First hunting rifle for a kid

[Special T]

Myself and two brothers started with BB guns, then a shared Benjamin pellet gun, then .22s, then my pop bought us a shared 20G/.22 over under Savage.  That was the coolest gun ever to us.  Yes, its a hammer gun but with the flick of the thumb on the hammer selector switch, you could select either .22 or 20G.  Some kind of grouse gun I tell ya  .  Keep the hammer switch on 20G when walking the grouse trails... one flushes, hammer back, get your bead on the bird... boom.  Dumb grouse wants to sit on the trail clucking?  Flick the hammer switch to .22 and shoot it in the neck... Loved that gun.  Sorry, diverted from your center fire question a bit.     

Edit:  Oh, and 50 brazillion+2  NW MT gophers met their fate at the hands of that formidable weapon 

Have that same gun, and man is it cool.  It would be sweet if they made a 223 or 243 over a 12 tho!

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[Calvin Rayborn]

Ain't nuthin' wrong with a '94! First centerfire as a kid. Old man put a pillow on little Cal's shoulder for the first shot (steel buttplate), after that it was lock and load till the cows came home! If you can't handle a '94 hammer, you got nowhere near the strength or dexterity to be fooling with a firearm.

[PA BEN]

I have 5 daughters each shot their first deer w a Winchester youth ranger model 70 in 7mm-08.

[Magnum_Willys]

Rugar compact 7mm-08 was son’s first.  Threw on brake to eliminate kick. Earmuffs mandatory though.  He could drive tacks with it at age 8 at 100 and shot well out past 500.

[Tjkride]

CZ makes wonderful blued and wood stocked youth guns in 7.62x39. The 527 is acailable with irons too. Cheap for lots of practice and low recoil. With good projectiles its plenty for deer sized game inside 200 yards.

[Wingin it]

My vote is for the 7mm-08 with 120 grain light recoil rounds to get started. I think the 6.5 creedmoor is also a solid option.

[Jpmiller]

My dad got me a model 70 in 308. It was a little big for me and did intimidate me the first year. I remember driving to the range and getting too scared to shoot it and being embarrassed and crying the whole way home. He bought a bunch of add on recoil reducing stuff for it and loaded me some lower recoil loads but that embarrassed me even more. I got over it the second year and it's still my only hunting rifle over twenty years later but I could see how it very easily could have made me want to stop shooting and hunting.

Each kid is different but I think when my boys are a little older I will start them on a real low recoil rifle before I buy they a "forever" gun.

I still love the rifle and my dad for the record