X2 cuts noise and recoil.

It’s not the recoil it’s the muzzle bast. Invest in a suppressor.

I shoot deer with 200 grain subsonic bullets in a 300 blackout with great success. They are specially designed to open up at subsonic velocities and make a devastating wound channel which they do. Much more than any of the dozens of deer I've killed with a bow. These are not anything you can use in a 223. This is a bad idea in that caliber. If they won't do this, don't use it.

What bullet is that? The Subsonic .300 BO Im shooting is supposed to do the same thing but they are actually really performing poorly. Im shooting a Horniday

I am not trying to be a dick, but maybe your kid just isn't ready for deer hunting yet. Give it a year or 2

Maker Rex.

Some great advice here. I STRONLY recommend that if your child is not ready for the recoil for something like a 243 or 7mm/08 with standard or low recoil ammo, that you consider that as a significant sign they need to do A LOT more shooting before they are ready to shoot at and kill an animal. We forget sometimes, at least I do, that we used to shoot A LOT of other guns before we started deer hunting. Even if the child can shoot great on a range, that all changes when they are looking through the scope deciding to pull the trigger on an animal. I have seen and heard that go bad too, too, too many times with new hunters, kids and adults.

Forcing waiting, cultivating longing, can be a great way to motivate the child to work through their recoil discomfort, if they have a strong desire to hunt and harvest a deer. And managing our own parent hopes for our child can be difficult, we want for them what we've loved, but that can become a pressure that leads to problems. I know I have struggled with this and walked with many parents and kids through it.

One of the worst things that can happen to a beginning hunter is to wound, loose, or see an animal suffer, as you said in your (the original poster) concerns. This discussion has been had extensively for decades, hell maybe even centuries, and when its all said and done, all the opinions and exceptions are in, its just better to wait until the merging of the child's comfort with a long held standard caliber. There's a reason those calibers became the considered minimums and little has changed on that. There's just too much to risk, the life of an animal yes, but with the experience of the child being soooo important. We want to do everything we can to ensure that first kill goes well, it sets a standard that is of utmost importance.

I hesitate to say this, but this is so important to me, for kids and hunting culture's benefit, but this all comes from having personally guided over 400 deer kills and been in camp and learned from the daily experiences and stories of many thousands of guided kills. Even with the lower calibers, like 243, many, many deer would be lost, in the guiding situation which this is parent to child, without woodsmanship kills in recovery. Folks don't like to talk about that side, and I feel arrogant saying it this way, but I'm just trying to drive home the importance that sufficient caliber and ammo, that have a factored in margin of error because perfect shots WILL NOT ALWAYS happen, is one of the, if not the, most controllable factor in ensuring a good experience on that first shot.

A whole book could be written here and I've already rambled too much. In any case, best of luck to you and getting your child into hunting, you are doing great in your efforts!

I once dropped a deer dead in its tracks with a .22 short but would never use that as grounds to justify the round as acceptable for deer hunting.

It's too bad that the law is written that excludes the 56 Spencer. That would be a hoot to hunt with.

I shoot deer with 200 grain subsonic bullets in a 300 blackout with great success. They are specially designed to open up at subsonic velocities and make a devastating wound channel which they do. Much more than any of the dozens of deer I've killed with a bow. These are not anything you can use in a 223. This is a bad idea in that caliber. If they won't do this, don't use it.

Some great advice here. I STRONLY recommend that if your child is not ready for the recoil for something like a 243 or 7mm/08 with standard or low recoil ammo, that you consider that as a significant sign they need to do A LOT more shooting before they are ready to shoot at and kill an animal. We forget sometimes, at least I do, that we used to shoot A LOT of other guns before we started deer hunting. Even if the child can shoot great on a range, that all changes when they are looking through the scope deciding to pull the trigger on an animal. I have seen and heard that go bad too, too, too many times with new hunters, kids and adults.

Forcing waiting, cultivating longing, can be a great way to motivate the child to work through their recoil discomfort, if they have a strong desire to hunt and harvest a deer. And managing our own parent hopes for our child can be difficult, we want for them what we've loved, but that can become a pressure that leads to problems. I know I have struggled with this and walked with many parents and kids through it.

One of the worst things that can happen to a beginning hunter is to wound, loose, or see an animal suffer, as you said in your (the original poster) concerns. This discussion has been had extensively for decades, hell maybe even centuries, and when its all said and done, all the opinions and exceptions are in, its just better to wait until the merging of the child's comfort with a long held standard caliber. There's a reason those calibers became the considered minimums and little has changed on that. There's just too much to risk, the life of an animal yes, but with the experience of the child being soooo important. We want to do everything we can to ensure that first kill goes well, it sets a standard that is of utmost importance.

I hesitate to say this, but this is so important to me, for kids and hunting culture's benefit, but this all comes from having personally guided over 400 deer kills and been in camp and learned from the daily experiences and stories of many thousands of guided kills. Even with the lower calibers, like 243, many, many deer would be lost, in the guiding situation which this is parent to child, without woodsmanship kills in recovery. Folks don't like to talk about that side, and I feel arrogant saying it this way, but I'm just trying to drive home the importance that sufficient caliber and ammo, that have a factored in margin of error because perfect shots WILL NOT ALWAYS happen, is one of the, if not the, most controllable factor in ensuring a good experience on that first shot.

A whole book could be written here and I've already rambled too much. In any case, best of luck to you and getting your child into hunting, you are doing great in your efforts!

I don't shoot deer in the shoulder bone, I wait until broadside or quartering away and shoot behind it where the heart and lungs meet.

A whole lotta Training on a 22 LR does help with trigger pull and the anticipation of the shot as well.