What is a good rifle for a young boy? What did you start with? Did it kick you out of the stand? Did it have knock down power or did you have to chase a lot of blood trails? Help me I need to get my boys a gun to use.

Don't know how big these boys are but find a Remington ADL in 243 youth model. As they get older and taller buy a different stock for it then you have a full size.

Good size round that has premium hunting bullets that doesn't kick.

You are going to hear a bunch of opinions but this one is the best choice.
Next you will hear the THF Koolaid round, 7mm08.

.243 is the least I would go for deer. I shot a single shot .20 slug gun at 12 , the next year moved to a .30-.30

Really depends on how large they are. Most common starter rifle for a kid that age would be a .243 bolt rifle. It's large enough to take any deer born in Texas, and won't knock them out of the stand. And they won't necessarily grow out of it.

If they are small framed or kick-shy, you might look at a semi-auto in .243 (sort of rare). I actually started my daughter off with an SKS. Since all her shots were 100 yrds or less, and the kick was minimal, it worked out fine until she could deal with a larger caliber.

My son is 10 now and has shot a remington youth model .243 with no issues since he was 8

Get him an ar in .223 with a 1/7 twist. shoot 70+ grain bullets and it will be plenty for deer. 500 bucks plus optics and it's a gun you can play with too.

7MM 08...he can use it all his life..doesn't kick...Daddy can
use it..and it'll kill with aplomb...Dirt

7mm/08 without question at that age, awesome choice,

A 7mm-08 rifle with reduced recoil ammo would be great as a starter. Look at all of the different makers and pick one that best fits your son. Howa and Weatherby have a pretty interesting setup to grow with over time. Or you could do like BMD and get a Remy but change the stock and maybe some additional mods..

Be sure to get decent optics.

Here are links below to the Weathery and Howa. Check all of the manufacturers. We ended up going with a Browning X-bolt as a second rifle. My daughter's first rifle was a NEF Handi-Rifle Youth in 243 that she started on at 9 years old. In my opinion it was a little too light weight. If I had it to do over I would have gone with a bolt action.

http://www.legacysports.com/products/howa_youth2n1.html

http://www.weatherby.com/product/rifles/vanguard/syntheticyouth

I went from win 70 FW 270... Then to rem mod7 youth 243, then to Remmy bdl 300wm all from 7-12. Most of the kiddos in that age range where I'm hunting start out with 25-06.

My boys are 5 and 6 years old as of last month. They shoot a Rossi and a Winchester 357 Mag rifle. Both these rifles will shoot 360 DW also. The full-power 360 DW fires a 200 grain bullet of .358 diameter at 2000 fps from the little rifle. That is a hair away from 35 Remington. Right now they shoot 38 Special 158 gr cast bullets at 900 fps for lots of practice. For deer hunting (the little guy has shot an antelope and his big brother shot his first deer the day before he turned 6) they have used 158 grain jacketed flat point. In a handgun they do 1300-1400 fps but from the 16" Winchester they do 1900 fps and from the 20" Rossi they are going 2020 fps. That is right up near 30-30 performance. The Rossi has a rear peep sight and bead front sight and the Win has the choices of a scout scope, traditional mounted scope, open sights or peep sights. Right now it is set up with a Williams peep and fine bead front and a removable scout scope. The scout scope prevents even the possibility of a scope cut. Both boys can shoot peep sights out to 75 yards with the gun rested and hit an 8" circle or less consistently. With the scope at 6X they can do 6" or less at 100 yards. Rossi stocks are cheap and Win stocks are easy to come by. Both rifles have a cut down buttstock to fit the boys, and I have a replacement full-sized stock so they can grow with the rifle ( or I can use it ). The cut stocks have Limbsaver recoil pads on them and these under 60 pound kids can shoot the 357 Mags or 180 grain 360 DW @1800 fps without any recoil problems. The cartridge can easily take deer, antelope, hogs, javelina and medium sized exotics out to 100 yards and a bit more as their accuracy and ability to shoot heavier loads increases. I find most kids love lever actions and they appreciate the 16" barrel or even the 20" barrel and light weight/balance.


