Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Custom Rifles & Wildcats Building first rifle for my 10 year old - Mule Deer/Elk Rifle

My son will be turning 10 next spring and will be able to hunt here in Idaho so I am planning to build him a rifle this winter and have it ready for his 10th birthday allowing him the summer to shoot and practice for the fall hunt.

This spring, I bought him a Remington ADL Youth .243 with reduced LOP stock and 20" barrel. Too heavy for him to do anything other than bench shooting, but I was able to load some reduced 90 grain loads and he was able to shoot and practice quite a bit on the bench. It was very good for teaching him shooting skills, breathing, and working the bolt/operating the rifle.

I have decided to take the action from this rifle and build him something nice and light. Here are my specs I had in mind, any feedback appreciated. This will be a deer,elk,antelope rifle and at least for the next few years, I can't imagine him taking any shot beyond 200 yards - at least until I see he is proficient enough.

I am looking at either a 6.5 creedmoor or a 7/08 - opinions? Strongly leaning towards the 6.5 as deer and antelope will be most of the hunting with an occasional elk opportunity.

Remington 700 SA - Blasted and Cerakoted Black.
23" finished SS Shilen #2
McMillan Classic, edge filled, reduced LOP to 12 3/4" (possibly 13")
BDL aluminum Bottom Metal
Timney Trigger
Talley Ringmounts
Zeiss Conquest 3-9x40 (he should appreciate 4" eye relief)

Thoughts?

Sounds sweet. Wish i was your kid.

Maybe go for a McMillan Sako Hunter.. a 10 year old might struggle a bit with the low comb on the Classic stock?

Atleast I do..

Great Suggestion!

Anyone think 22" would be worth it instead of a 23" barrel?

22" would be handier for a kid I'd think without being too noisy.

Either cartridge should do real fine for you as well. Not sure how tall your son is for his age, but might look at starting with a half inch pad and then you could add another half inch when he grows by going to a 1" pad.

My strategy would be shoot the 243 in a mcmillan edge of appropriate length and maybe rebarrel when he gets a little older. The 243 should work well and not sure you'll save much weight going to a #2 shilen.

Either way, glad you are getting your son setup right out of the gate. Good luck regardless of how you roll.

I am building my son a .243 was well. I like everything you have suggested but I specifically want my son to have a fixed 4 power scope, opposed to a variable. My line of thinking may be old school but a fixed power scope is simple, less of a distraction for a young hunter and it reinforces the maximum shooting distance of 200 yards. I recall my first rifle had vari X III in 2.5-8. Often times my father would remind me to keep it on the lowest power, but in my mind, I would shoot better if I could see it bigger. Boy was I wrong and I couldn't find my game while looking through the scope at such a high setting. Today, I have several rifles and I only hunt out west, after several decades, I pretty much have killed everything from antelope to elk mostly at 4x and sometimes 6x. I know the there is a trend for Long Range Hunting, but I think it is more important to focus on the fundamentals first. Just my thoughts and I admit I have been wrong before.

I dont mind a fixed power but not a leupold fan at all. Would possibly consider the Meopta 6x scope.

Having pondered this same subject and run the numbers, I went with a "youth" rifle in 7mm-08. I will build my son a nice custom, full size, rifle later. I bought a cheap Savage Axis Youth rifle. If could take it back would have gone with a Tikka Compact. I will give this rifle to another kid when he outgrows it. I do not currently own a factory rifle and it feels weird to buy a 300.00 rifle for my son. I understand and applaud your wanting to build your son such a nice rifle. I just went the other direction. My 2 cents. FWIW I also love the Sako/McM Hunter McMillan stock. I have one on my 6.5x47.

Creedmoor will kick less than 7 08, especially in a light rifle. This might be a factor for a 10 yo. Have both and 120s would be the way to go for light recoil. I have a mountain rifle in 7 08 that I will wear a Past pad with 140-150 loads.

If you are going to build a rifle, Creedmoor would be my pick. I just received a Compact with Edge fill for a 6mm Creedmoor and I think it is perfect for a light rifle, with thin barrel with a max length of about 20-22". 24"+ go with Classic.

Alot of people will say Creedmoor is light recoil, non existent. It is with lighter bullets; little more than a hot 243 load. 140s to me are significantly more. I just don't want you to think you are building a deer rifle with 223 recoil.

