What is a good, cheap first hunting rifle for a 13 year old?

Just one other thing....

Your first deer rifle usually becomes a keep sake. It's a gun that you may want to hand down to your son some day. Scopes can come & go but get a quality rifle, preferably with a wood stock & not a youth model (unless you must). All caliber choices suggested are good for deer & bear.

Be safe, enjoy & treat it well to last multiple lifetimes.

FWIW...

...bug :)
 
not a youth model (unless you must).
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I agree that a boy's first rifle is something worth hanging on to but there is no reason not to go with a youth model. Full-sized stocks are VERY cheap for any of the rifles he is considering. You can pick them up on Ebay all day long for less than $100. If you need a youth sized stock now, just save a little money from cutting lawns over the next few years and pick up one of the full sized stocks to swap out when you grow. It takes a whole 5 minutes to replace a stock.
 
When I started deer hunting in Upstate NY at 13 I had a Remington 870 12g and then the following year got a 30-30 followed by a Savage .308. I would recommend any of those,they all worked great for me in that area and many others.
 
The Savage Axis xp camo is on sale right now at Cabela's for $419.00.

That is with scope. Go for the 243 or 308.

Jim
 
Or, hit the pawn shops. I've picked up some screaming deals on the used gun racks. Several years ago I bought a Howa 1500 in .270 Win, with scope for $125.00. A year later I got an almost pristine Remington 700 ADL ,308 Win with a Leupold Rifleman scope for $250.

As you are 13, take someone with you, preferably your father or someone who knows guns. It's hard these days for a young man to buy a rifle, with the FFL dealer having to be sure that the sale is legal. It wasn't so hard when I was young. In 1965 at age 13 I bought my first gun by handing cash over the counter, and walking out with the box under my arm. It's not so easy these days.

I hope your first gun is as special to you as mine was to me.
 
congratulations on your first rifle. your size and weight generally has little to do with what would make the best caliber but it would limit to the weight of the gun you are carrying. all of the guns listed are fairly light which is good for you but not good for felt recoil. the heavier the gun the more it absorbs the recoil so it's a bit of a trade off.

I would recommend the ruger american. I am a big fan of rugers and own several. although the american is not yet a part of my collection I have handled a few and they are all very well built for their price tag and have excellent quality parts, the detachable magazines also make reloading easier.

I would recommend 243. of your mentioned cartridges it is the lightest recoiling and flattest shooting so you would be less likely to develop a flinch and you wouldn't have to worry about holdover and kentucky windage quite as much which is a very good thing for a new hunter where range may be difficult to gauge. I'm sure you will be hunting with an adult so they will be able to coach you but in my opinion the 243 is your best choice.
 
If you lived in a decent state, I would suggest getting a Savage Trophy XP in .260 Remington package rifle. It comes with a black synthetic stock, and a Nikon ProStaff 3-9X scope with bullet drop compensating reticle. Not a super scope, but certainly serviceable until you could afford something better. But rather than the .260 Remington, since I don't know if you can order ammo online in NY state, I would have to go along with the other posters and suggest the .243 Win. instead. Ammo should be available about anywhere ammo is sold. Minimal recoil for a high power flat shooting rifle and the package guns go for right around $500 here. My first centerfire rifle was a Winchester Model 70 Westerner package gun that came with a Weaver Marksman 4x scope mounted on it for a discounted price. It was chambered for the .243 Win. and I really enjoyed handloading for it and shooting ground squirrels. IT was a good decision as the light recoil made it fun to shoot at targets, varmints or anything else. The .260 Remington offers better performance on deer and bear but may be hard to find if you are restricted and have to purchase locally.
 
I used to live in PA which has a landscape similar to NY. What terrain will you be hunting? From a ground blind? Stalk hunting? Tree stand?

Since you mentioned bear I am going to assume you are hunting in somewhat dense forest. I can't recommend an Older Marlin .30-30 enough. Make sure it's one that was produced before Marlin and Remington became essentially one company.

It will be more than enough firepower for even big deer out to 200 yards. Will be good on NY black bear too.

