Your Opinion... Gun for 12 yr Old Girl...

[Grizzly95]

I got my daughter a .243 Rem model 770 when she was 10, we shoot reloads 105gr I believe. The gun shoots great, but I am not impressed witht the action, it feels really sloppy. She smacked a doe at 205 yards her first year out. I love to carry it out on country drives in case I see a dog or 2, it is compact enough to get out of the rig and get a shot. But I would not recommend this model just because of the play in the action. I think it was a little ove 200 bucks from white elephant 4 years ago, so maybe they tightened it up. Shoots good just poor machine work. 

[Buckmark]

Opinions are like belly buttons, everyone has one.
Here's mine: Browning A-bolt micro, in .243 or 7mm-08 would be my only choice..

[Grizzly95]

Opinions are like belly buttons, everyone has one

Not the way I heard it, are you keepin it PG rated?

[Buckmark]

Opinions are like belly buttons, everyone has one

Not the way I heard it, are you keepin it PG rated?

Well yeah, this is a familly show and the post was for a 12yo..

[Grizzly95]

Opinions are one of our greatest qualities. If I had it to do over I would have gotten something different and spent a little more, but I was short on cash and the guy really talked them up. It was long before I found this site and was able to get the info available here. If you are ever in this area I would be more than happy to let you run some rounds through it and see it for yourself.

[gottatree]

My 9 year old shoots a Savage .243 with a handloaded 95 grain CT Ballistic tip. I dropped the powder by 1 grain under the lowest given in the book for IMR 4053?. I will have to look when I get home for his load. The load is probably the best load I have found extremely accurate. He took his first deer this year with it, and has a very manageable recoil for him.  

[DOUBLELUNG]

Remington model 7, or Rugers youth rifle. Cal? .234, 257 roberts, .260, 7mm-08 would be where I would be looking for kids. Any of these cal's would be great for adults!

All great choices, I'll add 6.5x55 Swedish and 7x57 Mauser as two more sweet shooting, light recoiling, effective big game rounds.  My vote would go to the Ruger, I used an M77 in 7x57 on an antelope hunt once, and was just floored by the negligible recoil and very acceptable terminal performance; I shot 3 antelope between 200-300 yards, and they were all DRT.

[GoldTip]

I would add a second vote for the 6.5x55 or the 7x57.  Both great low recoiling rounds and will kill deer elk or bears quite readily.  But those are essentially european cartridges, and despite how much I enjoy shooting either one of those, you'd be better off getting your child a 260rem or a 7mm-08 in a Remington model 7.  You'll be surprised how much fun they are to shoot and how low the recoil level is with a good pad. 

[runamuk]

I will vote for the 7mm08 I love mine very little recoil, I would only improve mine by making it lighter, its a ruger hawkeye and a bit heavy, the compact or youth model would probably be a great choice for kids.

[rasbo]

243 youth,great gun..

[Black Plague]

my 12 year old brother shoots a model 700 25-06 and he likes it,,,does fine on antelope and white tails ...my dad has also killed 2 cow elk with it (I would use a bigger gun)....  they put a synthetic youth stock on it when he turned 11... and it does fine

[Buckmark]

Having been through this before one opinion i have is i dont care for the 20 inch barrels on youth guns, i prefer 22 inch, alittle less muzzle blast and muzzle jump, also a bit more burn time for the powder  .
If i had to do the youth rifle thing again from scratch i would buy a 7mm-08 regular length stock rifle that replacment stocks can be easily be obtained.
Cut the stock down to the youth length of pull i want and install a nice pad from like limb saver etc.
Then i would have a youth gun that would grow into a full size gun when needed..

[groundhog]

My 11 and 13 year old girls shoot a feather wieght Mod 70 Win in 257 roberts and a featherweight mod 70 in 270. Both ahve been cut down and have linb saver pads. The Bob has recoil like a 243 but it is better down range and the 50% recoil rounds in 270 have even less recoil than a 243. I would look at the calibers that you can buy the fifty percent reduced recoil round in. I have seen them in 308. 30-06, and 270, I am not sure about other calibers. We did a lot of shooting with the reduced recoil and we hunt with regular ammo.

[addicted]

7mm08. low recoil and can be used for elk and bear without question when the time comes.  you can cut the stock on any rifle and get a grind to fit limbsaver recoil pad.

[Hornseeker]

I didn't think about cutting a rifle down...hmmmm...

I love that Browning Micro..but for $800 I dont think that is going to happen..

Reduced recoil ammo....hmmm.... I've not read anything about it...tell me more? Can I load it myself? Is it simply a load with less powder or is something else going on there???  I have a super straight shooting 06' that I could cut the stock down on... load up some 150 grainers for it... hmmmm....

I still really like the 243 avenue..and like mentioned above...I'd also have me a new gun and something real light and handy to run around with!!

Thanks all!

ERnie