16 years old

Thats good that he took it well or I would think he might need a bit of a man talk. The 30-06 is really not a hard hitting rifle, been shooting one since I was 90lbs and 12 years old. Same goes for the slug gun, they hit hard but as long as you hold the barrel down your fine. I remember my first shotgun hunt I had a 12ga slug gun of a friends I never fired but he swore it was dead on, doe walked out at 110 yards put it on her shoulder and fired. Down she went, never moved from the spot, since then I know own multiple slug guns and love to slug hunt.
 
The ole guy that lives across from our private range... lets his grandson come and shoot with us at times... hes only 13 and is six ft tall...skinny as a broom handle tho... he trap shoots with us... shoots my 300 win mag...and also shoots my 500 and 460....

... teach him bout the safetys...and let him try...thats the only real way to find out what he can handle.
 
i'm a little late and its a moot point,but I think one thing that exagerates recoil and cuts eyes,etc,is scrunching down to shoot off some improvised ,too low,bench rest situation.
Standing on the hind legs offhand at about 25 yds is not a bad way to ease into it.Skinny kid can be like a willow in the wind.BTW,while I do believe the rifle should be placed firmly,I try to relax all the muscles I can and roll with recoil.
 
I started shooting a .270 when I was 10, so he should be fine.

Recoil pads are nice though, regardless of how bad the kick is.
 
he will be fine i was shooting a 7 mag at 10 and had killed deer at 8 with a .50 cal smoke pole. i would say let him off hand it and not shoot it off the bench first
 
{As far as scope to eyebrow, it happens. We've all done it and sooner or later, we'll all do it again.}

Not true. It has never happened to me, after well over half a century shooting hi power rifles including .375 and .300 Wby magnums, and I do crawl the stock. Don't mount the scope so far to the rear that the way you shoot, especially from prone or sitting, will cause the scope to hit the forehead. Not a problem with some common sense.

If you crawl the stock then mount the scope farther forward.

Regards,
Jerry
 
While i've never shot a bolt .30-06 i shoot a light sporter .300 Wby mag with a decent break. I imagine it's around the same recoil, the 30-06 may be a little more. I was always recoil sensitive and hurt alot of my shooting when i was little i tried to shoot a 12 gauge and have had to earn my trigger pull ever since. I'm 20, 5'11, 180lbs. I think he'll be fine with a 30-06. Even if it were too much you can fix it by stepping down to a .243 or .308 or something of that sort, let him get plenty of trigger time and then let him try the 30-06 again. Trigger time really makes the biggest difference IMO. Spend enough time behind guns and you'll be able to shoot most rifles with no problem.

Teach them how to properly fire the rifle and make sure that they understand. If you do your job well, they will do theirs.
Click to expand...

+1 to this ^
 
May want to find some factory 125gr ammo and let him practice until he gets used to shooting it. You don't want him to get in the habit of flinching because it is a hard habit to break...

Good Luck
 
You don't want him to get in the habit of flinching because it is a hard habit to break...
Click to expand...

Truly is i'm still coping with a little of it. Sure i make accurate hits by slowly squeezing the trigger, but the side affect is i still jump, and can't watch my splash. This is all on a .308 also. The anticipation of waiting for the rifle to go off also makes me jump. I've dulled it down a good bit by shooting a ton but the point is, it's still somewhat there in a sense.
 
Commanded a CF Army Cadet Corps, long ago. 13 to 18 year olds then. Had a small statured girl(5 foot nothing) who could shoot circles around most of the big guys with either a C1A1(FAL) or a No. 4 Lee-Enfield. Size isn't an issue.
 
The 06 should not be a problem for a 6' 16 year old, but you said you had a .243. Start with that and give him a chance to work up. The worse thing you can do is get him hurt and start bad habits that will be very hard to correct and might last a life time.

Every time I see a video where some jerk gives a lady or small person a hard kicking gun that ends up hurting them and thinking it's funny I want to somehow return the favor. A scope in the eyebrow is not a life lesson or rite of passage. It is a good way to create long lasting problems or worse case, cause a person to not want to persue the sport at all.

Bill
 
First time I shot a scoped mosin I got the scope to the face. It was my first time shooting too. It didn't hurt too bad, and I haven't done it since.

Let him shoot it. Just give him some input on how to hold it and what not. I wasn't so fortunate.
 
my 16 year old son, about 5"8, 145 lbs has shot the m91/30, m44, m38 and my m95 in 8 x 56R, and never had a problem with recoil. but they were all iron sights. but i don't think your son will have any problem at all.
 
Oh, man... My 9 year old shoots my 12 gauge, '06, and my 7mm mag. He draws the line at about 2-3 full power buckshot or slug loads from the shotgun, but the others he will shoot for hours. Never even thought of seeing if it was too much. My 7 year old shot the shotgun once, she then tossed it on the ground, looks up at me, and says "That's all for today."

Apparently, that's all for life, she still shoots other guns, though.
 
Your'e fine, just be there to help him and make sure he doesn't ride up on the scope. I was given a 7mm rem mag for my 16th b-day and it smacked the crap out of me but I loved it. At that age he probably craves the excitement of shooting the high powered stuff and won't care too much about the recoil of your 06.
 
He will be fine as long as he keeps proper eye relief and adheres to the four fundamentals (position, breathing, aiming, trigger squeeze). The good news is that some of the common mistakes when shooting a big-kick rifle can be self-correcting. I taught my friend's 14 year old son, who might be 110 lbs, to shoot an an ancient .30-06 Remington. He almost lost a few teeth due to an improper grip on the first shot, but he learned after that.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top