Youth Caliber

Been waiting for this day. My oldest daughter age 12 has finally said that she wants to go deer hunting with me. We were in BPS a few weeks ago and I let her shoulder a Winchester Featherweight in 7mm-08 and it fit perfectly. Not overly familiar with the caliber, so a few questions. (1) Recoil - acceptable for a younger hunter? (2) Killing Power - Will it get the job done on a deer at 150 yards or less? Closest comparable caliber, .243 or .308?

My oldest has shot a 708 since he was 9. Recoil is manageable and 140s do a great job on deer.

7-08 is a great round for any hunter and especially youth. Slightly more recoil than 243, slightly less recoil than 308. I’d stick with 120gr ammo to help minimize recoil. What I found with both of my kids, noise bothered them more than the actual recoil. Quality ear protection will go a long way towards preventing the dreaded “flinch” some develop.

Great choice for a first rifle. The M70 Featherweight is quite possibly the perfect hunting rifle.

*The 7-08 is an effective killer at much farther than 150yds.

My oldest girl shot one at 350 yards with her 7-08 when she was 16, and yes it was ranged. I love that caliber but deer hate it.

IF you can find reduced recoil ammo for it, the ballistics are the same as standard ammo out to 200 yards.
That's what my daughter shot for years. The recoil felt very light to me - I dare say even less than a .243

243, 6MMCreedmoor, 6.5Creedmoor or 7MM08 would serve her well.
Other mentions are 257Roberts and 25-06.

.260, .243, 6.5, 7mm-08

My daughters and niece started with .243 at 10 yo. Friends sons started with .260 at 5 and 7 yo. Either one does a good job when bullet is placed properly.

7mm-08 of my daughter's shoots anything you feed it.
Bergara 6.5 cm for wife, just a little different flavor than the -08, but not much from what I found on the world wide internet.

High shoulder shot will anchor a 200lb. deer all day long with either. I like the short action of the -08 myself.

Good luck!

7mm-08 all day. 140's have killed everything I have shot with them, acceptably, and without the need for special bullets.

What I am saying is if you start out with 7-08 the kids can grow up and into them as an adult.

The problem with something like .243 is... it's marginal at best and if you aren't careful they'll wind up a grown ass man trying to still shoot it. Just No. A 7-08 and also mentioned .260 are much better, more versatile and longer term choices.

Agree except for 25-06. It’s recoil is fine for youth but that cartridge needs some barrel length to do what it was designed for. An 18” barreled 25-06 is not a good option.

Pass on the 7-08 unless you reload. Try finding ammo for one now (see WTB ad in classifieds now). It’s always been twice as expensive as similar calibers and hard to come by.

6.5 creedmoor, 6mm creedmoor or a 243 is what I’d buy.

7-08 is a fine caliber but a gun is useless without ammo and it’s basically a twin to a 6.5CM as far as a kid is concerned.

Don't overlook the 6.5 Grendel, awesome performance with very low recoil.

Holler if you buy the 7-08 and need some 140 or 150 gr ammo
.My girls were under 100 lbs and had no issues with 140 gr ammo.
.308 would always have more ammo available
Love the caliber and bought a lot of ammo when I found it online this summer, but .308 would be my choice and you can also get reduced recoil ammo.

Look no further. If you like it. Buy it.

All the aforementioned,and the 7.62x39…

My son started shooting a Browning Micro Hunter 7-08 at age 11. He thumped a pile of deer with that rifle . I thumped a bigger pile with a A-Bolt Stainless in 7-08. We are woods hunters with our longest shot being about 125 yards across a plot. I believe it would be a good choice for your daughter .

I have an Abolt 2 stainless stalker in 7-08 I’m contemplating selling for some reason. I need to be talked out of selling 🤦🏿🤦🏿🤦🏿

Oh boy that's my dream gun. Been looking for one of these in any caliber much less in 7mm-08. I like my model 70 extreme weather but those a-bolts just feel and fit better to me. As far as a good youth caliber I would go with 243 or 7mm-08. Dont think you could go wrong with either.

IF you can find ammo and she can tolerate it, the 7-08 would be a good pick. If you load, or can find low recoil stuff, a 308 will work and can be grown into. All the heckling aside, the 6.5 creedmoor (or 260 or swede) is a better beginner deer rifle (IMO) than the 243 or any 6mm, just due to bullet weights and barrel length requirements to get good velocity AND not be obnoxious on blast. A 257 Bob is a huckleberry for most boxes that need checked, as well….if there’s ammo or you can load. The 25s and 26s are gonna be more fun to shoot than the 7mm-30s, and less finicky about angles and barrel length than the 6s…..JME.

I’ve found the 7mm08 to be a fine youth deer rifle, or just deer rifle period. Once you find a round that 1) shoots well in that individual gun, and 2) is reliable as far as performance on deer, go ahead and buy you many boxes and stick in closet. The downside to 7mm08 is ammo availability.

PM sent.

I appreciate the offer. I plan to go look at the gun this weekend. I may hit you up. Right now, her biggest fear is recoil. I am going to let her shoot a .243 and hopefully that will get her comfortable. If I order the gun, I am going to order ammo with it.

Thanks for the advice. Going to spend some time this weekend looking at options.

Get her comfortable with a scoped .22lr and then move to center fire. Mine never shot the big rifle when young until their first deer and recoil was never an issue.

Great advice.
Teach her good form and not to crowd the scope. Buy her a brick of .22s and when she shoots all those buy another . 22 is the best trainer there is.

Fair point on barrel length.
Ya absolutely the 25-06 is optimized with a 24-26” barrel.

Already got the ammo. Been buying up waiting on the day for her to express an interest. Trying to find time to run up to the grandparents farm and lay waste to some cans and targets. Have taken her to shoot sporting clays with me a few times and let her pull the trigger on a 20 gauge with the stock on her shoulder. Youngest girl (9) wants to go duck hunting with me Thanksgiving. Looking forward to a great year.

If concerned with ammo availability, I would look at the 6.5 CM. Because of it's popularly, it's going to be a high priority production whereas 7 08 will be much lower priority and fewer choices. The 7 08 is a fine cartridge but has never been as popular as it should have been since it was introduced, and ammo is more expensive. Until the 6.5 CM, the only truly successful metric cartridge in the US was the 7mm RM, despite many fine metric cartridges in them last 60 years. Recoil wise there won't be a noticeable difference.

Unless the 25-06 is in a break action gun. A single shot encore with a 24” barrel will still be pretty compact especially with a youth stock on it. 25-06 encore would be a fine youth gun.

Fit is equally as important as caliber when it comes to recoil and enjoyable shooting. If the gun fit, I wouldn’t hesitate on the 7mm-08. As others have stated, use the light recoil loads to get her started.

Do. It let her shoot it at paper, only critters. Let her practice with the 22 until she’s comfortable.

Hsm has reduced recoil ammo. I'll add that a 25/06 needs at least a 22 inch tube. The 6.5 Grendel is vastly underrated as a killer. I've always been partial to the original 7/08 120 Hp from Remington easy on the shoulder.

Light recoil and ammo at Walmart = 350 Legend