Considering a rifle for my boys for Christmas

[haas0311]

Both boys are into hunting with their dad. They are 11 & 8.5. They have both shot my .30/06 and while they could handle it, they also were “pinched” by it pretty good. They also shot my Grendel and loved it so I was thinking a .308 for both. Looking for opinions from the GS as to what y’all think. Any help is appreciated.


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[bboswell]

What is the expected game and at what range?

[Walker]

Nothing wrong with a .308. Nothing wrong with that grendel either.

[Texastaxi]

.243 would be a great option

My first deer rifle was a Remington Model 788 in .222.
I still have it, and it's killed a lot of deer.

[haas0311]

Originally Posted by Texastaxi

.243 would be a great option

My first deer rifle was a Remington Model 788 in .222.
I still have it, and it's killed a lot of deer.

I’d love to get a couple of triple deuces but they are out of the price range, lol!

[mikemorvan]

My son is 31 and still uses the .243 I got him as a kid.

[haas0311]

They are both going to shoot whitetail/hogs/javelinas/predators with these rifles.
My oldest has killed all his deer with a .222 and my youngest boy, he is stellar with a crossbow and the Grendel.


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[TX CHICKEN]

I would seriously consider 6.5 creedmoor. Tons of ammo available and plenty of power to kill everything in Texas.


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[Big pig]

Originally Posted by TX CHICKEN

I would seriously consider 6.5 creedmoor. Tons of ammo available and plenty of power to kill everything in Texas.


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Lifetime gun. With a suppressor.

[rferg84]

Originally Posted by TX CHICKEN

I would seriously consider 6.5 creedmoor. Tons of ammo available and plenty of power to kill everything in Texas.


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Originally Posted by Big pig

Lifetime gun. With a suppressor.

100%

I'm a fanboy but for medium game, it's hard to beat with a suppressor.

[Drycreek3189]

Originally Posted by TX CHICKEN

I would seriously consider 6.5 creedmoor. Tons of ammo available and plenty of power to kill everything in Texas.


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I would have suggested a .260 Rem but this is more practical. Ammo can be hard to source for the .260. Deer won’t know the difference.

[175gr7.62]

Originally Posted by TX CHICKEN

I would seriously consider 6.5 creedmoor. Tons of ammo available and plenty of power to kill everything in Texas.


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This. Ammo is everywhere and light recoil. They kill good also.


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[dbaio1]

7mm08

[brushtrooper]

Originally Posted by TX CHICKEN

I would seriously consider 6.5 creedmoor. Tons of ammo available and plenty of power to kill everything in Texas.


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^^ this. No kick, and long range is an option. I've had a 250-3000 for my first and still use it to this day, I'm 54. I built a long range off a Tika 3 and have shot to 1000 yards with it in 6.5CM. Kill deer dead where they stood out to 500 yrds with it.. My son just came home from being deployed and absolutely loves the gun.

[docmay]

Nothing wrong with that 6..5 Grendel. I dearly love the 7mm-08 and would be my choice above a 308 or 243. 6.5 creed a viable option as well.

[cehorn]

Originally Posted by docmay

Nothing wrong with that 6..5 Grendel. I dearly love the 7mm-08 and would be my choice above a 308 or 243. 6.5 creed a viable option as well.

This is what I was going to say. I love my grendels. But for the kids I love the 7mm-08 better. The Hornady reduced recoil is tough to beat. Every one of my kids said the reduced recoil had less kick than any of my AR's. And the 08 puts a thumpin on a deer! It is easy to move off of the reduced recoil as well.

[Txtourist]

Originally Posted by cehorn

This is what I was going to say. I love my grendels. But for the kids I love the 7mm-08 better. The Hornady reduced recoil is tough to beat. Every one of my kids said the reduced recoil had less kick than any of my AR's. And the 08 puts a thumpin on a deer! It is easy to move off of the reduced recoil as well.

