Just bought my son a Rem 700 ADL Youth in .308 for Christmas. We took it out Christmas day and he shot it 3 times. The last shot he held it held it a little too far to the outside of his shoulder and it popped him pretty good. First thing this morning he was ready to go shoot again. After we got it zeroed he fired 10 shots and hasn't developed any flinch at all. His last 5 shots he held just over a 1" group at 100 yards. He'll be 9 years old in a few weeks and only weighs about 70 pounds and this thing rattles his cage pretty good but he still manages to gently squeeze the trigger each time. (Yeah, I gotta brag on him a little.) I shot it twice and was suprised that the recoil is about the same as my .270. The gun itself shoots great and I'm really impressed with the accuracy out of the box. After he's got a few more shots under his belt I'm going to lighten up the trigger because it's definately a little heavy. I wanted to get him a 25.06 but couldn't find one with a youth stock. I would say the .243 or a 6mm would be a great choice for minimum recoil.