youth elk gun

[Tbar]

Cabelas next month, go to the gun counter at Walmart and ask to see the special order catalog, or make the trip to Kesselring gun shop. Any one of those should be able to accommodate your needs.

[Thenewguy]

7mm-08 is what my daughter shoots. Same case as the .308 and .243, larger bullet than the .243 and better BC than the .308.

I have one of these, my wife and anyone else (new hunters) can shoot it with ease. If you don;t hand load, hornady makes some pretty sweet ammo for it they coined "light mag". I blew a huge hole in my deer this last year with it.

[adamR]

I shot a 308 from age 11 til about 19 and killed 3 cows and two deer with it, great gun for youth.  My wife now shoots that gun.  If you don't want to spend alot, go to walmart, order a weatherby vangaurd, should be about $450. 

[elkslayer069]

Im gonna suggest a remington model  7 in either .308 or 7mm08 both great proven rounds

[coachcw]

270 wsm

[300rum]

At 11 I would try a 30-06 (if you can) and then buy a box of managed recoil rounds and try that. 

[coachcw]

  i really like the recoil of the short mags . my buddies little girl handles the 270 just fine.

[whitetailslyr]

Id say .308, look at the win mod 70 featherweight. Its a tack driver too. Got one in the safe waiting for my daughter..... it will be a while, she's only 2   

[flinter]

For an 11 year old recoil is a big issue, I would stay with a small caliber. My girlfriend shoots a Savage Model 11 .243 Win. youth model. I highly recomend that rifle. She shoots Federal ammo, pushing 100 gr. Nosler Partitions. It has lite recoil and is a tack driver. She has taken 3 branch antlered bull elk, out to 240 yards, she shot clean thru one at 198 yards, 2 bears, and lots of deer.

[TeacherMan]

How big is your kid? I started with a 300 Savage, killed my first elk with it at age 9. I've also killed a couple with my .243 with 100gr BTs. all with one shot.

[huntnphool]

 280+ yards, 7mm-08 by a 13 year old.

[bear hunter]

Their all good cartridges at closer ranges. I would go with the .300 sav,.308 or .270 using the heavest bullets they make. They should do fine out to 200yds. Althow a 11 year old should keep it down to 150 or so. He practess a lot at the range to see what the best grouping is at diffrent distances. Here are some ballistics out of a book called shots at big game by Craig Boddington. Great Book You should pick it up. Lots of info.

25-06 is a little light in bullet weight with 117gr or 120gr=1,668lbs at 200 yards not a good elk round. Good deer round to 300yds

.270 win would be best over the 25-06,because you can use 130gr bullets =1,957lbs at a 200yds and 150gr bullets = 1,886lbs at 200yds. Good out to 200 yards for Elk.

7mm-08 with 140gr  is good out to 100yds =2,142lbs at 100yds A bit light for Elk good deer round to 300yds

.300 savage 180gr is good out to 150yds= almost the same,but a little lighter on the foot lbs  Good round

.308 win with 180gr is good out to 200 yds =1,896lbs at 200yds. Good round

The .35 remington using 220gr bullet is ok out to 100 yds for Elk
.375 win using the 250gr bullet is good out to 100 yards for Elk

"Yes" you can kill with smaller cal. but the .243 win is just to small. Try to keep with heavyer bullets. Like the ones listed below.
 I would stick with the .300 sav 180gr,.308 win 180gr or 270 win 150gr bullets. You can't go wrong. Look up and read the book listed above or other books about Big game rounds and distances. I find elk ever year that where shot and lost. In most cases the animal was hit good. Elk are the toughest pound for pound. They can take a lot of lead and run for miles. Thats why I try and stick with 180gr .30cal bullets or 175gr to 250gr belt mag loads. I'm sure you will find the right one for your son. I have a .300 savage pump and a .270 win bolt he can shoot. Let me know.
 

