Daughters .243 Help

[passinggas33]

Hey Roksliders-
I’ve got a .243 that I’m going to start working on/modifying for my daughter who is a very small 10 year old. A couple of quick questions for everybody. I’m planning on putting on a limb saver butt stock. But I’m wondering if I put a muzzle brake on it too, would it be overkill (we ALWAYS shoot with hearing protection)? Also, does anybody have any ammunition suggestions? It will be mainly used for deer (muleys and Whitetail) and predators. I was thinking the Nosler trophy grade accubond 90 grain (I don’t handload) Any thoughts? Maybe once in a blue moon an elk, if the stars aligned just right. Any thoughts and suggestions would be greatly appreciated. Thanks!!

 

[Bsnyder]

80 gr Ttsx Barnes vortex ammo and I'm a fan of putting muzzle breaks on guns so you have my vote!

 

[Mike 338]

Make/model? 243's can vary in twist rate and that will influence your ammo choice. Regarding a brake, if your considering a brake on a 243, which may be appropriate in this case, perhaps she may be a little young for a big game rifle. Typically you add a brake to get it shooting like a 243.

 

[passinggas33]

It’s a savage and I’m pretty sure it has a 1:10 twist. But some of the other pages on the interweb says it is a 1:9.25. Now I’m going to have to research it more now.

 

[Ranch Fairy]

Howdy,
Ranch Fairy has 38 nieces and nephews. Lot's of experience with kid guns. Your primary goal is for your NEW SHOOTERS to feel zero recoil. At the range, they will, when they shoot at a deer (think about this yourself) they don't.
For ammo - simple -
100 grain soft point ammunition, that's that. The American Whitetail by Hornady has the Innerlock bullet and they have proven to expand and hold together nicely. We run that bullet in a 223 as well, it has been very solid. Great, great in a .243.

To Kill a Deer!
This is going to sound crazy....but it works.....like crazy. Never have her shoot the actual hunting rifle. Ever. If she has, ok, but stop her shooting it now. No brake, use hearing protection. She needs a safety lesson, how to work the .243, load, unload, etc. From now on, she does dry fire it occasionally just to get a feel for the trigger. But if she's never shot it please consider this (especially since you say she is small framed).

As stated above, when she shoots at an animal, shel'll never feel the recoil. MAKING SURE she isn't creeping the scope is on you so, we shoot a .22 - scoped, preferably the same action (bolt, single shot, etc.) same Length Of Pull or close, a thousand, jillion times. (Is that a number?). Get her worked down to hit poker chips, with the .22 at 25 yards, push it back a little further to get her to stay down on the gun.

Before the hunt (in a safe place) three dry fires, work the action, make sure we know where the safety resides. etc. Basic gun training.
Then kill your deer. Tell her to aim here.


Here's my nephew a month ago, went through the same process, he shot probably 500 .22 shells becuase its fun! Never shot the deer rifle until there was a deer. He hit it perfect because he never felt any recoil.



My (2) sons, and all my other nephews and nieces we did the same thing. Shoot a full length .22 a million times, never shoot the "big gun" for practice. Just at deer. My daughter has shot a deer rifle exactly 2 times. One deer, and 2 pigs (pass through and doubled!). She thinks deer hunting is "fun".

 

[neverquit]

When my oldest was 7 I set up this gun it’s a savage 10. First thing I did was cut down the plastic stock to fit her. Then I bedded the action and added a ton of epoxy and two alliminum rod to the for end for weight and to make I rigid. Trigger job duracoat and dipped in kryiptec . It’s close to 9 lbs it has so little recoils now that she’s 10 and small for her Age she enjoys shooting it

I

 

[Thinkingman]

Noise is half the recipe for a flinch.
Unless the recoil will legitimately injure(think 50BMG), avoid a brake.
Add weight, Limbsaver pad, anything but a brake.
You can fill a buttstock with sand or lead shot to mitigate recoil.
Practicing with a 22lr has worked for me for 45yrs.

 

[howl]

You're pretty much always better off selling what you don't want and buying what you need, rather than "customizing" a rifle. I would look for a youth .223 or 6.5G and a 22lr clone. As suggested above, use the 22lr for practice. ARs make this easy.

If you stick with a Savage, get an extended tactical style bolt handle and a ball bearing lift kit for the bolt. This will make working the action less of a challenge for a smaller person. If you're really into Savages it might be worth it to have a knowledgeable 'smith go through the action and make it stop fighting itself. It is amazing while it lasts.

 

[Backpack Hunter]

The lowly 100gr Winchester Power Point has been proven over and over for deer. A brake wouldn't be a bad idea, none of my girls used it, but we have since switched to the 223.

 

[cjl2010]

What’s your budget? Is weight a concern?

 

[JP100]

We have guided a few kids, some first time shooters.

We have two rifles we use, both Tikkas and with suppressors on them.
One in .223 and one .243

.223 we use 55gn Hornady soft points and .234 we mainly have been using 100gn Winchester power points(grey box).


A suppressor is awesome if you can get one, cuts noise and recoil. A brake will help for sure, but get some good muffs.

If its legal where you are a good .223 will work fine for does/meat hunting.
Have shot plenty of Red deer with one and they are bigger than a mulie or whitetail.

Tikka make a youth rifle which is good.

Maybe some sort of adjustable chassis would be worth a look as well, depending on budget etc

 

[Newtosavage]

Hey Roksliders-
I’ve got a .243 that I’m going to start working on/modifying for my daughter who is a very small 10 year old. A couple of quick questions for everybody. I’m planning on putting on a limb saver butt stock. But I’m wondering if I put a muzzle brake on it too, would it be overkill (we ALWAYS shoot with hearing protection)? Also, does anybody have any ammunition suggestions? It will be mainly used for deer (muleys and Whitetail) and predators. I was thinking the Nosler trophy grade accubond 90 grain (I don’t handload) Any thoughts? Maybe once in a blue moon an elk, if the stars aligned just right. Any thoughts and suggestions would be greatly appreciated. Thanks!!

