Some of you may recall my son, Chad (13 YOA), and I are working toward a Namibian plains game hunt...hopefully in June/July 2007. I've got a .416 Rigby but will likely take my .338 Win Mag. I picked up a 7x57 for Chad figuring he'd prefer the light recoil since he hated my .35 Remington. Well, today he shot the 7x57 and then asked to shoot my .338. "Wow, that didn't kick much at all, dad." He asked to try the .416 and, with ample padding, fired it several times...accurately...and with no fear.

Now the question is...should I sell the 7x57 and put the funds toward the safari? Chad could, apparently, do quite well with the .338.

Then he tried out my buddy's .45 ACP. Loved it too.

I would say you have raised that boy right! Hopefully he does not begin to notice girls for a couple more years...it would be sad to lose one of us so early.

Rich

Good Show! Badger Matt, you do a service for us all. The freedoms of our future depend on young sportsmen like your son.

BdgerMatt,
It's great to take a young one shooting. My son Kyle, shot with me from age 4 to 14. We lost him in an accident 7 months ago. You have a great looking son. Spend all the time you can with him.

Rich -- Too late for that. He's discovered girls...but still hasn't figured out you actually have to talk to them to get a date.

bigdoggy700 -- You have my sincere sympathy. I can't imagine the pain.

He'll start talking to them soon enough. He's getting close to driving ago too; please try and explain to him that if its got tits or wheels, it's bound to give him trouble!

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I have no doubt he could effectively hunt with the 338. A good friend of mine had been hunting with his father's 300 Winnie since he was 12 or so and is as accurate that as I am with a 22lr. However, the thing to keep in mind is that he likely won't have as much padding on during the hunt and if something happens and the rifle slaps him pretty good, he may develop a flinch. If you're going to take the rifle and sell the 7x57, you might also take along a past recoil pad or ask the PH if he's got a medium bore loner rifle just in case. While I doubt this will ever be an issue, it would sure suck if it ever were.

I think your son is lucky to have a father like yourself. I was very young when I lost my father, I had a passion for guns but my mother would not let me use them because she did not know anything about them. I was ever so fortunate to meet a man, through a friend at school, when I was in the 6th grade who had been a handloader and big game hunter all of his life. I now had a role model in my life that could teach me about rifles/handloading..ect. I drilled this guy with questions for many years, picking his brain, trying to gain knowledge about anything that dealt with rifles/hunting/handloading. I am now 20 years old and in college, and I can honestly say that I owe 99% of what I know to this man, the other 1% came from reading O'Conner,Boddington, and the sort. I load for many different rifles including .22-250Rem, .270 Win, .300Wby, .33 G&A, and .375HH. Let me tell you that it is very hard to find someone from my generation to whom which I can carry on a good conversation with about guns. So keep your boy shooting, and don't worry about the girls, I found out the hard way that guns are more fun than chasing girls.

Met a kid at the local range, wirely little ten year old boy. He's shooting all sorts of stuff, and I haul out my Ruger SBH 44 mag. 10 1/2" bbl.

I have a couple boxes of 240 gr. loads, max stuff. I load up the Ruger and hand it to him. He's loving it! Hands it back to me and nearly faints when I load it again and hand it to him. "Listen up! I have a couple hundred rounds of this stuff, and I'm here to shoot it up!"

And so we did.

Kid after my own heart! I dearly loved shooting the "big stuff" as a kid. I'm still a "recoil junkie."

congrats on having your son shoot with you....we have our daughter started out with a 22lr..she will be 8 next weekend... it's always great when parents and their kids do things together.... i know your'e proud!!!!!!!!!!!..

Matt,

You better find a second job, to buy another boomer backup...I like a 375 as my light rifle and backup along with the 40+ caliber boomer...

I am all smiles...

Mike

Keep and bring the 7x57. At least for awhile. Let him shoot that 338 a bit more in real-life positions, and see if he stays comfy with it. The 7mm will do him well if that's what he shoots better.