Best deer rifle for 8 year old

I'm going to buy a rifle for my 8 year old grandson and was thinking of this: CVA Hunter Compact in 243, but I am open for any suggestions that you may have. He has only shot 22's. He is of average height and weight for an 8 year old.
http://www.cabelas.com/product/CVA-HUNTER-COMPACT-SINGLE-SHOT-CENTERFIRE-RIFLE/1994641.uts?searchPath=%2Fbrowse.cmd%3FCQ_refinements%3D~brand%253dCVA%26CQ_search%3D243%26CQ_st%3Db%26categoryId%3D734095080

I know this will probably turn into a debate on calibers, but I honestly believe a 223 is a great youth gun. There seems to be less flinch and better shot placement. I think the importance of accuracy out weighs the 30 grain difference in bullet size.

If he can handle the slight recoil of the .243 during practise at the range IMO it is the best youth cal. available.

I agree .223 will be good. I hunted with a .222 at that age. I remember in junior high talking to a classmate who hunted with a 30-06. He would tell me a few times about the deer he missed/wounded. As I've gotten older I think it might be cause he hunted with a30-06 as a young kid and was scared of the recoil. Just my 2 cents.

.223, .222, or 22-250 are all great kid guns and deer slayers.

Often over looked and a close cousin to the .223 is the 6MM Remington. To me almost more important than the caliber is the fit.

Yes I shot a semi-auto 6mm till I was 17, great gun with very little recoil. I think I shot 90 grain through it.

.250 savage is perfect for a kid

If the gun doesn't fit, it will smack the snot out of his cheek and there is absolutely no way that he'll ever hit anything with it. Find a gun that fits then worry about the cartridge.

Unless you are ready to get him into a 223 or 22/250, the 243 is your best choice. If you decide to go the 243 route, I'd strongly suggest that you get with Chad on here and see if he can offer you some low recoil loads. They will go a long way towards accuracy.

I would agree. The fit makes all the difference on the felt recoil.

You can get a larger caliber for them to grow into but shoot the reduced recoil loads out of them that will make the recoil felt much less. Nothing wrong with a .222, .223, .22-250, .243 or 6mm. I have some Remington reduced recoil ammo for my .270 when I have a new hunter learning to shoot or shooting their first deer.

AR-15 223, will be the best fit for him unless he is exceptionally large. Choose a good bullet you'll be fine. Mys boys have killed plenty with a AR 15 at that age, I hand loaded 62gr barnes TSX.

Thank you all for your advise, I value everyone's opinion.

Hornady offers a lower recoil version of their .243 ammo that would make the caliber an even better choice for an eight-year-old.

I had a Remington Mohawk 600 in 243 at that age....nice short rifle. Still love it today.

9 year old daughter shoots the Mossberg 243 super bantam witch's has a extra butt plate for when she grows. Put a Witt machinery bolt on muzzle break and she has no issue with kick actually sent 25 rounds down it at the range last week and never complained once even stopped wearing the shooting pad she always wore before the muzzle break

243

I think 243 is great.

Personally for a first deer gun I would buy him something more traditional, a Remington, savage, ruger, wby vanguard, Winchester etc. in a wood stock.

But I'm weird and traditional like that.

An AR-15 in 6.8 with adjustable stock and plastic/lightweight hand-guard.

This is what we let the youth and women that come hunt with us shoot. It is adjustable and easy to hold. It is also familiar to the kids because it is what they use in the games they play. I have 2 topped with Leupold VX3 1.5-5x20 with heavy duplex reticle that are suppressed with SilencerCo Harvestor(s) on 16.5 inch barrels. These are the ones that get used the most. I have had 15-20 kids uses these guns to take whitetail, hogs and, exotics. Mine are Wilson Combat but any of the AR platforms would work.

There is little kick, the gun grows with the kid and can be used for the rest of his life. Plus, high cool factor...

I would assume the 6.5 Grendel in an AR platfrom would be good as well.

My boys both hunt with 223 just make sure that they are well practiced and use correct bullets. We use 64 grain speer gold dot soft points and to date have not had a deer take a step after being shot. I have them shoot my AR-15 because there is no recoil and you can collapse the stock to fit them. If you are not keen on 223 I like the 257 roberts also. If you are going to go with a semi auto make sure there are set rules. My boys are young and usually sit on my lap to shoot, that being said I work the safety for them and they know not to touch the trigger until dad has taken the safety off and they are on target and ready to shoot. Following the shot they take their finger off the trigger and dad puts the safety back on before they move a muscle. It takes lots of practice and time and ingraining those safety values so they are second nature.

+1 on this. It's what I have my kids shooting in their Weatherby S2 in 243.

