Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Deer Hunting Youth rifles

This, I consider the youth model like a learner car for a teenager, you know it will get some dings along the way. The same can be said about all of them, just more parts available for Remingtons, then Savages, then Rugers, then less options for the others. I think the Howa can be upgraded to a three position safety but I would need to verify that.

You don't have an AR? If you don't like .223 you can stick a 6.5 Grendel upper on it or just swap in a Grendel bolt and barrel. Grendel will feed from a standard pmag if you don't put too many in. Nice thing about an AR is you can treat it like a single shot and make the kid keep the bolt locked open just like we used to have to keep our single barrels broken open when I was a kid. The safety condition is easy to monitor, too.

I see no real pressing need to have a kid practice with the centerfire instead of a rimfire trainer if using an AR.

Loading down a .308-class cartridge gives you a 6.5 Grendel. Howa is the youth bolt action option. Other options have length of pull issues.

I bought my grandsons a SS 700 Rem youth with the spacer stock in 7-08. They were 8 and 10 at the time. They aren't old enough to hunt in my state yet but have shot it with reduced loads as well as my 700 Rem in 243. I just switch stocks since they are both short action.
I then put it in a McMillan Classic for my daughter and she took a 5X5 bull shooting the Vor-tx 120 Barnes and a big 4x4 muley with the 120 BT factory load at over 350 yards.. Either of these factory loads shoot into a quarter at 100 yds.

Lots of choices out here but their are so many accessories, stocks, etc for the 700 platform and so many ammo choices for the 7-08.

I got both boys Rem .243's one wanted a model seven, the other got a SPS youth. The model seven was just a bit big for the first year, but it's still usable as is years later. The SPS Youth fit great, but he outgrew it. He just bough a laminate adult stock for it and plans to put it back in use. First few animals were coyotes and jacks, then on to deer.

Mine started off shooting my Browning Abolt-2 7mm rem mag with Boss. They always wore muffs in our tower stands and the Boss although loud, made a huge difference in the kick for them. They never once complained about it, probably due to the excitement of the hunt. They now both shoot Rem 700 .308 because of the availability of ammo and the recoil.

Choosing the barreled action you like and mating it up with lighter chassis system like the MDT LSS gives you lots of options on LOP as they grow.

Both of mine use a Ruger American 243 (full size). I went this route as they both shoot LH and there are much fewer options and this one checked the most boxes for me. I'm a fan of fixed power scopes for kids and have found to really like the Weaver K6 on this rifle for their use. From 30 to 151yds they've not had any problems. The stock was a bit long for them when they started, and still is for the younger son, but using a stable two point rest really helps IMO. A ground blind and a Caldwell Fieldpod make for a very good setup for kids.
Untitled by Tyler Staggs, on [bleep]

Tikka compact is probably best bang for the buck. lots of aftermarket stuff available for it to grow with over the years. 7mm-08 in reduced load. may options, all great.
SnT

I bought my kids a ruger compact .243 and put a redfield 2x7 on it, a pretty nice little gun. Perfect size for kids in the 10-15 years old age range IMO.

Problem I had starting young kids was finding short enough LOP even on youth models. I eventually bought a 243 barrel for my encore, cut the stock short, and added slip on limbsaver. Worked great. Nice and light snd easy for young one to move around. The hanmer can be tough for young fingers so I started out pulling it back for him but I liked that control. Now boys older and bought a full size stock for it and he still loves it.

So I visited another gun store Saturday to see what youth rifles they had. They had Ruger American compact in .243 and 7mm-08, savage axis, savage 111 youth, tikka t3x compact in .243 and 7mm-08, weatherby youth 7-08 wood stock, and Remington 783. The Remington was not good They also had a Ruger American compact 6.5 creedmore with what appears to be a predator barrel as it’s longer, heavier, and threaded but stock has short lop. I’ve now got to decide if I get a cheaper beater for starter and upgrade to Tikka later or go ahead and spend money now. The 6.5 Ruger with heavier barrel intrigued me. It should recoil slightly more.243 and less 7mm-08 loads but haven’t seen any reduced recoil loads like 7-08 which might be about same or less. The longer and heavier barrel might make it about same as a lighter.243. If anyone has experience comparing the 3 let me know. I would go with Tikka now but as they grow I’ll upgrade them to a full size rifle. Thinking.243 or going with creed now.

Lugnut,

I started my son out when he was 5 years old and a regular youth stock was still too long for him. We started with a H&R .243 with a very short youth stock that I filled with lead weights (finished around 11lbs) to help with recoil. He practiced exclusively with a .22lr and only shot the .243 when he was shooting deer.

When he had grown a little and could fit into a regular youth stock i bought him a Remington Youth model .243. Filled the buttstock with BB's (again finished to about 10-11lbs) to help with recoil and gradually took them out until he was comfortable with no extra weight and the recoil didn't bother him, but I let him tell me when he was ready for that. Again shooting a lot .22 LR for practice. Federal Fusion 95 grains have been used exclusively in this one and it's accurate, shoots to an inch or less and he's killed deer out to 220-225 yards with it.