The 158 gr 357 Mag has provided exit holes on whitetail deer at 80 yards and 70 yards so far with no tracking

rossi youth .243 scope combo, cheap $200. No kick and accurate. My 8 year old can shoot 2 inch groups at 100 yards at paper and put down a doe at 140 yards with it.

i would go with a 223. flat shooting and they have knockdown power, i still shoot most whitetail with mine that i got as a little kid. i have shot plenty of deer behind the shoulder with it and some dropped there and some ran 40 yards or so. the rest of the deer i shoot in the neck so less meat is wasted and no mess when cleaning and they drop where they stand and no searching.

bought my sons each a diff gun and all have wrk'd great for them..
savage 25-06

howa 308 ====i handload at the bottom of spectrum for this one bcuz it is my 10 yr olds
my son has also used my 7mm08 w/ no prblms

All of those would certainly be great to "grow" with

.243

Thank you all. I went with rem 243 bolt. I spent more on the optics than the gun but I want them to be sure what they are hitting.

Great choice. I started with a .243 at age 14 and I'm still using it today.

223s arent that good they wound deer and dont kill em i say get a 243 or 270 270 is what i got my kid last year because he was tierd of his 243.

A model 7 .243 would be great.

Every blessed caliber I own including the 300 Wtrby, and 338's
wound deer somtimes...best learn to track...If you have never
wounded anything...you are fortunate...I believe the most deadly
one shot rifle I've owned on deer is my 22-250 w/55gr Barnes X..

I shot a meat buck last wk in Tarpley ....he ran about 80 yds..
a doe earlier at over twice the range dropped in her tracks and
she was larger..go figger...Dirt

Whatever your personal experiences are,the laws of physics will not be broken. The larger the caliber the more effective the round will be. It used to be commonly accepted that a 100 grain bullet was a minimum for deer sized game.Just about every gun expert I have ever read still holds this opinion. But now this has changed IMO simply because everyone and their dog now has a .223 or .22-250 and loves to shoot them because of their minimal recoil(because they are such small rounds). So they shoot deer with them and call them deer rifles but that doesn't make it so.

A small kid shooting a small doe only with a 55 grain bullet I can see I guess. But any kid who can shoot at all can handle a .243-even using 80 grain bullets is much better than 55.

And this from a guy who let his daughter shoot a nice buck with a 55 grain .22-250. She made an excellent,lethal shot but a tiny hole and no exit wound made for an excruciating tracking job in the east TX brush even though the deer only went about 50 yards. Never again.

Great conversation. I will be in the market for a rifle for my kids in the spring. My son turns 9 in April (normal size kid) and my daughter turns 12 in Jan (small for her age). Was thinking about a .243 but maybe a .25-06. My wife took out a monster trophy axis buck this past weekend with a .25-06. She had never shot any large caliber rifle before and she said she never felt any recoil (she's small too, only 5'1" tall). Her first animal of any kind to shoot, lol. Decision, decisions.

What kind of bullet did you use? The reason why smaller and smaller guns have become popular in my opinon is the advancements in bullets. I wont shoot 55 grain softpoints out of my 223 at deer unless it is head/neck shot. Put some 60 grain partitions in there and I wont hesitate to take any shot that I wuld with my 270 within 100 yards, which I dont shoot further than that with my 270 99% of the time any way. USE A BULLET DESIGNED FOR WHAT YOU ARE DOING

Last deer lease I hunted on the land lady and her husband were in mid 80's and grew up hunting with 22 hornet and 222 rem, taught by their parents who did the same thing. A 243 was considered a cannon. Go back in time people were hunting with 44-40 45 colt 25-20 30-30, all of which are not considered "enough" by most peoples standards.

If you do your part and put a bullet intended for what you are doing in a good spot you will be fine.

matt

Trust but verify.

My fiance says my 270 doesnt kick at all to her with reduced loads or full power ammo. However when you put full power ammo in she shoots a 3 inch group as apposed to the quarter sized group with the reduced loads. I can shoot them both less than an inch.