I also bought a replacement, adjustable stock for the rifle. It has some recoil reduction built into it as well. If I remember correctly, I picked up the stock at Optics Planet.
http://www.blackhawk.com/Products/Long-G...ifle-Stock.aspx

The downside is that the stock above is limited to Howa/Weatherby and Remington

My first at age 10 was a Remington 788 in .243, which we still have in the family. It's getting a new Leupold this week and dad will likely hunt with it this weekend. TONS of memories!

We (my small 9 year old)have been working with an AR just to build confidence. They are just too easy to adjust fit as well as the more than manageable recoil. Not to mention it will never be "outgrown ". Just my 2 pesos.

CVA in the 7mm-08 makes for a great youth gun. I bought one for my 8 yr old last year and it is extremely accurate. You can buy the reduced recoil ammo by remmington, which makes the recoil feel like a .223. Two deer have been taken with it so far and the farthest went 30 yards.

A Howa Ranch Hand .223
Sweet little shooters

300 Blackout Contender with a red dot. Easy mechanics,simple to aim, no recoil, compact with a short LOP. Put a suppressor on it and it's hearing safe.

I'll second the 7mm-08. Both my Granddaughters along with my Daughter shoot one. Daughter shoots regular loads and Granddaughters can shoot either the Remington or Hornaday reduced loads. I do use god-a-grip cheek pads and finger groves on them.

Best rifle ever built out of the box

My eight year old is shooting his Marlin XS7 243 that I bought him for his birthday. However, his first deer rifle shooting experience was with the same 30-30 that I killed my first deer with. I'm not sure he noticed the difference in recoil if there is one.

My daughter started hunting when she was 8 using a savage 22-250. Great rifle. I reloaded 53gr Barnes TSX for it and it has been Money. now she is 10 and 3 deer later now she is moving into a .243, for this season. I would not change a thing if I could the 22-250 has been awesome.

Will build her a 6.5 Creedmoor and after that she is on her own.

THIS ^^^^^^^^^^

243

243 Mohawk

Used these rounds for my Dad in his last few years of hunting; low recoil and dropped a buck dead in his tracks at 100 yards!

The gun is almost as important as the caliber, and calibers mentioned here are good. I have seen way too many kids flinching at the range because their first gun was a lightweight youth model gun. And often the outcome is a heartbroken kid that injured or missed an animal. I have seen guys do the same thing with their wife and get some light weight big caliber rifle. I have shot youth model 223s that kick harder than my 308. Lightweight guns will make a kid gun shy, to me this is not a good idea.
My daughter was 9 years old when she shot her first deer with a heavy barrel 243 that she had shot perfectly at the range. That gun barely moved when she squeezed the trigger. She was about 50 pounds and put that gun over her shoulder and walked the 200 yards to the blind for her first hunt. A neck shot later and she had a doe laying were it stood. She is 23 years old now and still uses that gun with amazing confidence. It was also carried for miles during a recent pronghorn hunt, no complaints.
My wife and daughters are all petite ladies. They all have heavy, full length, rifles and they all shoot excellent. They giggle when a guy talks about how he needs to shorten a gun so it will be lighter to carry and easier to move around in the blind.
This is Texas, we bench rest hunt out of a blind. Rifle weight is not an issue.

marlin 30-30 w/4power scope...
150gr and will kill any whitetail from a box blind under a feeder at a measured distance..
this is all anyone who sits in a box near feeder really needs....
dated, but it works...

I have an 8 and 10 yr old that have both killed whitetail with the same 22-250 rem 788 that I used as a kid (stock is cut down) I have hand loaded for many years but still kill deer with factory 55gr corelocks in this rifle.

This season I built a savage 6.5 Grendel and put it in a xlr chassis so my 10yr old can shoot long range with us. I hunt with a 6.5 creedmoor suppressed, my 10 hr old killed a deer at 300 yds with that rifle last season.

I originally bought a youth model .243 but the recoil was too much.. we then went to an ar .223 with an adjustable stock, but knowing he's not the greatest shooter, I started looking for something that would knock a big hole and leave us a good blood trail.. so we've got the .300 blackout and grandpa recently picked up a Ruger .44 cal semi auto.. both have little recoil and throw a big chunck of lead.!

And to clarify on his shooting accuracy, he's pattering about the size of my hand at 100 yards, so not terrible but the bigger bullet gives us both a little more confidence in recovering game.

I'm all for a larger bullet. I shot a yearling (1.5 yr old) doe as my very first deer, she was broadside at 100-115 yards. I hit her right in the shoulder with a 100gr corelokt, just like I was taught. She flopped, struggled, got up and ran off into the brush. My dad tracked her for nearly 400 yards and shot her again. The post-op exam looked like the bullet had just blown all the meat off the shoulder blade without penetrating. There was no brush between us when I fired and my dad and I used that same box of shells on plenty of other deer. It's been way too long to remember clearly but maybe I hit her too high to catch the spine, or just perfectly below it and above the lungs. It was very disheartening at the time. Thanks for the tracking job and coup de grace, pops.

