Youth deer rifle

Toad

Toad

Active member
I've been planning to buy a youth deer rifle for my oldest daughter to use this season. My Cabelas points are getting pretty high right now, so I was thinking of just buying a new youth model and scope with my points.

It looks like there are at least three or four companies selling small-frame .243 with the scope already on it for under $400.

Wondering if you other dads had any experience with them and could recommend one over another. And I know there are some gun nuts on this forum who follow this kind of stuff and would know more than me. Any advice or experience you could share would be appreciated.

Alternatively, if anybody in the Manhattan area has a .243 or other mild recoiling deer slayer available for a reasonably low price, I could come up with a reasonably small sum of money... :laugh:
 
Toad said:
I've been planning to buy a youth deer rifle for my oldest daughter to use this season. My Cabelas points are getting pretty high right now, so I was thinking of just buying a new youth model and scope with my points.

It looks like there are at least three or four companies selling small-frame .243 with the scope already on it for under $400.

Wondering if you other dads had any experience with them and could recommend one over another. And I know there are some gun nuts on this forum who follow this kind of stuff and would know more than me. Any advice or experience you could share would be appreciated.

Alternatively, if anybody in the Manhattan area has a .243 or other mild recoiling deer slayer available for a reasonably low price, I could come up with a reasonably small sum of money... :laugh:
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caliber is a pretty good choice and bullets are easy to come by and can be purchased in a quality that is as good as can be hand loaded. I had the rem. varmit special for years, kinda heavy for a kid but then I let the horse carry the thing. all my elk taken with it were one shot kills as were the deer and antelope. pretty great choice all in all. one of my daughter's used the .243 for her mountain goat and antelope when she was 14, the other daughter took two mulies with one, my boy racked up an antelope, bull elk and a muley. they will do the job. a 257 is a little better however due to bullet choice but you just may not find one and you would have to hand load it. good luck with the kid hunting

cheers
 
Toad, I bought a Browning X bolt micro hunter in .308 and had a Vais brake installed. My 12 year old daughter loves it. We do shoot with eyes and ears, so the noise isn't a problem. It is a nice fit. Expensive, but she will use it forever. I do have a .260 rem in the mountain rifle that she was using, but she is a lefty so I will let her sister have that one. Recoil can be managed with a limbsaver pad as well. .243 is a great deer and antelope rifle that can be loaded down for coyotes as well. It will kill larger game. A lot of us growing up had a .243 and it was sure fun. I bet you can find some youth guns that have had little use at a good price. 400 brand new is a good deal if the gun fits and shoots well and most do. Have her shoulder a few. :cheers:
 
Toad said:
I've been planning to buy a youth deer rifle for my oldest daughter to use this season. My Cabelas points are getting pretty high right now, so I was thinking of just buying a new youth model and scope with my points.

It looks like there are at least three or four companies selling small-frame .243 with the scope already on it for under $400.

Wondering if you other dads had any experience with them and could recommend one over another. And I know there are some gun nuts on this forum who follow this kind of stuff and would know more than me. Any advice or experience you could share would be appreciated.

Alternatively, if anybody in the Manhattan area has a .243 or other mild recoiling deer slayer available for a reasonably low price, I could come up with a reasonably small sum of money... :laugh:
Click to expand...

Toad,

That is great news about taking the kid hunting. Youth season is just a couple weeks away:thumbsup:

Look at these two guns since we don't make any guns in that $$ range. They are both well made and in the right price range. Here is what I look for in a gun.


Savage Axis
Ruger American

.243 with 1:10 barrel twist to shoot a 100gr lite/managed recoil load. ( Hornady and Remington both make lite loads for kids)

Adjustable trigger that will break at 3.5 - 4.0 LBS

Bolt action with synthetic stock that has a free floating barrel with sling studs on stock. ( you will want a sling for the kid..trust me!).

Also invest as much as you can afford in the optics and get a set of shooting sticks too.

