I have seen and handled and bought a NEF Youth model in 7MM-08. It also comes in 223 and 243. You can order the Adault buttt stock at a very low cost and they can use it for years. Mine was a good shooter as well. They are nice lttle rifles and the new ones have cured the old sticking case problem. I would make sure that the one you buy is the newer one with the mechanical extractor.

Depends on your budget. The NEF in .243 will take deer just fine and you can upgrade to larger calibers later. Remington has a synthetic youth model seven but it will be more pricey. They are accurate and light and allow multiple shots for backup. A single shot may be hard for a young hunter to get use to. Remington also has a model 710 youth bolt rifle with mounted scope in .243. I know the 710 will get some comments but for the price its a good rifle, especially for a youngster. It just weighs 6 7/8 lbs and is 39 1/2 " overall in length. It has a 20" barrel and a 4 shot detatchable magazine. You can get it for around 329.00 at walmarts if they havent stopped selling them in your area. Its probably best to let the child hold and shoulder several different firearms and get a feel for it and see what they like best. Then you can fork out the moolah.

7?

Without knowing the child....
223
22-250
243 Max

I started out with a 22-250 in Texas around the same age. My dad got one with a varmit barrel to cut down on the recoil. As long as you don't have to carry it far look at making the gun heavy to reduce recoil. Later on my dad used this one to plink prarie dogs. Never any problem on the deer. Lots of energy in that fast projectile.

I got my daughter a Ruger M77 Compact, in .243, when she was 11. The gun weighs 5 3/4 lbs before it is scoped.

Recoil was an issue.

She was afraid of it after firing one round of factory ammo. I admit, that thing did kick for a .243.

My father loaded up some handloads that were really rediculosly underpowered. Barly kicked.

She would shoot them just fine along with lots of dry firing sessions. She lost her fear of the gun and shot it quite well. She enjoyed shooting her old Hot Wheels cars.( Anything to make it interesting for her )She could hit them pretty good out to50yds.


Before deer season I sighted it back in with the Factory loads, but didn't tell her. She never noticed the difference after shooting her first couple of deer.

I made sure she wore ear plugs with ear muffs on top. Sound really causes flinching in kids.

We also added a Limbsaver recoil pad. I can't say enough of how well they do to tame recoil. Well worth the price.

That sounds great Ww7!

I have an adult sized handi-rifle. .243 with sythetic stock and bull barrel, bushnell 3x9 scope, I shoot winchester supremes 95grain bullets and dropped my first deer with it at 12, I think I got it when I was 11 though for xmas. it was a big deer too 7pt 176lb. I have to say, it is a fantastic gun. Thats what I use today.

Faced the same dilema a few years back with my 8 yr old and ended up with a Remington Youth Model 7 .243. Used very mild handloads behind an 85 grn bullet to keep recoil down.Red dotscope with a 3 minute dot worked well as there was no eye relief problem and almost unlimited field of view. Soft recoil padand muffs with plugs to keep noise flinching down. She has done well with this combo.