Happy New Year to all!

My brother and I are fortunate to have children interested in deer hunting (central ME) this coming fall. They've just reached the age of 10. Both are somewhat small for their age. My daughter is perhaps 75#. We have BB guns and .22s for practice and more practice. We've been mulling the question of what to do about deer rifles.

I first thought something in .223 - maybe a flat-top AR - would be suitable. But then it dawned on us that we already had a pair of .308 Ruger 77RSIs, purchased new many years ago. I'm pretty confident that something in the 30-30 or 7.62 x 39 ballistics can be whipped up. But we're first going to need to do something about the pull lengths. Here's what we're thinking: cut a one inch (?) slice from the butt. Save the slice for reconstitution when the kids grow. Rachel has been using a Model 20 (13" LOP, but a very skinny piece of wood) on clays and this length seems about maximum right now.

Questions: my brother's pretty good at woodworking, but what kind of saw/blade would you suggest to get a nice fine cut that minimizes need to repair/refinish the margins? Should we try to use the original Ruger pad, or should we buy something else. Obviously, a thicker replacement pad means a bigger slice off the butt. It occurs to me that the taper of the butt from toe may make replacing the lower pad screw dicey (?)......I don't want the screw to break through the surface.

Any thoughts/advice would be greatly appreciated. Thanks in advance!

Sam

Couple of suggestions...

1. email Chic Worthing on this forum very knowledgeable hell of a nice guy too.

2. Use a new pad

3. Avery fine blade indeed

4. tape the stock to minimize splittering

5. forget everything I said and email Chic

Check into some youth synthetic drop-in stocks. Some are less than $40 US.

I cut down Ruger stock at home myself for my wife. It wasn't hard to do and although I didn't buy a new butt pad it isn't to far off to use. Yeah I know it's uglier than a nice fitting pad but how long is it going to be in use.
I bought the stock for $5 at the gun shop, it was a take off with a little damage. I used a hacksaw and taped where I was going to cut. Now I'd use my miter saw with a new blade but it came out fine. I refinished the stock after sanding and shaping a little. It actually looks better than the original.

Thanks for the replies.

Mike, Do you happen to know Chic's email?

Steve, I wasn't aware anyone made youth synthetics. Gotta look into this.

BigNate, I'm not too concerned about ugly, either. Like the spare stock/takeoff idea, too. I'm guessing that I don't need to use a full-length (Int) replacement stock (?).

Sam