Been there, done that with a 243 youth 700 for my son. You're not going to lose any weight going from the 20" sporter barrel to a 22" #2.
Have him shoot the piss out of the 243, use a 80 grain TTSX with a max load of H4350 and he'll shoot through the lungs of any deer or elk within 200 yards.
As he gets older, then rebarrel...

Alright.. I`ll go all out here. Its the internett after all.

Even though you have bought a Rem 700, I would ditch it, and upgade to a Tikka T3, SS in 6,5x55 or 308.

I would chop the barrel only to make it a perfect balancing rifle. Chopping for chopping is wasted money.

Now bear with me..

- Tikka T3 SS
- McMillan Sako Hunter EDGE
- Sako/Tikka Ringmounts
or
- Leupold Ringmounts as low as possible
- Fixed 4x or 6x scope
- two spare magazines
- thread for suppressor ( if State allowes )
- Ase Utra SL5i suppressor"

THEN, I would find a

- CZ 452 American 22lr
- McMillan 1700 Featherweight EDGE
- Talley screw lock rings
- Fixed 4x or 6x scope
- two spare magazines


With those two rifles, your son will be set for the rest of his life! And hopefully he wont start spending money on rifles like the rest of us.. and just hunt!

Either cartridge would fit the bill. I always wanted a Creed tho I am currently using a 7-08, I don't know what a Creed would gain me. The 162 Amax in 7mm lets me go long, the TTSX in whatever weight I want lets me shoot just about anything. Would certainly handle the spread of critters you listed.

As to recoil - IMO a lot of what's going to feel different between the two will be tied to the stock design and fit for your son. Case capacity for either is VERY close. 52.5 for the Creed, 52.2 for the 7-08 - theoretically, recoil should be the same with same weight class bullets.

Good stock fit/design helps more than most realize IMO. Brother used to have a Model 7 in 308. That rifle with 150's was painful and no fun to shoot. My Kimber with the 162's - feels like a 22lr compared to that 308. Better stock design IMO.

While my son's Ruger has a variable, I've gone over to fixed for all my hunting and generally prefer it. I've caught him monkeying with the power selector a lot while in the stand. I can appreciate the idea of starting young hunters off with a fixed. Let them concentrate on placement and hunting instead of power on the scope.

Good luck - be sure to post some pics of his first kill.

When I was reading "10 y/o", this is the first thing that jumped to mind.

6.5 Creedmoor and 7/08 are both great choices.

This will go against current convention here as a lot of folks rave about the factory ammo for the Creedmoor but I think there are more and better bullet choices in 7/08 factory ammo. If rolling your own, well, nevermind.

My thoughts to a T.

When I read the thread title before I opened it I thought "6.5 Creedmoor or 7-08."

I'd go 7-08. He'll have a lifetime BG cartridge with massive bullet availability that can be loaded up or down. Of course the same can be said in sapdes of the 308 Win, but you didn't mention that one

Andrew - FWIW the 7-08 runs about 5 or so grains more powder.

Both rounds are effective but SKane makes a good point on factory ammo for elk.

I can't find anything on the net that shows a 7-08 running 5 grains more case capacity than a 6.5 creed.

I have 120 Ballistic Tips loaded for my son's 7-08 with 36gr h4895. Should give around 2400 fps. I am not going to let him shoot over 100y. I am going to test this load tomorrow. If it comes in around 1.5 MOA am going to declare it a winner and go to training my son.

BTW, we are going to use a Primo's 2 point rest that attaches to a tripod. My guy is not ready to rest a rifle on sticks or a single point rest. Weight is one of the issues.

Since he seems to be right handed, what about a Kimber MT. Shorten the stock and buy a full size one down the road. Guess it'll be lighter than what your planning and comparable price wise even factoring in the second stock. I'd lean hard this way if my kids were right handed.

Agree with the above.

I'd go with one of those two chamberings and if ordering a permanent stock at a slightly early age, I'd get the thinner pad now and install the full thickness pad in a few years. My 11yr old has shot a 700 sporter in 7mm-08 since she was 7 years old, with reduced loads. Her current load is a 120 TTSX at 2,600 or so with H4198. Her rifle is 7.75lbs, scoped, and she enjoys practicing with it. In a few years we will add about 200fps with H4895 and likely wind up with true full-house loads a few years after that. I can't see a 120 TTSX at 3,000fps bouncing off anything......