PM me is you have question on anything else.

I just moved my boys to a 6.5x55 swede. More abstract but better performance.

Kick'em Up!
CZ-USA
 
kids gun

in the cabela's flyer this week is where I presume you saw the $400 gun. if not, there it is. savage has come quite a ways lately and has embarrassed some of the other companies with their reviews, quality vs. cost and trigger pull. ya gotta start someplace, that savage axis with the weaver scope would be a great place to start, if they out grow it, they will be old enough to use there own cabela's points. I think it is a great way to go. good luck

cheers
 
Marlin X7S

Field and Stream did a report on all the guns mentioned above plus the Marlin. The Marlin came out on top so I bot one for my grandson in .243. We have been pleased with the overall quality of build, the good trigger and the out of the box accuracy. Loaded with Core-Lock 100 gr bullets, its a deer slayer for sure.:D

Some of the other guns in this price range came up short in my eyes.

NB
 
We have a savage model 11 youth 243 win with a factory installed muzzle brake,you can turn the brake on or off, the point of impact stays the same. Accutrigger, detachable box magazine. This little savage will shoot anything you stick in it well under moa. My kid has shot 600+ yard prairie dogs with 87gr v-max. The deer loads he's been shooting are the hornady superformance 95gr SST @ 3185 fps, 1/2 inch groups @ 100 yards.
Don't think you can beat a savage for price and out of the box accuracy.....
Look for the ones with the accutrigger and accustock if there available
 
I'd look for an older used 700 ADL, MODEL 70 , or Ruger 77 and put a good scope on it.

Or I'd get a Ruger American rifle and put a good scope on it.
 
I bought a ruger American 308 for my grandson and put a Nixon pro staff on it. It's a pretty good outfit. Price wasn't bad and it shoots decent
 
Another caliber to consider would be the 7mm-08. Perhaps a little more difficult to find ammo but it's a great deer cartridge. It's just a 308 necked down to 7mm or a 243 necked up. With 140 gr. bullet it has more punch than a 243 but not a great deal more recoil.
 
Dakotazeb said:
Another caliber to consider would be the 7mm-08. Perhaps a little more difficult to find ammo but it's a great deer cartridge. It's just a 308 necked down to 7mm or a 243 necked up. With 140 gr. bullet it has more punch than a 243 but not a great deal more recoil.
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Major Plus 1, my boys and I all shoot 7mm-08, light recoil and very manageable and you won't outgrow it. And it kills deer quite well, here's some proof:

My son Will and a Remington 700 Mountain Rifle:

DSCN00811.jpg


My other son Jim and a Remington Model 7:

DSCN00292.jpg


Myself with a Old Model Ruger M77RSI:

hunt090.jpg


My vote is for the 7mm-08.

Good Luck!

Greg
 
Rifle for a kid

Third vote for 7mm08. When my son was getting started I bought him a Browning Stainless Stalker in 7mm08 and put fixed 4x Leupold on it. Really a nice, smooth shooting gun with some guts. I watched him shoot several deer with it. My grandson just got started out on the Savage Axis in .243 with fixed 4x scope and he shoots it well at nine years old. It has the accutrigger, which IMO is great when you get used to it. I have it on my Savage 220f slug gun, which I like. My grandson will use that here behind the house because we are in shotgun zone, and the .243 at his other grandpas place, which is rifle. Good luck finding the right one. You will really enjoy the process of buying your kids and grandkids the right guns. I sure have. Nice to have info from this site from folks who have been down that road. Let us know what route you take.
 
Thanks for the tips, guys. I appreciate them. I purchased a .243 last Friday. My daughter is not old enough to officially take hunters safety for credit, so I am making her complete the online portion of the test before we head to the farm to sight it in. She's been really good with her bb gun safety, so I am confident that she is mature enough to handle a rifle with my supervision.

Hoping for a shot of around 50 yards with a good steady rest to make the first experience a successful one.

