Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Ask The Gunwriters Mule Deer and others, youth rifle advice, please

I would pick 7mm-08 over all that have been mentioned. Properly loaded it will knock down elk, and recoil is not bad. I'd also lean toward the lightest Remington 700 I could find- older SPS maybe?

Solid advice here! Wayne York built a lightweight stock and aluminum bottom metal for mine. Scoped with a VX3i 3.5-10x40 scope and it weighs an ounce or two short of 6lbs. Wayne will build a stock at youth length then when the child grows out of it he'll lengthen and repaint it for only $50. It may be worth a call to him. I'm almost certain he has shipped to Canada before and would know the process.

6.5 cm, 7mm-08, 243win all good choices. As for rifles, my wife is similar size and has used weatherby Camilla, weatherby compact/youth, and a tikka superlite in a compact stock. The weatherby compact stock and Camilla stock fit her best, and the 20” barrel on those guns make them feel lighter than are to her. This past year she ended up using the tikka superlite in 6.5cm, barrel cut to 21.5” and I had to put a comb riser pad on it to make it fit her. All of these guns work well and may be good options for your daughter. In general, higher comb stock often fit better on the ladies.

My kids are 9-11 right now so I am living right in the middle of this dilemma.

I don't believe that the .223 is the best choice here. I've killed numerous deer and feral hogs with a .223 and, sure, it can be done. We can't assume, though, that a child is going to place a bullet perfectly every time. I like the 6.5 Grendel or even supersonic .300 BLK loads for this role.

As for rifles, I've basically gone three routes:

-Traditionalists may balk but I've found that AR-style rifles are a good starting point. Train them up on a .22LR style AR and the crossover to a centerfire gun is simple. The real benefit here is the adjustable length-of-pull. I put together a 6.5 Grendel AR for my kids to hunt with. I run the stock all of the way forward and, suppressed, recoil and muzzle blast are very tolerable. My oldest daughter is using this setup currently. She shoots it well on the range but, so far, hasn't been comfortable enough to pull the trigger on something live. I don't push it, she'll shoot when she's ready. If she doesn't, that's okay too.

-My son, who is my youngest, is very comfortable shooting just about anything. Shooting just comes naturally to him. He's killed deer and hogs with a variety of guns but his "go to" is my Fieldcraft in 6.5 CM. The LOP is a bit long but he shoots it well. With a suppressor, the recoil is very tolerable. He has killed two bucks, three does and three hogs with that rifle this year alone and our rut doesn't kick in for another few weeks. Ranges have been from 30 to 150 yards.

-I'm in the process of building my "perfect" kid gun and am hoping to get the time to finish it before our season ends in February. This will be a Mack Bros EVO II action with a DBM. Chambering will be 6 CM with an 8" twist #4 Brux cut to 16.25" and threaded-- that profile will give me plenty of meat at the muzzle. Weight isn't much of a factor since we are hunting from stands/blinds. For a stock, I chose a Grayboe Eagle-- I can manage the LOP using spacers and the adjustable comb is helpful as well. The rifle will be suppressed.

The real key is choosing a rifle that the kid will be comfortable with-- handing them a .30-06 that they're scared to death of is a recipe for disaster. Get them close to game (ground blinds are great to mask their inevitable movement) and help them find success. A solid rest is a huge advantage.

I agree on 243 with others. Great do it all round for lower 48. At 5’5” no need for youth size gun. Tikka is great choice, Bergara, Winchester, Ruger….lots of great choices

Going to amend my post by adding a 270 or 30-06. Both of which can be loaded down for a younger person, it thinking a gun she may own forever it might be a better long term choice

Much as I enjoy my CZ-527 American in 6.5 Grendel my recommendation is the Tikka T3x Compact in 6.5 Creedmoor with 20” barrel model # JRTXE382CSB as you can easily load it down to 6.5 Grendel velocities as well as loading it up to normal factory velocities. I am particularly pleased with the performance of the 129 gr. Nosler AccuBond Long Range in my 6.5 Grendel so would suggest using that as it performs well at modest velocities which also minimizes muzzle blast and report. I am NOT in any way a gun writer however hunt with both the 6.5 Grendel and 6.5 Creedmoor though by far use the 6.5 Grendel CZ-527 American the most as the 6.5 Grendel is more than sufficient at the short ranges I hunt in Mississippi.

