Youth options

weekender21

weekender21

Well-Known Member
My 11 year old shot my wife’s youth model .243 today. She likes shooting rimfire but one shot from the .243 was enough for her. Any other options besides wait until she’s older? She wants to hunt but isn’t ready for a deer rifle.

Potential options:
•.223-a little light for deer in my opinion. Am I wrong.
•crossbow-limited range, another new purchase
•compound bow-she loves archery but it will be a few years before she can draw the minimum 35 pounds required.

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I like a 223, in fact its been some of my quicker kills. Avoid varmint bullets. Something around 64 grain is perfect in my opinion, but I've used 55 grain soft points to success. You just gotta wait for good shots, and don't try to stretch the range out too far.
 
I started my grandson Eli with a .223 at 7 years old? The only deer he ever lost was the first one that he hit on the front leg. After that he killed 7 deer with that gun and all were quick recovery. Use the heaviest bullet you can find in that caliber.
 
I concur with a 223, and in particular, in an AR with an adjustable stock. If your concerned about safety, load one round. IMO, it’s not just recoil but muzzle blast/sound that intimates new shooters. I would have them do ear plugs underneath muffs. Bullet wise, I’d use heavier slugs. I will say 77g OTMs will really work well.
 
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I don’t advise the use of a .22 to hunt deer, but I’ll have to say that I’ve killed many hogs with an AR in .223/5.56 shooting Hornady Superformance 75 grain BTHP bullets. All of them weren’t ear holed either, some were shoulder shot and some double lunged. I seldom had a pass through on the lung shot ones if they were big hogs, but the lungs were shredded. Shot placement is important but is with larger calibers too.
 
I put a Sims vibration recoil pad on my 7mag and my daughter and wife fight over who gets to shoot that gun.My daughter shot an Oryx in NM at 374 yards when she was 13 and then went on to do 6 one kills in Africa when she was 18.
 
buckdeer1 said:
I put a Sims vibration recoil pad on my 7mag and my daughter and wife fight over who gets to shoot that gun.My daughter shot an Oryx in NM at 374 yards when she was 13 and then went on to do 6 one kills in Africa when she was 18.
Click to expand...

It sounds like your daughter is a good shot !
 
My kid is up to 6 or 7 deer with the 300 blackout. If you have a 5.56 AR you can mail order a cheap upper for 200-250. Not a long range round but has more pop than it should looking at the cartridge.
 
E_308 said:
My kid is up to 6 or 7 deer with the 300 blackout. If you have a 5.56 AR you can mail order a cheap upper for 200-250. Not a long range round but has more pop than it should looking at the cartridge.
Click to expand...

I was considering that. I don’t want her shooting past ~75 yards yet anyway.


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This is a great use case for a suppressor. Get started on the paper work Asap, and you'll be ready for next season. Give you a good excuse to buy a new short barreled rifle too. Bergara and CVA or TC make a 308 and a 6.5 creedmoor with an 18" barrel. Awesome combo.
 
Update:

We’ve put in a few range days with lots of rimfire and a few center fire. She shot our .243 compact today off sticks while sitting on a stool to simulate a ground blind scenario. She seems to be past any concerns and is much more confident. Her last round of the day was in the ten ring at 100 yards, she’s ready for the woods!

Winning recipe:
•rimfire reps
•shoulder pad
•shooting off sticks vs. bench


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weekender21 said:
Update:

We’ve put in a few range days with lots of rimfire and a few center fire. She shot our .243 compact today off sticks while sitting on a stool to simulate a ground blind scenario. She seems to be past any concerns and is much more confident. Her last round of the day was in the ten ring at 100 yards, she’s ready for the woods!

Winning recipe:
•rimfire reps
•shoulder pad
•shooting off sticks vs. bench


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
Click to expand...
Practice with live ammo can't be beat. With youngsters it's nice to have smaller caliber options to work up to the bigger stuff.
 
I know it sounds kind of redneck, but I would set my daughters' up on the shooting bench ready to shoot at the target, then drop a sandbag in between the stock and their shoulder, and then proceed with the shooting business. My girls are slim, and have long arms, so recoil was a big problem, and the sandbag didn't bother them at all, and soaked up most of the recoil, making good shooters out of them relatively quickly.
This trick would probably not work as good for a smaller framed youth, but I have a "Caldwell Leadsled III" now that I can start a youngster on.
I'm almost too manly to admit in public, but sometimes I use the sandbag on the shoulder trick myself when shooting .300 magnum. Of course, I also have long arms an slim shoulders, that's where my girls got it from.
 
Regardless of which rifle and cartridge you go with, I'd also suggest closely monitored dry fire practice. I used to tape up a picture of a deer on one side of basement and have the kids aim at it for dry fire practice. Got to keep the crosshairs on it through pulling the trigger. With the shortages of ammo today, it makes even more sense to dry fire a bunch for practice.
 
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