Youth Gun
 

With shots around fifty yards what would be better a 410 slug or a 44 mag.? Basically recoil and terminal performance on a whitetail. I have a 20 ga. youth model also but Im not sure if he is ready for that kind of recoil.

.410 rifled slugs leave a lot to be desired. You will be better off starting a child on something that gives them a good chance of success. Buy a .243, potent and with almost no felt recoil and can be used for the childs whole life. I have never fired a .44 mag from a rifle so I don't know what the recoil is like, I suspect not bad and I will kill a deer and if you are limited to those two choices, I would go with the .44.

.410 rifled slugs leave a lot to be desired. You will be better off starting a child on something that gives them a good chance of success. Buy a .243, potent and with almost no felt recoil and can be used for the childs whole life. I have never fired a .44 mag from a rifle so I don't know what the recoil is like, I suspect not bad and I will kill a deer and if you are limited to those two choices, I would go with the .44. I am asuming you are not planing to use a .44 mag bullet in a .410 shotgun, that would not be a good idea.

I agree about the 243 but unfortunately they are not legal here. I also agree about the 410 slug. I know that some people here in Indiana have used them but wasn't sure about what kind of results they have been having. I have shot 2 deer with my 44 Winchester lever action and neither one took a step after the shot. Thanks for your input!

Years ago, I had a buddy the used to use a Ruger 44 mag. rifle . Most of our shots are going to e 100 yards in. Personally I did not care for the effectiveness of the rounds past about 50-75 yards. The 410 slug ... I have no experience.

I think maybe you might want to stay with the 20 ga. Probably the recoil will be a factor at the range, but you can sight it in ... then let your son shoot a few times .... and I would bet that the adrenalin kick-in and concentration on his part to make the shot would ward off the "recoil" when he pulls down on a deer. Maybe the next day he might be sore, but he drops one I suspect all he will be is elated !!

If you can use a rifled barrel on the 20, that would be my suggestion. Much more effective range.

I agree that he wont feel the recoil when shooting at a deer. my hesitation comes with the fact that I want him to learn open sights first,no scopes. And that i think will take some range time. He has been shooting a pellet rifle for a while now so maybe it wont take as long as I think. And also 50-60 yards is going to be the max I allow him to shoot a deer. Maybe the best thing to do is wait another year and see if I think he is ready for the 20 ga. because I agree that is a way better choice than the other two. Sure glad I hadn't mentioned it to him yet! He shot his first dove last weekend and was very excited, as was I ,he told me that it wouldn't be long before he could go deer hunting with me. Maybe i am getting over anxious. lol

I have both a 20g slug gun (rem) and 44mag (Rem). Both are pretty much the same in recoil IMHO.
You could always purchase reduced recoil ammo for both guns and install recoil pads on the stocks.

I installed a recoil pad on my 12 slug gun and it made a world of difference.

DITTO... my sons first rifle at 10 was a savage Y11 in 243, he is 21 now and still hunts with it, heck I even hunt with it myself some times..lol

52 years ago my first deer season my dad had picked up this old single shot Ivers Johnson 410 to be my first hunting firearm. Stamped on the barrel was 410ga. 2 1/2 inch shell 44 lug in one. I shot my first deer with a 410 slug my first year which today I think of as pure luck. That is the only deer I shot with 410 slugs as my dad used to get 44 ammo after that year. Don't know if all 410's will handle 44 ammo?

We it me who had a son or daughter of age to hunt deer I would use the 20 ga. Of course you need some range time, so figure out with in a couple shots if the recoil is a factor if so you have choices you can make at that point intellectly. My wife is recoil sensitive so she has a shooting vest she bought that has pockets in the shoulder area where the gun stock fits that hold gel packs. you can buy them in a few different thickness. We also installed kick ese but pads on her guns. She now had no problems shooting her shot guns even the 12ga.
My son started with a 20ga at 10 and was fine with it with just a good butt pad.
Also helps to spread out the range time, rather than do 5 shots as fast as you can reload the firearm spread the 5 shots out to a half hour. gives the youngster time to recover from a shot and also gives you time to talk about the shot (use a spotting scope or good binocs).

:D Al

My son is 7 and I dont want to expose him to the 20 ga. slug recoil yet and have to over come flinching issues later. Especially from a lighter youth model. Maybe in a year or two. My dad let me shoot cans at the age of 8 with a ithaca m66 12ga and high brass shells. It hurt me and I had flinching issues for several years after

As much as some people hate to admit it, some kids are not physically ready or capable of handling and using a shot gun as early as others are. Better to wait till they are ready than hurt them with a gun that they cannot not handle the recoil from. When you are talking about hunting big game, using an unsuitable firearm and having wounded animals is not a good lesson for the kid. In PA when I started hunting you had to be 12 yoa. That didn;t seem to slow down kids from wanting to hunt.

