Youth Gun Help

[not_nuf_time]

I have a 12 year old son about a hundred pounds. This will be his first year deer hunting with a gun. I bought him the 20 ga. youth shot gun. I have also been offered a Rem 25-06 with vari III scope for him for $600.00. Witch I am going to buy for him for future use.(opinion on this gun OK, to)

My question is this, I don't think he is ready for that 25-06 this year(even though I've been told they don't kick like a 30-06). So do I go out and buy the rifled slug barrel for the 20 ga. for $70.00 or use just the smooth bore, and is their a big difference? Or Force feed him the 25-06? Thanks.

[roosterslayer]

if you already have a 30-06 you could try the managed recoil rounds from remington. i have heard that the kick is very tolerable and perfect for smaller frame people.

[Froggy4371]

Just to tell you from experience that the 20 guage will kick more then the 25-06. I bought my son a 20 guage combo last year and it is a great gun and since we can only hunt deer with a shotgun it works good but I own a 25-06 and I sure think it kicks less then the 20 guage. Now if they are shooting at a deer there will be no notice in how they kick but practicing they will notice a kick. It is not bad but my son is about the same size and he says the kick from the 20 guage is not bad but let your son shoot them both and decide for himself. maybe tyr different load and recoil pads and see what works best.

Froggy.

[VMS]

To be honest, I'd say find a 30-06 and use the remingon managed recoil. I switched to that last year, and 125 grains is plenty to drop a deer. Then, your son has a gun that will last him a lifetime and can get used for bigger game if, and/or when he chooses to go for larger game like elk or moose. The gun you choose might be a little heavier too, which will also aid in reduction of felt recoil.

If your options are there for different calibers, a .308 or a 7mm-08 would be great choices as well. big enough for deer but not overly powerful to blow off a shoulder.

Steve

[not_nuf_time]

Thanks for ideas, I just went and looked at the 25-06 and passed on it. I forgot he shot left handed, it had a cheek plate on the stock and to sight in correctly you had to have your cheek about a half inch from the stock. Plus the right side bolt would have been a hassle. I figure I'ld rather get him the perfect fit gun for him so it does last him a lifetime, and he'ld really enjoy hunting rather than fight with a misfit gun for him. I'll keep looking. Thanks.

[VMS]

Being a lefty myself, I started with a Browning model 81 BLR. easy enough to add a little attatment to the hammer to make it easier to cock with the thumb and he'd be all set. The other nice aspect about it is the BLR has a clip rather than having to load it into a tubular magazine like the marlins or winchesters. The gun is light enough and short enough to use as well which made it a really good brush gun. And...with the selection of calibers, and a decent price point he'd have a great gun.

The A-bolt micro is a little shorter as well and a 60 deg bolt throw which if he goes with a scope, his hand would not get so close to the scope...

man...talking about this makes me want to go out and do some shopping again.

Steve

[love to hunt]

Great advice on the managed recoild rounds. They work very well to about 150 yds and the kick is very tolerable.

[JDM]

I have a fair amount of experience with slug guns. The 20 guage with slugs will kick as hard as a lot of bigger rifles. Slugs kick much harder than standard shotgun loads. If he is a lefty, go to a lever gun. A 30-30 is a light kicker and easy to handle. Hornady just developed new ammo that makes the 30-30 into a legitimate 250 to 300 yard gun. Pretty amazing. I was at a store the other day and Marlin even has a gun out that is made to match that ammo. It has a loner barrel than most 30-30's.

The .308 and .270 are not real heavy kicking guns and you could get by with a .243 for whitetails (and predators!) I personally started with a .270 at age 12.

If you do decide to go with the 20 guage, buy the slug barrel so that he has the best chance he has to hit his target if he gets an opportunity. I now hunt in the slug zone and my slug gun, with a rifled barrel and scope shoots good groups at 100 yards. It also kicks like a .338 Win Mag with the new hot slugs that I use and isn't really very fun to shoot.

[uffdapete]

I guess it depends on which .308. At age 14 (& 180 lbs) my first rifle was a .308 Savage 99 and ended up selling it because of the recoil. I still hate heavy recoil 40 years later and shoot a .270 now - no comparison to that .308.

At 100 lbs. my recommendation would be something with light recoil - .243 & .260 are 2 of many options - or a caliber for which managed recoil loads are available. The size of the caliber isn't nearly as important as a well placed shot.