RE: youth deer rifle
 

If your boy is "ready" to hunt but just small of stature, maybe a good muzzelbreak on a .243 would do the trick. I know that the break on my .300 made it almost fun to shoot ;)

Anyone out there put a good quality break on a .243? I imagine it would kick like a .22mag at most.

RE: youth deer rifle
 

A muzzlebrake would reduce felt recoil, but at the same time it would increase muzzle blast which for a young shooter can be just as bad as recoil for causing flinching and timidness. Again I have to mention the PAST recoil pad. I got one after my shoulder got messed up because I can't shoot a shotgun lefthanded for the life of me and it really works well.

RE: youth deer rifle
 

Frizzellr, I think that you are right on the money. I have a Field Grade PAST recoil pad and I will never be without one again. Even the lowly Field Grade reduces felt recoil enough for me to enjoy a 100 round session at the range with .30-06 or 8mm Mauser class shooting.

I believe that you are also quite correct about the increased muzzle blast being just as disconcerting to a shooter, especially a young one, than felt recoil. I actually find noise worse than recoil. One thing to keep very much in mind is that most muzzle brakes increase noise past the point where the usual ear protection we shooters use is able to prevent damage. I absolutely HATE it when I end up next to someone with a brake. Many African countries have outlawed muzzle brakes because they cause permanent hearing damage to guides, and many stateside outfitters disallow them as well for the same reason.

Better to wait a year or two, IMHO.

RE: youth deer rifle
 

I talked to my better half and since he's not going to deer hunt this year; she asked why don't you just load him up some light loads to practice with ( I don't know about you guys but I really hate being told what in hind sight is the obvious) insted of buying a gun that next year has no real use. Seems like she has a viable solution for the moment.

RE: youth deer rifle
 

yea i had a break on a 243 it made it kick like my 223. Loud as hell though. I sold the gun cuz i didnt like it and the noise we almost deafening even with earplugs in. Get him a 223 or 22-250 and load it with premium bullets and keep shots under 100yds i dont care what anyone says here it works...

RE: youth deer rifle
 

NE Hunter- you could buy the barnes 85 gr. barnes x bullet and load them slow and it should work great. the 85 gr. bullets have less recoil and then sence they are moving slow it shouldn't have much recoil at all

RE: youth deer rifle
 

NE,

If the lad finds a 243 and a 410 to have excessive recoil, then IMHO what the lad needs is more time to physically mature and mentally focus, when the desire burns deep the recoil (especially 243 recoil) will be a minor issue.

For example, we had a 13 year old girl in elk camp this year. Our "camp" minimum is 30-06 power/penetration. She had a burning desire to go for an elk, so she mastered her dad's 30-06, got her elk too --- she must have weighed all of 120 pounds.

As a side note, I had cautioned her and her father, that after the first shot don't just look at an elk if it don't go down - keep shooting. She took me at my word, the first shot was a fatal vitals hit, but not immediately so, as the cow ran she opened up a barrage of 3 more shots: one leg, one miss, one gut hit --- she was a bit embarrassed by the "placement" of the follow up shots, but.... "I did like you said, I didn't stop shooting until she went down!" "Four shots, eh, how did that '06 treat you?", I asked. I was a bit surprised by her answer, "I didn't feel anything, I just focused on the cow ---- besides, this is an adult's rifle and it's supposed to kick some, I'm not playing "kid" games here you know!" Kinda put me in my place for even asking....

At 13 and a buck twenty and on an elk hunt 4 miles back in with horses and in a spike camp with seven men (including dad), she made up with attitude what she lacked in size. Farm girl and probably tougher than most kids though --- each kid is different.

EKM

RE: youth deer rifle
 

Yes noise is an issue with M-Breaks that's for sure. I use them on my big bore guns. I use some of the good muffs for shooting and I don't notice it as much though.

Over the weekend I shot the Browning BAR shorttrack in the .243. WOW! Great gun. The kick was almost nil. Only one drawback, the price. oh well.

Grouped about 1" off the bench with federal Nosler Partitions. Very nice rifle.

Good Hunting!