I have a youth Tikka 6.5 Creedmoor in my vault. It is for my cousin's son. It came with spacers to let the stock get longer as the boy needs it to. All the way up to full length, grown men shoot. We will be starting him off with 123 gr bullets to keep the recoil down. As time progresses and he wants more options, we can switch over to 140 gr, 143 gr and 147 gr. It's a plus thousand yard rifle if he becomes interested in such things later on. I am no .243 hater. They are a very potent varmint cartridge, and just marginal as a whitetail cartridge in my opinion. The .243, with the twist rate most come with will probably only stabilize up to 100 or 105 gr bullets. So, there is more limitations on the factory .243 rifle than the factory 6.5 Creedmoor rifle. The 6.5 Creedmoor can be loaded down to soften recoil, and so can the .243. But the 6.5 Creedmoor rifle can also be loaded up for ballistic performance that the. 243 cannot match.

.257 Roberts. Just to be contrary.

.243

6.5 Creedmoor with good ear plugs or a silencer.

Nothing wrong with either. Either one will work just fine for hunting if you do your part. My 3 oldest kids all started (and still hunt with) 243's and have never had a problem killing deer or pigs.

With a suppressor, it will kick like an air rifle. This is what I would do. I have a 6.8 SPC Ruger 77 threaded and there is almost zero recoil.

Wish I had pictures, but I got a new phone. I'm too lazy to drag out the hard drive.

Anyway, last year as part of a project for one of my master's class I had to do something for community service. I decided to turn it into introducing kid's to hunting and donating all the does they killed to Hunter's for the Hungry. Anyway, as part of that my 6 year old and 8 year old killed their 1st deer. I think there were 3 other first time hunter's that donated deer as well with a host of other kids. A total of 19 deer donated.

I built a .22lr upper on an AR platform specifically to teach kids how to shoot and get them comfortable with both a rifle and a scope. As BOBO stated, the .22lr AR was mounted in a BOG Pod that held the gun for them. Once adjusted at the right height they can still adjust elevation and windage, but if they take their hands off the rifle it doesn't move. Once they were comfortable knocking caps off the tops of water bottles and soda bottles at 20-50 yards we moved on to the bigger rifle.

I have a 6.5 Creedmoor built on an AR10 platform. The rifle looks identical to them as the .22lr. I suppressed it to reduce noise as well as recoil. Worked like a champ. They never missed a beat and were minute of a deer at about any distance we shot from the very 1st shot. Each of my kids killed their 1st deer on their 1st shot. I shoot 129sst's thru the gun it it flat smokes deer at 100 yards and in.

The point of my rambling is about any low recoil cartridge will work, but set the kids up for success from the word go. I made shooting water filled jugs and caps fun with the .22lr AR. Anytime they were ready to stop, we stopped. Having the BOG to hold the gun really made a difference and got them comfortable. I also think having the bigger caliber look identical to the .22lr made them comfortable as well. There were a lot of kids there that were nervous about shooting, but once they saw there friends shoot and how comfortable they were it was funny to see them all get competitive and want to shoot as well.

Another think I did was have red dots on both guns as well as my bow blinds were set up to hold my kids and myself. The deer are always comfortable on the opposite side of the feeder from the bow blind which is a chip shot with the gun. So, I chummed or poured out a pile of corn where I wanted the deer for a clean kill for the kids. I got in the blind and had the gun in the BOG pod at the right height for the kids and lined up on the pile. Worked like a champ.

Best of luck to you and your girls.

Pretending a 243 is a marginal whitetail cartridge is, well, pretending. With the right bullets and placement it is a very efficient deer killer, including big mule deer. I've seen our landowner's son kill several big muley bucks with it and a 95g ballistic tip. That being said, I do believe the CM is a much more versatile cartridge with great choices in bullets. At Creedmoor speeds, it's hard to choose a "bad" bullet.

Agree 100%.

My old 243 has killed more deer than any other rifle in my safe, along with a chit ton of pigs and a few exotics. I shoot 95 grain Silver Tips, but my kids shoot 100 grain CoreLocks.

I’m a huge fan of the 80ttsx in 243. All I shot until I shot barrel out and changed it ironically to a 6.5 CM

.243 all day long at the ages of 8, 9, and 10 my son's killed three bucks with his .243 from roughly 80-115 yards, first went 15 yards, second went about 30 yards and the largest 138" 10 point dropped in his tracks. Bullet placement is everything.

Everyone has their favorites, but I'm happy with shooting my Howa in 6.5 Grendel. I can talk about the cartridge's attributes, but they are easily found on the net. I said "shooting" since I haven't taken anything with it yet. The county I hunted in last two years has the antler restriction, keeping me from pulling the trigger. However, I've done research on the cartridge, and it appears well-liked. I can't say it is the best at anything, but for a soft shooting cartridge that can take up to some large North American game cleanly, I offer it as a candidate.

