what to build for a youngster?

[greywuuf]

Hi all,
 new to the forums and fairly new to BP in general, guns and gun building not so much. I have a series of questions and a little back ground info ( requirements kinda ) but the real issue is I want my Rifle back. I just finished a traditions "hawken" rifle in 50 cal  and my 12 year old daughter has basically taken it over ( 50 cal percussion halfstock)  It is too heavy for her to shoot except from the bench and I am looking for something to build with/for her.  

I am looking for something that is considered light and trim , however I would like to stay with a 50 cal  just to keep things simple between the two of us. I also have been looking at the "Back action" locks  and I am aware of the thick wrist issues, but I am still liking a lot of the originals I am seeing at auction site   Maybe something along the lines of a fowling halfstock ?

I know this is straying from the defined time period rifle style of the forum, but you guys seem to have the greatest exposure to all kinds out there and if someone had the perfect rifle in mind  it would be here.


Suggestions are most welcome. ( oh and picture examples as I am not as I said  overly familiar with all of the types out there)

Dan in Alaska

[Acer Saccharum]

child's rifle I built some time ago.



This is percussion, but if I ever did another gun, I'd make it flint. Why? Much less trouble on the firing line with ignition.

[Bill of the 45th]

Check out the little fella's rifle on the Chambers website www.flintlocks.com  Best kit out there.

Bill

[Kermit]

I second what Bill just said. It'll fit her for a long while. I suppose you might convince them to sell you a kit in percussion. I wouldn't.

[cmac]

Here is one I made for my kids.... http://americanlongrifles.org/forum/index.php?topic=26114.0

[David R. Pennington]

If I might make a suggestion. I built one a while back for my son and he outgrew it almost before it was finished. I built it to fit him at the time, but within a short amount of time he had outgrown it. I built it with not much drop in the stock which is the problem. You can shoot a rifle with the stock too short but with too little drop it is really hard to get the sights lined up when you are bigger. I agree with the flintlock. I built this one as percussion, but would do flint if I had to do over.  In other words if I had it to do over I would have built it bigger and let him grow into it.

[Long Ears]

I've been looking at the Little fella's Rifle of Chambers also. Like everything else they do it should be fantastic. Bob

[greywuuf]

Acer that is very nice, can you tell me a little more about it? How long is the barrel and who turned that. How much does it weigh? Is that stock carved from a blank or did it start as something else?

To all of the rest of you, thank you for the suggestions, I am afraid she would be graduated and on her own before I could swing buying the admitidly very nice Chambers.

What I am thinking is a little more budget and a lot more piece meal.
Also her and I Both have a strong prefrence for half stocks.

I also desire a flinter but why the admonishment about the cap lock? Is there something I just have not experienced yet? She seems to work this one just fine.

[Vomitus]

   The problem with kids is that they grow too fast. Building her a gun that fits now may not in 2-3 years.My thoughts would be to buy her a nice little production rifle,say a TC Seneca and when she's filled out some,then consider a custom.JMHO tho.

[Acer Saccharum]

wulf, I'll have to dig out the gun. I turned the barrel from a straight oct .36.  It's not really 'traditional' design, very loosely based on the English Sporting rifle. Lots of drop; kids seem to have big heads, long necks, and their shoulders are too far away for a standard gun to seat properly.

[Acer Saccharum]

And to add to what LEather says, if it takes you a year to make a gun, you've got to look for a fit 2 or 3 years inadvance. Otherwise you risk a gun being wrong size as soon as it's built.

[bob in the woods]

Take a look at Brad Emig's [ Cabin Creek  ]  Lady's / Boy's rifle kit.  It is really nice too .

[greywuuf]

Bob, you are correct, just went and looked   that is a Very nice kit as well.


A Year ? !!   Man I got to get this thing up and running by the time snow flies  or I aint gonna have my "mountain man" gun back for trapping season.  I figure I and buying a Barrel blank and some stock either a precarve ( preferably )  or God forbid a blank ( I am SUCH a wood butcher)   I can  taper turn or shape a barrel as needed,  I am just kinda looking for examples of Slim looking guns to emulate.  I am kinda interested in the Look of some of the back action fowlers I have seen, Was just hoping that someone had seen something along those lines in a "boys gun". I am sure not finding any.

[Dphariss]

If I might make a suggestion. I built one a while back for my son and he outgrew it almost before it was finished. I built it to fit him at the time, but within a short amount of time he had outgrown it. I built it with not much drop in the stock which is the problem. You can shoot a rifle with the stock too short but with too little drop it is really hard to get the sights lined up when you are bigger. I agree with the flintlock. I built this one as percussion, but would do flint if I had to do over.  In other words if I had it to do over I would have built it bigger and let him grow into it.

Exactly.
My 12 year old and his first deer.
And he was not a big kid.
7/8 x 36 45 caliber.
http://i72.photobucket.com/albums/i199/DPhariss/Hunting/Daniel1stdeer.jpg
Offhand shot at about 45-50 yards.
Its little short for an adult but shootable just the same.
Dan

[Long John]

When you build a rifle for a child, I think you should do so with the assumption that it will be used for a couple of years and then handed down.  From my vantage point it seems to me that with all the "distractions" that kids have now-a-days, if you don't capture their interest before they are 12 you won't ever.

I built these rifles about 10 years ago.




Both guns have been handed down.

Best Regards,

John Cholin