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

I think the 243 is a great varmint/deer rifle, a great trainer and a heck of a lot of fun to shoot. In fact it is one of my top 3 favorite rounds so please don't take my advise as being a caliber snob. I am taking into account all of the factors laid before me.

1. The OP is on a budget and can only afford one rifle.
2. This will be the OP's only rifle for the foreseeable future.
3. The OP said the rifle needs to be good for black bear as well as deer.

243 would not be my first or even second choice for an animal averaging 300 pounds and up to 750 in NY state capable of fighting back when cornered or wounded.
 
Hit some pawnshops, pick up a nice sportered Mauser or Enfield with scope for $350. Stick with. 308, .30-06, or 8mm Mauser for caliber. You will probably buy one rifle between now and age 28, due to girls, school, cars, and rent, so get a good workhorse caliber and consider it done.
 
The OP wants a good Deer rifle for a young boy......The 243 is perfect. A young man doesn't need a 270/30-06. For that matter most adults that only hunt deer would be better served with the super accurate,low recoiling 243.
30 years ago even one that I know started with a 30/30 lever because they were cheap but looking back the old 30/30 wasn't the best kids deer rifle.
 
Come on now Mystro, everybody knows you can't cleanly take a deer these days with anything less than a 180 gr bullet fired from a super dooper magnum cartridge. .243's and .30-30's just don't cut it anymore. Deer are getting tougher every year;)
 
What kind of terrain do you plan to hunt in?

For hunting in dense woods a Marlin 336 in .30-.30 or .35 remington will do the job very well. I would rather have an older well taken care of 336 than a new one. You can find one in your price range.

Any of the calibers you listed will kill a deer just fine. .30-06 is probably more power than necessary but it will put a whitetail down with authority, its the caliber I would probably use on elk or moose. Might be a lot of recoil for you, the lower calibers will be a lot easier on your shoulder, and still very capable of taking deer.
 
I bought my son a 243 about three years ago and he dropped his first deer with it. 100 yards and didn't take a step. He's 13 now and wants my 270. He'll be in the woods again this year with his 243, but I'll most likely let him tote my 270 at least a few times since he wants to. All of your choices are great so don't sweat it too much. Have fun an practice shot placement.
 
I'd go with a Savage 11 package deal in .243. You can get them for about $399-$450. It is a much better gun than the Axis or ATR. Decent scope too. My brother just got one last fall. Very nice set-up for the money.
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He said what I was thinking. I say that any of the usual suspects (.243, .308, .270 or 30-06) should be fine. I don't care for all the "new" rounds, they don't add anything but they cost more and are harder to find.

Whatever you get, keep it, forever.
 
Today's deer do occasionally wear Kevlar vests.;) I did shoot a groundhog the other day with a 30/30 and tracked it 300 yards...:D

Come on now Mystro, everybody knows you can't cleanly take a deer these days with anything less than a 180 gr bullet fired from a super dooper magnum cartridge. .243's and .30-30's just don't cut it anymore. Deer are getting tougher every year
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My son is a little younger than you and I got him a stainless Savage Axis in .243. It turned out to be a very accurate rifle and came as a package with a 3-9x Bushnell scope. The scope seemed to drift a bit from day to day so we swapped it out with a Simmons Pro Hunter from www.natchezss.com as previously mentioned. Other scope options would be Nikon refurbished scopes from Natchez. The trigger is a little heavy on the Axis but it can be replaced or modified to make it more tolerable.

I'm not sure what prices you would find in NY, but around here I see the Savage Axis camo/stainless package with Bushnell scope for $399.

As for caliber, .243 is certainly capable of taking any deer you may encounter. Another option would be the 7/08. It would have more recoil but it is one of my favorite deer rounds.

Good luck with whatever choice you make.
 
you may also want to search the used gun racks .
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THIS.

Not Necessarily THIS:

for a good 30/30 more than enough power to knock down a deer or bear not much recoil and lots of them around for well inside your budget get a marlin and you can scope it real easy also
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Nearly ANY Centerfire caliber with one of the controlled expansion bullets (Interbond, TSX, Partiton, etc.) will be sufficent for 100 yards to kill white tailed deer or black bear, given proper shot placement. Most of those calibers will suffice with a neaderthal cup and core bullet, provided the bullet has enough mass and velocity to penetrate though vital organs......

As for "Quality scopes" ... my deer rig features a scope that can bought on ebay for 25 bucks ..... yet has been used to whack more deer than most Americans have seen .....

The key is placement .... and that comes with pracitice to the point of familiarity ....

IMO, you would be far better served buying a $300 pawnshop used rifle (with scope) in any caliber =/> than .243WIN.... AND a handloading setup and handloading than spending $500+ on a new rig and glass ....

