Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunting Rifles is the 270 too much for a kid to start out with?

When Riley was 6 I stocked a 700SPS in 243 for him. Knowing he was going to be tall I made it a trifle long for him, but put a thin pad on it. Adding a couple pounds of lead under the recoil pad for range sessions made it absolutely a joy for him to shoot.

The lead is no longer needed and a full thickness pad gave him most of the length he needs. He still shoots it regularly.
art

I feel it all depends on the kid, some kids it'll be a bit much and that's not good. Some kids will be just fine with it.

I'd error on the lighter side and work him up from that. Get him into a 223 or a 243 and see how he works with those. Then, you could move him up if it feels right.

You know him, we don't so you're the best one to answer the question.

I was at the range a while back and a fella had his kids there. His daughter was young and obviously just getting into the shooting game. Well long and the short of it she wanted to fire his gun (an 06) and I couldn't believe it when he let her. The gun came back and whacked her a good one, she dropped the gun and was crying big time. I truly felt for her and I also just trying wanted to toss my gloves on the ice and pound her dad into the terra firma. I mean that guy was seriously twisted for allowing his daughter to fire that gun. I'd say there's a fair chance that he might of ruined her from shooting for a long long time. It was really a sad thing to see.

So, if it's a question then back off and let him begin with something a bit more piquito.

Best of luck to ya! And good on you for working with a youngster.

Dober

.................Imo and as others have wrote, it depends on the boy. I`d certainly consider getting him a rifle that can be used into his adulthood, rather than just settling for something now, which you know he`ll outgrow due to him wanting more oooomph later in the future.

At almost 10 years old and at about 120-130 lbs (a little chubby then), I started with the 150 gr 30-06. My dad said; "here use this and btw it`s all yours!" Later, I rotated between a 22 and smaller rifle calibers once in awhile, but always liked the `06 best as it wasn`t boring to shoot because it had some kick to it. And within a few practice sessions I was doing real good with 150 gr factory loadings. To this day, I still prefer the recoil and more of it!

The 270 Win imo, is a cartridge your son will grow into nicely as he gets older, bigger, stronger and heavier with more meat on his bones. If you`re a reloader, you can for now, reduce the loadings into milder loads to reduce the recoil.

Along with some good bench rest positioning and freehand shooting fundamentals and after a few practice sessions, he should be just fine with a 270 and ready for some hunting next year.

An excellent rifle and rifle size that comes to my mind, would be the Ruger Hawkeye Ultralite with the 20" barrel, which is available in the 270. Or something along those lines.

After he grows up, the rifle still won`t be too small and it will certainly be powerful enough.

I really don't think a 75 pound 9 year old is going to get along with a short barreled 270.

Kids just naturally wanna do good and to purposely slight them that opportunity,is boneheaded as an absolute minimum.

Good bullets,in good places,kill like thunder and there is not ONE single reason not to make that fun for all...................

I wouldn't worry so much about the kid outgrowing the rifle and needing a different one down the road. Lot's cheaper to get him something he will enjoy and which will wet his appetite for more.

Getting him a rifle that he won't enjoy shooting...and won't shoot it much...is the worst investment.

Besides instilling bad habits that may last a lifetime................

thanks for all the input,I hope I provided some entertainment also.
the boy has no fear of pain,but thats in football not shooting,I think I will try and find him a 243,preferably an old 722 or something like that,my gramps taught me that guns are tools and not trophies,otherwise mabey the Marlin bolt.

all of my rifles are shorties,308 M7,99 300 sav,336 35 Rem,that is why I asked,I had no clue to the 270,they aren't very common in the NE,and I have seen the 260 bandied about as a starter rifle,so I thought the 270 might be in the same ballpark.

now there is a little less I don't know crap from crisco about,thanks fellas.

Hand the boy the 99,a sharp knife and a tag.

You are there.................

Here's a thunk. Get a 223 if you don't already have one, no one should be without at least one.

Then find a 700 Yute in 243 and after he's masterered the 223 (which will most likely take about 7 minutes...grin) get him running that 243 hard. Make the targets fun, IE lil fuzzy rodents, steel, clays and so forth.

Then as he grows older and bigger you could remove the Yute handle and stick a Ti take off on it. And let him fill an ark or three with it and 85 TSX's.

And if for some reason he would ever want a bigger rifle you could either A just buy him one or B find a take off in 7/08 and or 308 and let him go to burning that one.

Dober

i vote for the 243 win.

I'll admit that even though I started wrong with a 270 and knew better, my son started with one as well. In those days I didn't own a 223 or 243 so made do with what we had. Since I shot a 270 he wanted one too, or so I thought anyway. Big difference was I was a handloader and bullet caster by then. He started with cast bullets at around 1700fps after running a .22 and a 20 ga. for a while. When he started deer hunting, I think it was 14 then in Kansas, I loaded down some 130s and eventually moved up to full power loads. In a lot of ways I wish I had been able to get him a good 250 Savage back then, of course he'd probably needed to stand in line to use it.

Killing is easy,with good bullets in a good place.

An accurate rifle of modest recoil,sized in accords to the end user,will always bear that fruit................

Pegged, squarely, and with nostalgic class.

Tough to whoop on.

My 8 year old is 4'6" and weighs about 75 lbs. I went through this last year and ended up with a Remington 700 ADL youth synthetic in .243

He shot the schit outta Hornadys 58gr V-max loads all summer. Now he is shooting the schit outta 100gr loads he'll use for killing something next year.

The .243 is perfect for the little guys.

Heckola, I saw one the other day new for 399 bones in 243 and I might just by it to have another truck rig around. I'd stick it in a Ti take off and rock on.

Dober

Another vote for the .243

............He will as time goes by! Reduced loads are a good way to start.

Trouble is,there's no inherent benefit to a short barreled 270 to start with,beside it doing the kid wrong.

Not much of a Sales Pitch.................

Any one of those would work well for your purposes, in my opinion.