Originally Posted by Mykey

The calibers mentioned are all great calibers and would certainly fit the bill. I went through the same ordeal with my daughter and started her off at age 9 with a Rem youth model .243 and she used it for one season and killed a couple deer with it. For her 10th birthday I bought her a Rem model 7 in .260 rem and she used it until she was 15. She wanted a full size rifle so I bought her a Rem 700 SPS chambered in .260 rem and she's still using it today at age 18. The .260 rem is a mild recoiling caliber, it's accurate and she shoots it very well as does my wife. We handload for her rifle but looking around on the web it appears that factory loaded ammo is easier to find for the .260 than it use to be. Mike