You know with the recoil reduced ammo out there and the bunch of reloading data, I think anything from the 308win to 270win or 30-06 will work fine. I got my nephew shooting a 700ADL 270win with some low power loads from Hodgdon's website and he is haveing a blast. Also I had a old junk stock modified and a real nice recoil pad put on. He is already wanting the full power stuff. But he ain't ready for that yet. He is 10. In a year or two, I will suggest to my brother to change out the stock and put him with some IMR4350 55gr loads with 130gr bullets. But right now we are working on keeping the bullets in the vitals at 50 yards.