Thanks for the advice about the 7mm08, but with her small stature even just a "little bit" more recoil would be undesirable. It will probably take quite a few shots to get accustomed to the workings of this rifle versus her BB gun, and get used to using the scope. I don't want her to develop a flinch,,, like mine... :laugh:

I'll let her shoot as many boxes of ammo as she wants until we both feel confident that she is ready to aim at live game.
 
Toad,

Great pick on the caliber!:thumbsup: You can also get some managed recoil .243 to help lessen the recoil even more. If using a scope please may sure she has enough eye relief.

Might want to have her practice with a .22LR too if you can find those :eek:

Good Luck and post some pic's!

Kick'em Up.
 
Thanks again for the advice, guys. She tagged out last Saturday. One shot, one doe! We're having backstrap steaks on Wednesday, thanks to my sharpshooting daughter.

Thanks, Kick, for the reminder about eye relief. I watched her practicing with it, and on the actual hunt and she had a comfortable eye relief. But I felt the scope touch my glasses once when I was sighting it in. By the time I squeezed my big melon of a head down on the youth stock, there wasn't much room left for eye relief... :laugh:

Her .243 is the smallest caliber of centerfire rifle I have ever shot, and I enjoyed the 5 or 6 shots I took with it... Not much recoil and it seems to shoot pretty straight. If I still have my tag by the time rifle season rolls around, I might use it myself. :laugh:
 
Doe

Congrats to sharpshooter daughter. I remember those times with my son. You are in the best of years. Glad you are enjoying them.
 
I'm very late on this thread, but you got some good advice and made a good choice. 5-6 years ago I was in the same boat. I chose a Savage youth package gun in 243. It has the accutrigger, but I don't remember the accustock being available. I don't remember the AXIS being available then either. Anyway, I've been extremely pleased despite the Bushnell glass that came with it.

It has killed 8 deer; six of them with one shot. One required a second shot because of poor shot placement, not lack of power. Those 8 deer include the first deers of my two sons and my nephew.

Best part is that by combining points and those discount cards Cabelas often sends (back then they didn't exclude guns), I walked out of the Cabelas in KC with the rifle, 2 boxes of ammo, and a sling for my points and about $1.50. Someday when my kids have graduated to thier own guns, I look forward to selling it to someone who can use it for their kid's first deer.
 
matto said:
I'm very late on this thread, but you got some good advice and made a good choice. 5-6 years ago I was in the same boat. I chose a Savage youth package gun in 243. It has the accutrigger, but I don't remember the accustock being available. I don't remember the AXIS being available then either. Anyway, I've been extremely pleased despite the Bushnell glass that came with it.

It has killed 8 deer; six of them with one shot. One required a second shot because of poor shot placement, not lack of power. Those 8 deer include the first deers of my two sons and my nephew.

Best part is that by combining points and those discount cards Cabelas often sends (back then they didn't exclude guns), I walked out of the Cabelas in KC with the rifle, 2 boxes of ammo, and a sling for my points and about $1.50. Someday when my kids have graduated to thier own guns, I look forward to selling it to someone who can use it for their kid's first deer.
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That is some impressive couponing!!! I did something similar once where I got a sack of fully flocked full-body goose decoys for a song. They were on sale, plus I had one of their discount cards, and combined it with another customer loyalty promotion or something like that. I can't remember the exact details, but it was a sweet deal (for me). :laugh:

Matto, that's really cool that you are getting so much mileage out of your youth rifle. I hope to do the same. I have a 4 y/o that really wants to tag along with dad on a hunt. I might take her on an early duck hunt this year and see how she likes it...

Anyway, I would love to get a lot of mileage out of this little .243. My two best friends both have two daughters each, so I hope maybe next season I can get their oldest daughters out as well. Since it's not exactly a showpiece or anything, I should see if I can find a way to stamp the stock or otherwise make a mark on it for every deer that gets shot with it. That would be fun to look at someday and think about all the good times...
:cheers:
 
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