On that rifle, in the ranges I suspect a new hunter will be at, in your region you should be looking at a 2-7x magnification scope. These tend to be less popular for whatever reason than the 3-9x and so a little more expensive so one of those 3-9x will do fine but if you can find a 2-7x it would be preferred in my opinion(IMO). I'd get scope mounting rings that are hollow underneath so that you still have use of the sights mounted on the gun for really close shots. For the scope, I'd recommend going to Opticsplanet.com and looking at their "dealer demo" and "open box" scopes. TONS of value in these.

Other than that I recommend getting to a shooting range at least 5 separate times before hunting season for practice shooting a minimum of 10 aimed slow shots trying to hit bullseye. Be comfortable in shooting whatever gun you buy on the range because in the woods when you see a deer your heart will be pounding so hard you will notice it is much harder to hold steady on your target.

Have fun and most importantly of all, even more important than getting a deer, is BE SAFE OUT THERE YOUNG MAN!
 
I always have to wonder when someone says that the .243 is not a good deer cartridge. I use various cartridges and considering over a dozen deer with the .243 I am persuaded that it is a great deer cartridge under 400 yards. I have takes several antelope with it and one at 525 yards.

The lack of recoil and accuracy of a good rifle make it an excellent deer rifle for the OP.

I must also say that my handloads were loaded to 3150 fps chronographed using a 100 grain bullet. That is some better than factory which are usually closer to 2900.

Jerry
 
And yes, the higher power calibers (.270, .308, 30-06) do recoil too much for a small-framed person.
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That depends on the person. My first deer rifle was a 30-06 with a steel butt plate when I was 12. My first shotgun was a 12 gauge with a steel butt plate when I was 12 and I was small for my age. To this day I dislike recoil pads.
 
And yes, the higher power calibers (.270, .308, 30-06) do recoil too much for a small-framed person.
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Why would you claim this? None of these cartridges have a particularly heavy recoil. The 06' clearly the heaviest recoiling of the bunch, was used by thousands of young men, 18-21 years old in WW2. IMO recoil handling has little to do with body size. In fact, I would think a smaller person could possibly handle it better. If you had two shooters at 130lbs, one 6ft one 5'2 I would think the shorter person would have an easier time with the recoil. Being shorter and stockier, you'd assume it'd be harder to knock them over than a tall skinny guy.

Like I said before I am 5'9 120lbs. I have NO trouble handling any of those calibers. I am not a "big" guy, the .270 win was the first center fire rifle I owned. I did not develop a flinch. In fact, by the 6th shot I was able to sight my own shots, though the scope.

It is also highly dependent on rifle weight. A 9lb rifle in 30-06 will actually, theoretically, have less felt recoil than a .243 in a 6lb rifle.
 
Nearly any modern rifle is accurate enough for hunting so that choice should be made on the feel of the rifle to the individual shooter. As far as a good scope, well no package rifle I ever bought had a quality scope on it. There are some nice scopes on line for fair prices if you are patient and wait for a good deal.

Do your research and read a lot of reviews on both you rifle and scope choices.

Now for you question about a choice of chamber. The 308 is an excellent choice. There are a ton of options for ammo specific to the task at hand. I would suggest getting a few boxes of light varmint loads and hitting the range. As you get more comfortable with your new rifle step up the bullet weights.

From your original post you are on a budget and won't be able to run out and buy a new rifle if a family member calls and offers you to go on an elk or moose hunt.

The 308 has very good ammo options for everything from prairie dogs to moose.

If you ever get into reloading the 308 is very forgiving and the combinations are nearly infinite.
 
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The 06' clearly the heaviest recoiling of the bunch, was used by thousands of young men, 18-21 years old in WW2.
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True, but:
1. That was with a semi-auto, very heavy rifle.
2. They weren't 13 year old kids.
3. If they developed a flinch, they were still throwing lead downrange.


A rifle that recoils too much for a new shooter is apt to cause him to develop bad shooting habits that will haunt him for years to come. I stand by my statement - no way I'd put a .270, .308, or 30-06 into the hands of a kid as a first gun.
 
I would go to something like a Savage 11 Trophy Hunter XP youth in .243. They can be had in the $500 range, they do come with a Nikon scope which should be more than adequate, I like the one on my Model 10 22-250 a lot.

You would spend more on a cheaper rifle and a decent scope... say you got a Ruger American for $350, then spent $180 on a similar Nikon scope to the one that comes on the Savage.. and you've spent more money.

