re: Rifle for 13 & 11 year old - Update page 5

I have the Tikka in a 7mm-08 and a 25-06 for both my sons.

Have never lost a deer or tracked one further than 30 yards.

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Remington 700. I had replace the trigger, but that it.

Thank goodness. I am not sure I would recommend a Remington 700 for any child.

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I've heard there are problems with the newer 700s. Mine if from the 90s, and as I said, I replaced the trigger almost immediately. It came set at something like 13lbs of pressure.

I switched off the hornady, I was shooting their hunter eld and had multiple deer run more than 20 yards after good shots in the bread basket. I switched to old reliable $20 a box core lokt 140 grain and haven’t had one run after the shot since.
As far the the round for a kid, would highly recommend it. My girlfriend shoots it and even after 10-15 shots it doesn’t bother her. +1 on the savage. Have several and they are all great shooting guns out of the box.

Hmm maybe so, still won’t be as many different round choices as a standard caliber. And you’ll still find some stores that don’t carry it at all or very little stock.

If there are cheaper options that’s good, my local stores that did carry it only had high end stuff, which didnt bother me as I wanted match rounds for longer range shooting anyways.

Again, thanks for all the suggestions.

LSUDAN1,
Congratulations on being involved w/ your sons. I'm sure you'll have innumerable fond memories as I do from hunting w/ my son.

The question of gun recommendations for newbie hunter always brings a lot of opinions and suggestions. For AR guys, I'd suggest the 6.5 Grendel or 300 Blackout. In bolt guns I'd personally, I'd suggest a 260 Rem, 7-08, 308 Win, 270 Win or 30-06. The 6.5 Creedmore will work too, but be aware ahead of time re: local availability of ammo. My local ammo doesn't carry the CM nor the 7-08. In addition, I don't think the CM has reduced recoil loads yet. A few have already mentioned using reduced recoil/managed recoil loads and I agree. A reduced recoil 308 Win load actually has less recoil than a full power 243. W/ equal bullet weights, a short action round like the 308 Win will always recoil less than a similar long action round, like the 30-06, because the short round uses less powder. You may want to look at a youth rifle. Be sure the gun/stock fits your son(s). Some gun makers, e.g Mossberg, make a youth rifle that has an adjustable length of pull by means of different thicknesses of the butt pad. If you get a regular youth rifle that can't be adjusted you can always later buy an adult stock as your son grows. Or you could add the the length of pull using a slip on recoil pad. The Axis looks to be a good gun. The only Mossberg bolt action I shot was very accurate. I have a Marlin bolt action that's also very inexpensive. When shooting at the range, insist on them using both the foam ear plugs and ear muffs. Consider using a "sissy pad" (small sand bag between shoulder and recoil pad) at the range. Be sure the gun has a nice recoil pad (Limbsaver or Kick Eez are two than come to mind).

When my son was 10 years old I was faced w/ the same decision as you. I bought him a Savage bolt action (w/ the scope included) in 308 Win. I almost went w/ the 7-08, but this was before factory reduced recoil loads. I planned on making my own reduced loads and already had everything to do so w/ the 308. OTOH, fast forward 15 years later and I now have a 7-08 handgun. Last fall I bought a Thompson/Center Compass in 7-08 for a "grand child's" deer rifle.

Keep us updated. Enjoy your experiences w/ your sons.

LSUDAN1,
Sounds like you're off to a good start. I left the 30-30 off, but it's a fine deer hunting round, albeit at limited ranges. After all, everyone's favorite tactical AR 15 round, the 300 Blackout, is slightly less powerful than the 30-30. I don't know if reduced loads are available for it, but even full power loads should be fairly mild. 30-30 rifles are generally light and easy to handle, but probably won't be as easy to modify the stock. And most 30-30's don't have good recoil pads. Compared to bolt action rounds, the 30-30 doesn't have as much upside as your sons get older and want to take longer shots.

Go with a bolt action for safety. Much easier to ease the safety off and back on than a lever action rifle. Also, much easier to mount a scope on a bolt gun than a Winchester lever action. Not much reason to learn to use iron sites with modern rifles for deer hunting.

Great youth calibers are 300 Blackout, .260, 7mm-08, .308, 6.5.

You want a short action rifle. This will be easier to handle.

Get a scoped .22 and practice with it. That’ll get the young man more comfortable shooting a rifle.

257WBY,

Yes I will be getting them a bolt action. I will probably use the 30-30 until I am ready to get my gun. I will mainly do more bow hunting. I will use for pig hunting this weekend. We have a pig issue. Caught 9 last week and just heard we caught 3 more this morning. My BIL and I have planted 3 times this summer our food plots to have them torn up by the pigs each time.

This is just for them to shoot on club range to actually gauge how they handle it vs the 270 this weekend.

Right now I am leaning either 270 or 7mm-08. We will see after weekend.

My youngest is actually stronger than my oldest and right now he is getting close to 35 lbs pull back with his bow. He will bow hunt too. I told him he had to get to 35 and not just 30 before he was allowed to hunt with his bow. He actually finished in 10th place in the state in 4-H 3D shoot so he is a pretty good shot with his bow.