Buying a rifle for a young man

When I was 14 or so, my Father bought me a Mod 70 featherweight carbine in 30.06. I was quite light for my age, but I had light loads of 140 grains. When I got bigger, I shot bigger loads. This is the same rifle I used last week for hunting, as I have for the last 35 years.


One rifle for a lifetime of hunting and shooting. Why spend a thousand bucks on rifle , scope, mounts, ammo, sling, ect for only a few years and have to do it all over again?
 
fiddler said:
When I was 14 or so, my Father bought me a Mod 70 featherweight carbine in 30.06. I was quite light for my age, but I had light loads of 140 grains. When I got bigger, I shot bigger loads. This is the same rifle I used last week for hunting, as I have for the last 35 years.


One rifle for a lifetime of hunting and shooting. Why spend a thousand bucks on rifle , scope, mounts, ammo, sling, ect for only a few years and have to do it all over again?
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X2..... 243 is a nice round but a bit light for moose.... .30-06 does it all.... start 'em out on lighter loads and build up.....
 
Im looking for a rifle for my young fella as well. I really lile the T/C Contender Youth rifle but cant seem to find one for him. The other option seems to be the savage youth rifle. Are there any other youth specific rifles that are avaiable.

Id kinda like a 7mm-08 but the .243 seem to be a more readily avaiable rifle.
 
my oldest son, yrs ago at age 12 went from a 94 30-30 to his brand new Browning Micro Medallion 243. It was a perfect fit for him and he used it for many many yrs thereafter. In fact, it's still in his collection. I would not go moose hunting with a 243, though!
 
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fiddler said:
When I was 14 or so, my Father bought me a Mod 70 featherweight carbine in 30.06. I was quite light for my age, but I had light loads of 140 grains. When I got bigger, I shot bigger loads. This is the same rifle I used last week for hunting, as I have for the last 35 years.


One rifle for a lifetime of hunting and shooting. Why spend a thousand bucks on rifle , scope, mounts, ammo, sling, ect for only a few years and have to do it all over again?
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cuz it's so darn much fun getting a new one as often as you can, it's kinda like getting a new girlfriend every other month! You just can't beat that! ;)
 
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My go to calibers for you would be .243 for deer and smaller game/varmits and then .308 for large game. If you do not want to split calibers and want jsut one then .308 for everyone just use proepr shot placement on deer at close range. .308 is available everywhere, all gun manufacturers still use it, if they want a semi them an M14 in .308 is inexpensive and shoots like a dream.

If these chaps are smaller framed and not going to be monsters like me and my boys then I woudl lean back towards a .243.
 
I would look for something that burnt a little less powder a threw a little heavier chunk of lead, especially for moose. 25-06 with careful shooting, 7mm-08, .260 or my favourite 6.5x55. I know it's not one of your choices, but a 30-30 would be much preferable over .243 for moose. Also consider 7x57.
 
Anything like a .243 (appropriately loaded) on up to a .308 will do. There will be pros and cons to any caliber mentioned though. Sometimes the rifle platform itself is more important for the young guys than the caliber.
 
Started my 10 yr old Grandson on a 243 but we are switching him to a 7mm08. Much better knock down power for moose or elk and still has very little recoil.

I would start them off with 7mm08 and just down load their practice/range loads and use full power hunting loads.

Dave
 
My 9 year old son shoots a husky 7x57 i had a surplus mauser stock cut down for him he has no problems with 120 gr ballistic tips that he has been shooting since he was 6 & 100 gr sierra's . if I was going to buy new I'd look at the howa youth pkg in 7-08 & call it a day or even one of the other youth models in that caliber
Cheers Tony
 
Just my 2 cents

Here's my opinion and keep in mind its worth what you paid for it, and this is coming from someone who is 20 and 8 or 10 years ago my old man was in the same boat. But if your kid is able to use the rifle then he should be able to pick one out for himself. For example you could go out and buy him the best suited youth model .243 money could possibly buy and if he dosent like it well then....... But if he tags along to the shop with you and absolutly falls in love with a fwt. .270 or a 30-06 for example hes gonna wanna shoot that gun no matter how bad it beats him up. And he'll have that gun the rest of his life. There would be nothing worse then having a gun that you've gotten your first deer, elk, moose what ever with and not being able to keep it and use it for your whole life just cause you have grown out of it. "Your first big game rifle" as in one you pick out for yourself not borrow from a buddy or your dad or whom ever should be one you keep your whole life even if you half to grow into it.

