Best deer caliber for 10yr old son

"...and my AR15..." .223 legal where you are? Just a change of bullet will do if it is. Otherwise, a change of upper to a .300 BO. A guy who knows the rifle he's shooting is way more deadly than a guy with a new rifle he's not so familiar with using.
Issue with most .243's ever the youth models is the recoil due to the weight. A Savage Axis Youth with its 20" barrel only weighs 6.2 pounds.(no LOP given on their site. And the regular Axis only weighs 3/10 of a pound more.) That'll have more felt recoil than a big kid's .243.
"...Turning a kid loose to hunt alone with a .223 is just wrong..." Ten year olds allowed to hunt alone where you are?
 
Honestly considering the fact that there are several chamberings that would do fine I think I would be more concerned about the rifle. Style, weight, length etc. a nice bolt action .243 that he become familiar with would work wonders. Lower recoiling ammo is easy to find or make. Cheaper Savages, Marlins etc. would work fine. I am assuming you have no plans to simply turn him loose to go hunt and that you and he will likely be in a stand together where he will have some support for the rifle and not have to free hand shoot. Besides kids seem to enjoy having their "own" rifle. Pick a chambering with low recoil and easy to find ammo unless you make your own and get him started shooting it so he is very comfortable with using it.
 
.243 is considered by many to be the lowest recoiling round that will humanly take whitetail with consistency.

Generally speaking, a semi-auto will soak up a bit more recoil than a bolt action.
 
Terrain is a consideration, here. If you plan to hunt in fairly open country, the .243 Win., .257 Roberts, or .250 Savage would work very well, and won't beat young shoulders too much. If you think you'll be hunting in pretty dense, brushy country, a .30-30 is probably a better choice, but young shooters will sometimes be intimidated by its recoil. If you can be very sure that ranges will stay under 100 yards, a .357 Magnum carbine might be the way to go.
 
option

Here's something different. I'll suggest a 7.62x39mm bolt rifle. About 30-30 power, but no hammer or tube magazine to mess with. Easily scoped, usually.

The .243 will have more reach, but for a kid, the x39mm has all the range they can use at a young age.
 
I started out with a 243 and developed a terrible flinch that took years to unlearn. I usually recommend something in an intermediate cartridge for a first time hunter, like 223, 7.62x39mm, or 6.5 grendel. less recoil, equals more confidence and concentration.
 
OP you have been training your son for a year with an AR-15 patterned rifle. It is safe to say that he shoots it well, is familiar with it and also is accurate for him. Your answer is very simple take the AR-15 lower and slap a 6.5 Grendel upper on top of it. It has plenty of "killing" power out to the ranges that a 10 year old needs to shoot and the recoil will likely be so similar to the .223 ammo he has been shooting he may not even know the difference.

Grab some 123gr SST Hornady factory ammo and have him put it behind the shoulder on a broadside shot and you'll be sharpening your knife.
 
I have walked in your shoes, bringing kids up to shoot and balancing their experience and recoil sensitivity with the guns I have available for them.

Let me put out there that every kid is different. You CANNOT expect that because you could or could not handle recoil at their age that your kids will do the same. I'm not saying you need to coddle them, but don't expect a cookie cutter experience. Each can learn differently and experience recoil differently.

In anticipation of my oldest one joining me in the deer and hog woods, I bought her a Weatherby Vanguard Youth in .243, using the same logic of many of the posters have put here. She shot her first hog and deer with that rifle.

Because of that, it came as a huge shock to me one day when I went to pack up the range gear, ammo, and rifles for what should have been some fun father-daughter shooting time that she said she didn't want to go and didn't really like shooting... :eek: Dejectedly, I sat down with her and had a long talk about what made it so unenjoyable. It was the rifle. To her, the recoil was uncomfortable. To me, it was a joy to shoot!

Realizing I needed to break my paradigm of a "kids deer/hog rifle", I came to TFL and posted my experience to gain some perspective and seek help in solving the dilemma. In the end, an the AR platform made perfect sense! An adjustable stock allows it to grow with the kid. Keeping it in an AR-15 vs the AR-10 sized rifle (surely Tim77W will be along shortly;)) kept the weight down. The action with that buffer and spring was the logical choice for recoil reduction.

