better Youth gun options

[peaceful_ruler]

Make and caliber

Savage 11 barreled action bedded into a Boyd’s Spike Camp Thumbhole laminate with upgraded bottom metal and trigger guard. This gun is incredibly easy to shoot offhand. I almost think I could kill a deer at 100 yards offhand as the balance makes it feel that good. SRS arca+pic rail…gel neoprene butt pad puts the LOP at just over 13”. I may chop a 1/2” off the stock yet. It weighs right around 8# without the mag. Recoil is so light I can enjoy shooting it all day.

243 win is a winner for a light recoiling point and shoot stick out to 260ish yards, MPBR.

Factory Remington Core Lokt Tipped 95 grains going at nearly 3100 fps is bad medicine. Easily Sub MOA at 100 yards so far.

I actually made my longest shot on a deer with this rifle in stock configuration about 10 years ago shortly after I purchased it. It was last light and a deer stepped out at 350. One shot and DRT! Probably my best shot ever, took out its heart and it died so fast it still had rye grass in its mouth.

I’ve never shot a deer and not recovered it with this rifle. The old .243 win is that good when you put it in the right place.

My brother(15) is trying to get his first deer so I decided to set this up for him.

What’s your choice in a youth cartridge and rifle?

 

[Dave0317]

My 11 year old is currently shooting a Tikka Compact, .223, with Leupold fixed 4x.

He is pretty good at hitting a 8 or 10 inch steel plate out to 300 yards from supported positions.
Where we live you don’t shoot deer further than 100 yards very often. So he should be in great shape this season.

We use 69 SMKs for practice, 73 ELD-M will be our deer round.

Our choice was partly influenced by this thread:

E

Thread 'Kids rifle manifesto'

Feb 24, 2024

I've chimed in on so many different "what rifle for my age XX kid?" threads that I thought I'd try to consolidate my thoughts here.

My oldest son is 14 now, started shooting centerfire rifles at 9. My younger kids started shooting centerfire rifles at between 5-7 yrs old. 5 kids shooting now, and a bunch of their friends that I have been involved or around as they learn to shoot. probably 20-ish kids? Here's what I've learned in the last 5-6 years.

Recoil matters, a lot. "Handles it pretty well" is way way different from "ideal for building skills as a rifleman." My oldest loves to...

• eric1115
• Replies: 237
• Forum: Firearms

• 
• 

And it’s been working well for him!

Hoping to see him get a deer here in a few weeks.

If I lived somewhere with the .24 cal rule, I’d get a 6 ARC or 6CM. Or maybe to stay with the Tikka platform, a .243.

 

[h2so4]

11.5” SBR in 556 is currently my kiddos favorite and preferred rifle. Suppressed. He leaves the range when someone shows up without a suppressor.

 

[left hunter]

Howa mini in 6.5 Grendel with a factory youth stock that has been cut down even further to 11.5 inch length of pull and the reshaped overall to smaller dimensions. I had the barrel cut to 19 inches and threaded for a suppressor. A very old leupold fixed 2.5x is on it in Talley ultralight rings.

I’m not sure how many whitetail has been taken with it by kids from my daughter at 8 on up but it’s yet to have one get away! It’s ugly as sin but seems to work! And we have only used mild hand loads with 100 grain partitions

I have noticed the 2 most important things with kids are a suppressor and a good stable rest to shoot off of. I have a Spartan adaptor on this gun and run it mostly on trigger sticks.

Sorry for the long winded response but I love taking kids out hunting and get so damn frustrated when people start them with something they can’t handle or doesn’t fit

 

[bnsafe]

20 plus years ago I bought a youth model remington 700 243. my daughter killed her first deer with it, son killed his first deer with it, and my grandson took it out today for his first deer hunt (missed a buck). I cant remember what loads my kids used back then, but we rolled our own for my grandson, 90 gr nosler bt at around 2400 fps suppressed.

 

[Timjohnson11]

12.5” SBR in 22 ARC on an AR platform. Adjustable length of pull, short trigger reach with AR grip, light and manageable for my kids.