This is what all of my boys started with and got their first deer with....

My daughters were 7 and 11 when I bought them a Ruger 77 Compact in .243. We started them with reduced handloads of IMR 3031 using Sierra 85 grain boat tail hollow points. They killed their first nine deer with that rifle. All one shot kills. The younger one (turns 21 in Jan) hunts with a 25-06 now but her sister still hunts with the .243. I consider myself fortunate. Good luck with your selection and I hope your boy enjoys hunting as much as my girls do.

Great advice here! If you can get reduced recoil loads that will allow him to grow into a rifle that will suit him for years to come it seems like the would be the best option!

the savage lever's are very iffy for accuracy, 87gr bullets that are difficult to find. bolt 250's are scarce

This is exactly what my family has done, too. My dad took his first deer with this setup, and 30ish years later I took my first deer (out of the same stand) with the same marlin 30-30. I was a normal sized 10 year old and the recoil didn't bother me. Most of my cousins used basically the same rifle for their first deer, also. It's become a family tradition, and I think its pretty cool that in a few years my kid will be the 3rd generation to kill their first deer with the same rifle. Its pretty basic, but it works.

my father's gun.. a 336 carbine/4x weaver...
he shot a lot of ordinace in Army..
Garand, BAR, .30 carbine, various .50 cal. BMG's..single, dual and quad and .30 machine guns...
90mm and 105mm artilleraly and armored(tanks)w/same 90's and 105's
he shot deer w/a 30-30...
go figger...

that ole 30-30 taught me a lot....
Dad let me have it and go sneak oats fields...
does would bust me in the fence-line till I learned
enough to be better than they were...
best teaching ever...
doubt I could do it now, but I could sneak a deer...
till I got a 270 and then they's dead way out there...
thx for the memories of when I'd lay in a fence-line jus' waiting...
got my first buck doing that

I had a brake-down single shot 243. Loved that little gun and killed many deer and a few hogs with it.

My first deer gun was a british enfield 303. Second was a ParkerHale 243 that I loved and many deer dropped with it. But my vote for a first deer rifle caliber, goes to the ancient great 257 Roberts.

Love thinking about this my first deer rifle was a break over 22 Hornet. Shot a hard horned stag at 175 yards with that 2nd hunt in a stand by myself at the age of 8. That's still the best horned deer I've ever killed had a 21" inside spread.

Still have the gun in the family and plan on giving it to my kids around 5-7 y/o.

get a Marlin Youth Model 7mm-08 (best bang for buck) and you can even add one of those slip on butt pads if you need some extra length to fit him. He can use this rifle for long time and its good out to 300 yards. I believe you can even get reduced recoil loads in the is caliber. Although my 9 yr old shot regular Core Lokts a few weeks ago and did not phase him one bit and he is only like 60 lbs. Not a lot of recoil.

Lots of choices, I killed my first deer at six years old with a 218 Bee, good bullets and shot placement are key. . Getting a rifle they can grow into is your best bet. A 243, 260, 7mm 08 are all good choices, get them to shoot it well and they can enjoy it for a lifetime. My kid was 7 when he got his first deer with a 243WSSM. It is a heavy bbl setup, and has practically no recoil. He is 13 now and has decided the 25-06 will be his choice this year. Start them out with something they are comfortable with, and they will enjoy it and end up being great shots.

My 10 and 8 yr old boys put cull bucks down with the 6.5 grendel this weekend. So far I am very impressed with this cartridge and this rifle. Both bullets passed through with quarter sized exit wounds and jellied organs. The XLR Element Chassis will grow with them and alway fit perfect.

Was wondering how the Grendel is working out for your boys Westtexhunt, sounds like it is doing well. Thinking the Howa barreled action in a LSS chassis would make for a light weight and light recoiling gun a kid could use for life.

Its a great cal.for kid or lady My wife shot one for 36y...Only problem is Ammo is rare to unavailable..We reload so its not a problem if you got Brass..Brass is easier to find than loaded shells..Hornady and Jamason Brass

6.8

You can't go wrong with a .243 rifle for kids. It gives them a little room to grow into it if they are still pretty young when they start shooting it. Smaller women can benefit from a .243, my wife is 5'4" and probably 115 pounds soaking wet, she's taken up target shooting lately and likes shooting my old savage model 99, lever action .243. If you can find one of those its heckuva a gun (not sure if they still make them, ours is probably 40 years old). And, with the lever action it can double as a good varmint gun, too.

With that said the family tradition for us is that every kid has to shoot their first deer with an old marlin 30-30. No exceptions, once you can shoulder one of those you're ready to shoot a deer but until there you aren't going be allowed to do so. I've the 4th generation to take his first deer with the same old marlin 30-30 and the fifth generation will be killing their first deer with the same rifle soon.

I bought a .243 for my boys but my oldest shot his first deer with my old .264 winmag.