So the overwhelming sentiment is lighter recoil is better. But he just killed a Turkey Saturday using a lightweight 12 ga shooting 3” magnum turkey loads. The recoil on that exceeds a 375H&H and hovers somewhere around 416 Remington that would be a good choice for elephant.
I realize 8-14 year olds need to be eased into higher recoiling firearms to avoid losing that love of shooting or developing a flinch.
Many if not all of the replies are from folks who own several rifles and assume that works best for everyone. That a really effective elk caliber is best purchased as a 2nd or 3rd rifle. I killed my first deer with a 30-30 like many kids when I weighed in at 125 lbs so I’m a product of that same advice.
When he asked me for one rifle for everything I actually believe that is what he wants since hunting isn’t his only hobby. In my opinion that do everything rifle is a 7mm or 300 of some flavor. But I’ll let him shoot 243, 6,5, 30-06, 7mm RM & a 300 Weatherby & let him choose where his comfort zone is.
Your first paragraph about the 12ga shotgun proves you just dong get it. To become PROFICIENT with a rifle, you need to shoot it quite a bit. Theres a reason they call that shotgun a "scatter" gun. Ill bet he isnt sitting at the bench shooting groups with that 12 gauge. Ill bet he isnt practicing prone, or off the pack or even sitting with that shotgun, like most of us do with a rifle. I guarantee hes not going to become PROFICIENT with a 300wm either, because that takes a lot of trigger time and focus on form and proper fundamentals. So, when you compare a 12 gauge to a rifle, that is like comparing apples to oranges. With a shotgun, you can flinch and still hit your target, with a rifle, not so much... Also your sentence in reference to the "really effective elk calibers", is laughable. There are plenty of guys here that have shot elk with 270's and 7mm08's to know that there are many "calibers" that are "really effective" on elk. Effective elk cartridges dont start and end with "magnum" in the name.
