Something similar to a 223 with a .473 bolt face.

[Tidus56]

I know this might not be in your cards but I bought my "wife and kids" aka myself a howa mini action in 6.5 Grendel. Paid $560 for the rifle and with Barnes factory ammo its shooting .6-.7moa. It came in a Tupperware chassis with an adjustable ar15 style butt stock. I put a timney trigger in it and a vg6 brake on it and it has nearly zero recoil. It's compact and handy as a pocket on a shirt!

A decent chambered barrel is going to cost you at least $560 unless you already have the reamer and do the work yourself. Save the fuss and buy a mini action for the kids. Howa is selling them in 6arc now also. Just a thought

So what I have been doing is I buy each of my kids a custom rifle. I do a custom action a chassis or adjustable stock, a custom barrel, nice trigger etc. then they will have one nice gun from dad. My biggest wish growing up was for a nice gun. My dad never even bought me a gun other than a Ruger 10/22. So part of me doing this for my kids is to cure an injustice I felt growing up. I saved my money and bought my own guns as a kid but it made me mad my dad with 40+ guns he never fired wouldn't even buy his son a hunting rifle. Overcompensating a bit? Yeah I for sure am but I hated having to borrow a gun to go hunting deer with whomever would take me cause my dad sure wouldn't. Sorry for the long spill.

 

[Varmint Hunter]

So what I have been doing is I buy each of my kids a custom rifle. I do a custom action a chassis or adjustable stock, a custom barrel, nice trigger etc. then they will have one nice gun from dad. My biggest wish growing up was for a nice gun. My dad never even bought me a gun other than a Ruger 10/22. So part of me doing this for my kids is to cure an injustice I felt growing up. I saved my money and bought my own guns as a kid but it made me mad my dad with 40+ guns he never fired wouldn't even buy his son a hunting rifle. Overcompensating a bit? Yeah I for sure am but I hated having to borrow a gun to go hunting deer with whomever would take me cause my dad sure wouldn't. Sorry for the long spill.

Question - are you interested in adopting an older son?

In my early days, a really nice rifle meant moving from a LH Rem 700 to a LH Wby Mark V.

 

[Tidus56]

Question - are you interested in adopting an older son?

In my early days, a really nice rifle meant moving from a LH Rem 700 to a LH Wby Mark V.

Lol, yes of course!
The hope is if they all have a nice rifle they will all want to shoot and hunt. Thankfully their mother is fully supportive of this. It makes it easier when the wife is all about it too.

 

[Quintus]

So what I have been doing is I buy each of my kids a custom rifle. I do a custom action a chassis or adjustable stock, a custom barrel, nice trigger etc. then they will have one nice gun from dad. My biggest wish growing up was for a nice gun. My dad never even bought me a gun other than a Ruger 10/22. So part of me doing this for my kids is to cure an injustice I felt growing up. I saved my money and bought my own guns as a kid but it made me mad my dad with 40+ guns he never fired wouldn't even buy his son a hunting rifle. Overcompensating a bit? Yeah I for sure am but I hated having to borrow a gun to go hunting deer with whomever would take me cause my dad sure wouldn't. Sorry for the long spill.

In defense of your Dad, look at you now. He taught you to earn it, which probably caused you to appreciate it. You have what looks like a greater Kudu in your avatar and are able to provide customs to your kids. He didn't give you a rifle, he gave you desire for a rifle. If your going to change the barrel out in a few years anyway, I'd go 22-250 with lighter bullets and softer load.

 

[Varmint Hunter]

Lol, yes of course!
The hope is if they all have a nice rifle they will all want to shoot and hunt. Thankfully their mother is fully supportive of this. It makes it easier when the wife is all about it too.

I have two mature daughters who were never interested in guns or shooting. They did, however, provide me with 3 very energetic grandsons. All three are between 3-4 years old. I may just buy them each a fully custom rubber-band gun, assuming that it's ok with their mothers. LMAO

 

[Tidus56]

I

In defense of your Dad, look at you now. He taught you to earn it, which probably caused you to appreciate it. You have what looks like a greater Kudu in your avatar and are able to provide customs to your kids. He didn't give you a rifle, he gave you desire for a rifle. If you're going to change the barrel out in a few years anyway, I'd go 22-250 with lighter bullets and softer load.

Yeah that's about the truth of it, he raised us to go get it if we wanted it. I appreciate that now but as a kid it felt cruel lol. I would say it was 50% he wanted us to learn how to get it and 50% he didn't want to deal with us lol.
Yes that's a greater Kudu and it was a whole lot of fun doing the Africa thing. I hope to go again someday.