Another huge plus was the modularity. Practice is important. Having the ability to shoot cheap plinking ammo is a bonus. However, I am not a fan of .223/5.56 for deer, and with my job, moving is always on the horizon and not all states allow you to use it. So, the ability to swap uppers became a real bonus. I chose 6.8 SPC, but there are others that are capable of providing more knockdown than .223/5.56.

Fast forward to today and my 19 year old LOVES her AR. She's taken 5 deer with it, including a 9 point that is going on the wall. She enjoys going to the range to shoot with dad as well as show up the boys.

Another bonus to the parents of today are the plethora of managed or reduced recoil offerings in so many calibers. Those did not exist when I went through this.

So as you proceed down this path, consider the needs of your 10 year old. You know him more than any of us.
 
while I'm at it

My aversion to the lever carbine 30-30 (or any other cal for that matter) for beginners is based on watching bamaboy and bamawife, as well as others, struggle with the external hammer and the relatively complicated manual of arms for the lever rifle. This includes the newer "lawyered up" lever rifles with manual safety's as well.

By comparison, a bolt rifle is pretty simple.
 
For me it depends where you live, how big the deer are there, and will he ever get a shot at an elk.

I love the .257 Roberts for the flat shooting classic it is, but this new 6.5 Creedmore has a LOT going for it.
 
My 12 y.o. son is extremely recoil shy but likes shooting an AR in 5.56. I suggested that he might want to use a 6.8 spc upper for deer and he tried shooting it. Even with a recoil pad, he still thinks the recoil is too much (???). I also bought an upper in .300 B.O. For this deer season, I'm going to have him shoot both the .300 and the 6.8 and see which one he likes better. He can practice with the 5.56 and then switch to one of the other uppers for hunting. With the proper ammo, either would be good for deer at close range. FWIW - 5.56/.223 is not legal for deer is SC.

On a completely different tack, when he was 10, he expressed an interest in muzzleloaders. He shot .50 cal patched round balls over 30 grains of P Pyrodex and loved it. If I can work him up to a load heavy enough for deer then we may be onto something.
 
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243 is a Great choice. But. Those too who promote buying of a 243. So many of them then say: "shoot the heaviest bullet weight you can find to harvest deer size animals with."
That to me doesn't make any sense. 243 is quite capable of delivering better than 3/4 ton of energy at 100 yards if_ yes if the correct bullet is used.
I have always promoted the using of 75-80 grain 6mm bullets for deer size game._ 75 grain bullet will deliver a pay load of 1540 ft.-lbs. of energy at 100 yards at a swift speed of 3040 fps.

In comparison a 100 grain 6mm bullet will deliver a anemic pay load 1344 ft.-lbs. of energy at 100 yards at a so-so speed of 2460-fps.__ Hopefully you can see the disparity between the two bullets weights.

And a plus to those 243 shooters who are sensitive to recoil. The using of a lighter weight bullets reduces felt recoil. But it's you're call and your dollars here. If your wanting to have your Son shoot heavier weight bullets? Consider a 260 Remington for that purpose.
 
numbers

I don't want to hijack the thread, but Sureshot I wonder about your velocity and energy figures. Lots of variables of course, rifle to rifle, but checking some manuals, I don't see a .243/6mm/100 starting at 2900- 3000 fps, +/-. (full length barrel, no carbine) dropping to 2400 fps till 300 yds. Same sources show a 100 gr pill yielding 1600-1700 ft/lbs at 100 yds.

But I agree that the lighter 75-85 gr pills will indeed drop a whitetail cleanly. I've considered using the lighter 85 gr Nosler Partition from my pair of .243 rifles myself.
 
Looking at Hornadys Ballistic page. >in the day light< It appears I need a new pair of glasses or it was too dark in here last evening to read it properly. (Thanks in part to those Republican candidates televised interview.) :o

B/Ranger:
Hornady cartridge ballistic's chart is where I read both 243s_75 & 100 gr. muzzle speed at 100 yards. From there I used those same figures to comment (stats)

Those same 100 yard stat charts I'm reading today state:

100 grain Spire. Its speed at 100 yards is 2729-fps. having 1653-ft.lbs of energy.

75 gr HP. Its speed at 100 yards is 3254-fps having 1764 ft.lbs of energy.