[RadSav]

You can still find the Ruger Ultra Light and M77RL online at Gallery of Guns.  Most of your local gun shops and FFL licensed pawn shops will let you ship them in for a fee.  In short action 7-08 or 308 it is hard to beat the small Ruger for youngsters and women (IMO the 20" barrel is too short for 270 or 30-06).  I really like the three position saftey for neophytes.  I'll probably be buying another one through them later this year.

[carpsniperg2]

Their all good cartridges at closer ranges. I would go with the .300 sav,.308 or .270 using the heavest bullets they make. They should do fine out to 200yds. Althow a 11 year old should keep it down to 150 or so. He practess a lot at the range to see what the best grouping is at diffrent distances. Here are some ballistics out of a book called shots at big game by Craig Boddington. Great Book You should pick it up. Lots of info.

25-06 is a little light in bullet weight with 117gr or 120gr=1,668lbs at 200 yards not a good elk round. Good deer round to 300yds

.270 win would be best over the 25-06,because you can use 130gr bullets =1,957lbs at a 200yds and 150gr bullets = 1,886lbs at 200yds. Good out to 200 yards for Elk.

7mm-08 with 140gr  is good out to 100yds =2,142lbs at 100yds A bit light for Elk good deer round to 300yds

.300 savage 180gr is good out to 150yds= almost the same,but a little lighter on the foot lbs  Good round

.308 win with 180gr is good out to 200 yds =1,896lbs at 200yds. Good round

The .35 remington using 220gr bullet is ok out to 100 yds for Elk
.375 win using the 250gr bullet is good out to 100 yards for Elk

"Yes" you can kill with smaller cal. but the .243 win is just to small. Try to keep with heavyer bullets. Like the ones listed below.
 I would stick with the .300 sav 180gr,.308 win 180gr or 270 win 150gr bullets. You can't go wrong. Look up and read the book listed above or other books about Big game rounds and distances. I find elk ever year that where shot and lost. In most cases the animal was hit good. Elk are the toughest pound for pound. They can take a lot of lead and run for miles. Thats why I try and stick with 180gr .30cal bullets or 175gr to 250gr belt mag loads. I'm sure you will find the right one for your son. I have a .300 savage pump and a .270 win bolt he can shoot. Let me know.
 

I don't know how you can figure a 7mm-08 is to light for elk and only good to 100 yards. That makes no sense to me. First off you need to compare bullets close to the same weight. Not 140 in the 7mm-08 to the 180 in the 308. Of course your going to have more ke when you do that. All of the ones listed will take a elk to 200y or more very easy and have plenty of ke to get the job done So I don't know how you figure they are not good elk catridges.

[carpsniperg2]

Here is a little real world data.

7mm-08 140g bullet: 100 yards 2053ft-lbs   200 yards 1761ft-lbs  300 yards 1502ft-lbs

308 150g bullet: 100 yards 2251ft-lbs    200 yards 1919ft-lbs  300 yards 1626ft-lbs

So you are telling me that you think the 308 will be o.k and the 7mm-08 won't be at 200 yards because of 158ft-lbs difference? I don't think so. Most professional hunters will base there ideas on 1000ft-lbs to cleanly take most big game animals.

Then you also say that the savage 300 would be good to 150 yards, but not the 7mm-08? Ok lets look at those numbers.

7mm-08 140g bullet:  100 yards 2053ft-lbs   200 yards 1761ft-lbs  300 yards 1502ft-lbs
300 savage 150g bullet: 100 yards 1816ft-lbs  200 yards 1413ft-lbs  300 yards 1086ft-lbs

So how you think the 300 savage is better and has more range and killing power then the 7mm-08 I am not sure of

All of these numbers are from winchester.com You can double check them if you like. If you are going to put comparisons up you need to keep the bullets close to get a accurate picture.

I also know of a native amercian hunter that took close to 100 head of elk in his life with nothing but a 243win.

A small caliber bullet placed in the vitals is better then any magnum outside the vitals. So I don't know how anyone can say a 243 is just to small.