adamsdad

I would recommend the 25-06. very light recoil with plenty of power for whitetail. It would extend the range a little over the .243. JMO! Good Luck and have fun hunting with your son!!!!!

ipscshooter

Why not? You'd prefer to start him with something that kicks harder, that he's less likely to want to practice with, and that is more likely to cause him to flinch?

My son and I both use .243's. Neither of us is an "expert", yet somehow we've managed to take 4 deer with 4 shots. Bottom line is, if you hit them through the lungs with a .243, they'll be just as dead as if you hit them through the lungs with a .30-06. If you gut-shot a deer, it's gut shot whether you're using a .243 or a 7mm Rem. Mag., and the extra 4 hundredths of an inch of bullet diameter won't change that fact. Either way, you're in for a tracking job. The key with any round is to choose a good target and make an accurate shot. And, the key to making accurate shots is practice. Your son will practice a lot more with a soft kicking .243 than he will with a bigger round. Do that, and a .243 will work just fine.

My first rifle was a .30-06 when I was 15. I was small for my age, and that rifle kickedhard enough to cause me to flinch badly, at least until I grew into it a little more. Ididn't get around to going deer hunting until 25 years later, and my first few deer hunts were with a .30-06. I've taken 4 with 4 shots with it. But, when I got my son his .243, and shot it, I decided I wanted one too. And, unless I'm going after something bigger than a whitetail, that's what I'll continue to use. I like being able to watch the deer through the scope even after the shot. With the 06, the recoil always made me lose sight of the deer after the shot so I never knew how he reacted or which way he ran. With the .243, my scope never leaves the target.

Having gone 4 for 4 with both a .243 and a .30-06, I'd have to say they are both effective as deer cartridges. The .243 is definitively more comfortable to shoot. And, it will work effectively, even in the hands of "non-experts."

skeeter 7MM

2506 or7mm 08, both awesome deer cartridges and light on recoil.

wyotimberghost

Another vote for the 7mm-08. It's a great little cartridge that will handle deer with no problem. We've even taken several elk with it.

James B

I was a deer hunting guide for about 10-12 years. I chased more wounded deer shot by youngsters with the 243 than all other caliber combined. The main reason is that more young hunters used the 243 but another reason is that even when presented with a very good oppertunity, young hunters get excited and don't place their shots very well sometimes. It seem from what I have seen that the 243 leaves little room for error. Youngsters I have seen were more succesful with the old 30-30 than most other guns. No reason for this that I know of. Just what I observed while guideing mulie hunters.

nchawkeye

Man...I hate these kind of posts...I was trying to stay out of this one...
I have killed 130-140 whitetails with a .243...Never lost a one, never gut shot one or shot one in the hams...I have killed them from 3-4 steps under the tree out to 300 yards...As I have stated before, we own 3 farms in eastern NC...Used to see 35-50 deer in our fields...For the past 15 years or so we have taken 40-50 deer a year off these farms...I have killed and seen deer killed with basically everything from a 22-250 to a 300 Win Mag...

I am the one that puts the hunters in the stand, loads up the deer, takes to the barn and skins them, so I get to see the damage done by these cartridges...I'm also the guy that is tracking wounded deer throughthe woods at 10:00 at night when somebody screws up...Guys, It ain't the gun....its the shooter...You will see more difference in bullet types used in any given caliber than by moving up another caliber...When we have a hunter miss (or wound) a deer, we always go to the back 40, I set up a WorkMate, put my Outers rest on and pull up a 5 gal bucket...Most guys can't keep their shots inside of 4 inches...I check the mounts, guns screws, etc...Then I shoot....Usually nothing is wrong with the gun...I can shoot their gun better than they can....Once I have their attention...I get them to shoot again...I set them down and get them to shoot...I put 2 rounds in the gun...Give them some advice on trigger control, breathing etc...And have them shoot those 2...No matter where they hit (I'm looking through the spotting scope) I tell them they are shooting just a little left and I want them to shoot one more, I take the gun, act like I'm adding another round and watch them flinch when they pull the trigger......I bet 60% of deer hunters will flinch when you do this...It has ticked a few guys off...I tell them "I just did you a favor"...There ain't nothing wrong with the gun....I have had 3 hunters give up their larger bores for a .243 and 2 others buy .243s for their daughter and son...

If you spend some time with a young hunter and teach him to shoot and also set them up in a stand where the shots will be no more than 100 yards and have a shooting rest for them and have an experienced hunter in the stand with them to coach them through the shotthey will be fine...I would also suggest that you take them squirrel hunting with a .22 for a few years before you start thinking about teaching them to shoot a high powered rifle...

The 3 deer that I tracked the farthest last year were shot with a .270 and a .270 WSM...They wereall hit too far back...We got lucky and recovered 2...The next day I shot a 3 shot group with the .270 WSM that you could cover with a nickle...The owner couldn't keep them in a 5 inch circle...He did learn during that trip that he has a problem flinching...

ipscshooter

James B: I would just have to see it to believe it. I refuse to believe that given equivalent hits a .243 is less deadly than a .30-30. I suspect that the problems you've seen have simply been poor hits with the .243 versus good hits with the .30-30.A marginal hit with a .30-30 is not going to magically be more deadly than an identical marginal hit with a .243. The .243 has virtually identical energy at the muzzle and substantially more energy at 100 yards than a .30-30, and that 65 thousandths of an inch more diameter isn't a significant increase in "margin for error".

zrexpilot

The 243 puts larger calibers to shame. Been doing it with mine for 25+ years

zrexpilot

This is what my kid did to a spike last year with a .243.

Anthony T.

That statement is simply uncalled for. Why turn this into a caliber battle? We all know a 243 will kill a deer as will about any other rifle. The main thing for a kid is to use a gun that wont get him to flinching. Something like a 243 or 25-06 will accomplish this. But that doesnt mean its inferior to any caliber. Cmon guy, if youre gonna make a statement like that, you're gonna need to prove it to me. That little hole in that 100lb deer isnt doing it for me. Any rifle can make an exit like that, it called, bashing the shoulder bone on exit and fragmenting.