My son (8yo, 4'9ft, and 72lbs) informed me he wants to shoot a deer this year. We went shopping this weekend and the gun that fits him best (the ones that were available to shoulder) is the Ruger American Compact. I have a 7mm-08 on hold and wanted to gather your thoughts on whether or not this would be a good purchase for him at this time or if there are other alternatives I should be looking at (22" barrel with a cut down / youth stock). I know he will out grow this gun in a couple of years, but he has a little sister that has also expressed interest in hunting that could use it as well when the time comes. I am thinking my wife at 5'4 and 118 could use it as well if I could get her out with me. What says the folks of the THF?

I say if your kids start hunting there is a good chance the wife will at least tag along if not begin hunting.

I think buying into the youth modle guns is somewhat of a waste. My parents never did and we never had problems with full size guns. Full size guns weigh more and recoil less also.

18" will work fine in terms of the velocity and accuracy of the 7mm-08.
I think you will loose the last 100y of usable range. Probably still good out
to 300y. You may get a heck of a muzzle blast though.

I think the only thing that matters is if the rifle fits him. If he is able to shoulder the rifle and see the sight picture clearly. Usually requires a youth stock. If he's not comfortable shouldering the rifle to see the sight picture it will affect his accuracy thus affect his confidence to shoot the weapon. Barrel length is not the issue.

What age did you start shooting? My son started with a Crickett at 5yrs old. There is no way that he could support a Ruger 10/22 or other comparable sized .22 at that age. But the Crickett was light enough that he could shoot it standing or sitting.

With a proper fitting rifle, you can start teaching proper technique that will stay with them, vs. bad habits that you will have to correct later because their guns didn't fit.

What I did for my young sun was cut the stock down to fit his arms, when he got older I reattached the stock cut off with dowels and screws. The gun was a savage 243. Now he is grown and I have the gun.

IMO the barrel length isn't too big of a deal for your purposes. The stock on the Compact and the Standard are different, by around two inches if I'm not mistaken, the compact being the smaller.

6.8 SPC is real happy with an 18" barrel.
Ruger makes a compact bolt action too.

The loud report and recoil on that cut down gun in 708 could be a little much for the youngsters like that

Good luck

Have a 18.5 inch 7mm08, the noise is the main issue but with managed recoil loads it kicks less than a 243 and is not as loud. A stock that fits will help on the recoil as well since can get a solid in the shoulder pocket hold. I would go for it. Would be handy in truck or blind

Not sure what price you are looking at, but there is a guy in the classifieds with a pretty decent price on both the standard and compact Ruger Americans. No affiliation, just passing it on.
http://www.texashuntingforum.com/forum/ubbthreads.php/ubb/showflat/Number/5257177/Searchpage/1/Main/428673/Words/ruger+/Search/true/Re:_Ruger_Americans-Central_Te#Post5257177

Edit: Mods, help me out with the link.

EL_NUMERO_UNO is his user name. Look in the classifieds. I think he had them for$349 including tax.

I started out using a 18.5" barreled 243 and still like using the gun to this day.

+1 See if you can pick up a small rifle like an older Rem 788 or a Model 7, in 243 or whatever you like. Cut the stock off to the right LOP for the kids, then save the block and put it back on later, or just get another full sized stock.

yes he will outgrow it probably. I wouldn't mess with the barrel unless you really want a short truck gun to have latter. ( this is my next build) The stock is more important. I like the re-attachable idea. Other than that maybe find an aftermarket stock that is shorter?

love your choice of caliber

I have cut two encore barrels to 18 and like them.

Go with the reduced recoil loads, or buy a .243 or .260. Ruger makes a good gun.