My son’s first rifle

MAdcox

AH elite
Joined
Aug 15, 2017
Messages
1,025
Reaction score
2,342
Location
Oklahoma, USA
Media
122
Articles
1
Hunting reports
Africa
2
Member of
DSC; DSCOK
Hunted
Oklahoma, Colorado, New Mexico, Texas, South Africa (Limpopo, Northern Cape), Namibia
My son and I just got his first rifle picked out, scope mounted and ready to sight in. Fun day for me, gun shopping with my oldest.
He is small for his age so we did a lot of looking in both types of rifles and caliber. He shoots my 243 Win well but it has a long, medium barrel on it and it’s too heavy for him to handle well. I had my mind set on a youth model 243 for him. But he and I both really liked the Ruger American Rancher model. It fit him well but the only caliber we could find for him was the 6.5 Grendel. It goes against all my “stick with the old tried and true” feelings, but we decided to give a try after some research on the caliber.
Hopefully we can get it sighted in and get him on his first buck in a few weeks.
AA5CA26F-C77C-4310-AED0-2848B3507588.jpeg
 
Excellent, I got one of them in a 300 whisper and it shoots great! The 6.5 should work great on his first deer!
 
Congratulation to you both.
His grin will only get bigger.
 
I don't know anything about the Grendel. I bought my middle some a Ruger American when he graduated AIT. Its in 6.5 Creedmoor, not fond of Ruger or the Creedmoor but that rifle/caliber is friggin accurate! The smile on your son is priceless bud. Thank you for keeping the tradition going.
 
Awesome! You are starting him out well! Hope we get to see his first “trophy”! The first is the one he will remember the rest of his life.
 
Thank you gentlemen.

@Ridgewalker yes sir , I hope we can. I had him out last year and we saw a lot and had lots of fun. But I had him carrying my first gun which is a little lever action 357mag, iron sights. He missed his first one on a tough shot so I told him he would have his own rifle this year.
 
Those Ruger Americans are butt ugly. On the plus side they are the most accurate off the shelf rifles I have ever shot. Also it is not prohibitively expensive to get them dipped to pretty them up a bit. I predict your son will shoot it well and grow to love it. Job well done.
 
Good stuff!! Look forward to hearing about some of his upcoming hunts
 
any kid hunting with his own gun is a win win in my book
i love putting kids into their first real hunt and taking their first animal
keep the tradition alive and the future of hunting will live on
 
My son and I just got his first rifle picked out, scope mounted and ready to sight in. Fun day for me, gun shopping with my oldest.
He is small for his age so we did a lot of looking in both types of rifles and caliber. He shoots my 243 Win well but it has a long, medium barrel on it and it’s too heavy for him to handle well. I had my mind set on a youth model 243 for him. But he and I both really liked the Ruger American Rancher model. It fit him well but the only caliber we could find for him was the 6.5 Grendel. It goes against all my “stick with the old tried and true” feelings, but we decided to give a try after some research on the caliber.
Hopefully we can get it sighted in and get him on his first buck in a few weeks.View attachment 375197
@MAdox
Mate the smile says it all. You are in for a long haul upgrading his rifles but it's also a hell of a lot of fun teaching our kids. It's also a good bonding time with the kids.
Bob
 
Congratulations to you both. As a father you can not go wrong. I, as a grandfather will be starting my two grand kids with learning to shoot a .22 after Christmas. So far, only a BB gun. They have been going to our lease since they were 2. They just recently turned 6 and 8.
 
Those Ruger Americans are butt ugly. On the plus side they are the most accurate off the shelf rifles I have ever shot. Also it is not prohibitively expensive to get them dipped to pretty them up a bit. I predict your son will shoot it well and grow to love it. Job well done.
Camouflage helps you to lose your gear. That is why chain shops are so happy to sell you knives with camouflage handles and sheaths. Proper gun/hunting shops offer you knives with fluoro handles (e.g. Mora) and ... if you have a knife with cast aluminium handle you can easily paint it in a bright colour. Bird shooters need camouflage, in some situations. Stalkers need common sense.
Valid reason to change synthetic stock colour is to get away from a dark colour that absorbs too much UV and heats up accordingly.
Great image, especially because he has his trigger finger ‘parallel to the barrel’ and obviously finds that to be a natural position. @MAdcox you are training him well. Best wishes to you both.
 
I had my Ruger dipper in a burlwood pattern, not exactly pretty but defiantly an improvement over black plastic. And not camouflage
 
Congratz on getting your son out and a rifle to hunt with. The 6.5 grendel is a great little round that will serve as a great deer and hog round. I built a 6.5 howa a couple years ago and use it to teach people how to shoot and it is my varmint calling rifle. Look forward to seeing his first deer hunt report. Good job Dad!
 
The boy and his new gun got their first deer tonight. So proud of him. He has practiced a lot the last few weeks. We saw this buck at sundown 250 yards out and he wanted to shoot but he was never still and I was worried about the distance. He went to cover along a creek and 15 minutes later came up the creek in front of us. Isaac was on him and shot at 160 yards. He hit the top of his heart and both lungs! The deer went 40 yards.
64BCF20E-6955-4207-9CCE-66F8AA64E276.jpeg
 
Awesome!! Congrats to the young man!
 

Forum statistics

Threads
53,613
Messages
1,131,134
Members
92,667
Latest member
chandaokelle05
 

 

 

Latest profile posts

Impact shots from the last hunt

Early morning Impala hunt, previous link was wrong video

Headshot on jackal this morning

Mature Eland Bull taken in Tanzania, at 100 yards, with 375 H&H, 300gr, Federal Premium Expanding bullet.

20231012_145809~2.jpg
 
Top