Loading for Youth

Ralt71

Ralt71

Handloader
Jun 6, 2025
433
468
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.
 
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
 
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.
 
Ralt71 said:
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.
Click to expand...
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...
 
Last edited:
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 .
 
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 .
 
I've loaded reduced loads in 30-30 for my brother's girls and currently use a 125 AB in my 308 Model Seven. To me recoil isn't much more than a .243 but could be reduced further with a little less powder. I've killed deer with it from in your face out to about 225yds with out issue.
 
xphunter said:
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
Click to expand...
^ This!
 
The 6.5x55 and 7mm-08 would be great ideas as she will have a future adult rifle capable of moose hunting if she ever desires. I would also not count out a .308 and load down some ammo and use 30/30 bullets maybe round nose and you can have a low recoil rifle that hits hard on deer and leaves a nice blood trail.

I like the .308 and .284 diameter calibers because those are the two with the most selection of bullets to choose from.
 
Hello all, thank you much for all the great detail. I unfortunately got called out of town for work since posting this, then got called home quickly for my wife. Things have been hectic at home haha.

I spoke to him opening day of Gobbler and it sounds like they are leaning towards a 350 legend. Grice has a really nice Tikka compact in 7-08 that I mentioned would be great for his daughter too.

@jimbires thanks for the links and your articles. If we could find a new 260 today, I would ask him to go that route and build him so loads just like you outlined haha! I'm going to see if I can find H4895 too. Even if I use it to help lower Maddog's recoil.
 
Sounds like you have it well in hand, but in case the 350 falls through I would also like to add the 223 to the list - with the caveat that I don't know if that is legal for hunting in your area. Very little recoil - though they can be loud - and available with a range of bullet options. The advantage being that there would almost certainly be no need for a special reduced recoil load. The disadvantage being there is not a lot of room to "grow" with the cartridge. Just a thought.
 
My daughter is 8, built her a 223 last year in case she wants to use that this year for her first hunt. She loves shooting it, wanted to try one of my other guns. This weekend we're going to go try out my 6.8 Spc bolt gun in a chassis with a collapsible stock. She says it fits her better, so we'll see.

I think finding the hunting position she will be in and practicing that with any small caliber rifle will be beneficial. We're getting the tripod set up so she can try that out standing up. Prone shooting isn't really feasible where we hunt.

You've got plenty of good suggestions for cals, I hope all the girls are successful their next hunt!!
 
that's great , you found the powder . it was hard to get for a while .

I loaded Denise's X-Bolt 7mm-08 , 39.0 grains of H4895 , 120 grain Ballistic tip bullet , 2.800" COAL . this will duplicate the recoil a 243 has , shooting 100 grain bullets .


post #4 has a target

Breaking in a barrel/load development

Can a person perform load development while breaking in a new barrel? Will pressures change as the barrel is broken in? Thoughts and input appreciated. Thank you in advance.
forum.nosler.com
 
25-06 has about 1/2 the recoil of 30-06 depending on load choices and has great point blank range

Practicing with cast or subsonic loads prevents flinching. Get titegroup/subsonic load data for various cartridges (308, etc) Hodgdon
 
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