Youth or "Full Size" rifle for my son?

Youth Rifle

OR get a wood stock, cut two 3/4" pieces off the stock and add a leather lace-up recoil pad with 3/8" of that space-age silly putty. As he grows, put the pieces back on the rifle. stock. Could be a great keepsake/hand-me-down for his kids as it can also be taken back apart in the future.
 
Short stocks (youth or bantam/mid-sized/lady-sized) are better for rifles that are going to STAY iron-sight-use (such as yes, a levergun). As an adult, if the stock is "too short", it's still quite usable, but no scope-eye. So that bodes toward a .30-30 or other levergun (although turnbolts and pumps can have iron sights too of course).

So really, the question is, will the gun stay iron sighted or will it get scoped later? Something with really good iron sights like a CZ 550 FS (in say, .243), is a great choice for a rifle you leave iron sighted - well it would be except it doesn't come with a youth stock, so nevermind. But the short run Marlin did recently with the 336Y (youth) - that'd be a great one to scoop up as they're still out there new. I think Rossi sells some single shot rifles and sets where the stock has spacers to put in or out.

And yes, .30-30 win and .243 are great choices that you won't regret, as they're so good and versatile for youth and adult alike (the game is the same sized, as you get older, ain't it?). They kick about the same from a similarly weighted gun.
 
I don't like lever actions for kids. There, I said it! They're heavier than many bolt-actions and pumps and, in cold weather, very cold on the lever hand. They also have blind magazines and older ones rely on half-cock notches. I've witnessed too many accidental discharges, especially by youngsters trying to let the hammer down with gloves on.

Newer ones that have cross-bolt safeties and rebounding hammers are safer, but still pretty heavy.

A Remington pump can be a very good rifle for a kid, since they're fairly light and have magazines that make loading/unloading fairly safe. Stocks are cheap and youth stocks can be swapped with adult ones fairly quickly, should others in the family want to use the rifle. Adjustable buttstocks are also available.

My favorite rifles are bolt-actions and there area many youth models that work fine. Remington and Ruger make light and handy ones.
 
When I was 13, my Dad bought me a .243 Winchester. Cut 1.6" off the buttstock with a bandsaw and refitted the buttplate. I still have not lengthened it. :) I have planned for many years to put an XL buttplate on it. Can't bring myself to replace the Black Walnut wood with anything else...seared into my early memories of hunting.

My 12 year old, the day after his 12th Birthday, shot his first deer, and then an elk (at 350 yards) with a .308. He was 4'10 and 80 pounds. He is now almost 5' and 90 pounds. He shot the .243 with normal loads and the .308 with some reduced recoil loads and the recoil was the same. With proper fit, recoil is not a big deal with the .308, but there are reduced recoil loads that work great and keep the .308 at or below .243 recoil levels.

There are lots of options, and I have found that including the person shooting the gun into the decision is of huge benefit. Pick 2 or 3 options, present them and then let him decide.
 
Has your boy shot anything larger than a .22 lr before? I went through this with my daughter a couple of years ago when she was nine and wanted to hunt. I finally had to settle on a .223 for her first rifle. I spend a little money buying her a .250 Savage that had a 13" LOP. However she hated the report so much from anything larger than the .223 she was scared to shoot it because she said it "kicked", even though it wasn't the recoil that bothered her.

I wouldn't have considered a .223 for her first deer rifle if not for the fact she was too young to hunt in Colorado. So I knew I'd have to look elswhere for a hunt for her. That had me looking to States where they didn't have a 12 year old requirement for hunting big game. Most of these States don't have any caliber restrictions like Colorado as well. TX was my primary target but I eventually settled on Oklahoma as I have a buddy whose father let us hunt for free for white tail.

I was a little unsure of letting my daughter use a .223 at first but she has changed my opinion of this little cartridge. She only shoots 55 grain TSX out of it so far for deer but I wouldn't hesitate to let her use a Nosler Partiton or Bonded Perfomance bullet on deer as well. She bagged her first white tail doe at 140 yards when she was nine and 116 yards when she was 10, and hopefully she'll fill her buck tag this next hunting season at 11. She's about outgrown the cut down stock but she refuses to let me change it out as that woudl change her little "bruiser" as she has named it.