Be a bit wary, there is a Savage model 11 Hunter XP that does not have the Accutrigger or the Nikon scope, it has a standard trigger and a Bushnell scope on it. Nothing totally wrong with it, I bought one because I wanted to use a Timney trigger and a different scope than the Nikon anyway. I think (but I'm not sure) that most of the youth version is the Model 11 trophy hunter version anyway.


I would avoid the Axis rifle unless you are using a smaller caliber. .223 or 22-250 would be fine, they don't have a substantial recoil to them. .243 would be ok as long as you aren't shooting a lot of 100 grain rounds. I have one in .308 and I hate it. The flimsy stock feels terrible and transmits a LOT of recoil.. I'd never buy one again.

Another advantage to the model 11 is that in the future when you grow into a longer length of pull, you can easily get an adult length stock as a take-off from another Savage owner, or for around a hundred bucks get a nice laminate from Boyd's. If someday you wanted to step up to a .308 you could always have the barrel changed too..
 
One observation is none of us asked if this was Bharrigan915's first rifle. He said it was his first deer rifle so I assumed it was not his first rifle, I could be wrong. I am also as I type assuming Bharrigan915 is a male, I could be wrong about that as well.

If I am wrong in the assumption this is not Bharrigan915's first rifle I still recommend the 308 as an all purpose rifle for a hunter on a budget, but would also recommend a used 22LR for learning to shoot. I honestly don't advocate deer hunting with any rifle for someone with no shooting experience.

I am baffled by this notion that a 308 has to much recoil for a young shooter. With the availability of rounds like 308 Win 125 gr SST® CustomLite™ I am convinced that the 308 is the perfect round for a young sportsman on a budget who needs a rifle that will allow them to hunt any north American big game species as well as varmint and target shooting.
 
.308 with a 110 grain handload or the light loads you speak of is an OK compromise for varminting, and a .308 is plenty of rifle for deer. Relatively few of us in the Midwest use anything that large.. the vast majority are .243's, .270's, 7mm mag (overkill), or a 30.06 because they've owned it forever.

The .243 is a much more versatile platform within its limits.. with the current stock of Savages running a detachable magazine, changing from shooting varmints with a 75 grain ballistic tip to shooting a deer with a 100 grain SP is as simple as swapping the magazine and chambering a fresh round. Both rounds are excellent choices for their use, neither is really a compromise. None of them are harsh recoiling.. the .308 in a good rifle isn't either, but in the current crop of cheap flimsy entry level stocks it is pretty harsh and is very capable of inducing a flinch.
 
I would look at a Stevens 200 in 243. It is made by Savage and is identical to the Savage 10/110 but has no accustock or accutrigger. It has a good twist rate of 1:9.25, which you want for the larger grain 243 bullets.
 
so I finally decided to read the whole thread...

also for the question about scopes.

my personal experience with leupold and their economy brand, Redfield have been less than stellar. most people do not have problems with them but I just haven't had good luck. a redfield I bought spontaneously developed a chipped lense while carefully stacked in my gun safe and they charged me almost as much as getting a new scope to fix it. a leupold I bought would drastically change POI(point of impact) depending on the zoom I had it on and what angle I was shooting with. the guy I traded it to has the same problem but he's blaming the ammo.

my brother in law just told me a couple days ago that he is also experiencing problems with a newer leupold scope on one of his rifles and is investigating a replacement.

I have had great luck with Nikon prostaff scopes. they hold zero, don't fog up and hold a pretty good sight picture. for a $150-ish scope I highly recommend them. Vortex scopes are very good. will usually run north of $200 but it is money well spent, crystal clear sight picture, strong zooms, no fogging as of yet but I've only used them in hotter temps. I recommend those two brands above anything in their price range.

everyone else can keep their leupolds and redfields... I will stick to other brands.
 
My first rifle was a Savage 110 in 270win. It served me well for over 45 years taking moose, caribou, elk, b bear, whitetail, muley, and blacktail deer. Not to mention untold number of coyotes. It looks a little worn now but still shoots into an inch.Cheap scopes are not worth looking at much less thru. Get a Leupold in 4x and your good to go with a lifetime warranty and great glass.
 
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