I have six grandkids. The oldest is 13 years old. I want to buy one rifle suitable for all of them to use... the grandkids rifle. I'm thinking bolt action. What do you recommend?

I am thinking about my 22-250 for my granddaughter this year. Light recoil and very accurate. With a well placed shot it does a number on deer.

Weatherby also made a youth model some years ago, that also came with an adult length stock for when the kids get older. I bought one in .243 for my daughter. Not sure if they still produce that same line or not.

Grab a gun is blowing out x bolts right now and has a 243 micro on sale. Slap a vx5 on it.

My young son shoots 30-06 reduced recoil loads. Same felt recoil as a .243, but you get the added insurance of a 30 caliber bullet on a marginal shot. I think it is a great way to go with young shooters that aren't taking 200+ yard shots. Then the rifle can grow with them, if needed.

Any of the .257 caliber's are what I'd recommend they are excellent on all manners of game! If you can find a 257 roberts that's what I'd recommend if you reload. If not a reloader then a 25-06 or even a 6.5 in really any of the flavors.

243 with adjustable stock to adjust length of pull for different age kids.

7-08 would be my choice to start kids off with, even with regular loads it only has about 1 lb more recoil energy than a 243 in similar weight guns. You add low recoil rounds and its even easier to shoot.

Ruger American , Vortex 3x9 tactical, load with winchester 64 grain soft nose. 10 grandkids and never lost a deer.

I agree with most every comment on here so far. A .243 or .25-06 would be a great first rifle for kids. Find one with a varmint barrel if you can. It will reduce the felt recoil even more.

First question is Budget?

Because if there is no Budget I am suggesting a Terminus Zeus QD with a proof CF barrel lol. Then you can easily switch calibers as you go without buying a new gun.

If not, then Tikka T3 in 6mm or 6.5 Creed. Can do .243 too, but can throw a heavier bullet in 6mm Creed. Or reduced recoil loads on 6.5 Creed with ability to get a 140 grain in the future.

Ruger American 6.5 Grendel

Adjustable stock and high quality scope with good eye relief. You'll feel pretty chity if one of them scopes their eye because they were trying to mount a gun with too long a length of pull and are leaning up on the scope with the stock under their arm.

This is more important than fretting over which of the half dozen recommended caliber options to choose.

I'd also recommend a can. Itll cut down on kick and eliminate another critical variable. You'll appreciate being able to talk them through a shot without ear plugs. Plus smaller ears need ear muffs and those can interfere with a good mount.

My first deer was killed with a Winchester lever action .30-30. Can't recommend that enough. Very light and compact. Great gun to start kids out with.

If it was me and without knowing budget I would go Tikka T3x compact (has spacers to adjust for longer LOP as they grow) in .243 or 6.5cm with prob a Trijicon Huron scope (no issues holding zero).

https://rokslide.com/forums/threads/trijicon-huron-drop-evaluation.371410/#:~:text=The%2520%E2%80%9Ctest%E2%80%9D%2520consists%2520of%2520three,same%2520thing%2520repeated%2520from%252036%E2%80%9D.

22-250
Remington Cor-lokt 55 gr Ammo
Deadly for Whitetail

Dad shot 35-06, 270 in his days overlapping my 6mm Rem and 7mm Mag days. In the midst of that he was given a heavy barrel (not bull barrel) 22-250 in the heyday of the late 70's oilfield as a gift from a supplier. Absolute tack driver. We joked, but really true, that the only Whitetails that ever ran a short distance from our shots were shot with that 22-250 using the Core-lokt 55gr. "Ran" one step at the most and dropped. We had farther runners from all of the above of our guns at the time.

Now that may have been super concentration on the shot placement with the 22-250, or just luck. But it was true. The same 22-250 two decades later was the first gun my son used to down his first few Whitetails, with the same result, sans one. It ran 20 yards one way, 90 deg. turn, and 20 on a right turn, and dropped. Expecting an off shot, opened it up and the heart was half gone and both lungs mush. A WOW moment on the toughness of the game we hunt.

Effective range vs. other calibers is a consideration, though. All of me and dads, including my son were 80-120 yds.