I was really happy with .243, which was my main hunting cartridge, but I wanted to try something new. If I had to pick between .243 or 6.5 creedmoor, I couldn't say because I've never fired a 6.5 creedmoor. Again, I'm on the 6.5 Grendel bandwagon right now, so until something pushes me off....

my two sons 10yo shot a couple deer and javalina with a weatherby vangaurd youth .243 with 100grn bullets this past year. They just shot them thru the middle of the front shoulders, but all deer and javi dropped with no issues. the rifle was a little saucier than the .22lr and .410 the boys had been practicing with as younger kids but they warmed up to it pretty well. they shot several rounds thru it for practice before we hunted. my brother has a .3006 that he loaded down with some i think 120grn bullets, my boys shot it too without much objection. we didn't shoot any deer with it but feel pretty good that the reduced load would have still done the job at reasonable distance.

one thing i had to do with my boys to get them to start adapt to shooting larger calibers is really pay attention to make sure they are shouldering the rifle well. shooting a .22 you don't really have to hold onto very tightly or up against your shoulder very tightly because it just doesn't have any recoil to it. i noticed when my boys started to shoot the shotgun or the larger rifle that they were a little afraid of it because the looser sort of grip that they were using with the .22 jsut didn't work with the larger gun, when teh gun fired it would punch them back in the shoulder...which they didn't like. Once they got over that and paid more attention to really seating it tightly up against their shoulder where the body absorbed the recoil better....they did a lot better

Tikka youth 7-08. Shoot reduced loads and you are good to go and can increase the length of pull and more heavier loads as they grow older.

I have a 6.5 cm and a 243 both bolt guns as well as others and my go to is the 243 my first rifle was a 30-30 I still have and will never get rid of I’m in hunt county as well if they wanted to shoot befor you buy

Some little girls can shoot something like a .270 just fine. Mine, age 11 and 12, can’t handle a center fire rifle of any kind.

I got them a little weatherby 20 gauge auto, little SA-20. 12 year old cried after she shot it, then my 11 year old girl refused. This thing does not kick much, I can hit clays one handed with this gun no problem. It’s a fun little gun.

I would honestly say it has less recoil than any centerfire rifle I have used except for an M4.

I think the AR is where it’s at. If she can’t handle the AR she won’t do well with any other centerfire rifle.

If it is a size/handling issue and you don’t have or don’t want a collapsible stock, put one on there temporarily.

I have a petite daughter. I found a 6.5 CM suppressed to be the trick. She would always be a few inches off target until we suppressed it,. The bullet is not much smaller than the .270 .
Nothing wrong with a 243 but I feel the 6.5 has a wider range of use with more knock down so if buying brand new go for more versatile
Only downside a little heavy, i do carry it to the blind for here as its 8+ pounds, 24 barrel.

I am also in Hunt County my experience is a mature buck in our County will weigh in the 190s . A close friend of mine Tom Cole has used a custom built 2.43 for the last 25 years that I know of back in the 90s he killed a non typical that scored over 200 inches he takes a mule deer almost every year. He swears by his 2.43 I recently had an ar 2.43 built it is truly a lifetime fire arm no need for larger than the little 6mm my other go to is my 25-06 I just love it it does have little more recoil . The photo is of a hunt county buck 200 pounder

I would get the one I could find the most ammo for locally and that fit them good.

6.5 CM is the more capable of the two cartridges. Those that have shot many deer with one know a .243 will kill any whitetail or mule deer that walks. For a kid just starting out, the long range target capabilities of the 6.5 cm is not something a novice can make use of. For a little fellow, not knowing anything about your kids, of the two cartridges you mentioned, I would recommend a .243. Felt recoil for a child vs an adult is not the same. From what I have witnessed, once a flinch developes, it is something that will hinder the shooter well into the future when it comes to staying in the gun through the shot if they are afraid of the gun hurting them.

Introducing young ones of that age I would err on the soft side. BUT, if the 6.5 CM factory soft loads are as soft as the .243 then I would go with the more versatile 6.5. The Grendel is also a really good option I would seriously look at. I would also recommend getting into reloading if you are not already….not just for the versatility but also as more father/daughters time. I firmly believe that loading ones own makes them a better shooter because they have gained a better working knowledge of their cartridges.

I went through this same decision making process last year when selecting a rifle for my then 8 year old. I went with a Savage Axis XP Youth model chambered in 6.5 CM and it has been perfect for him. We are running the 120gr Sig Elite Match Grade rounds, primarily because that was all I could get my hands on at the time. Recoil has not been an issue at all, I echo what others have said about good hearing protection. I like the Walker Razor Electronic muffs so that he can still hear me talking to him in the blind pre-shot.

Have had a 243 for over 20 years. I have a lot of various guns/cartridges to choose from, for several years i've grabbed the 243 to go hunt deer. Bought a Ruger American Predator in
6.5 Grendel from a member on here a couple years ago, got to hunt with it for the first time this year. Very impressed with it. 4 shots, one deer and three hogs. .Don't have a 6.5cm, if
i want a little more thump than the 243 i'll grab a 25-06.

People who say the .243 is marginal for deer, don't realize how long the .243 has been around and taking deer, more than likely longer than many of them have been on this earth.
If you can't hit a paper plate at 100 yards with a .243, then a larger caliber won't do you much good either.