youth caliber opinion

hadjii

Looking at buying a rifle for my 13 year old daughter. Presently she shoots my 17 HMR, but am going to buy her a centerfire. My question is this. Between a 243 Win, a 260 Remington, or a 7mm-08, what is the people's choice. The rifle will be either a Remington Model 7, or a Remington 600 Mohawk, and yes I know that the only caliber of the 3 in the 600 is the 243. Thank You.

heliman

My nephew is only 12 and this will be his first year with a hi-power hunting rifle. He is shooting my Ruger 77 compact in .308 Winchester using "managed recoil" 125gr loads. This reduces the felt recoil by about half and is still effective on deer size game. It also allows a youngster to grow into the rifle and eventually shoot standard ammo.[:)]

modoc

My choice would be a 257 Roberts..That way she can used it her whole life..Easy on recoil and ammo from 60 grain to 120 grain will allow her to hunt everything.,,including ELK and Caribou..Hard to beat and it won't beat the shooter to death..Hope she learns to love the HUNT..We need the ladies to join us ASAP..Good luck.. modoc

FEENIX

Both my boys started with Swede 6.5 x 55 at age 10. However, IMHO, 7MM-08 is the best out of the three choices you have and can take up to an elk size game. Good luck!

gap1916

The 243 is good the 257 Roberts works and the .308 is a good end place. My 2 cents. If you are looking at hunting white tail the .223 is also good.

1KYDSTR

Generally most states do not allow 223 on deer, so I would rule that one out. The 243 is great, but the 7mm ought 08 would be my choice. If I were to be given a choice of caliber, I second the 257 Roberts +P. Just an unreal effective round, shoots super flat, is light on recoil and every one I have ever shot regardless of make was at least a great shooter if not excellent. The 25-06 has become a really good number, but I still think the best quarter bore out there is and likely always will be the 257 Bob! It derived from the 7mm mauser and along with the 6.5 Swede, finer/more efficient military cartridges have not since been concieved. Just my opinion, but I shoot a LOT of different guns working at the McMiller range in Wisconsin and have arrived at my prejudiced views pretty honestly.

Mk 19

It is really hard to beat a .243 for a youngster, it's powerful, accurate and very easy to find. The .260 is also a great cartridge but it is a little hard to find ammo in most stores. Although I love the 7mm-08, it may be a bit much for her at this time. The great things about guns is that if you want something more powerful you can just buy another one.

catpealer111

Don't rule out the 30-30. My sister carried a Marlin 30A when she was 13.

n/a

quote:Originally posted by catpealer111
Don't rule out the 30-30. My sister carried a Marlin 30A when she was 13.
Another vote for a 30-30.

They do not have much of a kick, the stocks are normally shorter to where a young'un can handle them, and have plenty of power for deer hunting (I would guess that a 30-30 has probly taken more deer than any other round).

Plus ammo is reasonable so your young'un can get lots of practice![:D]

BullsAndClays

You may want to check your local/state hunting regulations before choosing the .243. Here in WV, the minimum, legal caliber is .25, but there are many people that use the .243/6MM with wonderful results since they are both powerful.

I bought a Marlin 336 in .35 Rem as a short-range deer rifle, although I have only been deer-hunting twice (I know - shame on me), because the reloading manuals all state that it is superior to the .30-30 in performance. I won't argue that more deer have been taken with the .30-30 than any other round, but I also believe that one should take game cleanly and from a distance that will not stress the animal, and thus, opted for the more powerful round in the same size gun. We all know that shot placement is critical to achieve this, so my opinion is to have more power for some compensation.

As for your other calibers, all of them have the aforementioned option of reduced-recoil, factory loads or handloads, so your daughter should be able to handle all of them, and still take game humanely. Personally, I'm happy to see this discussion as I have only been shooting for 12 years, and have only been hunting 4 times. I have a 4-yr-old daughter and a 4-month-old daughter, and I hope to get both of them on the range, in the field, and/or in the water for fishing.

wtroper

Any of the three that you have listed will work. They are all good. However, I will weigh in for the 260, particulaly if you are a handloader. My experience is that the performance of 6.5 bullets on game animals is awesome, even when fired at modest velocities. Thus, the development of a mild load for her now would be easy and she could move up as she was comfortable.

I will also second the 257 Roberts (even though it is not one that you listed). Much of the factory ammo is very mild and thus almost no recoil. It would be a good choice, in my opinion.

Texas Hunter

Since you can now buy over the counter managed recoil ammo the 308 would be a great choice.
And if you buy the Weatherby Compact it comes with both a youth size stock and a full size stock.
So you are getting a rifle that can be easily used to grow into since it's a five minute job to switch out stocks.
This exactly what a guy i know did for his small framed son.
And these rifles wont break your bank account either.