Low recoil deer caliber

Admittedly, I didn't read every post to see if anyone else said this. The 'low recoil' rifle has so many factors. It still drives me insane that manufacturers release rifles in 243, 7mm-08, etc and they do so.in these pencil barrel, plastic stock 5.5-6.5 lb variety with 20-22" barrels. These are almost exactly what isn't best for the smallest of shooters. I fell for it once and bought a 243 youth model, and it was one of the snappiest recoiling rifles I ever had. Don't do it!
Knowing that it won't likely be the youngster actually carrying the rifle afield, take the opposite approach. Look for heavier and/or install a muzzlebrake. You can always get an inexpensive stock that is completely adjustable (stocks At-one or similar) to perfectly fit their small stature, and then put the factory stock back on when they grow up (which will happen fast). Or, it you are totally committed to buying a lightweight rifle in a mild cartridge, take the butt plate off of it and fill it full of BBs ($12 at tractor supply) and put the butt plate back on. This will add 2-4 lbs to the rifle which will make a huge difference in a 243 or 7mm-08, or.308. If you reload, the world is your playground for reduced loads. If not, Hornday reduced recoil line of ammo is awesome for small youth. Please don't make the mistake of putting a youngster or first time shooter behind a lightweight rifle under the pretense that it is 'just a little 243', as physics dictate the outcomes more than marketing hype.
Friend just bought a youth model 6.5 Creedmore for his son. The boy weighs about 60 pounds. He wont shoot it and I don't blame him. The recoil is very sharp. I'm going to see how much weight I can add to it to tone it down and will likely end up downloading it. While the dimensions of the rifle may be right. Light weight rifles kick. Personally we always just downloaded a 270 or 30-06 and cut the stock to fit. That was before the Grendel came along. Plus you don't need a brake for the Grendel.
 
I'm in Canada, suppressors are not a option
I would go with a .308, light weight bullets for practice and at a reduced velocity. Then do load development work for a 130 grain Barnes TTSX or a 150g Barnes TTSX at a faster velocity for him to hunt with. When he pulls the trigger on a deer he won't notice the increased recoil. The big thing is little recoil and muzzle blast for practice. He will be able to use that rifle/caliber for deer, bear and moose. Sierra makes a 110 grain bullet, at 1500 or so fps that should be very mild recoil and minimal muzzle blast. Heck, I bet you can run them barely supersonic with Trail Boss powder. I am shooting the 190g Hornady Sub-X bullet at 1015 fps with 9.5g of Trail Boss.

Putting a good partition style muzzle brake on it will also mitigate a tremendous amount of recoil, but increase the muzzle blast and noise.

In response to the posts about using a .243, a friend has a bad right hand where the thumb joint has a lot of arthritis. I have a .243 that weighs right at 6 pounds with scope. sling and full magazine. I also have a 7mm Allen Magnum that weighs 11.5 pounds in hunting trim. I had him shoot both rifles. 180g 7mm bullet pushed by 110g of powder moving at 3350 fps with a medium painkiller brake from Kirby vs. an 85g .243 bullet pushed by IIRC 46g of powder going 3250 fps (no brake). My friend said that to him the muzzle blast was much greater with the 7mm AM, but the recoil was the same or slightly less with the 7mm Allen Magnum. So, a full house .243 load might not be one for a small kid.

With the ballistic programs out there now, the OP can easily figure out how much recoil there will be with a given rifle/load. Throw a good muzzle brake on it (if the child can tolerate the extra muzzle blast and noise) and you can cut those recoil numbers. Doing a quick check, the .243 generates 12 ft lb of energy at 11.3 ft/sec. The 7mm Allen without the brake generates 28.7 ft. lb of energy at 12.4 ft/sec. So the Painkiller brake cuts recoil by more than half.
 
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243, son has been slaying deer with the Hornady custom lite 87gr reduced recoil rounds. Every deer has been 1 shot kills.

