Low recoil deer caliber

[Pdyson]

I bought my 9 year old a Savage Axis in 6ARC as the 45 year old hand-me-down .243 Winchester was too heavy and the length of pull too long.
I took the stock extension out and slapped on an inexpensive Athlon variable scope and a slip-on stock cheek riser. I bought a box of 108gr ELDMs and took it to the range to sight it in. Oh my! that cheap little savage shoots tighter groups than my bench rest gun. I was so impressed I bought a Savage Switchback, and built an AR upper in 6ARC. He took a doe on youth weekend last week.

BTW it will work on large game too. Talked my Pal David West into buying a savage 6ARC. Check out his red stag

 

[Leaf Litter]

Your best option for deer only is probably 243 win or 6mm creedmoor. If you want something that can grow into a larger game round then I'd go with a 6.5 Creedmoor or 7mm-08.

I'd look very hard at a 6mm creedmoor in Ruger American. It allows for a muzzle device, very accurate and inexpensive enough to not worry about the little bumps and bruises that kids can cause.

 

[grouse]

243 and 95 grain ballistic tips are hard ti beat. Throw on a suppressor and just wow

 

[orifdoc]

A Tikka .243 with Barnes TTSX was the solution for me. My pipsqueak nephew killed his elk with it last year, my even more pipsqueak niece her elk the year before, and my son used it for his best deer to date. The first two are excellent marksmen and participate in school & 4H programs. Knowing how to shoot trumps caliber choice 7 days a week. Flinchy kids shooting poorly fitting, big guns that scare them is a perfect setup for a frustrating hunt.

 

[bkondeff]

100% depends what on his size. My boys grew late. There's a reason you can't hunt w .22cal in many states, no matter how much powder is in the case. Want your son to have success, not walk up onto wounded deer unnecessarily.

I used, for my three sons a savage .243 w 20" barrel. Loaded up partitions. Limited range here in Idaho to 200yds until the proved they could shoot consistently and under pressure. Worked perfectly. Now my daughter in law used it as well to start.

Boys progressed to 25-06/.270/.280 as they grew and warranted their own personal gun.

Flinches in kids are like gun shyness in dogs and can be hard to train out of them.

I started w a 30-30 and still like that gun in dark woods. Easy to shoot as you were always standing when shooting. Shooting prone can be more painful.

 

[kfreeze]

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 like the 7mm-08. Kicks like a 243 and hits harder. You can buy reduced recoil ammo or load down too. The 120 grn bullets nos bt bullets or 120 barnes bullets really do well on deer.

 

[JustMe2]

Guys you keep saying caliber when you really mean cartridge size. A .22, .308, .338, etc are bullet "calibers."

A 6CM, 308Win, 243Win, 30-06, 7-08 are "cartridges" which include the bullet, brass, powder and primer.

A caliber can not produce any recoil. It's impossible. You need a cartridge to produce any recoil.

 

[Mike D Texas]

One of the lowest recoil rifles around is the 6.5x55 Swede. It has less recoil than the .223. The only hang up is the lack of ammunition. But, if you reload tuning it for accuracy is a breeze. In addition the Swede can be used to hunt almost every game animal known to man with the right bullet. Google it.

Ummmm, not exactly on the recoil vs .223. It has almost double the recoil as .223.

 

[Raudy707]

257 Roberts or 22-250 is a great place to start.

 

[9.3davison]

I bought my 9 year old a Savage Axis in 6ARC as the 45 year old hand-me-down .243 Winchester was too heavy and the length of pull too long.
I took the stock extension out and slapped on an inexpensive Athlon variable scope and a slip-on stock cheek riser. I bought a box of 108gr ELDMs and took it to the range to sight it in. Oh my! that cheap little savage shoots tighter groups than my bench rest gun. I was so impressed I bought a Savage Switchback, and built an AR upper in 6ARC. He took a doe on youth weekend last week.

I would look for a Tikka T3X in 7mm-08 (22" barrel) and look for a T3X compact stock (I have one you can have), and load 110 Gr Barnes TTSX. If you are not a handloader, 120 grain factory loads will be light recoiling. And if it is still too much recoil, Spearhead machine in Ontario make an excellent radial break (no timing necessary), just have to get the barrel threaded. Not sure which province you are in but I know an excellent gunsmith in Alberta who can thread it (he also makes his own muzzle brakes and fits them beautifully to the barrel profile).

The nice thing about the Tikka's, in my opinion, they are an excellent factory rifle and not horribly expensive, there is a growing aftermarket for them, and they are very versatile. Many people (in Canada) are using them for semi-custom builds so there are lots of factory barrels around (most often a simple barrel/magazine/bolt stop swap) if you ever decide to change to a bigger caliber as your boy grows up, and the factory take-off barrels generally sell pretty cheap-often unfired.

 

[THE1LAF]

I've shot many a mule deer with a 22-250, deer & elk have dropped to a 243, and I haven't lost one. shots are all within ~250 yds. my old man's favorite elk rifle was a 25 Gibbs until the bbl burned out.

Don't forget by shaving carry weight you increase recoil. A 308 in a light weight rifle will have a sharper recoil (higher velocity) than a avg weight 300 Win Mag.

I was looking for a lighter recoiling deer rifle for my GF who is 5' & 105# from her 7-08 @ 7#.
Personally I'm leaning towards the 6 CM, but I want her to shoot my 6.5 PRC with a brake &/or Suppressed.

Here's a sheet a compiled a while back, just added the 308 & 6 ARC for you guys. The second little sheet is an excerpt assuming the avg. suppressor reduces recoil by 28% & brake 40% (brake is adaptor for my suppressor)

 

[Nomad8961]

I think it depends on how low recoil you're wanting and the ranges you plan to shoot. 6.5 Grendel and 300 black out are extremely low recoil but the ranges of effectiveness are going to be less than the 243, 260 rem. Depends on your sons max range.

 

[THE1LAF]

Ummmm, not exactly on the recoil vs .223. It has almost double the recoil as .223.
View attachment 508403View attachment 508404View attachment 508405

This table doesn't mean squat if rifle weight isn't listed. Also charge & bullet weight can greatly vary recoil Energy, Velocity & Impulse.

 

[wallhangergun]

I would vote for the 6.5 Creedmoor, light on the recoil, that is what my daughter uses, took the same approach with her and first got her a 20 gauge for birds in youth stock, then removed some spacers on the HMR on the 6.5, she is now 15 and put the spacers back in and a full size stock on the 20 gauge. Use either the federal 140 grn fusion or the ELDx 143grn Hornady ammunition for deer. Have fun, and be safe. This year was going to see if the 7mm PRC will work for her.

My opinion about the 20 gauge for kids is that reloading light is even more important than it is for a 12 because I've seen men buy kids lightweight, cheap pump shotguns and they don't realize with factory ammo that kid is getting more recoil from that 20 than he's getting in his heavy, long 12 gauge trap gun- and then he wonders why the kid doesn't like to shoot? There are good 3/4 ounce light loads published using special wads (from Ballistic Products, sp 20 long) or regular wads with filler-cards and with the right cases (old AA, sporting 20 long) you can get the load down to 11/16 and still get a good crimp, and good patterns. I like Red Dot (12 grains) for my antique guns. Even Damascus (I know it's not politically correct to shoot Damascus) Easy on the gun, easy on the shooter, clean... the hard part is keeping the kid supplied with enough ammo.