As someone who started their daughter out at the age of 10, on a .243, I will offer this...

First, try not to get ahead of yourself - meaning, her. Let HER set the pace.

Second, a .243 in a lightweight rifle kicks a LOT to a small 10 year-old girl. Sure, there is always some tough guy who thinks his kids are tougher than every other kid who comes along and wants to argue that point, but as a rule, a .243 in a 7 lb rifle is going to kick the schitt out of a small 10 year old kid.

My daughter was an accomplished 4-H rifle (.22) shooter and had great shooting skills. She shot her .243 just enough to sight it in and give me confidence that she wouldn't wound a deer, then she shot 2 deer in 2 years with 2 shots. Dropped them both cleanly. And then.... she never shot that rifle again. She wasn't small for her age either, but she just did not enjoy shooting it at all.

My advice is either go muzzle brake or make the rifle heavy to absorb some of that recoil. Make sure your #1 priority is making that young lady have fun. The whole "suck it up buttercup" mentality should be nowhere in your mind. If you do it right, you'll have a hunting partner for a long time (until she discovers boys anyway). If you do it wrong, you might get one or two hunts out of her at best.

I wish you luck! Those hunts with my daughter are very fond memories for us.

 

[Newtosavage]

If I had it to do all over again, I'd put her on my 6.5 Grendel or 7.62x39 for her first deer rifle. Particularly the Grendel. It's just as effective as a .243 and kicks about 1/2 as much. My daughter calls them "love taps" now. LOL

 

[passinggas33]

Thank you guys for all your input. I know that there are tons of great options for youth and maybe some would possibly be even better than the .243. But, this is the gun that my dad gave to me to learn on and so it has some sentimental value to me. So, not only am I setting it up for my daughter I will be setting it up for all 4 of my kids and that is why I’m trying to get it “right”. Anyway, keep the thoughts coming on what people would recommend to get it set up nice for the kids.

 

[cjl2010]

MCS-CS stock is my recommendation if you aren’t too concerned about weight.

 

[Mac7]

Thank you guys for all your input. I know that there are tons of great options for youth and maybe some would possibly be even better than the .243. But, this is the gun that my dad gave to me to learn on and so it has some sentimental value to me. So, not only am I setting it up for my daughter I will be setting it up for all 4 of my kids and that is why I’m trying to get it “right”. Anyway, keep the thoughts coming on what people would recommend to get it set up nice for the kids.

Very cool get it set up and take her shooting as much as you can. My daughter shot her first deer at 10 with the same rifle I shot my first 30 years before. I did put a youth stock on it and she used the Hornady custom lite 243 load with the 87 grain sst. Little over 100yds 1 shot and deer went 30yds or so.

I think starting her with the low recoil loads is important and then move up when she is ready. She now shoots a 6.5 Grendel and has taken 2 more deer. Probably be getting her a 6.5 Creedmoor or 7mm-08 this year.

Forgot to add I had a 3-9 on the 243 and left it on 6x for her as it seemed to work best for her. So I put a fixed 6 on her 6.5 and will be doing the same on whatever she gets next. I like to keep it simple and it seems to work great so far.

 

[DRP]

I agree with everything Ranch Fairy said, I purchased a Marlin youth model .243 for my daughter when she was 11. However she did not shoot that rifle for a whole year while getting her ready for her hunts, we spent many evenings in the garage at 10 feet shooting a pellet gun. We practiced prone shooting, kneeling, using shooting sticks, and standing offhand. Next we moved on to shooting a savage .17HMR, the savage has basically the same acutrigger setup as her Marlin X7Y 243, similar stock, and since the 17HMR was a bull barrel is was similar weight. The only time she shot the 243 was with hornady reduced recoil loads. I do handload and really like the sierra game king BTHP bullets for that gun. I sighted in the gun with the hunting loads and the only time she has shot it with the hunting loads is when she has shot big game. Like others have said she doesnt feel the recoil at that point. she has succesfully harvested a Cow Elk, 2 mule deer bucks, and a whitetail buck with it.

 

[Newtosavage]

I agree with everything Ranch Fairy said, I purchased a Marlin youth model .243 for my daughter when she was 11. However she did not shoot that rifle for a whole year while getting her ready for her hunts, we spent many evenings in the garage at 10 feet shooting a pellet gun. We practiced prone shooting, kneeling, using shooting sticks, and standing offhand. Next we moved on to shooting a savage .17HMR, the savage has basically the same acutrigger setup as her Marlin X7Y 243, similar stock, and since the 17HMR was a bull barrel is was similar weight. The only time she shot the 243 was with hornady reduced recoil loads. I do handload and really like the sierra game king BTHP bullets for that gun. I sighted in the gun with the hunting loads and the only time she has shot it with the hunting loads is when she has shot big game. Like others have said she doesnt feel the recoil at that point. she has succesfully harvested a Cow Elk, 2 mule deer bucks, and a whitetail buck with it.

Very smart approach.

 

[KJH]

I too followed the RanchFairy's method. My daughter never shot the actual rifle until she shot it for hunting. I set up a .22 and single-shot 9mm rifle with the same optics as the actual rifle. She isn't afraid of recoil in the field now. She doesn't notice it when she shoots while hunting...

 

[16Bore]

Federal Blue Box 100’s, keep the scope at a low power, plenty of eye relief. I’d pass on a brake myself.

My 9 year olds first trip to the range was a hoot. One her 3rd shot she looked at me and laughed and said “they just keep hitting the same place!”