you would be interested in looking through some of it , search my name , and "reduced loads" should bring up a bunch of info . the last one I can think of , is my Grandsons 260 , using H4895 , and a 107 GR sierra TMK . I'm pretty sure I jug tested this combination , and posted the results in the bullet test section . I have it all figured out , that adding so much powder will increase recoil X amount . I "THINK" I have posted all of this info .

the 308 I reduced for a young girl . I used IMR4198 powder with a 125 ballistic tip bullet . it worked well , with no signs of problems . today I'd go with H4895 powder and not look back .

the 7mm-08 I used H4895 , with a 120 Ballistic tip . this one is just slightly reduced , I reduced it to have the same recoil as a 243 with a 100 GR bullet . this is the only reduced load I've worked up , that has taken whitetail deer , it worked well .

 

[jimbires]

here is a good thread .

reduced recoil load

I did a reduced recoil load today for the grandson's 260 . I used the hodgdon procedure of 60% of the max load of H4895 . I came up with 26.0 grains as the minimum charge weight .I'll use this as I want to keep recoil as low as possible . 26 grains generates roughly 4.25 ft lbs of free...

forum.nosler.com

the 107 TMK bullet test thread .

Sierra , 107 tipped matchking

I tested these bullets today . a few days ago I tested the minimum load of 26.0gr H4895 . quickload estimates the velocity at 2143 FPS . the bullet went through 28" of water jugs and came out the side ,I couldn't find it . today I tested again , it penetrated 25" and came out the top , again...

forum.nosler.com

I have numerous threads, and replies on reduced loads though .

 

[Slimfinn]

+1 for what Jim has said
I loaded reduced loads for my daughter in a 260 with H4895 and plain ole hornady interlocks, then also looked at ABLR because of the lower impact velocity.