Youth - 243 or 7mm-08 (break & sub pressed)?

[passinggas33]

Unsolicited advice coming…get them a 6ARC if the .223 is not legal in your state. The more I shoot that little cartridge the more impressed I am with it. Others may disagree but it has less recoil that the 243 and shoots heavier bullets from the factory.

 

[SloppyJ]

My 7yo got his first rifle this year. I was in the same boat. I went with a Tikka .223 cut down to 16" and threaded for a can. He can shoot that rifle much better than I thought. I'm extremely happy I didn't get anything bigger.

Go that route 100% without question. He's not scared or even a bit timid with it. He shot 3 deer with it last year and smoked them all thanks to his shooting and 77tmks.

Theres no better first rifle. It will be my truck gun after my younger son uses it too. It's a solid setup.

 

[eric1115]

What’s the age/size of kid in video for reference?

14 years old at the time of that video, probably 5'5" and 110lb soaking wet.

 

[Blind Squirrel]

@Blind Squirrel I am using your daughter’s video for the example- nothing personal.



For all the people that are claiming 243win, 6.5cm, 7mm-08, etc “don’t recoil”- you are clueless.

This is a 243. Look at the head movement and gun movement.

This is where her head starts right before recoil-
View attachment 838432

Then starting recoil-
View attachment 838434


Mid recoil-
View attachment 838435


At the end of recoil-
View attachment 838436



The difference in head movement between start and stop-
View attachment 838437


That’s a 6-8 inch snap of the head in an extremely short time frame- that’s getting into TBI levels.

10 ft-lbs of recoil for an 80lb person is akin to a 338 RUM for a normal adult male, and when you factor the massive difference in muscle mass, especially in the neck and shoulders to hold the head still- it is a huge level of recoil to the brain.

Yes we all learned as a kid on 12ga and 300 win mags- I certainly did. It doesn’t mean it was right, and it doesn’t mean it didn’t cause damage.

This hurts my feelings…more than the recoil hurt her. J/k

 

[JGRaider]

Started my son on a .223 youth model 7 until he was about 11, then graduated to a Tikka T3 7mm08. He was always small for his age, but he killed the crap out of everything he shot with that rifle including 25 or so aoudad, several whitetails, several muley bucks, and a couple of antelope. It was paired with a mild 2600fps 120 nosler BT making it a real pussycat. Rifle wore a Leupold VX3 2.5-8x36.