Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunting Rifles Deer rifle for 10 year old girl

IMO, it all depends on the kid.

The 12 year old girl coming hunting with us this year LOVED a .223 with 55g TSX bullets, didn't mind a single-shot 44mag Handi-rifle shooting mild loads, but hated a 30-30 shooting 150g bullets.

I have shot 7mm08s and my daughter will not shoot one it will only teach flinching. 223 to me is a little on the light side for Idaho mule deer. I've found 53gr triple shocks at 3600 ish kill deer as swell as anything

I've killed deer with 220s 2506 3006 300 win 264 win 270win. I always go back to my 2506 and have killed quite a few with 220s.

My daughter is 9 and I'm watching for a used ruger in 243 257 Roberts to run full house loads. 100 gr triple shocks work sweet as well as 110 acubonds. And 105 berger vlds are awesome deer killers.

I'm not a fan of partitions seems the didn't expand much for me. For a no frills hunting bullet the core locks work much better with much faster kills.

I'm currently running mostly only 115vlds in my 2506 and have for about 3 years and that many deer. I have 115 triple shocks loaded for elk.

I'm a believer the smaller the caliber the better the shot and faster kill. I have never ounce seen anyone produce better faster kills because they had a bigger gun. It's usually oposite due to flinching.

Thanks. Proud of the girl indeed.

I got the recoil figures here:

Calculator

I was using 7.5lb rifles. 3,000fps load for the .243win, burning 45gr of powder and a 100gr bullet is nearly 10lbs of recoil. A 2,450fps 120gr load in the 7mm-08, using 22gr of Blue Dot yields closer to 6lbs of recoil.

I will say that I've seen a 14-15yr old girl flinch with a 7mm-08. The gun was pretty light and the loads were Superformance 139gr stuff. She was intimidated and was yanking the trigger. She was not an experienced shooter and some time with a 5.56 AR really helped her get things going in the right direction. She was then okay with her 7mm-08. She should not have been shooting the full power loads to begin with.

I see adults flinch shooting 7mm08s. 270s and 3006's

My wife flinches shooting my 2506.

Just think how many deer ar wounded and never recovered by trigger flinching yanking shooters. I'd bet way more by big calibers then small ones.

The .30-30 is a bad choice as most leverguns have enough drop the kick is worse than a bolt gun. In the .30-30 class a Mini 30* offers the same power and much, much less recoil. Combined with the relatively light weight and easy ability to scope, it is a good choice out to maybe 200 yards.

*yea, yea I know, a Mini isn't very accurate. It is accurate enough for deer to 150-200 yards or so.

I was wondering about that. Somtimes I feel that calculators like that simplify things a bit too much based on powder charge alone.

Anyhoo, no matter.

I think it's great that your daughter has a kickass little rifle that I myself would have no problems happily using.

Everyone knows there is more than one way to skin a cat. And parents know their children best, and teach them accordingly. As this thread has clearly proven. Even us big kids have very different recoil tolerances. One cannot argue with results.

Enjoy your time together. I am having problems now coming to grips with the fact that m oldest will be moving out next summer and attending Michigan St. University. They grow up fast.

Congrats to you and your daughter.........

The problem with the idea of buying one gun forever and using a youth gun for a 10 year old, it needs to be a short LOP. They will outgrow it in 5 years.

Just plan on a youth gun for now, and know that if they get hooked into guns and hunting, they will want their own tastes and experiences for input into another purchase later.

.243 for now and perhaps other youths in the family or your kids offspring.

The Model 7 youth came with 2 stocks for this very reason, I believe.

Several makers have youth stocks that can later be replaced with full sized ones.

Proper stock fit is crucial here....

Lots of good advice given above. I would typically be partial to a 243, 257, 260, 7mm-08 for this situation and none are a bad choice. The AR idea is very sound as well. However, I think a 6.8 SPC might just be the perfect selection for a young shooter. I have a 700 in 6.8 SPC with an 18" barrel and Mt. Rifle stock cut down with a 1/2" pad and it hammers deer and hogs to 200+ yards.

My gun has been loaned to many young first timers as well as female shooters of all ages and each has absolutely loved the little 6.8. The lack of recoil, low blast, and easy handling of the rifle makes it a great selection. In fact, my sister used it yesterday to take a great, 180#, 17" 8 point in the low country of SC. The little rifle is very effective andn fun to shoot.

When my daughter and son get old enough to go hunting, this rifle will see much more use.

.270Win with reduced recoil loads:



A "Campfire" .270: SS Marlin XL7 from Folically Challenged, Boyd's Laminated stock at 12.5" LOP, Pink Paracord sling from 79S, .270 brass from Crod, 110gr 6.8mm Accubonds from Mule Deer. Bottom end load of Varget.

First shot at 263 yards went low (buck fever ). Second shot at approx 250 yards hit center of the shoulder. DRT. Second year deer hunting. First set of antlers. "Only" a fork horn. But the smile says it all... I asked her afterwards if she remembered the rifle "kicking" ? Her only recollection was a good old fashion case of "buck fever" (shaking) during the first shot...

My 10 year old son will be using a Ruger 77RL (a tang-safety, ultra light) in 250 Savage for his first deer hunt. He has done very well at the range with it. I've loaded 100gn Hornady Interlocks at 2750fps.

Even at his age, I'm a fan of the saying: "Life is too short to hunt with an ugly gun".

JPro, you have a PM!

The biggest problem I have found in looking for a rifle for my young kids is finding a short enough length of pull. The route I ended up going was getting a second stock for my Encore and hacking it off and putting on a slip on limb saver. I then bought on a .243 barrel 24" sporter barrel. It's easy to put on the full length stock if I ever want to use it or when kids grow up. Given it's a single shot the length is short, fairly light, and get a full length barrel to not give up anything in velocity department. Can change caliber as needed as the blued barrels are pretty reasonable to buy and easy to resale. I already had an Encore so the expense was less than buying a bargain youth rifle. Good luck.

Lou

Here's my 8 year old daughter shooting her deer/hog rifle. It's a Remington 700 with a Brux 1:8" twist, No. 2 contour, chambered in the triple deuce, cut to 18" and running a Thunderbeast 223A.

Up top is a Leupold M8 4x with the heavy duplex reticle in a set of Talley LWs. I've loaded 64gr Win Power Points with some reduced velocity loads. With the can it's like shooting a 22lr.

That's the only rifle I've ever kinda, "wanted back." But seeing that smile lets me know it's in the right hands.

Congrats!

FC

I bought a CZ 527 in 7.62x39 for my daughter when she was 9. She was small for her age and now as a 22 year old stands 4'11" and weighs 98 pounds. She was and is deadly with that rifle. She has killed 5 whitetails, a bear, an impala and a blesbok with that rifle.

Perry

When my son was 10 I found a Winchester mod.70 in 257roberts that had a youth stock and the original featherweight stock with it. 10 years later he is still killing deer with it and it still has the youth stock on it. I keep asking if he would like to hunt with a bigger rifle or put the original stock back on it and he keeps telling me that he likes the gun just the way it is because it fits him. On the other hand he shoots a 7mm for elk.

Of the two, 7mm-08 would be my choice.

Sir, I thank you again for the smooth transaction. The rifle has been excellent for my grand daughter. I doubt it will come available again anywhere in the near future...