I bought my 10 year old son a 30-30 this year. I grew up hunting with a 30-30 and still love to hunt with it today. He also has a .243 that he shoots. Both guns have been great for him.

243

son and daughter have been shooting .243 since 8yo .. No problem with deer going down... Excellent choice.. and I have been wanting one too after seeing all the deer they have harvested with the same .....

Go with the .243 because it has low recoil and the ammo is not so expensive. Beware, some people will suggest the 7mm-08. The 7mm-08 is okay, but the price of the ammo for the 7mm-08 is nearly the same as for the 7mag.

Go 2506. Light recoil and very flat shooter

Of those two you said, 243

No shame. 7-08 is fine it is by far the THF Kool aid round. I don't know your son or his stature but the 7-08 has some punch to it.

Agreed, .270 and 7mm-08 would be a bit much for that age. You could always buy a Savage .243 and rebarrel later if he needs to move up.

6.5x55 Swede. Oh and to JD4030, my 8 yo girl can shoot my 7mm-08 without complaint. Of course I load 120gr rounds for it and it is a really light pusher.

Honestly, I'd buy the rifle that fit him the best in most any caliber that you want. You can make reduced recoil loads for ANY round on the market. I've reduced loads in 7mm-08, 308, 270, 243, 300 Win Mag, 30-06, 260 Rem, all in reduced recoil loads. Then you can go to full power loads at any point, and you don't give up anything.

I agree with Chad. Pick the best caliber (whatever that might be) but in a rifle he hates, and the boy won't enjoy hunting. Pick him out a rifle he likes and that fits him well in a caliber that won't flatten him, and its a different story. Sometimes you can find youth stocks to put on full sized rifles until the kids grow up and a stock that fits properly can make recoil easier to handle.

When you are 10 years old, Ballistics don't mean $#!+, getting your first rifle from you dad means everything. Whatever caliber he gets will become the best caliber in the world.

I have a .243 and 25.06 that I share with my grandsons. I'm in a bit of trouble since my wife shot her first deer this year with my Sako 25.06 and she likes it a lot. And I mean A LOT!!!

I shoot full loads with these and they are both light recoiling rounds. I'm not worried about "moving up" since they will take down any whitetail or hog I'm likely to run across.

If you plan on going for larger game in the future, do as Chad suggests and buy the caliber for that and use a light load in the meantime.

I absolutely agree with this. As far as I'm concerned the 250 savage will always be the perfect round. Because it's what I shot my first few deer with.

Or just buy a 243 and find ammo anywhere and live happily ever after.
Buy a youth adl and later on buy someones take off when the are wanting to build a tactical im going to shoot 1000 yard all day like its nothing gun

243, 6.5mm something, 7mm-08 if he can handle it.

As BIL stated, buy a youth stock if it fits him better than an adult stock, then put an adult stock on it later. Rifle for life.

Dad bought me a 30-30 back in the day, and it's hanging on the wall, still.

Another 243 vote here. Not much a 243 can't do here in TX.

My first word of advice would be to not listen to anyone's opinion on here... Funny stance considering I am about to give you my opinion.. The debate over best first caliber has been going on forever and honestly, most people are going to be wrong because people go with what someone else tells them is right (Ironic because that is the question being asked) or with the biggest or neatest sounding caliber they can shoot. First of all from the words of David Petzal & Phil Bourjaily (Field and Streams top Gun Nuts that have somewhere near a hundred years worth of experience between the two of them) if you think you need a 30-06 go with a .270. If you want a .308, go with a .243. And my opinion is to follow their opinions. Everyone believes bigger is better or that the older calibers (such as the 30-06) must be the best since they have lasted this long. The truth of the matter is you don't need a .270 to kill a deer, and a .243 will still kill a deer when your son is 50. I know a man who is in his upper 20's right now who has killed Thousands of bobcats, coyotes, hogs, and deer (combined of course) and he uses his same bolt action .243 for all of them... and always has to my knowledge. Me personally, I like to reach out there so I would either use a large slow bullet such as the 30-06 or a fast moving small bullet such as the 22-250, .243, or the .270. but any of those will kill deer, hogs, coyotes, bobcats, and any small game that you could possibly encounter. Best of luck finding a caliber, and I hope your son is happy with the selection!

I've got a buddy who is 40 and has used the same .243 for deer and pigs ever since his dad gave it to him. Another friend almost always uses the 25-06 he got from his grandfather. Just get him one with a recoil that he will be very comfortable and make it a really nice gun cause he likely won't ever get rid of it.

I saw early on in this thread where Chad was talking about getting a "mild recoil" gun ...but that it was MOST IMPORTANT that whatever you got that the gun actually fit the the young shooter, with the possibilty of replacing the Youth Stock with an ADult sized stock as the young shooter grew into it.

I am onboard 1000% with that statement FWIW.

Back when my 2 sons were coming up I was in the Gun bidnizz as 1st a Distr & later a MFG'ers Rep and had access to thousands of rifles in whatever caliber I wanted to play with every week in my Dealers inventories. I started them at about 7 or 8 and 9 in one son's case as his Sports Activities never allowed his schedule to be worked out. At 10 he was playing soccer on 4 different skill level teams and played football & Little League as well.

I personally believe that almost any WTail capable caliber can be used at this age, in either a Factory or Reloaded Reduced Recoil round of ammo, or in one of the traditional under 12lb's of recoil calibers. My 9 year old killed his 1st WTail with a very well placed and difficult shot using a 223 SAKO Classic Grade thru & between mulitiple obstructions, and "we" graduated him the next year to a 257 Rbts M70 Fwt and full house loads that are still in the 243 recoil range, but using heavier 120gr bullets.

I am not a big fan of a 243 like most folks on THF seem to be and think my criticism of the caliber is aimed at them personally. I had one myself in a L579 SAKO for lots of years and was not satisfied with the lack of DRT kill's despite the hyper accuracy of my SAKO, and base my opinions on that personal experience.

My opinion is NOT about their experience's ...it's about MY Experiences, disatisfaction and discovery of better killing performance choices.

Look at several brands of rifles, decide which one fits your young shooter BEST right now, but also can allow the stock to be altered or replaced without great expense. Just make sure you don't get into a "Youth" barrel length gun - like the Ruger 16" Compact - that will not lend itself to the long term Adult sized upgrade in the stock.

THEN decide on a longterm usage caliber for when he becomes a full grown framed but still skinny teenager - my oldest was his full grown height at 14 and 75 lbs lighter than he is now at 43. IMO your best & least expensive long term option is a 270 or 7-08 with WTAil thru Elk weight bullets, initially in Reduced Recoil ammo. BTDThis before.
Ron

Either 243 or 7mm08.

My sons first deer rifle was a 243 as was mine. If I had to do over I would have bought the 08. We both now shoot 308s however I think the 7mm08 will do almost anything the 308 will do. Not so much the 243.