Literally knew nothing of 7mm-08 until my tiny aunt gave my son her Remington.
At 9 he was shooting Hornady lite SST reduced recoil 120 grain loads like he was using a .22. It’s a really nice caliber.
That said, see what you can find for reduced loads and then see if there’s a gun available that fits. Honestly, the .22 rifle time to work out the mechanics and target acquisition will pay dividends on the other calibers. Short of large magnums and whatnot, if they’re totally comfortable on a .22, they’ll do great on center fire rifles.

[bloodstick]

Originally Posted by cehorn

This is what I was going to say. I love my grendels. But for the kids I love the 7mm-08 better. The Hornady reduced recoil is tough to beat. Every one of my kids said the reduced recoil had less kick than any of my AR's. And the 08 puts a thumpin on a deer! It is easy to move off of the reduced recoil as well.

How easy is ammo to find with the reduced recoil 7-08? I’m looking for my son a first bolt rifle. He’s 7 currently and is shooting my 223 AR. I’m not a big fan of 223 on whitetail.
Was thinking 243 at first


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[bullets13]

25-06 is another great option.

[SHSU18]

Originally Posted by bullets13

25-06 is another great option.

I second this. Plenty of gun and less kick then 30-06. Great for all typical Texas game.

[M16]

7mm08

[BarW]

7mm08, 2506, or creed.
Some 06's can be kinda finicky but any of those are great rounds for Texas game.

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[WyoBull]

243 is a great caliber to get them started on Whitetail size game.
When they get older they can turn the 243 into a varmint rifle and get something bigger if they decide to hunt larger game.
I have a lot of calibers but my 243 is in the top 3 in my gun safe.
The Tikka T3x Superlite would be a great choice.

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[Jon Stewart]

Started my grandkids out with 223's at the age of 7. I loaded the rounds myself with Molly coated ballistic tip bullets. They killed everything they hit. As they got bigger they went to 243's and when they become of age, around 16 years old I bought them 270's or 30.06's. I did find a nice Browning A-Bolt in the 308 cal so I bought that for my grand daughter..

I think the optics on your weapon is most important.

My 7 year old grandson shot his 1st buck this year with a 223 cal rifle.

[Darton]

257 Roberts

[Artos]

Originally Posted by Darton

257 Roberts

^^^^^^^

[Geraldg6]

243, 7mm-08, or 308. Any weatherby vanguard, Tikka, bergara would be an awesome first gun.


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[BBBGP]

243

[S-3 Ranch]

308, 7-08 , 260 , 243
Or
6.5-284 Norma, 6.5x55 Swedish, 6.5 cm / PCR

[careybirdwell]

With the ammo availability in todays market. It would be a 308 or 6.5CM

[220swift]

22-250

[Fmjag64]

243 or 270. .243 is my go to truck gun

[dirtybay]

243 or 6.5 cm

[Raider4044]

6mm Creed


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[TX03RUBI]

Originally Posted by Raider4044

6mm Creed


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6 Creed is just a more versatile and modern 243. They have faster twists barrels from the factory, so they’ll handle the lighter 70 gr loads just fine, but they really shine with 100-110 gr loads when you need a bit more a** behind it.

[CyTxCazador]

This in 7mm-08
https://weatherby.com/store/vanguard...-compact-blue/

[rjtkdplus]

Another vote for 7-08. We shot 13 animals in Africa using 120 grain Barnes TTSX this past June, including Sable and Kudu. Sable was DRT and Kudu made it 60-70 yards. Both of these animals are elk sized and Sable are legendary for their toughness.
We’ve hunted with 7-08 for over 20 years, killed hundreds or deer and hogs and never felt “under gunned”.
My wife, daughter and I, really like the low recoil and the fact that it is a great all around cartridge.

[Bill]

Get them each a Henry lever action with a brass receiver, iron sights in 30-30. Make them work to get within range- and have a gun they can pass down to their sons.

Plenty of time for the other scoped rifles. My 2 cents.




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[okrattler]

6.5 Grendel or .224 Valkyrie in an AR with an adjustable stock. As they grow you can extend the stock and it won't have enough recoil to cause them to develop bad habits like flinching. But they'll be able to shoot heavy enough bullets to kill deer and hogs.

