re: looking to buy new hunting rifle

It hasn't really come up yet, but it will. While there are lots of hunters who are fans of using 243s and 22 caliber center fires for youth hunters, I'm not one of them. I read a lot about extremely deadly shots made w/ smaller rounds, but every now and then there'll be an unexpected disappointing result. I think larger rounds are more consistent and a little more forgiving w/ shot placement (no one makes a good shot every time). l

My personal rec is to get a 260 Rem, 7-08 Rem or 308 Win and start your son(s) out on reduced recoil loads. Depending on your son's size, he may benefit from a youth stock. Be sure the gun's stock FITS HIM well. Be sure it has a GOOD recoil pad. A reduced recoil 308 Win actually recoils less than a full power 243 Win. When my son started hunting at 10 y/o I bought him a full size Savage bolt action (308 Win) package gun w/ regular stock. Started out w/ reduced recoil loads that I handloaded. He's done fine w/ this gun. Whatever you buy, use reduced recoil loads. At the bench, consider a sandbag between shoulder and butt of gun and use both plugs and muffs. Sure, he won't notice the recoil in the field, but if he develops bad habits in practice, it will carry over to the field and probably result in a flinch (no matter how big he may be).

You may want to consider ammo availability w/ your caliber selection. My local Wal-Mart (NOT a Super Center) had plenty of 308 ammo this year, but NEVER carries 260 or 7-08.

If your 30-06 is not shooting well for you, either you're flinching or the gun's just not very accurate. Ask a few other guys to shoot it and see how it does for them. In the meantime, check the scope and bases/rings and give the barrel a good cleaning.

H&R and Rossi crack barrels are popular youth guns. I have no personal experience w/ these guns, but from reading on the 'net, quality control seem to be either hit or miss. One of my friends (who's an accomplished shooter and handloader) has one; he gave up on over getting it to shoot better than 2" groups at 100 yds. He'll prolly get more lifetime use w/ a bolt action than the Rossi.

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I don't know honestly what type of gun to get that would be fine for a 4-5 year old to shoot but I'm sure somone here will know.

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I agree. At that age, he'll be doing good just to get started w/ a 22LR. My son accompanied me on MANY deer hunts, but didn't carry a rifle until he was 8 y/o.

Sorry Coot, the rifle was a in store special At Dicks. The manger was tell me they were try to sell off the old stock to receive new rifles.

I found two Remington 700 7mm-08 Youth rifle at the Dicks Sporting in Gretna store.

Thankfully, my buddy still has his H&R. Whenever I want to pull his chain about something, I just say something about "that H&R you could never get to shoot!"