I'm not saying you have to buy your boy a .223, just keep your options open because what you want them to shoot may not be what they're able to shoot. That said I wouldn't buy a Savage Axis for my kid. I'd spend the money and buy a regular old Savage 10 Trophy hunter package. You'll get a much better trigger and Nikon Prostaff scope for around $300 more so you'll be money ahead by not buying the Axis for $250. Have the stock cut down to fit your son and then when he needs a larger stock you can find more stocks availabe for his rifle than what the Axis offers.

Don't buy cheap for your son's first rifle he'll more than likely want to keep it forever. Buy a rifle that your able to have grow with him and something he can hand down to your grandchild. So having two stocks isn't ever a bad option for a youth rifle.
 
Please reduce the size of your pictures. Causes very slow page loading for dial up users.
His size doesn't matter for recoil. The cartridge doesn't much either. If a bolt action .308 or .243, etc. recoil bothers him, look into a semi-auto. Magazines do not have to be full. Not that it's likely be an issue for your son. If he's responsible enough to hunt in the first place.
"...Can't bring myself to replace the Black Walnut wood..." A recoil pad and some spacers will make that issue go away without costing a fortune.
 
Go with the youth model... you can probably find a take-off adult stock cheap if Boyds is making a replacement.

As for long stocks on short guns being "un-serviceable"... phooey! :p

I find short barrels to be better in the field... never really wished for a shorter stock, but cussed at a few 22" and 24" barrels. :D
 
I ended up picking up a Mossberg MVP Patrol rifle in .223 with 16in barrel. It has about the right LOP for my son, but not too short for me to use comfortably. .223 is plenty of power for the small texas whitetail that we have using 60gr SP bullets.

I also picked up a Leupold VX-1 2-7x33 and mounted it with Warne steel rings. Should make a nice deer/woods rifle for him/me. :)
 
We took it out to the "Huntin Land" last weekend before I got the scope and shot with open sights. I shot about 8 rounds to get the sights on at 50yds. Then set him up at about 30yds with bipod to get him some trigger time and training with open sights. He put about 20 rounds through it, with acceptable minute of deer accuracy after he got accustomed to where to hold the sights and proper sight picture.
Next is to sight in the scope and get him more trigger time/training.

He is very excited about the rifle, was excited to help/learn how to clean it when we got home, and said "I'm going to take really good care of my rifle". He wipes it down any time it gets handled and has to be the one to put it back in the gun closet. :)

He also shot a couple 22 pistols, my G42 380, and SP101 with some mild .38 special loads. He had a good time and so did I!
 
Great job Precision Shooter. You could use a slip-on pad for using the rifle yourself.

For others, I recommend buying a used rifle, especially as a first-rifle, .22LR.

I bought a cheap, full-length, Rem 581 about 35 years ago for my son. I then drilled a half-inch hole in the center of the buttstock, about 3" deep, then two long, countersunk holes for long wood screws. Then, I cut the stock to the right length for him.

I glued a piece of 1/2" dowel in the hole I drilled in the cut-off piece. The piece could then be re-attached, so I could use the rifle at any time. It worked great!
 
I put Knoxx adjustable stocks on many of my guns. That way they fit everyone from 5yr olds to 6'5" me. Also wardrobe changes are no problem either. T shirt to bundled for below zero in a stand is a quick adjustment to compensate.
 
Get Boy Wonder an AR15 with a .243 upper. The adjustable stock will accommodate any size shooter from child to adult. As he grows up and older, he can add different caliber uppers and appropriate optics to suit his growing experience, needs and wants. The flexibility, versatility, and overall general usefulness of the AR platform is unsurpassed, and as low as prices have fallen for these rifles, why mess around with anything else?

I was 12 when Dear Ol' Dad bought me my first rifle. He suggested a .22LR, I said screw that, we went to our favorite gun store and I picked out a gorgeous, unissued-looking Enfield No.5 MK I Jungle Carbine. All of $45. Of course, that was half a century ago. Surplus .303 British ammo was about 8 cents a round. Those were the days.
 
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Get Boy Wonder an AR15 with a .243 upper. The adjustable stock will accommodate any size shooter from child to adult. As he grows up and older, he can add different caliber uppers and appropriate optics to suit his growing experience, needs and wants. The flexibility, versatility, and overall general usefulness of the AR platform is unsurpassed, and as low as prices have fallen for these rifles, why mess around with anything else?
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Problem with that is the .243 chambered uppers can only fit on a AR-10/LR-308 lower, not the AR-15, and the prices of the .308 pattern guns have not really come down that much. Still well over $1,000 for rifle alone (for a good one at least...).
 
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