It is a really long story but I dropped the ball with my son on introducing him to the sport. He is 16 and has never hunted anything but dove, geese, and shooting rabbits around our house. I work a ton, traveling a lot, and didn’t have a place to take him. That ends now. I just bought 330 acres an hour from our house and am intending on making up for lost time.

I was on the property earlier this week and there are plenty hogs and deer. We are gearing up for a hunt. I am planning on sighting in whatever rifles we decide on tomorrow (I have a 300 yard range at my house) and then going this weekend.

It is kind of messed up I built this range five years ago and I don’t think it has had fifty rounds fired into it yet. My son has shot my AR a couple of times but other than that has never shot any other center fire rifles.

At our disposal are 204, 223,22-250, 243, 270, 270 WSM, 308, 300 w mag.

Any recommendations on which one I should start him out with? He is a big strong kid. Plays high school football. Other than possibly the 300 I don’t think any of them will bother him. The 204, 22-250, 270WSM are all new in box rifles with no scopes mounted but I can pick one up tomorrow if need be.

Surprised no one has asked yet -- you said he's been wingshooting. What shotgun did you have him on? If it was a 12 gauge, especially inertia driven, then the recoil won't bother him on almost any of those except the 300WM. What will get him will be the noise. Make sure you give him some ear plugs and then put some muffs on over those.

He started dove hunting probably five years ago and was using an 1100 20 ga. On the goose hunting trips he was using a 12 ga super black eagle with 3” shells. He seemed fine with it but was bundled up like an Eskimo.

I feel sorry for this kid. Why would a 16 year old man need someone to tell him what rifle he needs to shoot? When I was his age I was guiding deer hunters in Terrell county. Drinking whiskey every night and guiding a lot of out of state hunters on trips to Boys Town. I had a full time job in the summer cutting metal in a machine shop and played football on a state championship team in ‘91. I don’t know what it takes to grow up these days but my sons need a lot more supervision than I did. Hopefully when they’re 16 I won’t have to choose a caliber for them.

Surprised no one has asked yet -- you said he's been wingshooting. What shotgun did you have him on? If it was a 12 gauge, especially inertia driven, then the recoil won't bother him on almost any of those except the 300WM. What will get him will be the noise. Make sure you give him some ear plugs and then put some muffs on over those.

Yes cause every kid nowadays has access to West Texas outfitters who are super eager on letting teenagers guide their hunters or being a quasi-pimp.

Fact is the vast majority of people, including full grown adults, shoot lighter recoiling rifles more accurately than the heavier recoiling cartridges. It was proven to me time and time again over a 15 year period of guiding hunters, and it's true for myself as well. I'd grab that 243 and good bullets, which will kill any deer in N America very effectively, and not look back. He can always graduate to bigger cartridges as he gets older. I've watched my landowner buddy's son whack hundreds of inches of big mule deer with his 243 and 95g ballistic tips.

Congrats to you and your son. You'll have many years of enjoyment ahead of you. Comments from scalebuster are downright assinine

maybe leave the .300 in the safe.

My son started hunting at 16 with a 270. I bought him Hornady lite. The recoil is minimal.

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At our disposal are 204, 223,22-250, 243, 270, 270 WSM, 308, 300 w mag.

Start with the .223 or .22-250 to get him comfortable then hunt with the .270

Man y’all make a good point about ammo. Probably pick the rifle based on the cartridges you can find, lol. Find a case of .308 or whatever soft points, then get the rifle!