Which is a slightly more (fps & ft.lbs) in both columns for the 75 gr. & 100 gr.

Even so, that still leaves me with the impression the 100 grain is far less efficient on deer size game than the 75 gr. And as we both know. Using those smaller calibers its all about that 3200 fps speed barrier that makes the difference between harvesting something Big on the spot or the later > perhaps trying to retrieve it throughout the day or night or worse the following day.
 
My siblings and I grew up using Winnie levers in 30-30 and .32 special. IMHO, one of the most dangerous firearms to start a young kid out on. I also am not fond of starting new shooters/hunters out with high capacity auto-loaders. They need to make their firsts shots count and in the excitement of the hunt, it's easy to continue firing at a animal that is not presenting a high percentage shot, when all one has to do is pull the trigger again and again. Not only is it a recipe for wounding an animal, but it also presents dangers downrange behind the target. For a first deer rifle for a new and very young shooter, I don't think one can do better than a Ruger 77/44. Accurate, easy to operate bolt action with a nice safety system. A 4 round detachable mag for easy loading and unloading. Easy mounting of optics for those that wish to use them. It's also lightweight and compact. While having reduced range due to being a handgun caliber,(which makes it safer downrange than higher powered rifle calibers) it is still a very viable 150 yard deer rifle, with low recoil and very good terminal ballistics. Ammo is lower priced than rifle calibers so the youth can shoot more, and get more familiar with the firearm, especially for those that don't reload. It also will serve them as a viable deer rifle when they get older.

I help teach hunter safety to new shooters/hunters. One thing I see often is dad's buying their son/daughter the gun they would like to have, many times buying a gun that the child needs to "grow into". This can make those seasons before the child "grows into" the firearm awkward and unsafe. They have small hands that get cold easily, thus they wear gloves and mittens. They have short arms that cannot always hold up a 9lb firearm for the period of time it takes to make the shot. They also tend to flinch when having experienced heavy recoil when previously shooting a particular firearm. Kids can always trade up if need be. Their first hunts should be comfortable and safe and their first firearms should reflect this.
 
For a first deer rifle for a new and very young shooter, I don't think one can do better than a Ruger 77/44...
...lightweight and compact ...low recoil... safer downrange than higher powered rifle calibers...
Click to expand...
Have you actually seen young shooters use this gun, or is this theoretical? A typical .44 magnum is on par with a .243 or .30-30 in recoil in guns of equal weight. Shoot a .44 magnum out of a 5.2 lb (according to Ruger's website) carbine, and the recoil starts approaching the level of recoil a .270/.308 shot from an 8 lb. rig. Scope weight would tame recoil on the Ruger some, but you're still around the recoil level of a 7mm-08 from a full-size gun.

The CZ 527 in 7.62x39 is about the same size and is arguably a better gun for about the same price as the 77/44. Cheaper practice ammo, about 35% less recoil, and retains more energy at 100 yards (while still posing less downrange risk than a .223 or .243).
 
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I think the CZ carbine would be a fine rifle.
And depending on the deer,7.63x39,or possibly .223 would be OK.
Remember "deer" might range in size quite a bit.Some places 90 lb deer are typical,some places 150 or 175 lb,and in some places a big one can go over 250.
IMO,the young hunter needs to begin his/her experience with a quick,clean kill.

That first means good shooting.A cringe or flinch will cause poor shot placement.
And second,it means an adequate cartridge with a properly designed bullet.

The young hunter must be proficient with an adequate cartridge.

My bias is toward bolt rifles.

But if our young hunter is confident and proficient with an AR-15 type rifle,it may be a very good choice.Wyosmith said it well.Railtop,and adj stock.They can grow with it.Scope postion can be optimized for the hunter.
Cartridges like 6.5 Grendel and 6.8 SPC would be great.I won't comment ob 300 BO simply because I don't know enough about it.If it generates enough velocity to make bullets expand,it should be fine.
An upper could be the answer.
Someone commented on "high cap rifles"..Are we talking opinions about what the rifle looks like,or magazine capacity? Most states require a max magazine capacity of 5 rounds for hunting.So my Rem Model 81 (which I assume is OK)
is exactly the same as a "high cap" AR.
 
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