Muzzleloader question - reduced charge

[Daver]

I am planning on having my 11 year old, relatively small framed, son go for his first deer during the upcoming early muzzleloader season. I am concerned though that he will get "planted" shooting what for me is a normal 90gr charge with a 250gr Barnes Red Hot bullet.

Does anyone have any experience/advice as to the effect of "choking down" the grains of powder to allow a smaller person to successfully shoot the ol' smokepole?

I was thinking I could go with 50gr of powder and limit the shot distance to 30 yards or so. It is .50 cal Knight and I intend to hunt him out of a groundblind and supply shooting sticks to steady the aim and relieve the weight of holding the gun steady, etc. I am going to test him out this weekend, but I wanted to get some input from experienced folks first.

Advice, thoughts, ideas are welcome. Thanks.

 

[Liv4Rut]

you can try lowering and see if it would work, i dont know but 50 grains seems low to me. i think if you shot the 180 grain barnes that would help to some extent with the kick. and then maybe you could use less powder and the lighter bullet will fly faster than the heavier one. also i bet you could start out low and just gradually increase the powder charge up to 90 and he could handle it very well, i think what i would do, is just get a gun vise and clamp it in, and put in 90 grains of powder like you normally do. then let him shoot it, the gun wont kick back and hurt him because it is in the vise, you can put something so that it doesnt, then when its time to hunt, just let him shoot it, i doubt with the adrenaline rush he will even notice it. goodluck this year!!

 

[moosehunter]

Here's what I did with my youngest kid. I let him practice shooting with a 22-250 till he was comfortable with a scope. He never shot the muzzeloader until he shot a deer. Afterwards I asked him if the gun kicked alot and he couldn't even remember.

 

[scout]

Remove the buttplate and see if there is a void in the stock. (I'm not very familiar with Knights) If there is (which I doubt) fill it with sand or lead shot or other such material. The extra weight will make a world of difference. You can also just use a "sissy bag" It's a cloth bag filled with sand or the likes, placed between the shoulder and the stock. It can be fashioned to the stock also. If he's shooting a scope eye relief may be a problem.
If it were me I have him shootting iron sights.
I've shot alot or 50cal balls w/ 50gr of Pyrodex and some saboted 44cal XTP's w/50gr. I would shoot a deer @ 50yrd or less with it and count on a short blood trail. How far would you have him shoot anyway.

 

[Daver]

Scout - I would limit the shot to under 40 yards, more like 30 or so. I am pretty sure there is no void in the stock as it is a wood stock.

Thanks for the input guys.