Finally took the boy shooting!

I got a Savage Cub for my 6 year old son a while back and finally got out to the woods with the boy to shoot it. He loved it! It was drizzling and miserable out, and I could barely pry the rifle out of his hands when it was time to go. We used .22 shorts which were quiet enough to use without muffs for the 20 shots we fired. I'm going to find him some low-profile youth muffs to help him get used to wearing them in the future.

In any case, he was able to hit the target, which was just a cardboard box, all by himself. The length of pull is still a little too long, so it took us a while to figure out a way for him to hold the rifle in the standing position. We settled in the end with the butt of the stock above his shoulder. Underneath puts the sights too low, and it was very difficult for him to hold the rifle with the stock against his shoulder.

All-in-all, a very good day!

Here's a pic of the boy and the cub. Excellent youth rifle. Much better quality than the cricket or chipmunk for only a little more money. I got mine on Auctionarms for $170 + $15 shipping. Not bad!

http://vger.aa.washington.edu/triplett/blog_pictures/savage_cub_scaled.jpg

Heh, could he grin any wider? Something tells me you made a young man very happy!

Nice!! Glad to see you teaching your kids to shoot its a great discipline for the rest of their lives.

I can't wait to do that with my son. He's only 8 months old, so I've still got awhile yet.

Tell us more about the Cub. I have a bunch of nephews and have been considering a Cub for #3, 4 or 5.

Did Dad shoot it? How are the trigger and sights?

Would you recommend it for another 6 year old? Would you have the stock cut down first? Is the LOP 12"? Maybe chop it to 11"?

Yep, dad shot it :). It has a super nice trigger, an accutrigger in fact, and lighter and crisper than my Savage .300 win mag accutrigger. It has peep sights and was perfectly acurate out of the box.

I'd like to have a shorter stock, but I don't want to cut it down, seems a shame to cut up a perfectly good stock. For now, having him hold the rifle above his shoulder works great, so I'll just let him grow into it.

It also has grooves to mount a rimfire scope, but we won't get to that until he grows into it.

As for LOP, it's a little longer than on a Cricket or Chipmunk. I measure it to be 12", while on the cricket website, they list it as 11.5", so not really too much difference. 10" would probably fit the kid perfectly.

Note: while the .22 shorts were not too loud, there was a little snap to them (even though subsonic), and I'll get the kid to wear muffs with them from now on. Thon, especially for extended shooting, or I'll buy a box of those colibri's

http://www.outdoormarksman.com/product_info.php?cPath=65_2_54&products_id=9