Well... buying another gun is always a good thing! My son turns 12 this year and can hunt out here. We will be chasing Mulies/Elk. I'm shooting for a 7mm-08, but I'm curious everyone's thought on the caliber?
I'm a huge .284 fan from a ballistics standpoint. I will be hand loading loads for him. Right now, I'm think 7mm-08 or a .308.
Again, curious about everyone's thoughts on the "08" and any suggestions on brands? I'm a huge Browning fan, but thinking of not spending that much $$$ on this one.
I own a 7mm-08 in a synthetic Browning A-bolt. I think that it is just about the perfect caliber for deer sized animals. It has mild recoil yet shoots pretty flat. I haven't had a deer make it farther than 40 yards. For Elk, I would think that if you kept the shot distances within reason and used a tough constructed 140 grain premium bullet like a tripleshock ora partition then it should kill elk reasonably well. But I'm by no means an elk expert. The 308 with it's ability to handle heavier bullets would probably be better for elk but then you are looking at more recoil with that set up. You would know far better than me what level of recoil your kid can handle.
As for brands, well they ain't beautiful to look at but Savage makes some pretty cheap yet accurate rifles. You don't really need some wallhanger masterpiece with a high grade walnut stock and fancy engraving for a kids gun anyway.
I have a Tikka T3 Light in a 7mm-08 that I know a 12 year old could handle easily. I've never taken anything larger then whitetails with it, but works GREAT on them. The gun is light, smooth, VERY ACCURATE and the price is nice.
I was in the same boat last fall - my son was 12 and had an elk tag. I already had a Remington 700 BDL in a .243, with the length of pull reduced to 12 1/2"; but was a little apprehensive about the knock down of the .243. Found a 7MM Douglas blank for $65, turned it down to a #4 sporter, and chambered for 7MM-08. First load I tried with it shot MOA. 150 Swift Scirocco with a moderate charge of H-380 gave me a little over 2700 fps in the 25" barrel. A real little sweetheart to shot in terms of recoil.
He wound up shooting an elk in the neck at 230 yards. Didn't look like the bullet expanded very much, but it worked nonetheless. His second shot at about five feet went in the elk's mouth and was found later during butchering in the animal's hip. It did expand all the way to the base, but appears to have a lot penetration at the expense of a smaller wound channel - at least at these velocities.
I have since developed some loads for the 140 Nosler Ballistic Tip and the 140 Sierra Gameking, which both shoot around MOA as well. They should perform well at the more modest velocities of this caliber. Looking at the horsepower chart, I'm going to try to limit this caliber to 300 yards on elk.
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I bought a NEF 7mm-08 Youth model new for 219.00 at Gander Mountain. It shoots well and I really like the gun. You can add thefull lengthstock later for 30.00 bucks or so. The rifle shoots 1 1/2 inches with all loads and a bit better with 140 grain Remingtons. You can even add a shotgun or muzzle loader barrel for less than a 100 bucks.
The Remington model Seven youth rifle chambered for 7mm-08 is a great first gun. It's really compact and light, but it still has manageable recoil and it performs great on elk and deer. I'm not sure how much they cost now, but when we bought ours it only cost around $400. The Pachmayer decellerator pad we put on it really absorbs the recoil good too.
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7mm-08 is good choice IMO. 140gr Barnes TSX would be a great place to start as far as bullets for the elk hunt. However their are many others in the .284 line that would also work ie: failsafe, nosler partition, etc 140-160grs.
As far as brand one that hasn't been already mentioned is the Rem 700 SPS, several variations to chose from in terms of fit/finish/features.
Awesome info and thx to everyone. I'll probably be handloading 140 gr Nosler AB's for him and put a limbsaver butt pad on it.
Do you think it's worth the "youth model"? I do plan on handing this down to my younger boys and eventually my wife. I was leaning on a non-youth model for as they get bigger, etc. Does the lighter weight increase recoil alot? I remember my .270 featherweight kicking horribly as a kid, but I was a "kid". I've only shot "normal" guns for years since.
Dont hold me to this as Im not 100% positive but I think all you need to do to make the lop the same as a Regular Mod 7 as opposed to a youth model 7 is add a 1 inch recoil pad to the end of the stock. If thats the case that would kill both birds with one shot for you.
7mm08 for my son
I've only shot "normal" guns for years since.
