Youth Rifle - Recoil Issues Email to friend

I sent the following e-mail to a friend of mine.  From what I can tell, his son is having a few challenges with recoil.  Though he is only shooting a .243, he's a good old fashioned pre-teen kid - skin, bones, and energy playing sports all the time.  You may think he should be able to handle a .243  (scroll down for another view of this topic).  Let's smooth this a bit.  How about we let Mike Tyson blast you in the face about three times.  If you make it to the fourth punch - I bet $100 you flinch and I hope you actually try to get out of the way!!  Or, be introspective the next time your 12 gauge dry fires.......that isn't a flinch bud, it's a yank.  Somehow with rifles, taking a beating is something that is supposed to happen.....hmmmmmmm.
ANYWAY -
Kids are smart enough to duck the punch.  Recoil hurts and flinching is natural.  Put the two together and you will have poor field shooting.  I guarantee it!

I will never stop posting on this subject because it is the #1 problem with youth shooters and easily resolved.  Look for updates, I will post solutions.  One of my 30.06's just came out of the gunsmith with a new muzzle brake.  Ready to try it.

Pat,

Okay, well, there are alot of angles on the gun thing.

First, I dont' give a hoot in hell what any one says.  It is true.  If you hit them correctly they die.  Arrows have NO expansion nor ballistic shock and are lethal.  I have tested our .223 with 55 grain soft points, ball ammo, and ballistic tips on deer and hogs over the last 4 years, it has cleanly taken over 40 animals.  ( I prefer soft points )  Solid shoulder shots on deer, head shots on hogs get the same results, critters.  Your son's .243 is more than adequate for Texas deer hunting.

The problem, most often, is recoil.  The kids are flinching.  Add adrenaline and it's a crapshoot on bullet placement.  Personally, I went with a really heavy rifle and a .223 seeking 0 recoil because that is the only thing I can control.  The second most likely issue is looking up.  A person who wants to shoot well has to stay down on the gun.  If they (or any grown man) looks up - accuracy will suffer.  You have to spend time shooting to train it out. Now, recoil can cause both a flinch and looking up.   I had this problem for years due to the 30.30 I started with.  10 years old, steel butt plate, fire breathing Model '94 and scared to death of it.  My first four deer, basically wounded to death....shot in the spine under 50 yards.......this became a common fear or all "deer rifles" when I was younger.  I vowed my boys would not have the same experience. 

I also don't give a hoot in hell what anyone thinks about the type of gun.  Our little H@R Ultra Varmint Handi Rifle single shot is rock solid despite being inexpensive and not a fancy pants name brand.  It shoot's nice - almost 0 recoil and ammo is relatively cheap so we shoot it ALOT.  I can back this recipe up with multiple shooters on the same gun getting the same results.  Tom started hunting deer when he was 5 1/2, first doe, right in the heart. 



TIC TAC TOE



Finally, shot placement is always hard to kind of describe.  See attached Tic Tac Toe pics courtesy of Cross Trail Outfitters http://www.teamcto.org/.  Here's how it works.  Tell the kids to think about a line across the back, line along belly, two lines up each leg, when you got that - then shoot the middle box.  Trust me - you get results.  With your .243 and 100 grain soft points like Remington Core Lokt's it's perfect.  If I had to guess from what you tell me, the shooting issues your boys are having in the field.....the combination equals inexperience with the rifle and they don't like pain.  Which is totally understandable.  I HATE recoil.  Favoring a .410 these days on the skattergun side.  I have seen this at the ranch with multiple kids.  Their dad gave them a .270 when they were 10 and since kids are smarter than we are, they flinch like crazy bracing for impact.  Oh, yeah, don't tell anyone but most grown men when they inadvertantly dry fire, pinch paint off the stool they are on.  It's called pucker factor....but not flinching, men hate it when you say flinch......interestingly if you get on internet message boards - no one flinches.  Oh, yeah, and a .223 won't kill an ant either.   98% of them have never tried or tested 98% of the hot air opinions in the field. 

We can talk sometime soon.  Don't buy another gun until we do.  I've made all the mistakes, there are some modifications you can make on gun rests, bipods, recoil pads, lots of stuff to make them shoot better. I use these tricks as much as I can.

Troy