New Youth rifle

[HuntHarder]

My boy is 6 and is really into shooting. I am going to get him going with a semi poverty setup to start out with. Not Savage poverty, but thinking either a stock Howa mini or a stock Tikka compact. I am pretty set on .223, just because of the cost of the ammo. Should be enough wallop to take down coyotes and deer. Any other Youth options out there that I should be looking at? I did just see the Bergara Stoke, that looks pretty nice, but almost $800.00.

 

[big217boy]

You might find this thread useful.

Kids rifle manifesto

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...

rokslide.com

For what it’s worth, I went Tikka T3X Compact in 223 and had the barrel chopped to 16.5” and threaded, added a suppressor, and my 8yr old shot 3 Whitetails with it this year. Shots were between 100 - 130yds using the Bogpod Deathgrip. Kid did great…all 3 were bang flop.

Suppressors are a GameChanger all around, but especially for kids.


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[waspocrew]

My 10 year old son really enjoys shooting my Tikka CTR 223 in a KRG Bravo. I think a Howa mini could be a great option as well.

 

[awpk03s]

Whatever you get, run a suppressor on it.
Biggest factor hands down in getting my kids behind the gun more.

 

[hereinaz]

Howa Mini and Ruger American seem to be good .223 options for semi poverty. The Tikka is a Rokslide favorite for a good reason.

I have experience shooting and enjoying the Howa Mini. Just set up a new .223 with a friend and it shot great. The short boot throw and small action makes them fun even for big kids. Stocky’s makes carbon fiber stocks for them. Look online and you can find them pretty easily for a deal.

 

[Lemhi]

I went the tikka compact 223 route for my son. It’s been so cool I went ahead and picked myself up a roughtech ranch so we can practice with the same caliber. He harvested his first deer (mule deer buck) with it in October. Killed it as dead as anything else I’ve seen or used.

 

[david2duck]

Tikka Hunter in 223 that comes with a 16”threaded barrel. We cut 3 inches off woodstock, then glued on flip-flop butt pad. My five-year-old son loves it. Definitely run it suppressed

 

[kkp005]

Tikka t3x is the way to go in 223… Practice with cheep 75/77gr AAC ammo… Go kill stuff with 77tmks

 

[Boltgun]

I took a little different route.

I started my kids on an airsoft AR15, because the length of pull was short enough, and shooting animals drawn on boxes was safe and fun.

From there, we stepped up to a suppressed Tippmann .22 AR15. Really a great rifle for a kid. We loaded one round per magazine, so the rate of fire was nicely controlled.

Finally, we stepped up to 300BLK subsonic suppressed, then supersonic for actual hunting. (Would have gone 5.56 but for state hunting regs.)

The outcome was my 7 year old truly surprising me at how fast he learned and grew in capability, and he took his first whitetail this past fall.



Maybe bolt guns are a better option, but a black rifle worked great for us.

 

[HuntHarder]

I took a little different route.

I started my kids on an airsoft AR15, because the length of pull was short enough, and shooting animals drawn on boxes was safe and fun.

From there, we stepped up to a suppressed Tippmann .22 AR15. Really a great rifle for a kid. We loaded one round per magazine, so the rate of fire was nicely controlled.

Finally, we stepped up to 300BLK subsonic suppressed, then supersonic for actual hunting. (Would have gone 5.56 but for state hunting regs.)

The outcome was my 7 year old truly surprising me at how fast he learned and grew in capability, and he took his first whitetail this past fall.



Maybe bolt guns are a better option, but a black rifle worked great for us.

My boy's favorite rifle to shoot is my 16.5" AR. I basically let him pick a couple guns each time we go shoot and he can shoot them as much or as little as he wants. He used to always want the suppressors on until he shoot some of my shotguns and an AK. I think he realized the noise did not hurt his ears as bad as he thought it was going to. Of course he has really nice hearing protection, but even the shorty AR doesn't bother him anymore. He shot a few rounds out of my .243 yesterday and was within a couple inches of bullseye. Made me realize, that he is probably ready for his own rifle, so we can start working on fundamentals of accuracy. He's really good with a .22 @ 25 yards. Watching me shoot long range and hearing the sound of hitting steel put a big smile on his face.

 

[Jamr]

I’d vote for the Tikka.

 

[Ridge Ghost]

Yet another vote for Tikka compact in 233. I bought one for my kids (8 and 10) last year, and chopped and threaded the barrel to 16.5” for a suppressor. They love the gun, and it groups well with any factory ammo. My 10 year old shot her first deer with it last fall, using a 77gr Black Hills TMK.

 

[bergie]

You might find this thread useful.

Kids rifle manifesto

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...

rokslide.com

For what it’s worth, I went Tikka T3X Compact in 223 and had the barrel chopped to 16.5” and threaded, added a suppressor, and my 8yr old shot 3 Whitetails with it this year. Shots were between 100 - 130yds using the Bogpod Deathgrip. Kid did great…all 3 were bang flop.

Suppressors are a GameChanger all around, but especially for kids.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Just got the same rifle in and its at the smith right now getting cut down to 17".
What suppressor are you running (I was planning on putting my Scythe on it initially but also have my eyes on an OCL Polonium 5.56 that would live on that gun).
What ammo are you running?

 

[bergie]

Oh and the tikka compact .223 are (at least as of a week ago) stupidly priced on Eurooptic. My local store price matches and they begrudgingly told me it was only $30 over cost.

 

[big217boy]

Using a TBAC Ultra 7 30 cal suppressor with a 1/2-28 CB Mount.

For ammo, we used Remington Premier Accutips in 55gr. I don’t reload and this is what the local Sporting Goods Store had available. Box says it’s good for Coyote, Antelope, Deer, and Hogs. So far, we’ve had good results.


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[bojangles808]

also have the 223 compact Tikka for my young son. I just got a cheap outlier chassis with an arca forend that I have matched with an XLR tr2 buttstock so I can get the lop down to a little over 10 inches until he fits the 12.5 lop of the compact stock. the outlier chassis are modular and so cheap that for 80$ I also have savage inlet in 243 I can swap it over too if I want. its going to be around 10lbs with a 20 oz SWFA scope so not the lightest but if you are just doing a short into a shooting house or just plinking and getting them going at the range I think its an excellent option for adjustability

 

[david2duck]

Just got the same rifle in and its at the smith right now getting cut down to 17".
What suppressor are you running (I was planning on putting my Scythe on it initially but also have my eyes on an OCL Polonium 5.56 that would live on that gun).
What ammo are you running?

The wolf hunter from DD is pretty awesome. I ran it side by side with my scythe (with brake) and the wolf hunter is definitely quieter. My dad and I were very impressed with it.

On my scale the scythe with brake was 8.1oz and the wolf hunter was 8.5oz.

 

[bergie]

The wolf hunter from DD is pretty awesome. I ran it side by side with my scythe (with brake) and the wolf hunter is definitely quieter. My dad and I were very impressed with it.

On my scale the scythe with brake was 8.1oz and the wolf hunter was 8.5oz.

I will add that one to the list to research

 

[Dexter Grayson]

What are the major benefits of the tikka over the ruger? Tikka cost is double after chop and thread of barrel and cut down the stock. Ruger ranch is plug and play.

 

[Seak_angler]

Compact teeker 223 for the win!!