Bad thing with youth rifles, like someone already mentioned, they end up being shorter and in some cases lighter…which means more recoil. So gotta be careful with that. However, my son has a Mossberg bantam that allows you to remove spacers ti adjust length of pull. With the reduced loads it's gentle. Kind of a double edged sword trying to get a rifle that fits the kid without adding recoil, that's where the reduced loads come in and help
 
I'm tossing the idea of getting my son a riffle for Christmas. he will be 9 in march. He has been shooting 22 for several years now and is doing really well with it. So I'm thinking of getting him a deer riffle that he Can practice with until He is of age to hunt. What are some options for low recoil deer calibres. Thanks for your input
A lot of great recommendations. My boys were shooting 450 bm at 9 but I modified ar with weighted carrier heavy buffer and spring with a Ross muzzle break to tame the recoil pulse to a soft push. About in between a .410/20ga slug recoil. I feel 6.8 SPC and 6.5 Grendel would make a great rifle for kids. Leaning more towards Grendel for bullet offerings. A nice lil bolt gun in SPC or Grendel with 20-22" barrel would make a great 300 yard and under hunting rifle. They both will reach out further but bullet performance starts to diminish.
 
One important question?
DO YOU RELOAD?
Because if you do take all the advice that you just read and toss it in the garbage!!!!
Work up, our in this case down a load to fit the shooters needs.
In almost any caliber!
And the boy our girl will have a rifle for life!!!
 
My son has shot a 257 Robert's since he was 7 and it works great. He will use his 308 this year at 10.

243, 6cm, 6.5cm 7mm08, 25-06, 308, 6.5cm

Just deer any of those would work. If you reload you have even more options. Not sure about up North there but I feel around here and in my travels 6.5cm and 308 are the most common and most available these days
 
I see a lot of comments about rifle weight and I agree the best way to mitigate recoil is weight. For the 243 and 6.5 creed I would suggest a 7.5-8lbs rifle. The second suggestion would be bullet weight. Shoot a light weight bullet, 90 grain in the 243, 120-123 in the 6.5 creed. If you feel those are to much for him to handle get a 223 Rem and shoot 64 grain pills. As I stated earlier ammo availability is really the driving factor here for me. Any of these calibers will work in the above configuration. My daughters rifle was a single shot T/C Contender Prohunter in 22-250, weighed about 8.5 lbs scoped. You can't hardly find them anymore but 15-20 years ago they were the gun to have, built three of them I liked the modularity. The gun could grow with the child. Today I might would go with a Tikka because of the aftermarket support. JMT
 
I'm tossing the idea of getting my son a riffle for Christmas. he will be 9 in march. He has been shooting 22 for several years now and is doing really well with it. So I'm thinking of getting him a deer riffle that he Can practice with until He is of age to hunt. What are some options for low recoil deer calibres. Thanks for your input
I have taught 3 sons to shoot rifles and shotguns starting at young ages. We are not large persons, 5' 8" or less. Rifle length, weight and recoil matter.

My oldest son's first rifle was a 243. The go-to first for many decades. Easy to shoot, reload. BUT the 6.5 and 6 creedmoor are based on a bigger knowledge base and better design.
For the future, 6.5 CM has/will eclipse older cartridges in this class (6mm's, 308, 7mm-08 etc) in availability of ammo, components, rifles. So if this rifle is for now AND his future, go 6.5.

Tikka T3x compact 6.5 with 20 inch barrel is an awesome choice. Accurate, inexpensive. Shoot now, change stock later. Even can change barrel yourself later for longer or different caliber. Start with light custom load OR factory 95 grain varmint load for target practice. Alternatively start with a 223 in this model, swap for 6.5 when he is, say 120 lbs or more.

Not putting down others. I personally regularly shoot, kill with 7mm-08, 6mm CM, 6.5 CM, 6.5 Grendel, 7mm SAUM...building another 223 at present.
 
I'm tossing the idea of getting my son a riffle for Christmas. he will be 9 in march. He has been shooting 22 for several years now and is doing really well with it. So I'm thinking of getting him a deer riffle that he Can practice with until He is of age to hunt. What are some options for low recoil deer calibres. Thanks for your input
I would suggest the following:

300 Blackout
6.5 Grendel
6mm. ARC

My 11 yr old granddaughter at the time killed her first deer with the 300 BLK. Very low recoil and capable of killing deer at a decent enough distance for most beginners.

Of the three above the 6 ARC would be my pick.
 
My kids started whitetail hunting with a .243, which I think was the best cartridge at the time. Today I'd start them off with a 6.5 Grendel.
 

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