Getting the 10 year old out deer hunting this week has me thinking a fast twist 223 is the way to go for little ones first hunting experience. Even the mini grendel in an lss chassis with 129s made him a bit shy off the bench because the magpul stock just had that thin piece of hard truck tire pad on it. I bought some limbsavers for both the 6.5g mini in an lss and the 700 243 youth in an lss but the kid still just wants to use my 16" lightweight ar.

I was about to call northland and order a 7 twist 16.5" sporter criterion remage with the match 223 chamber. Then I walked into a gun store and saw something I hadn't seen before. It was a CZ 600 trail in 223 with a 16 plus change inch 7 twist barrel and a collapsible stock with 3 or 4 different length knotches. Weighs about 6 pounds which isn't bad but 5 would be better for kids. It takes AR mags though and has a decent trigger

It seems pricey for what it is and I kept thinking I'd be better off just building lightweight AR's for each kid. I checked gunbroker and most of these CZs were about $1200 there. This shop had it new for $869 so I took a chance bought it.

I got it home and looked through my scope pile for something not too heavy and found a 2nd gen weaver grand slam 3-12x40. That gives the kids the ability to go down to 3 so they can "find the deer" through the scope yet enough power on the other end to keep them practicing on varmints.

I used to always put a leupold 6x42 on kids first guns because the were light, had the most forgiving eyebox, and had no parallax, target knobs, or even power rings for kids to get distracted by. That strategy worked well for my nephews so I might need to go back to it.

L,ast night I put the 3-12 grandslam on it and it looks decent on there. I proudly brought the new little gun out and showed the kids today and they all said wow that's cool, but I'd rather just use the AR.

So I'll go see how this cz shoots but may end up selling it soon so let me know if anyone wants a cz600 trail for $869. I like the ar mag compatability but even my favorite asc mags only give me 2.3. Building my own remage would have let me modify the mag box giving me room for 88s.

Still wondering about the 7 twist 223 match criterion at 16.5"remage. Chop an inch or so off an old first gen ti stock I've got in the parts box and put a 6x42 on it.
Might have to look at another companies remage offerings and see if they'll turn one in a mtn contour. A 16.5" mtn on a 12.5" lop 1st gen ti stock might make a good deer gun for a 10 year old. Whatever it takes to get kids loving trigger time seems pretty key and they've never complained about anything 223.

Bb