First deer hunting rifle youth.

wgipdog

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Best choice for deer hunting rifle a 7 year old turning 8 in September for deer hunting? Will be suppressed. 223, 243, 6.5 creedmoor, or 7mm-08(low recoil). All shots will be with in 220 yards. Currently practicing with a 22 semi auto at the range. Was thinking a bergara stoke or Tikka compact threaded.
 

Check this out. A bunch of good information. I think if I had it to do over (and I will if I live long enough for my grandkids to get old enough to hunt) I would get a light weight AR in .223 (or 22ARC,6ARC,6.5G,6.8SPC). Teach them well and have fun while they are learning...Joe
 
This is the best kids rifle thread on here:

 
.223 does well, you don't want your kids scared of the gun or have bad experience. I got many deer with o that's probably what he will be using. I got quite a bit of federal 64 grain sp 223 would that be good enough for a 223? Or is there something a lot better I know everyone is starting to go copper but I am not sold on it yet.
 
Suppressed Tikka 223 with 77 TMKs is the way.

My 7 year old also shoots a 10/22 in 17 Mach 2. He prefers that over his bolt 223 because he’s used to it and needs more practice running the bolt.

So if he already used to the semi auto a Supressed AR shooting 77 TMKs may be an easier step for him.

👍🏻🇺🇸
 
Well my 3 kids all used savage 243 and killed a few deer but I am going to Europtics tomorrow to check out the Stoke in 6.5 or 7-08 for my daughter. Wish Tikka offered a compact stainless. That would be my first choice.
 
MDT did an article about building a budget 25 creedmoor. It’s worth a read. The 25 cal has really intrigued me lately. It would definitely be a great choice for soft recoil and enough power for deer.
 
MDT did an article about building a budget 25 creedmoor. It’s worth a read. The 25 cal has really intrigued me lately. It would definitely be a great choice for soft recoil and enough power for deer.

This is my next rifle build! All the PRS too shooters are shooting or are thinking about them, still a little hard to find. However the .243 cal. anything will do the trick. Suggest whatever ammo is on the self, most likely 6 creed. I have a 6mm rem and it’s getting hard to find brass much less box ammo.


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Reduced loads can be helpful. Suitable length of pull is the biggest hurdle.

My 12yo boy shoots my 270w just fine with reduced loads of 110gr bullet at 2550fps. Shot pigs, goats and deer with it no problem.
 
My son is 8 and shoots a 6mm arc Ruger american ranch suppressed. Took the spacer out of the stock to shorten length of pull. I hand load 90 gr tgks that is deadly combo on deer. Short, light, no recoil. I also installed an arca rail so he can shoot off a tripod. Works great!
 
Best choice for deer hunting rifle a 7 year old turning 8 in September for deer hunting? Will be suppressed. 223, 243, 6.5 creedmoor, or 7mm-08(low recoil). All shots will be with in 220 yards. Currently practicing with a 22 semi auto at the range. Was thinking a bergara stoke or Tikka compact threaded.
I would also add the 22 ARC, 6mm ARC, and 6.5 Grendel to your choices. Both the Howa Mini Action and Ruger American come in those calibers and come threaded with as short as 16" barrels. The Ruger American stocks have a spacer you can take out to go from fullsize to compact on the same stock. All of the ARC/Grendel cases are pretty easy shooting and kill deer at distances further than you need.

A Tikka compact 223 would be the best choice for the ones you listed.

Jay
 
You've got a lot of good options. How big is he/she? I bought a Ruger Hawkeye laminate in 30-06. She started off with reduced recoil loads with zero issues. She's now 23 and shoots core Lokt 165 grain and you couldn't pry that gun out of her hands! That ole ought 6 will be in our family for a long time.

A 6.8spc is a great choice as well. Virtually zero kick and is a great little hunting round.
 
This is my experience so far. I am going through this with my oldest (8 year old) now. I went cheap and bought him a savage axis in 6.5 creedmoor and loaded 120 grain ballistic tips at 2250 fps. Removed the spacer in stock with a little modification and got the length of pull down a bit, and built up the cheek rest. He actually shot it very accurately, did not complain about recoil, but would want to be done after 4-8 rounds each shooting session. He struggled cycling the bolt, getting on target, and his form was not what I wanted. I had to help him through most aspects of the shooting process.

After not being satisfied, I did a bunch of research on here and spent the money on a tikka .223 compact and put a Swfa ultralight scope on it and the vertical grip (still not ideal for his little hands but better). Our first shooting session he was able to load his own magazine, cycle the bolt, and perform the whole shooting process by himself. He was super excited and wanted to keep shooting more and more. The recoil is basically nothing especially when attached to a tripod with the Arca plate. So far it’s been a great experience for him. My 6 year old wanted to try and was able to do well and have a big smile after shooting it as well. I’m going to take a few inches off the barrel as it’s still a little heavy on the front end for him. So far, making the switch has been a drastic improvement in the shooting experience for my boys. This is only one shooting session so far, so take that into consideration. Planning on shooting the 77 tmk for deer on the youth hunt this year.

Jesse
 
My kids shoot a lot. Primarily .22s but also 223/5.56, 6.8spc, .350legend, and the occasional larger thing. Oldest is 13, youngest is 8. Oldest can easily handle my .280ai but I see that as overkill for most things now.

The absolute easy button here is to get a 5.56 AR with a free floating handguard and maybe a drop-in aftermarket trigger (Aimsurplus has one for under $100 that is light/crisp enough for training young shooters https://aimsurplus.com/products/aimsurplus-sstat-single-stage-ar-trigger-blade). Get a lower with a collapsible carbine type buffer tube and put a collapsible MagPul MOE stock on it. The taper on the bottom of it allows them to learn how to manipulate a rear bag to adjust elevation. The collapsible aspect allows them to handle the rifle when they're young without 'outgrowing' it and forcing you to start a collection of youth stocks.

I bought a Bear Creek side charger because 1) it was cheap, 2) I like the side charging aspect for a youth/training/hunting rifle, and 3) it being cheap I could afford to swap in a possibly better barrel. I put a Ballistic Advantage 16" heavy barrel on the rifle. It shoots much better than a $140 barrel should. My kids have zero issues making kill shots (on steel) at 400 yards on calm days. I started shooting a 30-06 when I was very young and my grandpa would let me burn up his buckets of old milsurp ammo and when I was old enough he 'sold' me that rifle and I grew up thinking 30-06 was a good minimum for deer. Now I tend to see it as complete ridiculous overkill for anything smaller than elk. The only real problem I have with 5.56/77tmk is that once you get used to shooting longer ranges with something fast and flat (in my case, 280ai, 180eldm at 2875') you'll see how wind-sensitive the 5.56 really is. But I don't see that as a problem when I rarely hunt in the wind and I don't want my kids shooting past 100-150 yards until they're older and more accomplished as riflemen. By that time they'll be ready for a rifle with an adult-length stock.

ETA: Also, a few years ago my dad did me a solid favor and bought my kids a CZ457 with the AT-ONE adjustable stock on it. All three kids (and me) can shoot it with a couple seconds of adjustment between shooters.
 
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