Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunting Rifles Final Tweaks on 10year olds 6.5

Some of you may remember back last year, a build I did for my son as his first big game rifle to be used this year as he turns 10 and is able to hunt big game here in Idaho. The rifle was built on the following blueprint...
Rem 700 short action - 6.5 creed
Bolt futed and bolt handled drilled out to shed weight
#2 Shilen Barrel (minimum shank) 22.5", lightly fluted
Timney trigger at 2.5#
B&C mountain lw stock adl, finished at 13" LOP
medium Talley LW
Weighs 6# 2oz before scope



At first it wore a conquest 3-9x, now it wears a Leupold VX3 3.5-10X40 CDS. My son has shot it quite a bit and does well with it. With a good rest, I would be ok today letting him attempt a shot on a big game animal to 300 yards. It really fits him well.

Now, for the reason of the post. Wanted to get some feedback on some last minute tinkering I want to accomplish in the next couple a weeks on the rifle, giving him the month of April to get some final shooting in for a may bear hunt. (Little tinkering that won't affect his hunt as its over bait with the blind setup about 100 yards from the bait)

1. The talley mediums set just a touch high and he has to raise his head a bit, so replace those with lows.
2. Replacing the 3.5-10x with a leupold 6x36. whenever we shoot, he leaves it on 6x anyways and this little simple scope would be one less thing to worry about and plenty out to 300 yards
3. Trying one other load with a soft point bullet. The rifle is solid 1" gun - not benchrest accurate - but a good moa hunting rifle. The load we have now is a 120 TTSX at 2800 FPS. I don't expect to improve much on group size or accuracy, but at 2800 FPS, maybe the barnes is a touch to tough of bullet. Feel like at that speed, a 125 partition would be hard to beat.

Thoughts?

JMO....

1) Yes. Low as possible without touching bolt handle or the barrel. Cool thing with Talley LW's is that they are aluminum. You can take a flat file to the front of the forward mount, or, rear of the back mount and apply a chamfer to give extra scope clearance for a very low mount, or for additional scope fore/aft adjustment for eye box. Touch up with krylon or black marker.

2) With a smaller objective and no power selector ring, you can mount the 6x36 a little lower, and a little further forward if needed for eye box, or, to get the objective bell forward of the front base.

3) A Partition is never a bad choice...

YMMV...

My thought is your son has a lot nicer rifle that most of the ones I have....

why mess with success...seems you did real fine as it was...

He may be leaving the Leupold on 6X to maximize eye relief. I have several 3.5-10 and ER tends to be perfect at 5 or 6 on more than one rifle. My neck is a little short so I don't crawl the stock well.

Best wishes to you and your budding Hunter,

Jack

What a lucky young man and a great Dad. My opinion only but I like a little more trigger weight for young shooters say 3lb. but if he is doing well with it don't change a thing. Good choice on the 6x36 scope and I think those will be fine in super lows but ask Tally first. My boys did better with fixed power as they were always twisting the variables.

Talley X-lows do clear 1" tube Leupolds at the front obj and rear with 700 sporters and 3-9x40, 2.5-8x36, etc. There is not enough room for a rear BC flip-up, but no biggie. They fit my face and the faces of my kids even better than lows when using standard Remington stocks.

Added: One of my daughters shoots the 120gr 7mm TTSX at 2,600fps in her 20" 7mm-08 (H4198). It has opened well on deer and hogs inside 100yds, with mostly bang-flops or good blood trails. The tip helps expansion a lot. I'd not be afraid of your 120/2,800 load in the slightest.

A friend had a Model 7 Rem in 260 Rem with a 20" barrel, the 125 Partition was a deer whacker out of it. I believe it would be in your application as well.

The 120 Ballistic Tip has been great in his 24" barreled Low Wall 260.

I wouldn't be afraid to try the 120 grain Sierra either at the 2800 level.


What load are you using now with the 120 TTSX?

