clockwork65
New member
I'm looking at rifles to get a 7/8 year old shooting and eventually hunting deer. Average sized kid for his age. I'm looking at recoil, weight, and caliber versatility (I want this to be a gun that can actually be used for stuff as he gets bigger).
Right now, I'm going back and forth between .243 and 7mm-08. I've never fired the 7-8, but I've been told by more than one person that in smaller bullets, the recoil is almost negligible. Both are available in either 20" or 22" barrels. For a kid, the compact 20 seems like a better fit, but it's not so short that the gun becomes useless in terms of accuracy. Either version weighs about 7# before optics. I'd also toyed with the idea of a level gun in 30-30, but it just doesn't seem practical for most applications.
Note: his first intro to shooting a rifle will be with a .17HMR bolt-action, so he can safely learn the basics with zero recoil. Once we've got safety stuff down, the plan is to bump up to the bigger gun.
Any and all input appreciated!
Right now, I'm going back and forth between .243 and 7mm-08. I've never fired the 7-8, but I've been told by more than one person that in smaller bullets, the recoil is almost negligible. Both are available in either 20" or 22" barrels. For a kid, the compact 20 seems like a better fit, but it's not so short that the gun becomes useless in terms of accuracy. Either version weighs about 7# before optics. I'd also toyed with the idea of a level gun in 30-30, but it just doesn't seem practical for most applications.
Note: his first intro to shooting a rifle will be with a .17HMR bolt-action, so he can safely learn the basics with zero recoil. Once we've got safety stuff down, the plan is to bump up to the bigger gun.
Any and all input appreciated!