Agreed, I know I wasnt ready at 8. But I dont know about 12! I would have drove my dad insane by then. If he left on a weekend morning without me i was hopping mad.LOL

My club holds a youth pheasant hunt each year for 25 kids, 12 to 16. All must be licensed and most of the kids come from a pool that several hunter education coursed put the names of all kids who score 100% on the test. Before we turn the kids over to the guys with the pointing dogs, we give them a safety lecture and have them shoot some clat birds. I find it incredible and sad that some of these kids do not even know how to load their shotguns, they bring their own, nor do they know how to shoulder them. Many of the guns are too long in the butt stock and some kids can' even hold the gun up to shoot. Sadly, we actually had to refuse to allw a few to participate because they were a danger to everthing and everyone around them. What kind of parenting does this to their kids. It hurt the guys running the hunt almost as much as the kids to refuse them to participate. Not all kids are created equal and should not be using a gun and some parents should not be allowed to have kids because they put their egos ahead of the kids well being and feelings. When I look back to the way I was taught to shoot and to hunt with safety foremost in both I just shake my head when I see some of the no clue people who give their kid a gun and not much more and say have at it. If it would not be for the mandatory hunter education classes, some kids would recieve no instruction at all. Kudos to parents who care enough to ask questions on forums like this so they can do their best for their kids.

I would not hesitate using the .44 mag out of a rifle. It is very effective for deer at close range even out of a pistol, so I don't see what the problem would be using it in a rifle. As you said, just limit the shots to 50 - 60 yards and use a .44 mag load that is tailored for deer hunting.

I understand about not wanting to make him recoil-shy by giving him too much gun at a young age. The .44 mag in a rifle with a nice recoil pad should be no problem to handle. Another option if it is possible for you would be a muzzleloader using a reduced powder charge and a lighter bullet - like a .40 cal 200 grain XTP with 60-70 grains of powder - very light recoil and very effective on deer at closer ranges (I've shot this bullet quite a bit).

I would not use the .410 for deer. My hunting buddy had his daughter use a .410 when she was younger and I saw firsthand the lack of effectiveness. She did take a couple deer with it, but it always involved some tracking as it did not kill deer quickly. After a couple years he switched her over to a muzzleloader with a reduced powder charge, and this worked much better.

.44 will kill deer just fine. Heck! I killed my first deer with a .223! "Not something I suggest trying..."

Point is when hit in the right spot, A .22 will kill deer. So given the choice of .410 slug or .44 the .44 is definatly your best option.

Thanks for all the replys guys

I know of atlest 5 kids that killed their first deer with a leaver action winchester in 44 magnum.

I'll vote 243.....excellent deer round IMO

I agree but not an option right now all though is talk of making them legal next year

i guess the .243 is illegal because you hunt in an area where only shotgun and pistol caliber rifles are allowed. Man that's crazy but something you have to deal with. If it were me, I would use the .44 over the .410. I have no experience with the .410 slug but I have shot a couple deer with a Marlin .44 mag rifle and also used 300 gr .44 bullets with sabots in my muzzleloader to take a few more. And that may be another option for you - a .45 or .50 cal muzzy which you can load down with 70 or 80 gr of powder giving you light recoil and sufficient energy to kill a whitetail.

The main reason I got out of using shotguns for deer hunting is the cost of saboted slugs. Pistol ammo is more cost effective which means you get more practice at the range. Reloading offers a variety of options with ammo.

A magnum pistol round fired from a rifle is surprisingly effective in the 100 yard range. I have not seen any disadvantages to the terminal ballistics on whitetail deer compared to shotguns. On the other hand my Marlin or Ruger pistol caliber carbines do have advantages in trajectory compared to shotguns.

Indiana is most likely going to expand legal calibers choices next year so I would wait till you purchase a firearm. A .410 or .44 mag is going to be inferior to a .243 if made legal. If you have to buy now get a Handi rifle in .44 mag they are economical.

A 44 mag out of a rifle has low recoil.An inline with a lighter load would also be a good choice.Get him used to it with around 50gr of powder and load it slightly up when it comes time to hunt.A 410 is a disaster waiting to happen unless the shot is point blank.

Are you trying to get him ready for this year or not? If not I would wait until next spring and make your decisions. As you already eluded to Indiana is considering switching next year. The DNR is supporting the bill so I assume it will pass. Maybe you already have the .44 but I know a lot of people who went out and bought the .44 and .357 rifles a couple years ago and now they will be buying another rifle if they are allowed next year.

Im going to wait a year. My real goal is to have him in the spring turkey woods with a youth model 20 ga. that I have! We will see

I think that's best also....................:rolleye0011:

Start him "just shooting" regularly, that will help tremendously !