Will eventually look to build a 22 ARC bolt rifle on an XLR Element with their adjustable LOP stock (TR-2 I think?)

 

[CMF]

Ruger Amer. Gen 2 Predator(22" barrel) in 6.5 Creedmoor, (I'd like to get the Ranch model with 16" barrel)
Scope - GPO SPECTRA 4x 2.5-10x44i
Practice with Suppressor and 95grn varmit or Winchester 125grn value pack(No kick with 95grn, minimal with 125grn.)
Oryx taken with 143grn ELD-X(couldn't use suppressor)
Hard to beat the range of off-the-shelf ammunition for the 6.5cm.
I'm sure there are better guns, but hard to beat for $500. Stock has adjustable shims and there is an optional weight kit.

 

[Blind Squirrel]

.

We use 69 SMKs for practice, 73 ELD-M will be our deer round.

how does your tikka like the 73eldm? I’m using the same setup for my smallest kid this year. More than confident in this hitting vitals out to 200y (most opportunities will be around 100y or less), but honestly, I haven’t been impressed with my groups at the range.

 

[Dave0317]

I’d say it is shooting good. But a 4x scope isn’t my first choice for measuring a gun/ammo accuracy potential.

Even so, yesterday I had a good group with it. Just wanted to verify it was still zero’d as my son was starting a range session. Grabbed 6 rounds of it, just because that was what was left in a box, and shot about a 1 inch group at 100. Shot prone. Day pack as a front rest, no rear bag. I didn’t even measure because I was just looking for an ok group centered on the target. Expecting good enough for deer season and ended up with a great group.

The Tikka 223 and 73 ELD-m is popular enough, that I’m sure someone here can give some better data.

 

[Rock’N Tacos]

I can’t think of a better youth gun than a howa mini 6 arc. Mine has a trijicom 2.5-15 on it and is crazy accurate (a dozen 5-10 shot groups sub .75 moa) with hornady match ammo. Zero recoil and enough juice to kill something a long ways out. I started my daughter on a 243 and my son on a 6.5 CM. If I could go back in time and the 6 arc was around I would have started them hunting with it.

 

[ShortMountain91]

My 6 year old shoots a Ruger American Gen 2 in 223. I lost him some 77 tmks. He's not killed anything with it yet but he's practice shoot it several times and likes it. I think it's an awesome rifle for the price

Sent from my SM-S936U using Tapatalk

 

[Blind Squirrel]

I’d say it is shooting good. But a 4x scope isn’t my first choice for measuring a gun/ammo accuracy potential.

Even so, yesterday I had a good group with it. Just wanted to verify it was still zero’d as my son was starting a range session. Grabbed 6 rounds of it, just because that was what was left in a box, and shot about a 1 inch group at 100. Shot prone. Day pack as a front rest, no rear bag. I didn’t even measure because I was just looking for an ok group centered on the target. Expecting good enough for deer season and ended up with a great group.

The Tikka 223 and 73 ELD-m is popular enough, that I’m sure someone here can give some better data.

I was just curious. I’m not ruling out operator error, but I could not get a 1” group with the 73eldm. I did with other rounds. That’s still what we will be hunting with this fall.

 

[Lurkin1]

For youth ages 6-10 I would suggest a 223 with a 65 grain sierra game king in a cheap rifle that you can hack the stock off or do what you need to do to make it fit them better. For over 10 I think a 243 with a 100 grain sierra gameking is the ticket. Before I was a teenager I killed piles of deer and hogs with that combo. Besides that I view the 7mm-08 as the king of youth hunting cartridges (10-16) for just about any species. No reason in particular it is just a well balanced round that doesn't carry the modern goofy stigma of some of the 6.5s.

Not trying to derail your thread but on another note @peaceful_ruler, I saw your ad for the stock your selling and would like to purchase it. I would have messaged you on it but I am currently waiting for my privileges to message on the classifieds since I am a new account. (Hope this doesn't violate forum rules)