Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunting Rifles Better youth cartridge?

I’d go the 7-08 route.

7mmo8.

Try the H4895 reduced loads. 40 grains of H4895 behind a 140 should give you about 2600 FPS and low recoil.

Would a 357mag or 44mag lever action be legal in your area? If so, a Marlin or Henry chambered in one of these would be a solid choice IMO.

I like the idea of the 300 Blackout

The 300 blk has been great for us. Good bullets and limit to reasonable ranges. My small 5 year old son is shooting the 300blk subsonic with ease. 8-10 shots at a time comfortably. No way he could handle a 243 at all. Im confident he could easily shoot a deer under 100 yards right now with a full power load. Unfortunately Tennessee starts hunting at 6 or I would take him this fall.

I didn’t get to start with a low recoil caliber. Dad had a 307 Winchester and a 30-06. At 8 I was shooting the 307. I remember it hurt, but I was dead set on going hunting with it and I did okay.

It’s totally kid dependent though. If the kid handles muzzle blast and recoil with ease then sure a 243, 6.5, or 7-08 is probably perfect.

My Limited experience with a sample of 4 kids in the past 2 years has been that the 243 was at the upper limit of what most kids could handle without developing bad habits. I am a huge 243 and 260 fan. I use them almost exclusively for my hunting and have for years. The 6.5 creedmoor made a little girl cry that shot the 243 with ease out of the exact same model gun as the 243 she was shooting. She is a tough little booger too. It was way more recoil than she could handle still

As I mentioned before. Might try the kid shooting some different calibers to see how they handle recoil before committing to a caliber they can’t handle or use.

I used my Howa mini in 6.5 Grendel all season. Several coyotes, One Blacktail and a good muley all fell to the the 100 grain Hammer bullet. If recoil is a consideration, this is your caliber.

My last gun purchase was a Grendel....Both action Ruger American Predator...

I'll admit, handloaded, it is a lot more capable cartridge than I expected, due to its size...
I was using 140 grain Speers at 2400 fps....using 30 grains of W 748...

it was also shining at the range, tight groups from 100 to 300 yds... with 100 grain Ballistic Tips, to the 140 Speers..

Certainly capable on blacktails....

and with 30 grains of Powder, recoil is pretty soft...

Ideal as a truck gun...Bushnell AR 223 scope on top, 3 x 12, with a ballistic plex.. a simple one..

but then again, a 243, 260, 6.5 Creed'smore & 7/08 with 30 grains of 4198, and a 120 grainer for either (except the 243 where a 90 or 95 grain Ballistic tip would work out well..) will easily drop a deer without a lot of recoil either...

Granddaughter killed a few pigs and a couple dee with a 223, moved up to reduced load 243, then full power 243, now has a 6.5 Crudmoor. She loves the Creed, shoots it well.

6mm Creedmoor!

Our kids shoot a Ruger American Compact with 243 Hornady 87 Grain Factory reduced recoil loads. North Texas hogs and White Tail so they are decent sized, but by no means large. 300 blackout with suppressor is good as mentioned, but has somewhat of an arc in terms of trajectory.

They were probably 10 or so when we started them and had logged some time on a 17 HMR and a 22 Mag. Shot a lot of 22 with my son In a kiddo rifle with iron sights to get him interested. Once they saw tannerite and pumpkins it was game on.

BR series: 6.5 BR, 7mm BR or 30 BR

The more I read about the 6.5 Grendal, the more it intrigues me.

The CZ 527 in 6.5 Grendal is on my "research it more" list, particularly the Varmint configuration with the medium-heavy barrel (0.70" muzzle diameter), not the heavier barreled MTR version (0.83" muzzle diameter).

Maybe a CZ 527 American, or Howa "mini" 1500 bolt gun in 6.5 Grendal for the youngster?

CZ 527
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bsVbWIiIzvI

Howa mini
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rlt-IqnDe9M

I started my oldest son who is small when he was 8 with a 7mm-08. It has only shot hornady custom lite 120 gr sst. He has killed 10 deer in 3 seasons. The first year was great. He did all his practicing with a .22. He killed 5 deer that year with one being a good buck. The next year he practiced with his rifle and developed a flinch. He still killed deer but missed some too. Last year I put some weight in his stock to help. I also get him to practice trigger squeeze dry firing.

My second son I went the .243 route due to his older brother flinching. He killed 3 last year.

I think you can go either way. I like the 7mm-08 but be careful how you introduce recoil even with reduced loads. The .243 will kill well too and has a little less recoil. Whatever you get, pick the gun that fits him best. Also if he shoots off a rest don’t worry about getting a super light gun as it will recoil more. However If doing lots of walking and shooting from different positions you probably don’t want it too heavy.