Its like hanging out with your big brother when your a kid, it dosent matter how much you get picked on or beat up, at the end of the day if its still fun and thats were you wanna be thats where your gonna be.

As far as picking out caliber get something that will be cheap to shoot, do the job that needs to be done and that you can pick shells up any where for. In my mind thats something like a .308 .270 .30-06. I'm not saying the .243 .260 7-08 6.5x55 7x57 or anything else you can think of is better or worse then anything else we all know there are some shells that kick more or less then others, no point in beating a dead horse there! But if say a 30-06 that fits him properly is just to much to handle and too painful, then the above list wont help. If it feels like your getting hit by a truck the size of the truck wont matter your still getting hit by a truck. Sure he might not be able to sit down and shoot 3 boxes of shells in a row but thats what a .22 or a .223 is for. IMO up to a certain point with the exception of big bores and magnums and what not most rifles are not painful some are just more comfortable to shoot then others. Shock and noise play more of a roll then pain.

If the kid is excited to shoot he'll want to no matter what. Even if you do pick out something a little heavy in recoil and he can only take 5 shots before his shoulder gets sore who cares, if he only took five shots a weekend every weekend he would be a pretty good shot in no time. Maybe I had it to easy where I could use my deer rifle to shoot ground hogs all summer and once it was zeroed I could shoot a ground hog and 15 minutes later i would find another too shoot, practice had very little shooters fatigue. I dont ever remember a gun beating me up so bad I never wanted to shoot it again and I never developed a flinch. Thats not saying everyone should start with a 30-06 or somthing. A .22 is the best place to start followed by a small centerfire which you've done, when the kid gets his new rifle he knows whats coming, theres gonna be a bang and a shove. Thats not gonna cause a flinch 40 rounds in a row with a sore shoulder might or a shot from a .375 or the like that will rattle your teeth if you hold your tounge the wrong way but an average large game rifle will be fine.

Sorry for the long winded post and I'm more than aware my spelling and punctuation are far from wonderfull. But everyone seems to forget the fact that if its not fun why bother and if it is fun any kid is gonna make the best of it! We seem to spend to much time reading about marketing ideas and new wonderfull ideas and forget the common sence aproach. Call me redneck or old fashion but thats just my opinion YMMV.
 
live4therut said:
Hi nutters, I'm in the market for a rifle or two for a couple of the young fellers. I had three calibers in mind for big game (deer & moose) and for dogs (wolves, yotes and foxes in case the yuppies don't know what I mean). So I've started them out with the o'l 22's, savage 22HP & 223, and was looking at getting 240wby, 243, or 257wby for the next move, I have a few large caliber weatherby's myself and the've been good to me, I've never owned a 243 and would like to know your thoughts
:cheers:
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243 is a nice cartridge for deer and coyotes IMO. May be a little small for moose, the 7-08 or 308 are better choices for that. I really like my 700 rem in 308, very pleasant to shoot. I also have a new 7 wsm, and between recoil and expense, it's not nearly as fun(and I'm 6'2" 280lbs). 243 my buddy owns, also lots of fun to shoot. Have fun with your boys, mine is 5 and I took him out to retreive a deer this week. He can't wait for his own antler mount for his bedroom!
 
stovepipe699 said:
I also have a new 7 wsm, and between recoil and expense, it's not nearly as fun(and I'm 6'2" 280lbs).
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I really think bigger people feel recoil more. When the gun fires, its going
to move. If you are pushing back with 280 lbs, its going to hurt more than
if you were pushing back with 160 lbs.

Stead hmmm. I snowshoed through there every Saturday a whole
bunch of years ago.
 
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