Edit to add: Dad passed a decade ago. I still have his guns, my old ones, and of course the 22-250 in the safe, which was his last wish to give to my son (he's at A&M, thats why its in my safe). My go-to now though is a Winchester Model 70 Featherweight in 25-06, which actually for some reason unknown, drives tacks better than the 22-250. At 100 yds, last time sighted in, covered 4 with a nickle, and the outlier 5th, was half covered by the same nickle.

I started my kids off with a 6.5 Creedmoor when they were little and it's been perfect. Three things that have helped - a heavy stock to reduce the minimal recoil even further, a suppressor to help keep them from yanking the trigger and a tripod with a clamp to help when the shakes hit.

Anything suppressed.

My grandkids shoot an old Remmington 700 in 22-250. It hasnt let us down yet. The key is practice.

My kids used a .243 WSSM
.243 is a good caliber and the short shell makes the receiver shorter and thus easier for kids.

Suppressed 308 or 7-08
Kicks like a 223
Quieter than a 223

Doesn't contribute to recoil and noise induce flinching.

I intended to start my kids on a 243, but the suppressed 16" barrel 308 is the gun they like to shoot.

And I like bigger holes in deer, so it's a great match up.

.243 is a legacy round and is great for all ages. If you can't kill most anything in Texas, granted with a few exceptions, as an adult, with a .243, you probably shouldn't be hunting in the first place.

SanAntoneAg said:

---

.243 is a legacy round and is great for all ages. If you can't kill most anything in Texas, granted with a few exceptions, as an adult, with a .243, you probably shouldn't be hunting in the first place.

---

I initially read this wrong and was about to rip you a new one. I 100% agree!

The 243 is a great round. There isn't an animal in NA except for maybe moose and grizzlies that I wouldn't be confident hunting with it given the right bullet selection.

Partitions/Accubonds or TTSXs for big stuff, 90 or 95 grain Nosler Ballistic Tips for everything else. Hell, I might even use the 95 gr Nosler BT on everything. Google Gail Root and the 95 gr Nosler Ballistic Tip. It's a freaking hammer.

My girls (15, 12, and 9) took three does this weekend all at around 110-135 yards.

15 year old was shooting her suppressed Bergara 7/08 with 3-9x42 and Hornady 150 grain ELDx

12 year old was shooting my suppressed Weatherby Vanguard .30-06 with a 3-15x42 and 150 Nos BT (Her gun is a suppressed Rem 700 .308 Win with a 4-16x50 and 150 gr Nosler BTs, but we didn't get a chance to sight it in before youth season).

9 year old was shooting a suppressed Tikka T3 in .223 Rem (1:8) with a 2-10x42 and 55 gr. TTSX

Some observations over the years:

None of my girls have ever liked to shoot at a deer with the scope above around 8x. They say it makes it harder to find the animal and aim at a higher magnification. Even my oldest with the 3-9x42 at a doe 235 yards away last year wanted it on around 6x. Get a good 3-9 or 2-10, with a simple reticle.

The Bog Pod Death Grip is your friend. You can set it and forget it and even a relatively heavy gun is nothing to manipulate for a young child. I take a silver sharpie and mark the legs for each girl every fall when they sit in the blind so that if we move to different blinds or collapse for transport we know where to have it if we re-adjust in the dark. When/if they fall asleep in the blind, the gun stays up and ready. It also really helps reduce felt recoil.

I love the .223. It is a capable round. I am a little bit hesitant when they shoot it late in the evening. Blood trailing can be difficult. I have a 243 WSSM that I'm about to buy a suppressor for so that my little one can move over to that. In my experience the blood trails are better with a 6mm vs. 5.56. I know it's not a lot of difference in diameter, but that's my experience. If I were starting out now, I'd start at 243 Win and go up.

Stock fit is the most important. On thing that helped my girls was taking a piece of Kydex and heating it with a hair dryer over the cheek piece of the rifle. Then I had a light, simple, cheap adjustable cheekpiece that I could slide up and down and allowed their little faces better weld on the stock when behind the scope.

You can't go wrong with the Tikka T3x, Bergara B14 series (the Ridge is a little heavy), Ruger American, or Weatherby Vanguard / Howa 1500 in my opinion. All very well made and accurate.

243 Win, 7mm-08, 308 will all work well, with little recoil if done right and will flat out kill.