Rifle for an eleven year old.

I bought my older son when he was 10 years old (he's now 30) a T/C Contender carbine in 30-30 when he was 15 - 16 he traded me his Contender for my Rem 700 Mtn Rifle in 280Rem.

I'm set already for when my now 7 year old son wants to move up in power from his 16.5" 22LR and 21" 410 Contender barrels actually he just started shooting my 18" 10mm barrel last fall my top loads rock him back a bit but he loves the larger hole it makes.

I'm now totally into these little fast handling rifles have 15 carbine barrels for them = when my guy wants more thump I can set him up with a 204 to 45-70 and almost any caliber in between I also reload so can set him up with whatever recoil level he can handle.

I have a shortened butt stock for when I set up his rifle for him the OAL with his 16.5" barrel is 26 3/8".

I feel a single shot is one of the safest actions for a youngster to learn on my guys carry/carried their Contenders with the action open and when real young my youngest started shooting when he was 3.5 years old I carried the ammo as well.
 
My son is a slender kid... when he was eleven he started shooting 3.5" 12 gauge 2 1/4 ounce turkey loads... he patterned his own gun with 30 rounds one afternoon... kids can handle more than we think... he is now grown and down at the Canadian's in Oshawa this weekend, shooting a Beretta 692... but it is still best to start low and build. A .223 is the obvious choice... and one he will probably keep, if you get him a quality gun... or go the other way and buy a cheap "throw away" bolt action (Axis etc...)... then you can work your way up the .308 family; .243 - .260/7-08 - .308...
 
get him a 250 savage, recoil is almost non existant and it works great on deer out to about 300 yards. I was given one at 10 years old and it was comfortable for me to shoot.
 
i would personally go with a decent quality .243, 7-08, .308. More so the last two. They are capable of taking virtually any animal without going to far into over/under killing power. Getting a quality rifle for him would be to a great advantage as he will grow with that rifle, getting to know its every characteristic and will gain confidence in his shooting.
 
Pick him up a break barrel 12 ga shotgun, then go to gaugemate.com and pick up rifled adapters. They make them for 12GA to 410, 12 ga in pretty much any pistol cal, from 2 3/4" to 10" rifled. 22LR, 9mm, 40cal, 45 ACP, 410/45LC 357/38. I got a 45 ACP and I love it.

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So be able to work him up to 44MAG for about 140$ per adapter.
 
223. No recoil but now he can practice at longer ranges. Ammo is cheap so he can practice even more. 223 is win win for young and old.
 
I'm going with a 7/08 for my son, he shoots a .17HMR and has even shot a 20 gauge semi auto shotgun... They also make reduced recoil ammunition as well if you want to try that... My son is ten and he's excited that he'll be able to shoot game now for the first time, with his BC Junior Hunting Licence.
 
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What ever you do get an accurate gun so as when skills develop , they can be noticed and strived harder for. Nothing more annoying than a gun that has 25 % of hitting something
 
When I was 14 my 270 kicked the living #### out of me. Also the length of pull was to long and the gun to heavy for me at the time. In fact the lop is still to long for me today.

I recently bought a Remington youth in 7-08 but with the short stock the thinner and shorter bbl the recoil was way to much for a kid and way to snappy. So I turned it into a 250 savage. With mid range loads recoil is very very mild.

To bad the 250 is not more popular in bolt action rifles.
 
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