I have a decent .243 for my 12 year old, but he is considerably bigger than my 8 soon to be 9 year old. Any suggestions for a smaller boy. He is strong as an ox, but has very short arms.

Love my CZ 527 in 7.62.

Accurate little bolt action. Designed for small stature shooters. And something he could grow into.

My son just turned 9 in November and he shoots a Browning .243 Micro Hunter. I think it's a 13.5" trigger pull. He's tall but skinny and the gun is no problem for him.

I started him out with a Ruger Hawkeye .223 at age 6. The gun was compact and no recoil, be we found that the .223 often would not exit and we were losing deer with no blood trail if he didn't make a great shot.
(The Hawkeye has a 12.5" pull which was the smallest production rifle I was able to find)

I switched him to the .243 and the Barnes TSX solid copper bullet and it's been flawless.

I wouldn't put your 9 year old on anything smaller than a .243

As Darby said, nothing smaller than a .243.

22-250 if you want smaller than 243.

Thanks gentlemen. I will look into these.

30-30 and he can keep it for life..

I have a Remington 700 youth 243. Very small, no kick and drives tacks. My favorite all round gun, I have harvested more deer personally with it than any other gun I own

Mine was a model 700 in .243 seems to be a good all around caliber

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I have a Remington 700 youth 243. Very small, no kick and drives tacks. My favorite all round gun, I have harvested more deer personally with it than any other gun I own

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That is my son's first rifle. When he got older I bought a takeoff full size stock for it. I kept the youth stock so he can pass it on to his kid.

I like the 243 round as well. My 7 yr old can shoot a BLR .243 just fine. It is loud but doesn't kick that bad.

He stepped up from a .222 - he hasn't lost an animal yet, but the 222 doesn't leave a blood trail hardly at all. That is why I got him in the .243 now. Plus he thinks the lever action is cool.

Never seen it mentioned in the "youth caliber" discussion threads before, but from age 7-9, I hunted with a single shot .22 Hornet. Minimal recoil, easy to handle, safe and Pops never had to track the 3 deer I harvested with that weapon. Still fun to shoot today and plan on putting it in the hands of my 8 y/o daughter next year on her first deer hunt. I think a handful of manufacturers even make bolt guns in .22 Hornet now.

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Never seen it mentioned in the "youth caliber" discussion threads before, but from age 7-9, I hunted with a single shot .22 Hornet. Minimal recoil, easy to handle, safe and Pops never had to track the 3 deer I harvested with that weapon. Still fun to shoot today and plan on putting it in the hands of my 8 y/o daughter next year on her first deer hunt. I think a handful of manufacturers even make bolt guns in .22 Hornet now.

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While milages may vary, this would not be my recommendation. While I don't have nearly as much experience with the cartridge, it can't be more than a 45-50 gr bullet or so. With that, shot placement becomes absolutely crucial, even on small hill country whitetail. Missing, or even worse, losing an animal on your first hunt can be really discouraging.

Great gun to learn to shoot centerfire on, but I would necessarily make it a first deer rifle - especially if you are hunting anywhere the deer are bigger bodied. A 22-250 is a helluva lot more gun (464 ft-lbs vs. 1289 ft-lbs @ 100 yds.) without too much extra recoil. To each their own I guess.

Nothing wrong with a .243, as the kid will grow into it. A youth model Rem 700 would be perfect in my opinion.

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30-30 and he can keep it for life..

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First deer rifle I ever owned is a Marlin 30-30 that I worked for my dad until I had enough money to buy it in 7th grade.

I have numerous other guns now, but that little Marlin bought at Service Merchandise still has the most sentimntal value by far....and I'm 42 now.

243 IMO

If you are really that concerned about recoil (which shouldn't be an issue) then you can always get a muzzle break

Get the 243. Hornady offers Custom Lite ammo fo many calibers including the 243. Practice with that and then move on to full power. The Browning Micro Medallion is a great youth rifle. Very Accurate.

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243 IMO

If you are really that concerned about recoil (which shouldn't be an issue) then you can always get a muzzle break

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I'd be careful with brakes and kiddos hearing.

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Love my CZ 527 in 7.62.

Accurate little bolt action. Designed for small stature shooters. And something he could grow into.

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I'm 6'-6" and I want one of those. After witnessing the performance of 122gr HP's on hogs, they will work great on whitetail.

The challenge is the length of the stock, not the caliber.

My sister has an 8 year old ready to go next season. I have a Ruger no 1 in 257 roberts. I'm going to see about getting a shorter stock on it as long as I can put the original back on.

I started my kids out after the 22lr on an AR-15 with a 6 position stock. This way they could all shoot and have it fit them. I don't have any problem with shooting a .224 caliber on Texas whitetails. It is about placement, then projectile construction, then head stamp. The more they shoot, the more confident they get. Stretch out the range in practice to challenge their skills. Limit shoots on game to what they can hit.

I bought a Ruger M77 with a bull barrel in 6mm Remington for my daughters when they got old enough to start shooting. Bought a second stock for it off of EBay and cut 4 inches off of it so my youngest could handle it. It is a tack driver. The bull barrel really takes a lot of the kick out. They have killed many animals with it over the years.
6mm Remington and a .243 are almost the same caliber. If I had it to do over again, I would buy the .243 over the 6mm just for the ammo availability . 6mm is not as easy to find.

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I have a Ruger no 1 in 257 roberts. I'm going to see about getting a shorter stock on it as long as I can put the original back on.

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I am jealous as hell.