rifle for a youngster

[ottawa]

thinking real hard on a build for my 8 year old daughter 32 or 36 maybee even 40 cal need info on short lite barrels shes small so 28 to 30 in barrel be the right length?how do i find out a good length for her?

[rich pierce]

Well, you don't want the rifle taller than her shoulder when it's standing beside her.  In general the bigger the hole in a barrel, the lighter it is.  I'd try a 13/16" barrel 28" long in .40 caliber.  The really small calibers are fun to shoot and you can get good flat trajectory with light loads but the barrel will be heavier unless you can find a 3/4" barrel.

When my son was 11 I made a .50 caliber fullstock percussion rifle with a 32", 7/8" barrel and it worked great for him.  I had him load it with 20 grains and it was accurate enough at 25 yards for him to plink with and didn't kick much.  It's super light, maybe 5 pounds.  With the .50, he could also load it up for deer when he got older.

[BobT]

I don't know about the length but I got a Rayl 3/4" .40 barrel a while back, I have not made it into a rifle yet but I don't see how you could get much lighter.  Troy at Stonewall Creek has them listed in his catalog.

[Bioprof]

Rice Barrel Company makes a 34" swamped barrel that would make a nice youth rifle.   They call it Jim's Little Rifle Barrel.

[David Rase]

If it were me, I would build it in 13/16" x .45 caliber.  Those little bores foul up more quickly, are harder to load and the small balls are harder for little fingers to handle.  You can load a .45with a lot of different powder charges.  My two cents worth.
DMR

[B Shipman]

Remember that safety is important as well as weight. A shortened 13/16 th in .36 about 28 in. as Rich suggests would be a paperwieght and manageable for a young lady and able to withstand mistakes. A Green Mtn. cut down is perfect. Who knows, she may outshoot you.

[ottawa]

OK now that you all got me thinkin out side the 32 36 cal box  A BIG lightbalb went on and all i can say is for me is DUHH barrel .45 cal 13/16 .have that decent cap lock have that too stock check  hard wear yup it turns out that i have my first ml in .45 its too long for the youngster but that's what coming on here dose it opens ones eyes ill just con vert it to a small size mite end up having to get a new stock this one is a 2 piece with a patch box of sorts after trimming the stock down it mite not look right but we will see plus my daughter can help me with it  if we mess it up cool if not even better so now i know how I'm spending fathers day in the shop with her thanks for the input
Ben

[Dave B]

I am with Dave Rase on choosing the .45 for the project. We shoot lots of metal plate targets in our rondys and the heaver the ball the better for knocking things over. You can use the .45 for deer hunting as well with out any trouble if youve a mind. I think for our state (WA). the minimum caliber for Deer is .40 but the 13/16 in a .45 is going to be lighter to handle. Should be a fun project.

[B.Habermehl]

I would agree on choosing .45 cal for a youth gun. Keep the load down around 35 -40 grains of bp with a round ball. That will keep the recoil down to slightly above .22 rimfire level. I use .45 cal rifles for our youth field days. The kids just have a ball!    BJH

[ChipK]

Check out the Youth/Ladies rifle kit that Cabin Creek sells.  My daughter just got one in .40 that is super for a kid.

[ottawa]

an update barrel is 7/8 and now 5in shorter and a new front site not bad for 4 1/2 hr work with out power tools was 32in  mite still be a bit front heavy wait till its back to gether still have about 5 in to tacke from the stock thats going to be tricky that cuts it about 2/3s into the greas box so ill have to fill it in with some wood and go from there

[G-Man]

Only thing I'll add is that the really small caliber ammo (32) can be sort of awkward to get the hang of loading and handling for some folks - also the skinnier ramrods etc. can make it just a little difficult.  So for a first gun I'd stick with at least a 36 or bigger.   A .40 will move the gongs on most woodswalks just fine.

Good luck

Guy

[ottawa]

its a .45cal and its a good shooter taken many ground hog and a couple deer but that was befor the shorter barrel but we can work it out when the time comes 

[Birddog6]

I am building one for my grandson. It is a 3/4 sized Isaac Haines in a A weight 36" Colerain barrel, in .40 cal.  Fully dressed the rifle weighs 5# and it has a 12" LOP.  Small Siler lick, single Davis trigger, small Bivins T/Guard, Buttplate, & Entrypipe but cut down to 3/4 size, then made the sideplate like a Bivins sideplate but at 3/4 size.  It is a cute lil rifle.  If you need some photos I can take some & email them to you.

[Kentucky Jeff]

I'm building a .50 cal Little fella's rifle for my 6 year old daughter.  It should be ready by the time she's 8!    As mentioned, its lighter than a smaller caliber in the same weight barrel and easy enough to download.   Lets face it...a 50 cal round ball is about 180 grains.  Loaded to 1,000 FPS it will have less recoil than a .410 shotgun in a 6 lb flintlock. 

You don't teach kids to handle recoil with big rifles and shotguns.  You teach them proper shooting form with a kids size .22 Long Rifle.  A child tries to hold up a heavy gun by counterbalancing it by leaning back--which is counterproductive in terms of recoil management AND marksmanship.   

[Tommy Bruce]

Ok after reading this post I may need to rethink my plans.  I picked up a 38" b wieght barrel for my son's first rifle.  I was going to wait until he was around 12 or 13 to build it.  He's 9 now.  Does anyone know if Cabin creek sells that 30" barrel separate from the kit?