Both good choices, plus there's plenty of factory ammo available once she moves away from home.



I just bought a Tikka T3x Compact. Mine is a 308 but they also come in 223, 22-250, 243, 6.5 Creedmoor, and 7mm-08. The 20" barrel will be easy to handle in a stand or box blind. The LOP is 12.5" but they come with a spacer to bring the stock to full length. You can swap it into a wood stock once she stops growing.

A word of caution: the website says they're 6.2 pounds, but mine is more like 5.9 pounds. Recoil with full-power 165-grain loads will get your attention. When chambered for other cartridges, it will be heavier.


Okie John

I think this is great advice. My son started with a 223 and did well with it on antelope.

Me, I'd start her with a 223 Tikka T3, and later on, when she gets used to recoil, add an identical rifle in 6.5CM.

Weight of a rifle should be a consideration. LA rifles are heavier than SA rifles. Mini action rifles are even lighter.

Fraser;
Top of the morning to you sir, I hope that the winter in Deep River has been as mild as our Okanagan winter has been so far and that you and the family are well.

While it might be breaking with tradition, I did read all of the responses before answering and honestly in my experience you've had some good ones for sure.

Like your daughter, our girls very literally grew up in the mountains here and when they were old enough wanted to hunt on their own.

Photo of the beginning, middle and then first bucks for both just for fun.



Pro-D day at school that was spent with the old man



First buck for both, within 15yds and less than 15 seconds of each other.



To the choice of rifles now..

Both of them resolutely refused to shoot their Mom's little .308 carbine, despite me loading it down. They just thought it had too much muzzle blast and that was that as they say.

We didn't have a .223 in the safe then and honestly I should have had one as the little RAR I use for a training rifle at the Hunter Safety course we run at the gun club every spring is always a class favorite. Well the female students somehow seem to love shooting a little .38Spl 92 trapper clone, but that's different.

My initial search then centered on finding a decent .243, but when a buddy was dispersing an estate which had a .250AI that nobody seemed to want because there was no ammo in the Canadian Tire for it, I bought it. We reworked a 788 stock that was in the parts bins that had been shortened already, then loaded 100gr Hornady Interlocks and that worked fine on some fairly good sized Okanagan whitetail and mulie bucks.

Our eldest took a different route and when spotted her late Granddad's 96 Swede in the back of the safe, upon learning I'd built it for him back in the day, decided it would be hers.

She had a wee bit of an issue with the cock on closing part of it at first, so I installed a Dayton Traister cock on open kit which included their trigger.

If memory serves that first buck died with a 120gr Nosler Solid Base and then we switched to 130gr TSX which she's used since and still uses as an adult. We've never, ever caught one of them by the way. They all pass through and head off into the mountain behind the buck, even the bigger ones.

For a wee bit of a summary then sir, both rifles were reworked with their input to fit them and suit their inclinations as much as possible. I believe that was fairly important.

If one goes the route of say a RAR or something with a black plastic stock and she wants to customize it, I'd encourage you to head to the local Can Tire, spend what is now admittedly a small fortune on a few cans of paint and let her have at it. We did that on a couple stocks, they both enjoyed it immensely and it allowed it to be at least somewhat customized for them.

Here's a RAR that I did on my own, but I'm sure you take my meaning.



Anyways those are my experiences with setting up our daughters with what turned out to be effective choices for them when they were at your daughter's stage in life.

Hope that helped and made some sense.

All the best to you all this Christmas Season.

Dwayne

In stainless.

Do this.





