Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunting Rifles Youth rifle questions

I have a 10 year old nephew (11 in January). He likes guns, hunting and shooting and my dad and I were discussing what rifle and caliber to get for him. He shoots the FIL's full sized .223 really well. He will be hunting only whitetails, coyotes, crows, groundhogs. If he hunts out west, it will not be for a long time.

Dad wanted to get him a .270 Winchester and have him shoot managed recoil loads and then when he could handle it, hunt whitetails with the full power loads.

I thought a .243 or .260 would be a better choice. My logic was that we also shoot varmint leagues and since we only hunt whitetail, I thought bullet selection would be better in 6mm and 6.5mm calibers. Also, I thought it would be easier to find a small, youth sized rifle in short action vs long action as in .270.

My dad, my brother and myself all reload, so factory loads availability would not be an issue.

I think a 6.5mmbr might be ideal.

What are your opinions?

Tough to beat a 7mm-08.

I bought a Model 7 youth in 260 for my son. It does a good job on deer without a lot of recoil. He took my 280 Mtn rifle away from me a couple of years ago. If my daughter decides to hunt she can start with the M7, if not it will be turned into a 358 for daddy.

Mr. kyreloader;
I�d like to send you a tip of the hat for helping out a young shooter. Thanks and kudos to you.

I built a .270 on a 98 action for our girls and started them with what I considered light loaded 100gr. bullets. The loads were not to their liking however and they both decided it kicked too much. Rather than beat a dying horse, I decided to build another rifle.

Door number 2 then was a .250AI on 722 action and this one was a resounding success. Admittedly, there are not as many bullets available for the .25�s, but then again, there might not need to be as a half dozen deer and a coyote thus far have proven. Although it is subjective, the .250 seems to have a bit less blast than some .243's I've played with.

When our eldest graduated from the .250, it was to a 6.5x55 on an original 96 Swede that I�d modified into a little carbine for my late father. Before he passed on he gave the rifle back with the hopes one of the girls could use it. She has used it with 2 deer thus far and it works as well for her as it did for her grand dad, which is to say, very well indeed.

I�ve never shot a 6.5BR, but intuitively I�d guess most animals shot with it or a Swede wouldn�t be able to tell the difference.

Thanks again for helping out a youngster, good luck on whichever way you decide to go and of course all the best to you in �09.

Regards,
Dwayne

At 10 or 11 I think your on the right track with the 260/243 choice in a gun with a stock that fits him. The shorter throw of the bolt might help a little too. You could also look at a 257 Roberts to split the difference between the 6mm and 6.5 mm choice

We bought my son a Rossi Matched pair. It came with a youth stock, 20 ga. barrel and a 223 barrel. He's whacked several groundhogs and squirrels with it. They've got other combos too including the Trifecta, a 20 ga/22lr/243 combo.

We also bought him a Rem 700 SPS in 30-06. It came with a youth stock and an adult size stock. I've loaded him some 'light' rounds for it.

Dale

Has anybody any experience with the ruger 77 compact? I saw one at sportsmans warehouse and it seems tiny.
Hank

This is my youngest whooping up on the gopher gong with her Pinkie Gun. She has shot my 260 quite a bit with the 100 grain West Dakota load that I have worked up for it. She thinks its the coolest thing in the world that she can splatter lead all over the 200 yard gong off the bench. If a 7 year old (8 in two weeks) can handle a 7 pound 260 launching a 100 grain Partition at 3100 and change, I'm sure your nephew can.

BTW if you load it up with the 95 VMAXs he'll love hosing varmints with it. I'm 32, and I wouldn't be without a 260. They're not just for kids and women. They've got seroius Deer Mojo inside 6.5 bullets

I love my .260, but the muzzle blast from the 20" barrel is pretty intense.
I like short actions also, but my lightweight Stevens .270 with stock cut down and Pachmayr Decelerator added has been claimed by my tiny wife. She used the 130 Federal Fusions on a buck and hog last week.
With the Remington Recoil Managed loads, it prints the same POI as the full loads. Lifetime gun, but with a starter load until he fills out!

stumpy

Yes, I had one in .308. Great for hunting thick stuff and treestand hunting (I do a lot of that).

Factory trigger has to go. I put a Timney in mine.

Fairly accurate. It is kinda light to be a bench gun, but hitting a deer out to 250 yards isn't a problem. I had a 2X7 Leupold Shotgun scope on mine, and the heavy duplex didn't really help for the tightest groups, but it seemed to be ok in the brush, easy to see. If I get another one, I will go with a standard duplex, though.

Robust recoil and LOUD. Good light show in low ambient light, too.

It was about the same weight as my M94 Win., had better sights, was shorter, and would reach further.

So, I sold it....wished I hadn't.

