Forget the 243 and get them a 308, not much difference in recoil. Let them practice with a 22 then only shoot the 308 at a deer and they will never feel the recoil. Plus if they get a little jerky it will put a big enough hole in it to find it. Spent too many nights in the woods looking for bad hit deer shot by jerky kids, their parent were worried about recoil. My son killed his first at 6 years old shooting my 270, killed several with it and never worried about recoil till a bunch of guys in the club were talking about recoil, he heard the conversation and it got him thinking about it and made him skiddish of it for awhile. Took a little to get him over it. Oh a 243 is a fine deer rifle for someone who will put the bullet where it needs to go.
