GTOHunter

I was raised on shooting a 30-06 and a .308 as I got older I wanted something with less recoil,I ended up buying a Browning A-bolt Hunter in the .243 caliber,its a beautiful gun with a wood stock,matte-blued barrel and a matte-black Leupold Rifleman scope.So far I have 2 nice 8-Point Bucks hanging on my wall from 2006 and 2007 Rifle Season and I have shot several large Doe's with it also.I also bought my 2 Daughters a Rossi Single-Shot Youth Gun in a .243 and they have gotten a Doe with it so far and I have a 22LR barrel and a 20 Gauge shotgun barrel to interchange with it.The heaviest bullet You can get is a 100 grain and it will take a Deer down,main thing is good shot placement but that goes with just about any caliber gun if you don't want to loose a Deer.Another thing to watch for is when buying a Youth Rifle if it has a shorter barrel and it lighter weight Your going to gain more recoil when shooting that Rifle/Gun.

The next Rifle I get is going to be a 7mm-08 in a Savage with the Accu-trigger,its a great looking gun and I have seen the 7mm-08 shells in most of the Hardware and Gun shops where I live.So far I have seen the shells in 140 grain...not sure if You can get them in a lower grain and I checked to see if Remington had them in a "Managed Recoil" shell and I think it was still a 140 grain shell?

halfbakedi420

when my 11 y/o was 7 y/o...i got her a 223, been using it ever since. they make a 69 grain bullet thats good fer deer, but we just stick to the 55g, they werk just as well. the most important thing is practice what ever cal you decide on. a 22lr is a must imo, when practicing with the kids.

DocD

I think a lot depends on where you will be hunting! There are as many great calibers as there are people that own them. 270, 30-06,30-30, 35 rem, all great, if you are hunting heavy timber I like a lever in maybe 35REM or hunting more open land 270, 30-06, in a younger shooter I kind of favor the 30-06 because of the availability of ammo and almost endless choice of load, you can darn near go from squirrels to moose, (jmop) Doc

BigBuck95

.270 or even an .06, depending on the size/strength of the kid. I am 5'6" and easily handle the .06, but I wouldn't start a kid on that. Go for the .243

Will_C

I'll cast another vote for the .243. If the kid is really bitten by the hunting bug, I am sure they will want other rifles as the years roll on-but the .243 will stil be useful to them, for varmint hunting, for the own kids and friends who begin hunting. If they don't become hard core hunters, the .243 is perfect for the occasional hunter-most of whom never shoot enough to handle much more recoil then the .243. I know if I don't get to the range for a month or two, the first trip finds me shooting my .243.
Will

JagMagMan

Go with the .243! You'll never regret it!

harter66

I bought my daughter (5'6" 100#) a 308 . Six months later she put 100# of prime Nv mulie in the freezer ,standing off hand 75 yards 1 shot. My son a little older at 5'10" 130 shot my 8.5 lb recoil pad equiped 30-06' just fine though his first deer was taken with a borowed Sav 99 in 243.

Off topic a bit all 4 of them started with 12ga pumps the oldest boy shoots a 20 now and the youngest was gifted a 16.

My daughter is a Navy gunners mate and prefers the M-40 to the M-4,she's still just 130lbs at 5'10" .
The youngest (and runt) is 5'7" 140lbs in the Army he wants an M-4 when he gets home from Afganistan something about it being familar after 26 mo in the muck.

Get all your buddies gathered up let the young 1 try them out you might be suprized at what he/she likes or picks

Swampdog

"Get all your buddies gathered up let the young 1 try them out you might be suprized at what he/she likes or picks" like Harter says. But I'll cast my vote for the .243 anyway.Just remember that "Shot Placement " is much more critical with the smaller calibers.Some of the time you can get away with a slightly "off" shot with the larger calibers .With the .243 if you don't put a good kill shot on something ,better hone up on your tracking skills.JMHO

Scott Gags

The 7mm 08 using Remington's managed recoil ammo would fit the bill now and would make a dandy deer rifle when they grow up.

ipscshooter

As with any other cartridge... Gutshot is gutshot whether it's a .243 or a .300 Win Mag.