Youth Muzzy Load

I'd say if he's gun shy you'll probably scare him away if you push the issue.
Have him play with the .22 for a season or more then enter .410 or reduced recoil 20 gauge.
Time and Maturity will prevail but if you try to force it I'd estimate you're doing yourself more harm than good.

I have a friend whom takes his young daughter out hunting from time to time however his older son as he says, "wants to stay home and bake cookies with Mommy."

It isn't for everybody no matter how much you may want it.

I'm in the same boat Shu, my 10 year old won't even give the .410 a try. He shoots the .22 just find but the big boom is what gets him. Was hoping the lighter load like I used on my daughter would help convince him it's not bad. Will see. On our load for my daughter it was actually 50 cal. using 60 gr. Pyrodex w/ Horandy JHP .45 or perhaps is a .357? (not sure on weight) sabot. We shot it out to 80 yards and it was less than an inch low.

May be wrong but I want to say heavier bullet equals less recoil.

I also tried a 50 grain load with a gun I had sighted in with 100 grains and at 50 yards it was still a bullseye. Thinking it would just start to drop faster past 75-100 yards and of course have less velocity and energy but would do the same thing to a deer inside 50 yards.

My daughter is not ready for gun hunting. She has only shot twice and had a blast but was barely able to hit paper with iron sights on a 22 at 25' or so lol. I just told her good job baby and thinking about getting her a 22 with a red dot so she can just get used to holding the rifle correctly and trigger control. She is 7.

Heavier bullet equals more recoil with all other influences being the same

I tried a .357 158 gr XTP using a .35 to .45 sabot inside a .45 to .50 sabot on top of 50 gr 777. It shot well but I never could get my recoil shy son to try it out. I'm sure it would be fine for short range shooting.

With my older son, when he was 7 he used 250gr SST's and 60gr 777 to practice and then I loaded him up with 100gr for hunting. He killed 2 does that year and never knew the difference.

Are you using enough hearing protection on them when they shoot?

I would double up with in the ear ones and then outer ones also. My son loves his ear pro and knows he has to have it on when we squirrel hunt. We have the Howard leight ones that also amplify so you can still hear just fine with them on.

Make a "lead sled" a game. Use one and put an egg between your shoulder and the sled. Fire off a 12 gauge turkey load and have them watch.

I had a nephew affraid of the shotgun and this made him realize it is not that bad.

70 grains of 777 and 200 grain tc shockwave bullet is what my kids use, both starting at 6 yr old. They have shot 5 deer between them at 20-30 yds with their .50 CVA. All were one shot kills. I did put a limbsaver pad on it but its all smoke and no kick.....

Beentown said:

Make a "lead sled" a game. Use one and put an egg between your shoulder and the sled. Fire off a 12 gauge turkey load and have them watch.

I had a nephew affraid of the shotgun and this made him realize it is not that bad.

Click to expand...

I'm with you on the hearing protection. My 11year old daughter hates the noise not the recoil. I load 50 gr pyrodex with
245 gr shockwave for her and limit her to a long bow shot. But the hearing protection is a must with the little ones.

schu72 try this, get a set of headphones with music playing, the kind that completely covers the ears, play whatever he likes a little loud, that way it will drown out the boom, most kids don,t like the boom, start out with a small caliber gun and work up at his pace, my boys got their first deer at seven and nine but we were shooting 22s at 5-6 years old, bb guns before that, this brings back so many memories, JP got his first at seven, he shot a rabbit and then a few min. later a button buck came out, dead deer , rabbit and deer was less than 5 ft apart, Daniel killed his first at nine he was sitting with the wife, out came a doe, at about 80 yds, 44 mag rifle in hand, said he could make that shot, she let him shoot, hit her in the neck, he was one happy young,un, i was one proud dad, sorry for hijacking but it just brought back memories.