50 Cal Muzzle Load for Kids?

[CAS_HNTR]

I have 2 muzzleloaders.....both 50 cal.......and I am looking for thoughts and experience with kids shooting them.

My 10 year old daughter may give it a go this year and I would like to just use this scoped muzzleloader if I can get the loads down enough to not beat her up.

I was thinking simply dropping the power to 60 or so and using a lighter bullet (I shoot 300s) would do the trick to 50 yards.....but some other thoughts would be helpful.

 

[buckdeer1]

I have done that,.another thing I did was get a slip on sims vibration recoil pad so I could move from gun to gun.My kids didn't have any issues when they were 8 or 9 but then again she took over the 7mag when she turned 13 and she might have weighed 90lbs

 

[SwampCat]

Load down to 60 grains and use a jacketed pistol bullet with a sabot - one that is designed to expand at lower velocity. My daughter started shooting them when she was nine years old.

 

[j-bird]

My now 13 year old - shot my scoped CVA wolf in 50 cal with 100gr charge of pyrodex and a 240 grain bullet for her first deer season 2 years ago. She was much more afraid of the "boom" then the actual recoil. A good heavy gun will help and a recoil pad if needed. Also always have them shoot from a rest because the weight of the gun tends to be too much for them to keep steady. Have her shoot it and see how she does. You will be able to see if she is comfortable with it or not. Flinching and target panic will be the biggest issues. Another issue is the actual gun fit. Their smaller size can create issues as well. It's just easier to shoot a gun well when it fits you properly. We practiced at 50 yards and I keep her range to that. Good luck to you both. As you can see - it can take some practice to gain a comfort level (and that may not translate to the field), but seeing them reach a goal is pretty cool. Emma now is pushing for an AR in 5.56 because she shot one and loved it.

 

[CAS_HNTR]

How about 60-70 grains and 180 or 200 gr sabot (44 cal)

 

[j-bird]

How about 60-70 grains and 180 or 200 gr sabot (44 cal)

I shoot the pellets for powder and mine come in 50 gr per. I didn't play around with the powder or the bullet weight. She shot what I had/used. I read somewhere with my gun to NOT shoot less than 100gr charge to ensure they load was sufficient for the bullet to exit the barrel. I'm sure you can play with the load combinations to reduce the recoil, but remember it's going to potentially have a significant impact on where the bullet strike vs where the scope is set. So you may have to do some adjusting there. I wanted to avoid that as me, my son and my daughter all used the same gun. So putting in different loads was not going to happen. If it was too much for her, then she waited a year. Maybe what I did was wrong, but I wanted to make sure that if she did her job....the gun and load would do it's job.

 

[George]

They make 30gr pellets too.

G