Youth rifle

I have a 7 year old that's wanting to get into deer hunting. Out of all the rifles I have, I only have one ar in 223 he can shoot comfortably since I can adjust the stock. I'd like to see him shoot something a little bigger at a deer. What would be a good youth rifle to buy for him? Not up to date on factory rifles and I'm not getting him a custom built for him just yet lol. I feel like he can handle a 22-250 but my stock is to long and the trigger is way to light for him to try.

How about a 350 legend?

Get a 6.5 Grendel upper for your AR. It has very light recoil and with 123 grain SSTs or Eldm's this little cartridge will kill the heck out of deer. I kill a lot of deer and hogs with mine as it is my primary depredation rifle. It would be absolutely perfect for your situation. It's what we use now for most kids in my area mainly because of its light recoil and the fact that the stock can be adjusted to fit kids very easily. You won't have to cut down a stock or do anything to the rifle and it will grow with him as he gets older. He can basically shoot it for the rest of his life. And it won't take any time for him to become proficient with it as he already uses it in its 223 configuration. I've done the bolt action youth model thing with kids as well but that simply doesn't work as well and is not as adjustable as the AR. It is the easy button when it comes to a youth rifle. Plus you can extend the stock and use it anytime as well.

Look at the youth 243

Thanks

Buck

Both of my kids and several nieces and nephews killed their first deer with an AR in 223. Load up some solids and you should be good. We used 62 tsx and had pass through on everything shot and longest track job was 50 yards on a 160lb dressed buck. Most dropped in their tracks.

For that age you will need to find a wood stock that you can cut down .this is a Remington 788 that I had an extra stock that I cut down to 11 inch length of pull. She was 6 almost 7 when I took this photo. It is a 22/250. I also have a 243 that will fit into the stock also

Buy that 350 legend upper on here that I keep looking at!!

Ruger Hawkeye Compact rifle. You pick the cartridge.

Savage has a youth model with a push button adjusting stock . It is adjustable for comb and pull . Gets down to something like 12 inch pull . The are a wood stock gun and are available in different calibers. I gave one away to a young lady of 13 . It was in 7-08 and she took a nice deer with it. The bad is the barrel is threaded in a weird 9/16 pitch and breaks are not readily available .I had my local smith rework the barrel and install a break . Dad said the girls could hold 1/2 moa. Picture of the young lady and her deer

If I were to start over, I'd get a Tikka in 6CM. Buy an XLR Element Chassis. That thing can get a very short LOP.

It is something that they will NEVER outgrow.

bfarms said:

I have a 7 year old that's wanting to get into deer hunting. Out of all the rifles I have, I only have one ar in 223 he can shoot comfortably since I can adjust the stock. I'd like to see him shoot something a little bigger at a deer. What would be a good youth rifle to buy for him? Not up to date on factory rifles and I'm not getting him a custom built for him just yet lol. I feel like he can handle a 22-250 but my stock is to long and the trigger is way to light for him to try.

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Honestly, I'd have him work with a stock that fit him and that AR sounds taylor made for him. My grandkids shoot my AR (16.5" barrel with easy adjust stock) lights out! Get him some Federal Blue Box 64 grainers or some Winchester 64 Blue box and have him get to stacking them up.

Hornady makes a 50 round pack in a red box that has 55 Hornady soft points in them, they're a killing machine as well!

If you lived around here we'd grab our AR's and a couple of my 22/250's and head to the range. Let them hammer the steel, then a deer will be a walk in the park for them.

Good trigger and good ear protection and they'll be tough to stop

crazymonkey said:

Savage has a youth model with a push button adjusting stock . It is adjustable for comb and pull . Gets down to something like 12 inch pull . The are a wood stock gun and are available in different calibers. I gave one away to a young lady of 13 . It was in 7-08 and she took a nice deer with it. The bad is the barrel is threaded in a weird 9/16 pitch and breaks are not readily available .I had my local smith rework the barrel and install a break . Dad said the girls could hold 1/2 moa. Picture of the young lady and her deer

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Great pic, about as good as it gets!!

Thanks for the replies. I know the 223 will kill. I have a good 52gr Berger load for it. Just wanting to step him up a little and get him on a bolt gun to try out.

The good news is that there are more great options than ever for kiddos. I would look at chassis rifle offerings that come with a six position AR style stock. I don't keep up with factory rifle offerings these days, but it seems like I've seen several that would fit the bill nicely. Another option would be to take a rifle you already own and drop it into an MDT LSS chassis or perhaps a Manners Compact Stock (MCS-CS or MCS-CS2).

When my son was 7 I decided to bite the bullet and go ahead and have him a custom rifle built. I tried to do so in a manner that would grow with him basically forever, with a lot of optionality for upgrades as he grows and develops as a hunter. I went with the following:

Zermatt Origin Short Action - Interchangeable bolt heads
WTO Switch Lug - Change barrels in about 2 minutes or less
Proof Carbon Barrel - 6mm CM, 1:7.5", 16.25" finish length
Timney Trigger
MDT LSS Chassis with Magpul CTR Stock with cheek riser (6 position AR style adjustability)
AB Raptor 4 Suppressor with 4" Reflex (7.62)
Salmon River Solutions Arca Pic - tripod mount on arca & pic for bipod
Hawkins Precision Rings
Leupold VX5 3-15x44

We currently only have the one 6mm CM barrel. However, as his quarry grows we are only a barrel and perhaps a bolt head & mag (depending on caliber selection) away from stepping up to a very capable rifle for Elk sized game.

At 10 years old (currently), he has accounted for 6 whitetail, a blackbuck, a Texas exotic sheep & a pronghorn, as well as dozens of hogs with this setup. He can also hammer MOA steel out to 600 with surprising consistency, as long as Ol Dad gets the wind calls right.