12 yr old granddaughters 243 load

[TBark]

Just picked up a Win 243 in Muddy Girl Camo for my granddaughter.
Just trying to consider a load that will not pound her shoulder much as a new hunter.
I am seeing factory loads from 58gr to 100gr.
If I go too small it may not be enough to give a good kill.
So do I load a mid range 80 gr and go min powder charge?

Any help is appreciated,

TBark

[obsessed1]

What is she planning on hunting? At what range? Is she recoil sensitive? How much shooting experience does she have?
Recoil for young shooters can be a funny thing often muzzle blast is a bigger cause of discomfort/ flinch... If your a hand loader you can launch decently heavy bullets at reduces speeds for less recoil ( shorter range only) or you can launch lighter bullets semi fast for less recoil...
gun fit will play a huge part in felt recoil.

[TBark]

This fall will be her first, only shot 410 and 22.
Likely ok for her to shoot 150-175 yds.
We have a 150 range in our land and will ease her into it before the fall.
She’s a skinny stick tho, and a bit concerned about that.
Deer only for her.

Thanks,

TBark

[Ebrand]

Double her up on hearing protection.

The noise is worse than the recoil.

Made my daughter far more comfortable when the sound was not as big a factor.

[shooter12]

I started my kids with 243 Win and 80 gr Barnes TTSXs at around 3300 FS.
IMR 4350 for a powder , but many others will do about the same.
Mild recoil , flat shooting deadly bullets they are .

S12

[Scottmisfits]

I started my son with the 100 grain Federal PowerShok. When I started loading for it, it was the 85gr Sierra Game King. He never had any complaints about recoil and they proved to work on deer.

[HyperMOA]

I’m in the same kind of situation. Except it’s my daughter. She’s not 12 yet but she’s pretty solid so I may start with her this summer. I have the lightest varmint bullets I could find. I’ll slowly work up the load on those for a bit. Just to let her shoot for a year or so. Then I’ll try a few hunting loads in a couple years; a month or two before deer season.

My thoughts are if she is used to it at the range with a deer in the scope she should do alright. For some reason my .338 never recoils in the field like it does at the range. 😀

[Dean2]

If she has no problems with a 410 then she will be just fine with 80 grain TSX at 3300 fps. Light kids often tolerate recoil better than stouter ones as long as they can rock back with the shot. Making sure your daughter is sitting upright with her back straight and not hunched over the gun at the bench helps a lot.

Ebrand is spot on about hearing protection, plugs and muffs will make a far bigger difference to most people, including kids, than the actual recoil. I have worked with guys that had noticeable flinches that they thought was recoil related. Doubling up the hearing protection got rid of the flinch pretty quick.

[normanrd]

I did the same thing with my daughter last year. She is small, like 75 lbs, and light framed. I ended up making reduced load of h4895 with a 58 grain vmax for her to practice and smash steel with, coming out at 3000 fps. I also made a 32 grain load of h4895 with a 95 grain partition at about 2750 fps for her to hunt with. To my surprise both were sub moa and very low recoiling and flew to the same point of impact!

She shot around 250 practice rounds, most from a blind chair and sticks getting familiar with her gun in the position she would be required to use it in. In late August she was ready and we switched to the partitions. I also schooled her heavily on shot placement and reinforced the fact that letting an animal go if it is a marginal shot is the best thing to do.

As mentioned, we always wear double hearing protection at the range and in the blind when there is a chance for a shot.

We had several deer come in, but because of one thing or another it never happened, and I reinforced that it was a good thing not to take a bad shot. Finally I called this buck in to 45 or so yards and she shot it right through the heart. Awesome shot on her behalf. I was very proud of her and she was even more proud of herself for making a magnificent kill. A moment neither of us will forget.


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[sns2]

Best pics ever. What a shot! What a smile! Way to go!

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[TBark]

Thanks folks and great pics Norman,
Same Camo 243 I have just bought too.
I’ll pick up those Win 58 gr factory loads to get her started then load up some 85 or 90’s afterwards.
The shop is still holding the 243, I couldn’t leave with it yesterday.
Anyone purchase this weekend? The reg system has been down now for 1.5 days.

TBark

[oilngas]

Terrific Norman, good on ya

[Dean2]

Originally Posted by TBark

Thanks folks and great pics Norman,
Same Camo 243 I have just bought too.
I’ll pick up those Win 58 gr factory loads to get her started then load up some 85 or 90’s afterwards.
The shop is still holding the 243, I couldn’t leave with it yesterday.
Anyone purchase this weekend? The reg system has been down now for 1.5 days.