In lieu of lower rings, you may consider adding a stock pack to 'raise the comb' and give your son a comfortable place for a good cheek weld. I had to go with Talley med rings for the bolt to clear the scope ocular housing on more than one rifle. Like your son I had to lift my head just a tad. I did some research and bought two Triad Tactical stock packs and really like them. In addition to being a comfortable place for a good, solid cheek weld, especially on cold days, I carry extra cartridges in it.

I second the possibility of just adding a stock pack to raise the comb. Even in lows most of my scopes are not full FOV when I close my eyes and shoulder the rifle and bury my cheek on the comb and them open my eyes. I would get a cheek pad riser and keep adding foam under it continuing to do that exercise with your son until when he shoulders the rifle and has his cheek welded to the stock and opens his eyes and gets full sight picture without having to move his head up or down.

BTW nicely done dad...that is a cool little gun and the little man looks pretty stoked about it....as he should!

Nice rifle.

Have you checked the fit with him wearing hunting gear?

I load the 120 TTSX for three 6.5 Creedmoor’s. We have killed quite a few pigs with the TTSX. It will work just fine. Slays pigs well. My friend killed a deer with my hand loads. He was impressed.

The 129 grain hornady interlock is another great bullet if you don't want to go the partition route.

I also agree with the stock pack notion. When my youngest started shooting last year, I had her a short LOP, X-low mounts, and a pack. It made is easy for her to line up her eye correctly. Youngsters have smaller heads/faces as compared to adults.

JPro,

I think you've told me before but what are the details of that rig and how old is your girl? Thanks.

She's 8 now, but was 7 in that pic. That rifle was my 700 SPS 260 that I'd cut back to 22". I stuck it in a youth ADL handle and put a 2.5x Leupold on top so she could shoot some Blue Dot loads I'd loaded for her. Once I'd seen that she was interested in shooting, I bought her a 700 ADL youth 20" in 243, bedded/floated it, and eventually re-scoped it with a 3-9x40 Redfield Revolution.

Her mom made us a 50% scale stencil for practice and we shot it some at 60-70yds. Aside from that initial high shot, she did okay. 2018 might be her year to draw blood.

Thanks man. My oldest is about to turn 6, been planning his first deer rifle.

Sure thing. Always a good time to get the kids hunting with us!

I tweaked the seating depth of the Barnes 120TTSX load a bit and shot it the other day. This is what it did - 3 shots around 1/2" at 100. I don't think we will worry much about changing the load. Chornograph at 2825 FPS average.

I did get the talley lows ordered and still searching for a "deal" on a 6x36. May have to leave the 3.5-10x on there for bear season.

Sounds like a great build, and nothing to add on that subject.

I do, however, want to add a comment when it comes to kids. Just wrapping up a Hunter Ed class with about 18 students here and had a range session last weekend. Before doing end all builds for ones kid or even handing them a firearm for the first time please please do a master eye assessment. Easiest is just to hand them a camera or spotting scope and see which eye they use. There are other methods, but with most the kid may realize they're being tested and do whatever to please their parents.

We did an assessment in class and I noted about 5 were left eye dominant. On range day, however, only one volunteered that he was a lefty shooter. We always try to group those so that setups at the various benches can be expedited. As the kids moved around it was evident that 5 left eyed students had been started incorrectly by their parents. Everyone of them was stock crawling in an effort to use the left eye from a right hand hold. It takes them forever to get sights/scopes lined up, and one actually took a scope to the nose from a 223. Not a good experience for a first time shooter.

We took time to switch them around, and muscle memory was a bit of an issue for some. Probably added about 1/2 hour to our range session. Three of them, however, came away from the benches with the lights obviously coming on and a realization that shooting is really easy.

Sorry for butting in here, but please do check your youngster before making serious investments. Going lefty can incur some additional costs, but there are many AC/DC units that will also work. Semi autos, pumps, lever actions, break actions, falling blocks, etc.

Have a good one,