Funny story.I went this Saturday to start looking for a rifle for my 7 year old to use for this upcoming deer season(he will be 8).I went to a local store that has OVER 1200 guns IN STOCK and a rather large youth section.I spent about an hour looking over different makes,models,and calibers and I had narrowed it down to a New England .243 synthetic and a .308 Rossi wth a 20 gauge barrel with it.
Idecided to talk to my stepdad about the Rossi because I like the larger caliber for him but was skeptical of the Rossi because I wasn't real familiar with them.(I also like to buy American but realize it isn't always possible).He is an excellent gunsmith who has built many guns and even one from scratch.
I walked in and asked him about the Rossi and he kinda laughed and said ,I don't know but would you like to see one.He walked in the back room and brought out the exact model Rossi that I had looked at a few minutes earlier.He had gonethatmorning to do the same thing I did but he went ahead and bought the gun because he had already researched it and found it to be a solid gun for what we wanted.
We shot the gun Sunday and tomy surprise there was very little recoil from this gun and my small 7 year old had NO PROBLEMS shooting it off sand bags at 50 yards and it didn't hurt im at all.I was able to shoot a 1" group at 50 yards with a red dot scope that covered about a 4" circle of the target.
Anyone looking for an inexpesive gun with penty of kockdown power for a small youth,I highly reccomend this gun.
congrats!! good luck to you and your son!! i started on the 308 myself....fine deer round.........keep your son shooting pretty often.....too many kids only shoot once a year and go out and miss/wound deer all the time....dad bought some cardboard deer cutouts and put them in the woods(where it was safe to do so) and had me sit down like i was hunting and fire at that.....taught me the vitals.....and shooting from hunting positions.......thats funny your dad went and bought it lol.......surprised that the 7yr old can handle it yet i hear grown men cry about it! lol.......i never thought it had much recoil myself.....but i grew up shooting guns of all calibers...its all about good form and hanging on....you have bad form and let the gun go and your going to get whacked pretty good......good luck!!! post the pics after the season!!
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>>----Give 'em the shaft!--->
My 11 year old daughter uses a 7mm-08 that uses the same powder and casing but the bullet size is different and it kicks a little harder but she can handle it just fine.
I know exactlyhow little some kids are prepared but at those young ages ,nerves become a force to overcome so a little bigger caliber is nice to overcome some small shooting errors.
In Ky ,we can use ANY center fire rifle and I have tried the small calibers and just wasn't happy with the .223 or the .243.
my 7 year old got a new deer rifle.
