Hunting gun for the boy .

well I have .270 kim. and 30/30 win. looking to get son a nice big game gun. what u say ttf. maybe .243 or .223 he is 9 years of age.

6.5 Creedmoor

You can get the reduce recoil loads for your .270 that will have the felt recoil of a .243, but the stock might not fit him. They might make reduced recoil loads in 30-30 also.

9 years old shot the 30/30, he is a big little man

My grandson is 9. We got him a Savage Axis in 22-250, he has killed several hogs and a buck with it. I have a Savage model 11 in 6.5 Creedmor and he shoots it well. He is not particularly large or small, just average size. I would go 6.5 if you can find one that fits. His Axis is not a youth model, just the standard version.

Good luck and get him out there and have fun!

That .243 old school model 70 is sweet . I thing he can go biggeeer. he is 5'8" 140

Thanks man don't post much, but great people on this site.

Great idea for the .270, but will shot as is or not.

22-250 will make him a sharp shoot I see that point.

Consider a 25-06. Sounds like he's a good sized boy & he'll grow into it well. I only say that caliber cuz it's my personal fav & I feel it has pretty manageable recoil with great ballistics

^This or .243

or 7mm-08.

I usually go with 25-06 or 7/08 for kids.

I started the kids out with a 7mm08 then downsized to a .243 for my daughter. I wanted to make sure she was profecient with a rifle first. Bad shots with a .243 can lead to a bad experience. The 7mm08 is more forgiving and have controlled recoil loads on the market.

My progression as a kid was this:
22-250
6mm rem
25-06
270 win
30-06
I still shoot the 22-250 more than any of my rifles and have killed countless deer with it and never lost one.

There isn't a lot of difference performance wise between that short action calibers. The smaller rounds in the .22 range will be a bit more accurate but a bullet selection is going to be on the light side for anything over 100 pounds. The bigger calibers will give you a bigger bullet size to choose from and allow him to hunt hogs and deer without as much fear of losing one due to a small bullet not doing the damage needed.

My wife is small framed and when we looked for her, we decided on a 7mm-08 due to the selection of ammo available and rifles chambered in that caliber. It's no better then the others in that range and it's more of personal preference which one you go with.

We did find that the youth sized rifles where all pretty cheaply built. We figured that they where temporary rifles for kids that would outgrow them in a few years, and most people didn't want to spend a bunch on a rifle that wasn't going to be used for the rest of their lives. In the end, we bought a Remington 700. She loves it and has become very good at shooting it. Unfortunately Remington is now having a recall on the 700 model rifles due to an issue with glue on the safety failing that might result in an accidental discharge. They sent us a box to return it to get it fixed, but we wont do that until after deer season ends. We never hunt with a round in the barrel and we never use the safety, so I don't see any real concern.

Shop around. We found the best selection to be at Cabela's. They where the priciest, but you can handle the most variety of brands all at one time. Once you find the one you like the best, then you can shop around for a better price. We bought from Cabela's because we could take it home that day instead of waiting a week to have one ordered from a local gun shop and saving $50.

Eddie

243 All Day - My boy has dropped every animal in its tracks with his shooting Winchester Ballistic Silvertip ammo. Bought gun with wooden stock and had it cut down to fit him. Bought a $25 Barska scope 3x9 and he's been a beast with the gun.

kdkane1971, what gun is that, I've got a smaller stature son and need to find a rifle with a wooden stock. TIA

I'd invest in a good rifle and go with either a .270 and shoot the low recoil ammo or go with a 257 Roberts. I like the 257 Roberts over the 243 and with a 119 gr bullet the 257 Roberts will do the job on most animails. That said, I really think the .270 would be my first choice given there is reduced recoil ammo, the boy can grow into it, has bullet weights up to 150 gr and eventually he can use that gun to kill anything in NA except dangerous game.

Does he shoot a lot already?

I shot pretty much non stop from the age of 5-6 when my brother got his bb-gun till current. I shot my first deer at age 10 with a rem 700 270 and bought my own 270 at 11. If he is a big boy and familiar with guns let him shoot the 270 and see what happens.

I started my son at age 5 with a 22-250 Ruger bolt with ~2" cut off the stock using hand loads mostly. He used that gun until the was about 13 years old when he moved up to a 30-06. I recently sold the Ruger to a friend that has 6 kids, all under the age of 8 for them to use during their youth years ... and I am in search of another 22-250 as that is my truck gun choice. Great little round for pretty much anything native to Texas with proper shot placement.

I would also agree with a lot of the other rounds that others have stated using reduced recoil loads ... I am just not overly familiar with those loads.

Bought a Tika in .308 for my son. Put some decent glass on it. Light weight, relatively inexpensive rifle that is very accurate, and if it gets a few bumps and scratches on it I won't lose too much sleep over it. He loves it.

Depends if you want to think short term or long term and want to buy another gun for him in a couple of years. I bought my grandsons a 30-06 and a 308 one in a Remington and the other a Howa. I also bought the Axiom Low Recoil stocks for them. You can start them out with the low recoil ammunition and as they grow the stock will adjust like an AR-15 stock and you can increase the ammunition to a 150, 165 180....They will have these guns for many years to come long after I am no longer around.

They can go to the rifle range and shoot them for hours with no problem with recoil.

I think that at 5'8" and 140 you could go with just about any standard deer caliber. Any of the short action 6.5 or 7mm rounds should keep the recoil down, you might also consider one with reduced recoil rounds, to start.

I started mine with a .243 H & R handy rifle, he did good with it and now shoots .257 Roberts and wants a .270. When I was young, I was shooting either dads .30-30 or my grandfathers .30-06. There was never a discussion about "youth rifles" or reduced recoil ammo back then. If you couldn't hold it, you had to stay at camp.

same with me Railhead. My dad started me out with a 218 Bee the first 5-7 years (killed many a deer with it) before I bought my first rifle (243) with money I saved over the summer (no child labor laws back in the 60s). there wasn't any reduced recoil ammo nor all the various calibers we know of today.

.243 youth model

The kid is 5'8 140 lbs I don't think a youth model is appropriate. I'm 5'7 and I can assure you that I don't use a youth length stock!

Bad shots with a .300 can lead to a bad experience..

I moved my son from youth 223 to my mohawk 243 when he was about 8 or 9. IMO, 243 is a great caliber
for young and old...

I think I'd get him a 243. Probably a Tikka T3 Lite or a Ruger Compact. Some years back I got the wife a Ruger Compact in 260. I liked it so much that it quickly became my favorite hunting rifle and caliber. I doubt that the 260 is available in either the Tikka or Ruger, so I'd go with the 243. It's an easily available caliber - gun and ammo.

And kdkane, I really enjoyed the pics of your kid with the critters. He looks like a great hunting partner.

243 or the low recoil ammo in 25/06

Love the 22-250, deer drop with this caliber, especially if neck shot...I would vote for a 25-06, as well if he was 13 to15 years old...a big kid can handle either one, though...just don't get him a caliber with too much felt recoil, because after all, developing a flinch too early in life is a bad thing....

And no matter how hard it whacked, you smiled and couldn't wait till you got to shoot it again.