My son's first deer rifle

[MBtech]

Gents, I am looking to buy my son his first gun/deer rifle for his birthday in a couple of months. I have a few questions for those of you that have been down this path.

First off is caliber requirements, must be .243 or larger.

I only have experience with 223/5.56, (ARs), 20 and 12ga shotguns, .308 bolt actions, and a SCAR 17s. My son has shot my AR and SCAR from a bench and does very well with the recoil. So my question here is how does a .243/260/270 bolt rifle compare as far as recoil? (I have not personally shot any of them but I know a 308 bolt gun is too much for him). What would be your recommendations? Go with the .243 or step up to maybe a .260/.270?

Rifle choices, budget is $500-$600 (ish) give or take before optic. Leaning toward a Tikka T3 Lite, any other recommendations are welcome.

The purchase is special to me and him, he won't know it yet until he is much older and says that was my first gun my Dad bought for me. I'd buy him a million dollar rifle if I could but....

With that said, I don't want to just buy him something to buy something, and I have to factor in an optic. I just don't want to go overboard with recoil that he won't want to shoot. If I knew someone that had any as mentioned to try out I would do so but unfortunately I don't.

Thanks in advance

[anatolian B]

The Tika in 243 would be a great choice. He'll always love whatever you get him.

[48J]

I am a fan of the .243 Winchester. It is a great deer round So, first, I would recommend the .243 as your caliber. You did not describe your son by age or stature so that leaves some guess work about length of pull, rifle weight, etc. I would go with a full size and cut the stock if necessary but save the piece to add length later.

GunBroker has three nice Mauser style rifles in .243 that include a Churchill, an Oberndorf Mauser, and an Austrain Cougar Voere that fit your price range. I would look at these to refinish the stock with a hand rubbed oil finish as a project to further bond you and your son.

My prejudice is toward older Mauser rifles so please pardon my bias.

I look forward to doing this with my son. Good luck to you and your son.

[MBtech]

You did not describe your son by age or stature so that leaves some guess work about length of pull, rifle weight, etc.

He will be turning 10, just under 5' tall and around 85lbs (I'll have to recheck they grow like weeds)
image.jpg

Pic from this last summer, he has grown a bit since.

[Uprange41]

What will he be hunting, what ranges, etc?

[MBtech]

What will he be hunting, what ranges, etc?

0 to 100-150 yards tops for starters, most situations will be 100 or less

[MBtech]

Attachment 31955

This was about a year and a half ago with a DPMS AR and a Nikon P223 3x32 scope at 100 yards, far from a top notch setup or groups to write home about, but you get the idea. I'm looking so forward to getting him set up.

[Uprange41]

0 to 100-150 yards tops for starters, most situations will be 100 or less

If it's just whitetail, hogs, or coyotes, the .243 will be perfect. Very effective MBPR for him to not need to worry about holdovers at 150, great bullet performance, and low recoil. I would look at some Savage rifles for your best performance for cost. The 16 or 14 would be my picks.


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[krm375]

I started out on the .243 carbine 788, at around the same age, it has a pretty light recoil impulse and now with the hornady custom lite ammo you can even go further to reduce some of the recoil impulse of a bolt gun.

you can search in google recoil impulse of the 243, 7m08, 308 and the chuck hawks site has a chart that you can reference a general recoil impulse of a particular caliber.

I hunted hogs, whitetail, pronghorn, and coyote. With proper bullet selection and the modern bonded, and all copper bullets and correct bullet placement, I would not hesitate to step up to a mule deer. I never had an animal go more than 50 60 yards after taking a 100 gr soft point in the right place.

[MBtech]

I started out on the .243 carbine 788, at around the same age, it has a pretty light recoil impulse and now with the hornady custom lite ammo you can even go further to reduce some of the recoil impulse of a bolt gun.

you can search in google recoil impulse of the 243, 7m08, 308 and the chuck hawks site has a chart that you can reference a general recoil impulse of a particular caliber.

I hunted hogs, whitetail, pronghorn, and coyote. With proper bullet selection and the modern bonded, and all copper bullets and correct bullet placement, I would not hesitate to step up to a mule deer. I never had an animal go more than 50 60 yards after taking a 100 gr soft point in the right place.

Looking at these recoil tables the 7mm-08 is 12.1 ft/lbs of energy with a 120gr round @ 3,000 fps with a 7.5lb gun.

The .243 with a 95gr round @ 3,100 fps with a 7.25 lb gun is 11.0 ft/lbs

So pretty close comparisons between the two and the 7mm-08 is a heavier bullet.

I went ahead and looked at shotgun recoil tables also and a 20ga with 2.75" and 7/8 shot in a 6lb gun is 16.1 ft/lbs and a .308 with 165gr @ 2,700 fps in a 7.5 lb gun is 18.1 ft/lbs.

That site also had good information of how much the gun should weigh to keep recoil below 15 ft/lbs.

The Chuck Hawks site was very helpful thanks.