[DuramaxDude]

Bought my 11yr old stepson a Ruger American ranch 6.5 grendel and put a muzzle brake on it and he loves it. He is pretty skittish when it comes to shooting because his dad has never worked with him and does dumb crap like hand an 8 yr old 12ga to shoot and it ends up scaring the **** out of him. He is all about that grendel though and recoil is about like a 223 at most. We rattled in an 8 pt and he shot it from a sitting position on a tripod. We have dumped a couple of good sized hogs with it as well.

My thoughts would be 6.5 grendel, 243win , 6.5 creedmoor. Love the 308 and 7mm-08 but the other 3 have less recoil for the kiddos. 308 with a muzzle brake would be nice. Having family scattered across the state scouting for me and in my recent running here and there we have seen lots of ammo for 308, 6.5cm, 243, and 6.5 grendel so that shouldn't be an issue especially for the 6.5cm and 308.

[Walker]

A good way to avoid recoil problems is to let the kids practice with scoped or open sight 22 rimfires, not deer rifles. When the shoot at an animal with a high power rifle they will never notice the recoil.

[jdg13]

I'd focus on getting a quality gun with a little heft and a good pad to soak up recoil rather than caliber. 243, 7-08, 308, 25-06, 6.5 manbun, all of them work.

[TxBowHntr]

7mm-08 would be my suggestion.

[tigerscowboy]

We and our kids are all individuals. Just keep that thought.

Short of what worked with my youngest. He's now almost 12 and only 70lbs.

After his yrs of Red Rider shooting. I gave him a Ruger Am in 223. Couple months later he told me in honesty he didn't like it very much.

That Christmas I gave him a M77 in 243. He loves it and very good with it at 100yds is all I know.
He started shooting one of my handguns, a Blackhawk 357. He loves it too.
Tried my 9mm S&W auto and hates it.

I'm shopping for a short n lite 308 for him. Maybe a Tikka unless I can find a model 7? His 243 isn't legal in some states and he'll have to carry the gun all day where we hike to hunt.

We don't discuss recoil concerns and he wears ear plugs with head gear ear protection. If he doesn't hear it, he doesn't flinch.

[DRT]

I have no clue why folks think they need a .30 caliber to kick the crud out of their kid. Get a good .243 and kill anything in the lower 48 without an issue.

[Bill]

Originally Posted by DRT

I have no clue why folks think they need a .30 caliber to kick the crud out of their kid. Get a good .243 and kill anything in the lower 48 without an issue.

Remington and Hornady offer reduced recoil loads for the 30-30 with 125gr bullets.

Google 30-30 reduce recoil ammo. Here’s the link to a Texas Hunting Forum thread if you don’t believe me.

https://texashuntingforum.com/forum/...ds_for_.30-30?




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[Lincoln Hawk]

308 or 7mm-08 would be my suggestions. Terminal performance of the larger diameter bullets is more reliable on bigger critters compared to 243.

Choice of rifle is more important. If it's your typical deer blind TX hunt, lightweight is not your friend. For accuracy reasons as well as recoil.

A 20" fat barreled Tikka CTR would be perfect. It comes threaded if you later want to put a can on it.

[Phorizt]

a 7mm-08 reduced recoil round and a 6.5 grendel standard hunting ammo are basically the same thing. Those are the only two calibers I own. The 7mm-08 will give them more options long term though. We have a Howa mini action in 6.5 grendel that all three kids have started out shooting. My 14 year old son has moved up to the Kimber in 7mm-08 this year.

[RR 314]

Another vote for 7-08. Started my son on a Browning Micro-Midas in .22-250 when he was 5 or 6. Moved up to the 7-08 when he was 9 or so. He has killed a lot of deer/pigs with both.

[tigerscowboy]

"We and our kids are all individuals. Just keep that thought."

Been shooting 6mm in a Mdl 7 very well for 39yrs. Today, I wouldn't try to take elk at 300+yds with it. I would on anything in Texas.

There are better options for youth vs larger game such as elk, bear, ect.