TBark

What registration system. Show your PAL, walk out with gun. If not, time to find a new shop.

[TBark]

Haven’t bought in a few yrs.
But they have to reg on the system at point sale , don’t they?
He had my PAL in hand at the time.

TBark

[Dean2]

Originally Posted by TBark

Haven’t bought in a few yrs.
But they have to reg on the system at point sale , don’t they?
He had my PAL in hand at the time.

TBark

Whatever their issue is, it is based on the stores own policies and way of handling sales. This sounds a lot like a Cabelas cluster. Long guns are not registered at first sale or after. Once they have the info off your current pal they can deliver the gun but some places insist on verifying your pal for "their own protecrion"

[Brobee]

Here's a video of my oldest daughter practicing with her .243win in the summer where she turned 12 in preparation for her first deer hunt:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d3OR...ature=youtu.be

At the time she weighed about 85lbs. She was shooting a 100gr hornady SST over H4895 at about 2700fps, and had no trouble with the blast and recoil. She easily bagged her first deer that fall, and has been enthusiastically hunting with dad ever since. This year at age 15 she retired the .243 and hunted for the first time with a .308win. She found the recoil of factory .308 a bit much, so I loaded up for her some reduced recoil loads she used to great effect this fall.

Best days of my life, you are in for a rich experience!

Cheers,

Brobee

[TBark]

Nice Brobee, she handles that well.
The one or 2 other clips are good watching too.
I’ll link them to my granddaughter for sure.
Thanks,

TBark

[TBark]

The granddaughters Muddy Girl 243 home finally, and the wife’s Rem SPS 7-08 just back from dipping with the same Muddy Girl pattern.
But the wife’s has a light primer.
Both the girls are happy, ha.

TBark

[KegRiver]

Awesome stuff guys.

I started my oldest at 14 years old, on a 6.5x55 I customized for her.

She took her first Moose with it the next fall. One shot through the boiler room.

The girl has always been a better shot them me. She hasn't hunted since she got married but she still owns that gun and has since sent more then one bear to the big berry patch with that little rifle.

[Twisted Canuck]

Norman, that deer is 5x your daughters size! Good job dad, and her smile is worth a million!

[eric2381]

What I’ve done for both of my girls is lots of practice rounds loaded with trailboss powder. Full case to base of seated bullet. Low noise and very low recoil. Get them shooting and used to it. Then a few days before hunting season I’ll rezero the scope with full power loads. Go hunting. They won’t even know the difference when they shoot their first deer. Set them up for success with a good rest and time to aim and be calm. I explain to them straight up that they have to expect a bit of recoil from a rifle if it’s going to have enough power to kill a large animal. We shoot a lot of 22s as well. I put long bipods on their rifles so they can take rested sitting shots anywhere. I also have deer targets out of plywood I staple papers with the vitals on behind in the right spot so they get used to aiming at the right spot on the deer instead of just a paper bullseye. Then they can check the back of the wood deer to see if they hit it in the lungs or heart or completely missed vitals. It’s really helped them and they’ve made some great one shot kills. The full power loads I load lighter high quality bullets. 6.5x55 100gr partition. 6.5creedmoor 100gr Ttsx. 25-06 80gr Ttsx. The Trailboss rounds are just with cheap varmint bullets.

Good luck

[Tactical Lever]

You can reduce the loads slightly as well. Richard Lee's conservative rule of thumb is a 20% reduction of minimum with the slowest powder, and then reducing an additional 1% for the next slowest and so on.

I think you are on the right track with 85 gr. (or 80 gr.) bullets. I think (?) much lighter gets into varmint bullets. I'd just go down the list on powders and look for a non-ideal faster powder load that will be a smaller charge weight to begin with. Powder weight has a bearing on recoil as well.

Just going to the minimum faster powder charge will give you about 2700-2800 fps with a charge weight of a little over 30 gr. Reducing that by just 20% will make a difference also, and probably give a velocity of 2500-2600-ish I'd guess.

[Tactical Lever]

I don't think a more regular load would be too tough if the rifle fits. But for fun, I punched in a 28 gr. powder charge pushing an 80 gr. bullet at 2600 fps out of a 6.5 lb. rifle gives a recoil of 5.9 foot pounds. That puts it squarely between .223 and 22-250 out of a 7 lb. rifle on the chart with typical loads.

[dcc7917]

One reply mentioned 85 gr Game Kings, great deer bullets, have had no complaints from the deer. I would try varget.