I am in a predictiment with my 12 year old son.. he finally finished hunter safety ed this weekend...

He is 12 and 5.5, and weights 90 pounds.. and is LEFT handed...he isn't real thrilled about using a right handed rifle... and most rifles he can't hold up the barrel to being horizontal with the ground... saying the barrel is too heavy...

After letting him look at the Ruger Ultra Light and the Ruger Compact he likes the size of the compact...however they are not available in a lefty...

He liked the Savage 16 stainlesses which are available in lefties tho... but they are still nose heavy....

Instead of shortening the barrel on a new one, I was thinking about ordering an after market barrel for him to use until he is physically a little bigger....

For you gun smith guys, I am at a quandry...

Would I be better off ordering him a shorter heavier contour in say 18 inches ( I like the heavy magnum contour)... I prefer this as I always feel light barrels are too flimsy and whip around and effects accuracy....

or am I better off with a 22 inch featherweight barrel...

I haven't decided to get a long action and chamber it in a 257 Roberts or 6.5 x 55...

Or go with a short action and do a 250 Savage or a 260 Rem....

Which barrel contour and length do you think will work the best for a shorter statured kid... I figure he will out grow it in one or two seasons...

The long action will probably be a 270 or the short action a 7/08... which would go back on the rifle when he outgrows the shorter barrel...

Thanks for your assistance in advance..

cheers
seafire

seafire, I would think a nice 22" FW contour barrel would be just right in either the 270 or the SA 08/7mm. Should work fine with either one and last him 2 or 3 years until Dad builds him another.

I'm sure you already considered a #1?

let the youngster shoot a .22 until he has the strength to shoot a bigger gun.......IMO we're pushing way too hard to let or want a 12 year old shoot a centerfire!

Vapo...

He does fine on a 22, and actually is pretty good off a bench with a 223 and 22.250....

On his test scores for hunter safety, he scored 95 % and was one of the top kids for the small group size on qualifying with a bolt action 22...he also has his rifle shooting merit badge from Boy Scouts....

Dad also downloads ammo quite frequently for kids... reducing recoil 50% or so.. by using blue dot, or SR 4759 or 4198, or Rl 7 and 2400...

He wanted to start off with a 30/06.. like all the other boys were wanting to, to be macho.. I myself love a 6.5 mm or 7mm bore... so we are looking at a 7/08, which I will download with 120 grain ballistic tips for his first year...to say 2200 fps or so.. the little guy will do just fine...

To directly answer yoyr question, I would recommend the longer barrel in order to put the muzzle blast further away. That four inches really does make a noticable difference, and in my experience, much of perceived recoil is actually due to noise/muzzle blast.

Dave

My brother's two kids are lefties. their Dad solved the same problem you have by the use of a 30-30 Winchester lever action until they were 16. worked real well. taught them to get closer to game, etc.

I'm building my 10 year old a Mexican Mauser with a 21 inch featherweight barrel chambered in 7 mauser. It will weigh in the neighborhood of 6 pounds. The stock has been measured to fit my son. I will start off with a 1/2 inch pad and as my son grows I will add spacers and a thicker pad.

Will start out with Ashley backup ghost ring on warne bases to teach my son to hunt with open sights.

When he gets older, he can save up and buy a scope.

I would personally get him either a left handed Browning A-Bolt Micro Hunter in 7-08 or 308, or an Encore in either. I built my daughter a light 20" barrelled 6.5-284 with #1 contour barrel and the blast is too loud, and we wear hearing protection all the time. My Micro-Medallion does not seem to bother her.

Remember, just because you like the magnum countour diesn't mean he will. My son, who is now 6'1" and 200lbs never liked the weight as well as he did the featherweights.

Get the mod. 16 lefty in .243. It is only 6.5 lbs. If the barrel is too heavey up front get it cut and crowned. I'm sure dad can develope just the right load for that 9 1/2 twist or whatever. You can do your barrel changing later to whatever he is comfortable with.

You can easily down load that .243 to 250-3000 level and still be able to do justice to those coastal deer. roger

Both of my boys killed their first deer with a Rem M7 7mm-08 when they were 10 years old. Both deer were 6 pointers that were DOA. I don't think the boys ever heard the gun go off!

They had no problems with this rifle during practice. I'm not sure if it all due to the stock design or not, but this little light rifle in 7-08 w/ 140 gr bullets has very, very little recoil. My 8.5 lb custom 308 is hammer compared to it. ???

I agree that for a young left hander, a short barreled lever in .30-30 should be good. Get something like a Trapper model and reload it down a little bit for now, a load that would still be plenty out to 80 yards. As he grows you can work towards full power loads. Later, as an adult, it will still be a useful tool.

Don't know how long his arms are but it would likely be ideal to cut maybe three inches off the butt stock and install a one inch recoil pad. Keep the cut off part so you can epoxy it back later. That's pretty easy and, if the cut is clean, it won't look bad either. In fact, that cut-off line will remind him of his younger days and that might be good too.

Thanks for all the replies guys...

I was trying to look at the 30/30 route, as I still have the 30/30 I took my first deer with...

However, he seems to like a bolt action better, with a scope... he shoots a 6 power Leupold on his lefty 10/22.. and nails sage rats at 75 to 100 yds with it pretty consistent...

however Roger, you will be proud to know, that he was shown a Savage 16, and when the clerk called it a "weather warrior".. he fell in love with it...

instead of 243, we are going to go with a 7/08, since 260 isn't on the option list....his load for it first season, is a no brainer... a 120 grain Nosler BT over 22.5 grains of Blue Dot...

in a few years, we will move up to a 140 grain partition for Elk...

we will mount a 6 power Leupold with a German Number one reticle on it...as he loves that scope off of his 10/22, which we replaced with a 6 power Weaver...

I am also going to look into swapping off one of my 223s, for a 16 in 223 also for him...also in a lefty...

And thirdly will be another swap off and replaced with a lefty 116 long action... with a 6mm Rem heavier barrel on it..for varmints also.. and maybe later a larger caliber...I'll probably get that one in 06... and later take off the 6mm Rem Barrel and mount the 06 back on it...

His friend who attended the safety ed course with him, and is also in scouts with him, and our families have sunday dinner every other weekend at their home... is also in need of a rifle... with that, since he is a righty...we will probably get him a Stevens 200, in 7/08 to start... and also in 223 for varmints...

We didn't look at the Brownings, strictly because of price difference between the Savages and them.. plus the Savage, I can do a lot of switch barrels if need be...

Thanks to all again for your inputs...

cheers
seafire and seafire jr...

Seafire,

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