i have a 9 year old son who hunted this past year with a 30-30. i want to increase his distance and will eventually put him with a .270. his sister is 7 and i want to buy a gun for her that she will be able to use for life - but let my son hunt with it until she gets older. what would be the best gun for my daughter for life that my son could use now? i was leaning toward a .260 or 7mm-08. will she need a 20" barrel? what model(s) is recommended? scope size and preference? thanks!

Hi 07,
Welcome to the group

My suggestion is a T/C Encore with a youth stock in 7mm-08 with warne Q/D rings and bases, Leupold VX II in 3x9. Later on you could get different barrel for different game animals.
Do I need to sell anyone on the versitility of the "have it in any; length, caliber, guage or finish you could EVER need" thing? You can "custom" everything with this gun.
Bottom line: One gun, any hunt, forever

Hi 070107,

You didn't explain much about species or terrain....so it leaves alot of gray area. But, Ruger's Ultra Compact comes in Blue or Stainless and with several stock choices. It has a 16 1/4" barrel but gives up very little ballistically because of the short action cartridges. I own and use a .260 Remington and it is a very capable, wonderful, cartridge. (I have also owned .243 and .308 Winchesters among many others.) The .260 makes a reasonable varmint cartridge and an excellent medium game cartridge. It will do nearly anything any of the other chamberings will do that are based on the .308 case. It is accurate, flat shooting, light recoiling, but still has enough bullet weight to make it use on animals larger than deer not a problem.

If you don't like the Ruger Compact (which is nearly perfect for smaller shooters....but works for most adults) there are Remington's Model 7 and 700 ADL, youth models. Additionally I believe Savage and Winchester make youth models.

Good luck with your search!

Dave

my bad on the specifics. deer hunting only. thanks.

Hi again 070107,

That makes the .260 even better. It's two most common factory loads are the 120/125 grains and the 140 grains. In the .260 the 120 grain bullet acts about 165 grain bullet in a .30 caliber. So it gives plenty of penetration for deer. And the 140's will penetrate as well or better than the 150's in a .270 or the 180's in a .30 caliber.

You'd have to look long and hard to find a better caliber for any deer hunter........children or adults.

Once again good luck with the decision making process!

Dave

Great choices of caliber 070. As for the rifle itself - I would suggest the Rem. Model 7 youth. Other choices would be the Browning Micro Hunter or the Ruger compact. The Browning has a longer stock than the other two. The T/C Encore has the built in safety feature of only one shot. And besides being safe, forces your young'n to make that first shot count.

I too am looking at rifles for youths. I have an Encore and love it however I do not like the fact that they have to pull the hammer back to cock it and if they don't get a shot they have to let it back down carefully. This can be tough in cold, wet conditions with aderaline. I think I am going to buy a 7mm08 and load it down now.

Remington model 7 in 260. That would be a great gun and caliber for a kid,woman,or any adult. Most gun makers make a compact or youth gun. I read an article on them one time from Shooting Times ( ithink it was shooting times) and i believe the Savage was the most accurate out of the box. All should be capabale of 1" or better groups at 100yds.