P

My son in laws daughter has a couple nice bucks under her belt and a doe shes 13. 6.5cm with reduced recoil 120 BT's. A year or two bump her up to a 125 Partition then you two go elk hunting and load up some 140gr Partitions. Bang flop! Enjoy the hell outta that kid! My son has been by my side every year since he was 10 and his first buck. Hes 29yrs old now and still my hunting partner. Best huntin partner a guy could ever have. Started him with a 7mm-08 his first buck and his first elk one shot DRT. Happy hunting!

i'm not going into what gun to have. she will do that.

i will tell you the caliber. if you are not going to handload, factory ammo only, then the 6.5 Creedmoor. if you do handload, i'd go with 7-08, 7x57, 6.5 CM, 6.5x55, 260 Rem, 257 Roberts or anything above 25 caliber. 243 fans, sorry, i don't think that 243 or 6mm Remington is a starter caliber.

i started out my boys with a Remington m7 (18.5" barrel) in 7-08. my youngest son, who is 24yo, is only 5' 6" and 140lbs+/-. i gave him a '16 Spanish Mauser ('93 Mauser lookalike) in a Numrich sporter barrel in 6.5x55. i gave my oldest son a '98 Mauser in a 20" Douglas barrel in 7x57. i handload and it's been 30ish years since i fired factory ammo. and stay away from them "premium" bullets, a cup-n-core will do nicely.

Here's a T3X in .308 I put together for my granddaughter. I'm downloading 130TTSX to get her started. Very little recoil. Gonna ease her up to 168TTXS before I take her to Africa in a couple years.

Tikka Compact 12 ½" LOP
.308 Win
Barrel cut/crowned/threaded at 18"
Silencer Central Backcountry Suppressor
Murphy Precision Titanium Rail
Seekins Precision Rings.
6X FX3 Leupold w/ Leupold custom shop German #4 reticle
Factory stock painted by John_Boy here on the campfire (highly recommended)

You’ll get a lot of great advice from the guys here and whatever you choose for a rifle for her it’ll get the job done. Irregardless of the technical aspects and answers regarding rifles and exterior ballistics the most important thing out of everything is that you have the finest hunting partner any man could hope for. You’ve successfully introduced her to the wonders of the outdoors and you lit a fire in her that will very likely burn brightly throughout her life, the way nature gets into our souls there’s no other possible outcome.

Not only will you be blessed with the best hunting partner anyone could hope for but YOU gave your daughter a gift that nobody can take away. I wish you both a lifetime of outdoor memories created together and nothing but happiness and success on the trail!

Have been "gone hunting" for a few days.

I have usually found the most effective way to choose a rifle for a beginning hunter, whether a kid or adult or someone in between, is get together a small collection of various rifles, and have the beginner shoot them--to find out what THEY prefer to shoot in terms of recoil, stock shape, etc. etc.

Have known quite a few adult hunters who picked what they thought would be the perfect "kid's rifle," and have it not work out.

When my son started, Cabelas had a packge deal on Rem 700 that had both a youth stock and a full size stock. I got it in 30-06. The first couple of years he shot handloads equivalent to the 30-30. 150 gr spitzer and a starting load of a fast powder (Reloder7?) got about 2400 fps. Bumped him to 300 Savege level stuff for a couple of years. Worked very well. I figured 200 yds was about the limit for the 30-30 equivalent ammo but that was about his limit too.

Dale

I highly recommend the 7mm-08.

My wife has nearly zero recoil tolerance. She has only been hunting for 7 years and I load her a 140 grain Sierra Gameking at about 2600 fps and she shoots it extremely well due to the mild recoil of both rifle and load.

The 7mm has a very versatile range of useful hunting bullet weights from 120-175 grains that can all be utilized in a 7mm-08 of standard twist.

If I was going to take my daughter hunting, I'm obviously limited to the contents of my gun safe as to what I could offer to her. But fortunately that selection would be easy: My Ruger No. 1A in 6.5x55 Swede (which I've already taken two deer with this season) is small in size but has a good solid heft to it. It's super simple to operate (a lever, a breech load & a tang safety). It has mild recoil and so far every deer I've shot with it has expired within visual sight of where I shot it so tracking has been easy. A youth could hunt with it and I'm still putting deer in the freezer with it at 62 so it's something she'll never outgrow.

But this advice is based on my limited experience & since I have a fondness for ambidextrous single-shot falling-blocks, it reflects my personal bias too. Mule Deer's advice to let your daughter try a variety of rifles if possible is great advice and it would probably be a more enjoyable way of acquiring the rifle too. While there have been a lot of good suggestions in this thread, for the hunting I do, I find the 6.5mm projectile to be a really good size selection (i.e. not too small / not too big) for the majority of the hunting I do. YMMV