My son, who is 12 took his first deer this year with a youth-stocked .270. Last Christmas Cabela's had a package with the Remington 700 SPS and it came with both a youth and a standard size synthetic stock. The down side was only in .270 or .30-06, or so I thought. I had wanted short action (7mm-08) as I already reload for that one. Anyway, I started him out on a .22-250 then we moved to the Remington reduced recoil loads and went through a couple of boxes of them on paper. I then used the brass to make up some less than redline handloads using a Sierra 140 gr HPBT at about 2700 fps or right where my 7mm-08 loads with 145 gr Speers run and he did just fine with that. He took a very nice mule deer this year at 140 yards. Complete pass-thru on the shot and the heart was literally in 3 pieces. There are some photos on the deer hunting forum if you care to check them out.

Anyway, I think that the fit of the stock is more important than the caliber, within reason of course (no magnums and keep the bullet weight light)

If you reload any of the short action cartridges work fine. Its pretty easy to make a 7mm-08 or 308 nice and tame. of course the 243 is pretty tame to begin with.

Me Id vote for a remington sps. If you buy the youth model its just a stock swap to convert it to a full size gun and it seems someone is selling a SPS stock every day either here or fleabay.

I have a youth 308 for pretty much just that purpose. A very mild load behind a 150 SST seems to work pretty well for my nephew. If I had reason to I could go even lighter to a 30.30 150FN at 30.30 velocites.

Remington Model 7 comes in .260, sounds interesting.

He has a Rossi with the .22 RF/20 guage, may just get a .243 barrel for that.

Savage also has a couple youth models (no 260s though).

Who else makes youth models?

Any decent gunsmith can chop off some length and install a Pachmayr Decelerator.

I'd go a Model 7 in 243 or 260. I'd lean towards 260 myself as I already stated but we've got some Mulies up here, and Elk aren't off the menu in our General rifle season. If it were JUST a Whitetail and varmint gun, I'd take a hard look at the 243 as well. You won't have any problems finding a cheap stock for a Model 7 down the road. I'll have a factory laminated stock up for sale before too long, and I don't expect to get rich selling it, I'd just like to see it get some use. It'd be a good one for cutting down.

In the Model 7, with a 20" pipe, the 243s are terrible about blast. I can't say if the same is true for a 20" 260, all my barrels have been 22"ers.

I'd go with the .260 given those choices. The recoil isn't bad from what I have heard, and I am a HUGE fan of the 6.5 in any flavor. But as a couple of the other posters have mentioned, .25 caliber might be another way to go. .250 Savage can be put on any short action, and has been whacking the snot out of deer for almost a century. .257 Roberts and .257 Roberts AI can also be fitted on to most short actions, and get you an even bigger stick to whack deer with. And there are several bullets in both .257 and 6.5mm that would work well as varmint bullets, so you can have your dual purpose gun, and not have to go with the smaller 6mm/.243.

-Mb

I bought my son a PF Model 70 compact in 7mm-08 with a 20" barrel from a fellow 'fire member. Found another take-off stock from another 'fire member to cut down to 12" LOP.
We painted the stock together with the webbing paint and added a slip-on limbsaver pad.
He's shooting 140 grain partitions at 2500 fps. The doe in the pic dropped on the spot and a 6 point buck went about 10 yards. He can shoot that low recoil load all day long.


My daughter shoots a .260 Browning micro but has yet to shoot at a deer yet, but I have and it works well!!

Here is my son and his grandfather(Droptine)with his Ruger SS MKII in 260. We shortened the stock to fit him and he loves it. He shoots 120gr TSX's in it and as you can see he is not very big kid and handles the recoil very well. I would recommend the 260 for any kid to start with and use for as long as he or she wants to stay with it.

They are fine rifles. The only issue is that muzzle blast from the short 16'' barrel can be harsh.

When dealing with a 10 year old muzzle blast is as much a factor as recoil.

The little youth model 7 is a great kids rifle. My daughter is now shooting....and at 13 has almost outgrown....her brother's old .223 Model 7. She's a leftie, but copes with the wrong side bolt:



For a ten year old kid, I'd be real slow to pick a 7-08 or the like unless you're going to load it down. In a little rifle like that, an 80 pound kid is going to get whacked pretty good by a .260 or 7-08.

We use .223 because the deer are small and the absence of recoil makes the kids confident and accurate...they watch the shot hit instead of cringing up in recoil. Not many little kids can do this with anything bigger than a .22 at 100 yards, and that's the key to confidence and clean kills, not more horsepower:




when they're thinking about shooting the heart, not just the deer, that's what you want. If you can load down the other rounds so they act like a .22 centerfire, so much the better.

my wife and 13 year old daughter run a Remington Model 7 Youth in 7-08......we were originally going to get a 260 but some of the guys here informed me the "new style" youth in 7-08 had a shorter length of pull than the "old style" youth in 260 that were floating around when i bought the rifle 3 years ago or so....not sure if this still applies......but they love the gun, Kate wants to get a McSwirly in lime green, white and black for it.....loaded down it works well for plinking....both can handle factory hunting loads for it....but we also hunt elk.....if they werent on the menu and only deer were i would have prolly went with a 243....