He will be 15 years old this year and about 3 years ago I bought a Tikka T3 Stainless Lite in .270 and put it into a Boyds Laminate stock with a length of pull in between a youth stock and a standard length of pull. This rifle finished out at 8lbs with scope and sling. He started out with Hornady's Lite loads and killed a few deer, but has been using the Hornady Whitetail 130 grain load on the last 5 or so deer.

I think the 6.5 creedmoor youth model with the longer barrel shooting Hornady 125 grain would not be to bad recoil wise. You could add a brake, or you could go they way I did and add extra weight to help with that problem. It also helps to steady the rifle.

If I was looking for a one and done deal. An adult rifle in 7mm-08, 6.5 creedmoor, .270 etc. shooting lite loads to begin with and a Boyd's at one stock with the adjustable buttstock or a chassis type stock would grow with them. And you would have the factory stock to put it back into if they wanted to do that later. The way I did it, my son now has the three rifles listed, a Ruger 10/22, a Savage HB .22, a heavy barrel 6.5 creedmoor, and two shotguns. I could have saved money by spending a little more up front, but he enjoys shooting as much as I do so we had more fun doing it the way we did.

The problem I had with my son with the short barrels was the muzzle blast (but they are handy inside a shooting house). I made him wear foam plugs and ear muffs at the range and we used electronic muffs when hunting.

Bob.

All of my girls started with a AR-15 in .223 loaded with Barnes bullets. They also trained with the S&W AR 22 lr. The AR’s are just too easy for length of pull adjustments and the recoil is virtually non existent. After they became proficient I switched them to a 6.8 spc II upper. The 6.8 is a hammer and worked well as the girls stature was still small. I’m a traditional type of guy at heart and once the girls grew, they moved to full size bolt action rifles chambered in short action calibers such as .300 Savage, 7.62x39, and 6.5 Creedmoor.

I remember that specific gun and pics of you daughter with that rifle. I actually spoke to you via PM about it 3-4 years ago. My oldest will be 6 soon and I have a 700 youth stock ready to go. I can drop a few different barreled actions in it, but I might even get a receiver as I saw them listed for $299 recently (gotta find it on FB again.

Any updated pics?

My daughter started when a chipmunk was too long.
Putting my AR away one day I looked at it with the stock collapsed,
And a light came on. Bought a can of 4759, and she was shooting
a straight pull bolt action 22 mag.
Pain in the butt loading those, and had to run the gun, but she got to go
shoot a box now and then.

Last year I scarfed up a black Tikka stock here.
Shortened it, used a thin piece of aluminum as a back,
bonded a flip-flop pad to that. For $80 she uses my Sweede.
And since I like a short stock on my deer rifles, it's ok for me.
When the kids are done, I think a 1" pad will make it perfect.

I bought a Remington 700 Youth model in 243 about 7-8 years ago. I have been surprised at how accurate that little rifle is. One of my granddaughters has killed several deer with it, and I've shot it enough to know that I wouldn't be afraid to use it either.

I use the Remington model 7 for my kids. Have a youth 243 which is what I would recommend. Buy the standard adult version in stainless, and the wood youth stock from numrich for like 80-90$. Then they are set for a number of years. 243 is very low recoil, cheap to shoot, and I have killed a lot of game with it over the years without issue

I also have the AAC micro 7 in 300 blk. Put it in a youth stock and screw a omega or sandman on. They practice with subs which have little recoil and noise, then shoot supersonic loads for hunting. My 8 year old is about standard size for that age, but a little wimpy. He shoots it with ease and killed 2 deer last fall with it. The 125 NBT at modest speeds kills deer with ease and has very little recoil. If you reload the 125 NBT 2nds are pretty dang cheap.

Model 7 is light weight, short, maneuverable, and all 3 of mine have been good shooters.

great pictures of youths ! i prefer these youth pictures much more always over adult pictures of adult trophies,you can`t beat the smiles of a youth in a picture and the size of the animal does not matter with those trophy youth Smiles!

This was us last year with that rifle, using one stock spacer from the kit that Remington includes. I think the LOP is now a touch under 13". I'm about 5'9" and she's only an inch or so shorter than me at age 14, so that LOP works nicely on a hunting rifle that fits us both. She's shooting the 120TTSX (7mm-08) at a bit over 2,800fps with H4895. I also put a bit of lead in the forend of that stock to improve forward balance. Even with the lead, it goes 7.7lbs scoped, but "hangs" on target better off-hand or from a rest. If I had to, I could likely put some 3,000fps loads in that gun and hunt it myself, never lacking for anything.....





If Remington will ever do an SPS SS or ADL SS in 6.5CM, that'd be a great one to cut back to 20-21" for a youth gun. I prefer stainless, as who knows how well a kid will clean a gun when they grow up and take it with them.

I set my daughters up with Savage Model 10 "Youth" in 243. Now they each also have a 7-08 in the same models. They think they are great guns and they have each shot several deer.