New here and looking for some advice. I need to get a rifle for my 10 year old daughter. She has shot a .22 with scope and is comfortable with that. She also shoots a 20 ga. shotgun. She still has some hesitation when it comes to shooting for the fear of kick back. So, with that said, opinions for a rifle for shooting WTD and hogs would greatly be appreciated. Cheers!

My son started with a .223 under my supervision and shot deer and pigs no problem.

6.5 Grendel and 6.8SPC have light recoil and can take WTD and hogs. The heavier it is, the less recoil felt. 243WIN is a decent choice as well.

At 10 years old .....agree with the 223. This might be a bit much for her but one of the lightest recoil calibers IMO is the 6.5 x 55. It's becoming a popular caliber. I have one in a CZ 550 and it shoots like a dream.

We started the neighbor’s daughter with a 22. She was scared of the recoil on that, so I put the rifle butt on the end of my nose, pointed it down range, into the dirt and shot it. That convinced her the 22 was Ok, and she shot it very well. Then on to the 223 (Ruger Hawkeye), which I put against my chin (not the nose this time) and fired into the dirt. Ok, she was fine with regard to no recoil, and she shot it very well. Then on to the 243, which she feared. We doubled up on hearing protection and she shot it decently, until I promised money for accuracy, and then she did great.

A week later her older sister, however, just feared everything. We never got her to shoot the 223 accurately. She’d just close her eyes tight and jerk the trigger. She wouldn’t shoot the 243, even for money. I think that one’s a lost cause.

For the OP’s kid, I’d suggest the 223 with a medium load and either the Nosler Partition or 65 gr Sierra Gameking. I like the look of those super light Tikkas. I think they offer it in 223. If not, then the regular light stainless version with the 20” barrel.

If I was doing the same i'd probably wind up with a 6.5 Grendel

I really like the AR platform for kids. The collapsible stock allows them to get the correct LOP and eye relief without straining and the buffer spring absorbs a lot of the recoil. I have a .300 BO and .224V for my son, who is 8 and very small for his age. He's lights out with his .22 and I'm turning him loose on a pig this year if we get the opportunity. Depending on how he does with that, I may let him shoot a deer. He's afraid of the recoil as well and doubling up on ear protection or shooting suppressed really helps, too bad I don't have a suppressor for him.

ok I will way in. 07/08 reduced recoil rounds should help.

Several will work, i like the Grendel and 6.8 options. In a AR their recoil is very small and even in a bolt action the recoil is less than a 243 IMO. The Ruger American might be one to look at with the Grendel and there is also the Howa Mini bolt action.

If she's shooting a 20 ga you've got allot to work with. Average recoil 2 3/4 load runs around 16.1 lbs on the 20 ga. 308 running a 150 runs just under 16 lbs. Just about anything running off a 308 or below should be good. Since she's used to the 20 I'd go with the 7mm08 running 140's, that one produces just under 13 lbs of recoil.

My bet is she got her fear of recoil from the 20 gauge and probably wouldn't shoot it for carp as a rifle which is why he is asking about low recoil.

This. Hornady for the win!

A down loaded 300 blackout would be great for her even cheap 300 blackout from walmart works good

It's a bit of an expensive option, but I really like the idea of having a 6.5 grendel bolt gun in a chassis that accepts ar mags and stocks. Currently the only thing that fits this bill is a ruger american predator in 6.5g and a MDT chssis. The ar mage would allow for much broader range of length adjustability. I have a 6.5g ar that is theoterically my girls' starter hunting rifle but I think I'd like to this package as well.

Both of my kids started with a .243 youth model which is shorter in length than a regular rifle. A rifle smaller in stature may be of some interest.

I bought my twins 2 Remington 700 and bedded them into boyd’s at one stocks so they’d have something that would grow with them the have handled them fine and both can print a sub 2” group with them clear out to 200 yards off a machine rest. They both were shooting my 308 around the age of 9-10 and have been around guns their whole life.
I attached a pic of their rifles, they are both 6.5 creeds

Thanks everyone for their replies! Good info!

My 12yr girl loves her new 6.8 SPC AR. I started her on the .223 and since she was familiar with the platform we went with it for her deer rifle. She's run about 100rnds thur ut this year and is surprisingly accurate with it. After about 20rnds she mentioned the recoil but kept on shooting it.

I started my daughter with a .243 and my son with a 336 30-30 cuz he wanted 30-30. At the time I felt .223 was too light for deer and hogs. I felt that way most of my adult life. I now believe .223 is fine and dandy on hogs and deer so my first choice would be .223 and second would be 6.5 Grendel in an AR-15.

At her age, you might consider the same careful approach you would take with a kid who pitches baseballs and limit the number of rounds she shoots with a larger caliber rifle.

If she doesn't already, I would suggest a .22 that she can shoot as many times as she wants. She can practice the same shooting mechanics at a fraction of the cost and without the wear and tear on her shoulder.

Keep in mind too that because a .22 is usually much lighter than a larger caliber rifle, shooting tight groups without a rest can be more difficult with a .22.

I really like the .357 mag in a rifle platform, and since it has very little recoil (to me) I bought my son a Rossi single shot in 357 mag. I shortened the stock to fit him, and he does OK with it. But he will only shoot a couple of shots before he is done. Say's the recoil hurts his shoulder. Now put him behind my AR in 300BLK and he will shoot all day long. Accurately too. 125 gr factory load in a semi-auto is such a soft shooter, with an adjustable stock, I have come the the realization that an AR is probably the perfect platform for a kid.
There is a big But in my thinking. Although I think an AR is the perfect platform for a kid, I think a .223 is just NOT a good deer round for kids or adults. Before I get flamed by all those shooting deer with a .223, yes, it will kill deer. I know that...and I have done so with mine. However, I feel that a larger caliber will be more forgiving on a less than perfectly placed shot. 300blk, 6.8 spc, 6.5 grendel, etc. Or maybe even jump up to an AR-10. The semi-auto does a lot to soak up recoil. Even my BAR in .270 is a soft shooter, and it has no recoil pad.

My daughter shoots a AR-15 .223

This is her second year using it.

We keep the shots under 75 yards

I will prob get her something better next year but so far it’s worked out great

Just get her another upper in 6.5 Grendel or 6.8SPC. Basically have same gun with more bullet and effectiveness on game without much more recoil

I grew up on a 22-250 with my grandfathers handloads with some 63gr. Sierra SP and they were deadly on deer. I bought my wife a 22-250 for her first rifle, and she loves it even though she doesn't hunt much due to our kiddos ages right now.