My brother bought a Remmy 721 in .270WIN at Green Mountain Guns in Denver ...... with 3x9 Waver scope, Lyman 310 handloading set-up, several hundred rounds worth of components .... and load data ... for $350 .... He killed two deer with it the year he bought it .....

If you can shoot with open sights, then a Commie Aught Six can be had for less than $200 and will kill any animal that walks the earth ..... provided you do your part..... the '36 Tula Hex refurb I bought last week for $213 tax included printed a 3" group from a sitting position today at 100 yards with PPU factory ammo .....

My Eldest daughter killed two deer, on consecutive days, with her Marlin 30A in 30/30WIN last November.... in open county ..... I saw essentially the same gun (a Marlin 336), scoped, today for $450, at Guns Unlimited in Omaha....

My ultimate "kid's deer gun" is a Ruger Frontier in 7-08 ..... stoked with 139gr Hornady soft points downloaded to 2400 f/sec. My 10 y.o. son pops milk jugs full of water with that out to 200 yards with almost boring regularity ..... once I get a can on it, it'll be Perfect.

Note that not one of the guns mentioned in this post can be bought new, and only one will set you back more than $500 .....
 
When my daughter was 12 years old, I picked her up the Rossi "Youth Combo" rifle in .243 win. and 20 guage shotgun, but my daughter is more husky than the OP mentioned his girl was..
She shoot it well to this day with factory 100 grain Grey Box ammo from winchester.
But there's a certainy about bear hunting I would say Doyles probably right by choosing 7mm 08.;)
 
IME, one of the problems with many of the youth and "entry level" guns are the light weight plastic stocks ..... there being no such thing as free lunch, especially in physics: all else being equal, lighter guns kick more.

That's one of the things I really like about my kids' deer rifles: The Marlin 30A and the Ruger Frontier are both short enough to be handy even for teenage girls, yet are heavy enough to mitigate recoil somewhat.

My cousin's 15 year old daughter will be going hunting with us in November ..... he bought her a Ruger American in .270WIN .... but does not have it scoped yet. I'll be sure to let you all know how that works out.
 
Steven's 200

The beauty of the steven's/savage guns are versatility.
You can change just about any part of them yourself so it can grow with you. Damned accurate too!

For a teen I'd recommend something like the 7mm-08 as a good balance of big game performance, accuracy, and mild recoil.
 
When my daughter was 12 years old, I picked her up the Rossi "Youth Combo" rifle in .243 win. and 20 guage shotgun, but my daughter is more husky than the OP mentioned his girl was..
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perhaps I missed something but from my understanding the OP is the youngster in question, not the parent. also no gender was listed though 5'3 and 170 pounds has me guessing that the OP is of the gender that usually has to worry about going bald and unpleasant doctors visits around the age of 40.
 
My ramblings are based on starting my son and daughter out on deer rifles.

At your height and weight you are almost certainly going to need a youth stock. If you get an adult stock when you need a youth stock you will regret it.

I bought a .243 and a 07mm-08 in the same rifle and both kids much preferred the .243 due to recoil.

If a 30-30 fits you well then it is a good choice.

Buy a gun(30-30 excluded) with a good trigger pull or one that is adjustable.

I like heavier guns for youth due to recoil amelioration.

Don't buy the Simmons scope. Spend more than $100.00 on a scope even if it means spending less on a rifle. Bud's has great prices and I have bought several scopes from them. But the best prices I have found day in and day out are from Camera Land there in your home state.

I haven't seen anything posted here about rings and bases. If you buy cheap ones you are asking for trouble.

I am not going to recommend a rifle brand even though I have a clear favorite. Some youth rifles come with spacers that turn the stock into an adult stock when installed. Our two youth rifles came with the spacers. My son is 16 and he now uses a 30-06 and my daughter is 23 and still uses her .243 without the spacer. She is an avid hog hunter and if a .243 will handle a big hog I would think it would handle bear. I cannot attest to that because I have never shot a bear.
 
I really think you're putting your money in the wrong place with those choices.

You're over $400 there with a scope that's really not good at all. I'm a big proponent of "cheap" scopes, I've used them most of my life but that scope is beyond cheap.

The Savage 10 option with the wood stock, which would end up at about $570 after the FFL transfer is MUCH better in both gun and scope. The $391 option, which would be an almost identical price to your combination with the Axis, is also a better gun and better scope, it's just not camo.

Even if the scopes were identical, I'd spend the extra $ for the Savage rifle over the Axis.
 
I agree with Brian. A rifle with Accu-Trigger would be so much better than an Axis. If you don't buy a package check out the Burris Fullfield and Vortex scopes.

And if you do not have an experienced person with you I would not buy a used rifle.
 
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