Caliber for a kid?

[txtrophy85]

6.5 Grendel, would be my top choice. 6.5 Creedmoor, 6.5X47 Lapua, 7X30 Waters, 260 Remington, 30-30, 300 Savage, maybe a 250 Savage/250-3000, 7mm-08. A 300 Blackout and the 6.8 SPC should be a good choices also. The smaller bores, 6mm and down, your shot placement needs to be very good, the larger bores, typically the recoil will go up. My preferred deer calibers are 6.5mm/264 cal., 270 and 7mm/284 cal., there are a lot of good 30 caliber choices, some that will work for younger kids.

Howa makes a mini action 1500, in 6.5 Grendel, that would make a perfect kids rifle. Truthfully, I want one for myself.

I bought the howa in 6.5 Grendel. Great for my 11 year old

[Electrican]

Get him a 243. Easy off the shelf ammo and can even get reduced recoil Hornandy which are very impressive.

[wingnut]

My daughter shoots a ruger American 22-250. It has been awesome! She has killled 5 bucks with it and the furthest we have had to tracked one was 40yds! I upgraded her from a single shot .223 when she was 10 and now she is 13.

[Brute Killer]

I bought my son a 270 at age 12 and he has never looked back. I thought it would be to much for him but it wasn't.

That's what I got for my son. I use the reduced loads in it, but he could probably handle full power, as he is 6 feet tall at 14 years old.

[zbest_hunter]

I started out on a 22-250 then went to a 243. I think both are good for Whitetail.

Sent from my SM-G965U using Tapatalk

[Big pig]

On the 243 reduced recoil load is it a lower grain also? Is that what makes it reduced recoil?

Less powder, lighter bullet designed to expand at lower velocity
They are accurate in my .270.

[CastAndBlast]

I got a 7-08 with a can for my son. Quieter and less recoil.

[kc5rkg]

I’m a big fan of the 7-08. 243 or 257 Roberts would fit the bill nicely as well.

[Darton]

257 Roberts

[Thainixs]

7-08 is a spectacular kids round. With reduced recoil ammo it is a very light recoil cream puff. With high quality full power ammo it will take most of North America’s animals up to Elk. It can literally be their lifetime rifle.

One of my boys has Remington Model 7, and the other one has a Ruger American both in 7mm-08. For the money the Ruger American is hard to beat!

[roughneck266]

If you have the option to suppress the rifle, can prolly shoot anything. If not I would stick with Grendel in an AR platform, or 243 or 7-08 in bolt. You can get a grendel in bolt as well, and they are becoming a bit more plentiful. Nothing wrong with 300 BO, just doesn't have the range or inherent accuracy of the calibers above. YMMV.

[Still Hunter]

.243, can't go wrong

[Speck]

My 9 year old daughter dropped her first whitetail doe with a .223 this weekend. She also popped a turkey with a great shot not damaging the breasts. Pick something the kid is comfortable with. My daughter didn’t want anything to do with the .243. Her twin brother loves the .243.

[Thainixs]

This may ruffle some feathers, but I’m not a fan of the 243 in a beginners hands. If you are a great shot 100% of the time a 243 is a super round and more than enough. However in a beginners hands with a mild case of buck fever, it doesn’t perform well. I have trailed only three rifle shot deer for 500+ yards. Two of them were 243’s in kids hands and one was a 260 Rem.

For a kid that can sometimes make a less than perfect shot I like some Margin for Error. All three of my kids took their first deer with a single shot 44mag. Three bang flops, and the 44 mag is almost no recoil in a rifle platform.

As they got older all got a bolt action 7mm-08

[tradslam]

Lots of great kid rounds these day, let several kids use my CM any they love it. The damage they do is pretty impressive also.