Equipment & Gear > Guns and Ammo

What do your kids shoot?

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Guy:
I figure there are a couple of key points to consider when the kids are ready to move from a .22 to a centerfire deer rifle:

1) Have they gained proficiency with the .22 to the point where they won't be wasting time, money & ammo with the bigger gun?
2) Does the centerfire rifle actually fit 'em, so they can hold it normally, and build decent marksmanship skills?
3) Is the bark and bite of the rifle more than they should be messing with to start?

With this in mind I started my sons shooting .22's when they were pretty young. One of those Chipmunk rifles. Then they graduated to Ruger 10/22's. Then later to the centerfire rifles. My youngest boy started with my old 6mm Remington 700 when he was 12, after tagging along on deer hunts with me for a few years.


He liked the rifle, but the stock was too big for him.


I put the rifle in a synthetic Remington "youth" model stock, and he took to it real well. Zapped his first mulie doe at 275 yards with one 95 grain Nosler through the heart... Not bad!


He's grown a lot, nearly 6' tall now at 15, but still thin. We put the rifle back in the original stock, and added a limbsaver recoil pad. Not that a little 6mm needs a limbsaver pad, but that hard plastic buttplate and his bony shoulder weren't getting along real well. The 6mm Rem is about the same power/recoil as a .243 Winchester. He's using it for rockchucks and coyote hunting in the off season.

I didn't handicap him with bad equipment. A good rifle, and there's a 3.5-10x Leupold on it. We handload for it together and he spends a fair amount of time in the field with it. He's shot a couple of my bigger rifles. I don't think my .308 recoils much more than the 6mm, but he has a different opinion! I'm real happy that both of my boys love shooting. The older one uses a .223 and a .308 Win.

Regards, Guy

Slenk:
Well My Kid's are all grown up and away from home now , 4 sons all started with 30-30s at 12  and went to .270s a year or two later now they all shoot
30-06 , 300win mag ,and 338
Have one grandson now that's 15 and he has shot a  30-06 remington auto for a couple of years now he started with a 243 .He likes the auto cuase he'sa lefty .Three years hunting and killed 3 Deer . He has a younger sister 12 and brother 11 that are starting this year with the 243, this year.
Slenk

boneaddict:
Mine are going to start with a 30-30, and 32.  If one of them hasn't graduated to the 25-06 with a shortened stock, then we'll hit grandpa up for the 300 savage.  I've been wanting to shoot it for myself.

huntnfmly:
My girls started off with a .243 now they have a .257 roberts that i got for them last yr.
jim

bowpredator:
My son is 11 and I also started him out on one of my old 22's, then on his 9th b-day I got him his own 10-22 with a harris bi-pod and a bushnell 4x scope. For his 11th b-day I picked up a rem 700- .270 with a leupold 3x9 and put the bi-pod on it.He took to it real good.Will be putting him on bear this Aug. and deer in oct.

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