Which caliber

[tazdog]

I will be getting my 9yr old son a rifle in the near future. I'm getting a full size rifle in either 25-06 7mm-08, 6.5 creedmoor or 308. Looking for the most knock down with least recoil. He is a tall and stocky kid so not looking for a youth model. Thanks

[cwink]

[DUCKAHOLIC]

Dont let him shoot it at anything but a deer and his adrenaline will be pumping so hard he could put a sherman tank on his shoulder and not feel it.

I only let my kids shoot a 22 at a target when they were young.....my son was shooting a 7 mag when he was 7

[Blackduck]

What cwink said.

I would definitely get a youth model. Accurate and bullet type are more impt than caliber.

[Deltamud77]

I went through this a few years ago when my son was turning 8...what caliber, youth or not-youth, etc. The best advice I heard was from a competition shooter that met my son and I at a local gun shop. He watched him shoulder both full size guns and youth guns. Obviously, the youth fit him better, but he could comfortably accommodate a fun size gun as well.

The guy's logic was why buy a gun he can use for 5 or 6 years when you can buy a gun he can shoot for a lifetime?

We bought a .308 and shoot Hornady Lites through it and he is an assassin with the gun. I think he could probably shoot full loads through it now, but we are going to use up the reduced recoil ammo we have on hand before he moves up.

He and I hunt together. I limit his yardage to about 100 yards right now. He could shoot further, but we are building confidence and hopefully shooting ethics. I don't want to push him too hard right now. We carry one gun - his gun. I carry regular loads and his loads. For deer over 100 yards, I take the shot and for those in his range, he takes it. Pretty good set up for us.

[stang67]

Very surprised that a competition shooter placed no importance on a proper fit. Maybe he thinks that for shooting goats and not bullseyes it doesn't much matter.

When mine gets a little older, I plan to buy a pair of rifles, same model, both compact, one in 223 and the other in 7-08. I plan for him to literally burn the barrel out of the 223. I recently switched from a 270 to a 7-08 using 120-gr bullets. I'm not one to notice recoil in the stand, but with the first deer I shot with that 7-08, I most definitely noticed the lack of recoil. I felt like I was still looking at the deer through the scope when he was hit. That NEVER happened with the 270, which is also 2 lbs heavier.

I WAS recoil shy as a teenager. I hated sighting my rifle in each fall. After I started reloading and shooting much more on my own as an adult, I realized it was the noise as much as, if not more than, the recoil, that made me dread pulling the trigger. I have no doubt that if I had grown up banging away with a loud, short barreled 223, that things would have been much different.

As for what happens 5-6 years later --- I've never waited that long between gun purchases.

[missed mallards]

Stang,

Noise can be dealt with a good set of ear muffs. To this day, I still flinch from the muzzle blast. I flinch worse from the blst than the recoil.

I like the .22 ideas. Got my little girl popping them in hopes she'll be ready to move to a larger caliber. Then, I'll see and shop.

Whatever caliber, don't over gun. I've got a model 700 in 270 that I still look at in the safe. It was my first big bore, and I'll still put it up against any for noise/recoil. It's nicknamed the mule for a reason


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[stang67]

I never fired a gun without muffs until it was at my first deer. Honestly, it could have been the muzzle blast, along with the noise. I have no doubt that learning to shoot with a small centerfire would have been the ticket for me, instead of doing all my plinking with a 22 LR. I think people that grow up wingshooting get a similar advantage.

[missed mallards]

I see your point


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[js]

I agree with cwink on the youth model rifles they are much easier to carry in the woods and plenty accurate I killed 2 deer over 250 yards with the youth model 308 cwink talked me into this past hunting season I also use the hornady lites due to a bad shoulder and never feel any recoil.

[jacksbuddy]

[Deltamud77]

[stang67]

Incidentally, you can replace the short LOP stock on nearly any "youth" rifle with the std version, generally for less than $100 and 10 minutes of your time. You may still have a barrel that's 2" shorter than the std version, but some folks prefer that. No deer will ever know the difference.

Were I buying today, I'd look no further than the Tikka compact.

[cwink]

[Wildfowler]

No, don't customize that youth gun down the road. Save it for him so he can have some nostalgic hunts with it later in life like I did last year with my old deer rifle from childhood.