does anyone have any loads for a 10yr old 70lb boy? i cut the stock down for him but he looks like hes taking a little punishment and doesnt like to shoot it more than 4 or 5 times, so i would like to tone it down for him. i would like the load to handle texas whitetails also and some hogs if im going to load for the gun. if anyone has any info. id love to hear about it.

See if this helps:

www.hodgdon.com/data/youth/index.php

Here's some cast bullet data too..

http://www.gmdr.com/lever/addata.htm

http://www.westernbullet.com/cbip/cbip.html

I have loads for your son, they're called 223.

Take a look at cast data for a 25/06 or a 257 Roberts using SR 4759 or IMR 4198...

Both will be accurate and will reduce recoil substantially because you are reducing powder charge considerably...

SR 4759 is pretty bulky tho...you will reduce your range, but no one needs a 500 yd load to take a 100 yd deer..

My recommendation would start out at about 20 grains of SR 4759 and work up to between 25 and 30 grains of it....

In the 25 grain range will probably be the best balance of recoil, velocity and range..

At Seafire2 Suggestion I loaded 36 Gr. IMR4198 and a 125 Gr. Corelock in a 30/06 to try an duplicate the Remington reduced recoil loads and they worked great. I am sure you can do the same in a 25/06.

Mike

thank you everyone for their suggestions and input, i will load up a some loads as seafire2 suggests and see how that works for him. hopefully that will work for him.

Don't take offense to my question, but is he wearing good quality hearing protection? A 25/06 has more bark than bite.

black mamba,
I recently worked up this load and found there to be a HUGE difference in recoil! Huge compared to the Remington factory loads (100gr. Express Core-Lokt PSP) I had been shooting for many years.

100gr SP Interlock Hornady
49.5gr. IMR-4831
CCI 200
Brass: Remington once fired
OAL: 3.100
Medium crimp

The accuracy was very impressive...my groups were much improved out of my Savage 111FL.

Hope this is what you were looking for.

Good luck.
Bob

Try H4895 and 75 to 85 grain bullets. I cant remember the exact load, but you can substantially reduce the amount of powder with H4895 and not have problems. Call Hodgdon and they will help you out. I loaded some 75gr bullets down to 2500 fps or so and they were very easy for my son to handle.

My 10year old shoots 60gr 223s at 2,400fps and that is plenty for him. 3 shots and it's time to move to the 22rf. Of those 3 shots a couple will be with a fired case to check to see if he's flinching.

I would suggest an 87gr soft point under some SR4759 (see the books but speer tops out around 25gr from memory) and really really concentrate on getting him to be accurate by using a 22rf for the most part and being very selective about shots on game.

With the 87gr I reckon you'll have a great combo for deer - I know nothing about hogs. I'm just about to move my boy up to 6mm (70gr at about 2,400fps)

greg k
yes he does have good hearing protection on, but your comment does hit its mark. he is very sensitive to the noise, even when he hunts around after something he has them on the whole time and drives me crazy when im trying to whisper to him and hes oblivious to me because he has them on. now he keeps one side off his ear so i can communicate with him and then slips it over the ear when hes ready to shoot.
vonfatman----thanks for the tip, ive got all those components, we'll give a few of these recipes a whirl.

thanks again everyone!!

A Kickeez or Limbsaver recoil pad would make a huge difference in recoil. I started both of my kids at age 12 with 25-06 Rem 700s with cut down stocks and good recoil pads. First year for each they harvested antelope, deer and elk.

Regarding ear protection, there are several companies that are making sound compression ear muffs. Because of the elctronics, they will maintain normal or slightly amplified sound level, but will compress the sound of the shot so that it is not noticed. In your case, your son would continue to hear you just fine and yet the noise of the gun shot would not bother him at all. It's a great technology. The ones that I have are Pro-Ears. A little spendy but a good investment to keep kids interested.

Good luck & Merry Christmas.

I have been working up loads using H4895. See the Hodgdon Youth section as stated earlier. For example: Hodgdon lists the 100 gr. nosler partition with a max load of 43 grains for this application. Take 60% of this or 25.8 grains and load this under the 100 grain partition. (call hodgdon and verify first, I did), This will give you a load with almost no recoil! I have done this method with the .270 WSM and the 7mm WSM for my kids with great results. Note: this only works with H4895. I called Hodgdon in each case to verify. In my .270 WSM the point of impact at 100 yards is the same as my full load hunting rounds so I do not have to re-sight in the gun. The kids practice with the reduced recoil loads but hunt with full strength loads. They don't notice it in the field. Helps keep flinching and other bad habits away!!!!!!!!!!!!

I don't know why Hodgdon keeps shoving H 4895 for reduced loads.. sure it works reducing recoil and the loads are safe... except accuracy is hit or miss.. I find the accuracy out of H 4895 lacking to say the least...

H 4198 or IMR 4198 are a much better powder to use and also provide more consistent accuracy across the board...

yet Hodgdon doesn't give load data for those...

They also have less Kaboom than H 4895 does with reduced loads in the cartridges I have have tried them in...which has been extensive.. from 223, to 444 Marlin...

Sr 4759, IMR 4227 and H 4227, 2400, RL 7 are all good powders for reduced loads and give much more consistent accuracy across the board than H 4895...

i don't know any specific loads, but whatever you do, don't use a slow powder.