Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunting Rifles Mentored deer hunt firearm choice

Thinking this may be the 1st year I may get my son out deer hunting under our mentored Hunt program. Suppose I am looking for a little insight as to a rifle choice for this hunt. All of the rifles I am considering are the CZ 527 bolt action configuration. Then it boils down to caliber my 1st thought is the 6.5 Grendel followed by 300 BLK and 7.62 x 39 and even a 223 is a consideration.

All are rifles mentioned above - I currently own, if any changes were to be made the length of pull may be a consideration.

My son is 9 years old and big for his age weighing in roughly at 110 lbs and standing roughly 4' 5" tall.

I welcome your thoughts, suggestions and especially first hand experience in this arena.

Is this for white tail? If so I can't see it matters much.

If he's OK with the recoil the 6.5 Grendel is the most capable. The .223 is softest shooting. Seems like one or the other is likely to be the best plan.

I’m a 6.5 slut so that’s the way I’d roll.

Yes, this is for midwest Whitetail likely a 200 lb deer give or take 50 lbs Id expect. For me Grendel all the way yet we will have to compare recoil. I anticipate we should be able to set up for a shot inside of 50 yards if all goes according to plan.

300 BLK with 110 GR barnes under these circumstances or the 6.5 Grendel 100 gr barnes are where I am leaning at present.

What range are you expecting shots to be at? All of what you mentioned should be good. Some longer range than others. I am not a fan of the .223 for deer, but yes with a good bullet and shot placement it will work. I have seen to many wounded deer with the .223 and bad shot placement over the years. Not a good thing to 'Mentor"

I would recommend the Grendel, but I would stay away from the Barnes with that round. I would recommend the 123 grain Hornady SSTs or, if you have time for some load development and really want to stick to mono-metal bullets, pick up some Cavity Back MKZs (105 grain) and have at them. The Barnes bullets are a bit too hard to open reliably at lower velocities.

The big Axis buck in my avatar was killed with a TC Encore in 6.5 Grendel using the MKZ bullets. Shot was 95 yards and he went maybe 15 before piling up.

My 8 and 10 year old nephews shoot this gun off the bench with no problems at all with recoil.

Given good bullets, I see no bad choices here within reasonable range. My grandson has killed two bucks very neatly with a 7.62x39 with 123gr SSTs. I wanted a Grendel for his use, but SAS was sold out of the Howas at the time.

Maybe let him pick?

Pretty hard to beat the Howa Mini deal from Whittaker's.

https://shop.whittakerguns.com/product/79783

Yea if I did not already have the CZ 527 the pricing on the Howa would be tempting. Still the CZ is worth the extra $$. Also must say I am a bit surprised at early responses here in that most here seem to favor my favorite 6.5 Grendel.

For that range, I'd want as low of recoil for the mentoree as possible. That would mean the Blackout with the Barnes 110 or the 223 with most anything.

My kids have used the 110 Blackout bullet loaded way down in a 30-06, and a 223 with a number of different bullets.

On whitetails they all work, just go for low recoil.

I started Mrs Blacktailer with a Kimber 308 and light bullets and charges and gradually worked her up to full charge 165 loads. If your son shoots a 22 well he probably won't notice much difference with any of the cartridges you mentioned. Set up a few reactive targets like swingers or cans and let him shoot each. Stock fit is more important than cartridge selection.

6.5 grendel with 120 ballistic tips and never look back. my 8yo similar sized,4'5" 95lb,son will be toting a tikka t3 compact in 7mm-08 hurling 120 bt this yr.
Big Ed

I'd probably go with the Grendel and cut the stock for a shorter LOP with a thin rubber pad. Then after he grows, you can install a 1-1.5" pad to get some of your LOP back. Plenty of good bullet options out there for shots inside 150yds. When my daughter was that age, she shot a youth 700 in 7mm-08 with 120's going about 2,450fps. Both the NBT and the TTSX worked fine. I'd probably go with the 100TTSX in the Grendel, pushed as fast as you can manage. Wouldn't be far off a 250 Savage, which has killed a lot of deer.

At that age and size, I would think anything up to and including a 7mm-08 would be fine. Just make sure the rifle fits the child well. My daughter started at 8 years old with a cut down Model Seven .243 and 80 gr TTSX and she only weighed 47 lbs. She has killed 8 deer in 3 seasons and she has no idea that the rifle has recoil because she has never shot it with full power rounds at anything other than deer...... We use reduced recoil handloads for practice.

Thanks for the input all! So far my vote for, top two suggestions are reduced loads for target work and be sure the length of pull / stock fit. And be sure we plan the length of the hunt to fit his attention span. Then how to approach field dressing may need a little discussion.

My daughter took her first Oklahoma white tail doe at nine years old with a cut down Stevens 200 in .223 Rem with 55 grain Vortx ammunition. She used it again for her second season taking another doe. As long as the range was reasonable the .223 worked very well. She switched to a .300 Savage at 11 years old and never looked back, the .223 is just a varmint rifle now.

Let your son decide what he wants to take, I bought a custom .250 Savage and downloaded .243 ammo for her to try. She liked the .223 and shot it much better than the other two rifles. I saw no reason to force her to shoot something else.

Then we discussed shot placement from different angles, and used deer anatomy targets for her to shoot at. She didn't pull a trigger on deer that were alert to us, and we talked through the shot. I tried to stick with broadside shots only, but I talked her through breaking a shoulder on a quartering to shot on a doe. That 55 grain TSX bullet was more than up for that task.

I'm sure whatever you use your son will be successful.

I own 223 and 76239
My 8 year old who is on the lighter side Enjoys the 223
Either one of those will take a deer out to 200 easily

Not among your choices but my Son’s starter worked very well.
He was 10 yo & @ 110#.

Savage 99, 243 W, 100 gr. bullet @ 2900 FPS.
He didn’t miss a deer with it.

I used videos to instill the POA from diff angles.
I had him shoot a lot before season started.
I had him shoot a lot before season.

Practice, Practice, Practice.

Whatever you choose——> Great Luck

PS, the 99s have short LOP & fit him well.


Jerry

Some where the OP mentioned field dressing. Part of the mentoring should include deer anatomy, find books with lots of illustrations both of the hunting type and biological. Depends on the particular kid but I have seen the entire range from utter fascination to about an equal amount of revulsion.

My dad was an MD and he made the field dressing into a Post Mortum and a dissection exercise. If you can get them to the point where they can name the major organs usually they will be interested in taking part. If not do not force them to do anything until they are a little older and make it a right of passage.

Don't forget the blood on the cheek or the Waidmannsheil right.

My son uses a 300blk as 243 still a little much for him even with light loads.

125nbt 18g h110

Has performed flawlessly for us to 100 yards, which is as far as I will let him shoot

No recoil, plus it’s already threaded for the suppressor