Does anyone make a muzzleloader geared towards youth? My son, Avery, is 9 and wants to hunt with a muzzleloadernext Fall. Every muzzleloader we've looked at has been too long in the stock and a little too heavyfor him to handle properly. Anyone got any suggestions?
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"Government big enough to supply everything you need is big enough to take everything you have."...Thomas Jefferson
All that I can think of is putting a "youth" stock on an Encore ML. My son killed his first ML buck with an Encore this past season, but he is big enough for a full length stock.
Rossi makes a youth model muzzleloader with a 20" barrel and stocks made for smaller people. They sell for around $200.00 and come in .50 caliber.
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"Life should NOT be a journey to the grave with the intention of arriving safely in an attractive and well preserved body, but rather to skid in sideways, a total wreck, screaming Yahoo, with a big smile on your face."
Actually I have a Wolverine LK-II with a 22" barrel thatI am sure a child could shoot. It is light weight, very accurate, and not too expensive. You can find them on the auction sites for as little as $100.00 sometimes. Mine shoots 80 grains of powder and a 240 gr XTP with excellent accuracy.
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"Life should NOT be a journey to the grave with the intention of arriving safely in an attractive and well preserved body, but rather to skid in sideways, a total wreck, screaming Yahoo, with a big smile on your face."
I appreciate the suggestions. I came up on the Rossi sitethis afternoon while doing some research. Seems like a nice little rifle. I also like the idea that it can be fitted with a centerfire rifle barrel as well. It would make a nice duelseasonweapon for him. I've yet to actuallyseen one locally though. I hate to special order arifle sight unseen. Has anyone actually handledaRossi muzzleloader?
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"Government big enough to supply everything you need is big enough to take everything you have."...Thomas Jefferson
Just throwing out a suggestion, here. Would you (and your son), consider a sidelock carbine? You can get used model for under $200.00 in most cases. A quick trip to the gunsmith to cut down the stock and install a pad and you got yourself a customized youth carbine. Here's my White Mountain Carbine, cut down 13.5" length of pull and a Kick-EEZ pad installed.
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Bowtech 82nd, 26.5"draw, 54lbs
HHA Optimizer Lite
QAD Hunter
Maxima 250's
300fps, 59lbs KE
Doegirl75.....Anythings open to consideration but he's shown more interest in the modern inlines than than sidelocks. The Rossi can beordered new for under $200. If I can find some more info on the Rossi, that might just be thedirectionwe'll be going.
I'm reallyexcited that he wants to hunt deerwith an MZ nextFall.He's been out deer hunting with me for the last couple of seasons but this is the first time he's mentionedtaking a big game animal himself. He's got a birthday coming upat theend ofMay,so this will be a big birthday present for him. Plus, it gives him the Summer and early Fall to get some goodrange shooting in before the seasonarrives.
Cayugad......The load you mentioned,an 80 gr. charge with a 240 gr xtp, is right along the lines of what I was thinking for him to shoot. Have youhad any experience shooting deer with that load? I'll besetting up the blinds and stands to limit his shot distance to 50 yards max, so I believe it should work finebut would like to hear your experiences with it.
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"Government big enough to supply everything you need is big enough to take everything you have."...Thomas Jefferson
Youth Muzzleloader?
