Planning on getting a Remington 700 in .243 for my son. The youth model and standard models are the same (as best I can tell from Remington’s website) other than 4" of barrel length. I really can’t imagine where that 4" of barrel length would ever make a difference for him in the future. Standard barrel length is 24" and the youth is 20". Any advice would be appreciated. Basically want to know if it would be a better idea to get the 24" barrel.
Depends on his size and age I’d say. I found a nice used Ruger compact M77 MKII in .308 for my 12 yr old. He’s about 4’10" 112 lbs. Specs on the rifle are 12 1/2" length of pull, 16 1/2" barrel, 5 3/4 lbs w/o scope. I compared it to the other manufacturers and liked it the better because of the shorter barrel.
I was worried the .308 would be too much for him.He fired 2 boxes and would have shot more if we hadn’t run out of daylight. I was worried his first shot would be his last but he didn’t mind the .308’s recoil.
The LOP on the youth rifle is shorter. I have the youth model 1100 for my wife, that she uses for deer. It is much easyer for her to get the right cheekweld with the shorter stock.
She is 5’6" 120 and I am 6’3" 215 and to be honest I prefer it to my shotgun for easy of handiling.
You can also find any number of stocks to fit your son and the rifle as he grows.
The youth model also has a shorter stock, which you can easily swap out later. I’d seriously consider a 308 over a 243. You can load it down to 30/30 levels with H4895 and Hodgdon’s youth data, or buy Federal’s Trophy Bonded +P load and take anything in North America. The 243 lacks that versatility.
Okie John
That may be a good consideration. I have probably close to 200 rounds of once fired .308 brass (I use a .308 Rem. 700). I didn’t think that the youth had the shorter LOP because the only difference in OAL was 4" and the barrels went from 24" to 20" (hence I thought the difference was only in barrel length). I may need to look into reloading and consider the .308 with more seriousness.
My son is 8. He took his first whitetail yesterday AM with a freind’s Ruger .223 M77 Hawkeye. It worked perfectly, but it is not a rifle that he can grow into.
Thinking now that maybe I get a Remington 700 .308 youth in the ADL version. I can add a decelerator pad to it in the future to add to the LOP.
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Can you give more information about your son’s age, size, etc.?
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Is the model 7 any shorter in LOP, barrel?
True. Another option is to get the .243, than have it re-barreled into a .308 when he grows into it. Since the bolt face/mag is the same, it’s a cheap re-barrel.
I would do the youth in .308 You can buy the Remington Managed Recoil ammunition and choose the lighter bullet weights. Simple ammo change later and a stock is an easy fix if required.
http://www.remington.com/products/ammunition/centerfire/managed-recoil/managed-recoil.aspx
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308 or 7mm-08. I set my daughter up with a 7mm. I bought a full-size 700 and had the barrel cut down to 16". Youth stocks are a pretty easy find on GunBroker and when they get older, they have the original stock. I put a fixed 4X Leupold.
Goofy as it sounds, that short barrel makes that gun. If she’s not hunting I’ll take it in a second.
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I would also go with the .308 like Mark5 said managed recoil ammo is available if you dont reload, and if you do 130gr barnes ttsx loaded light are great on deer with very little recoil. My daughter has been shooting .308 since she was 10 and she is still only 95 or so pounds. The 20 inch barrel length makes no difference for old or young I like my rifles short. That is awesome you have your little guy hunting enjoy it now, they grow up fast.
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ya’ll think there’s enough room to thread a .30 cal battle comp onto the end of the Rem 700 youth .308 without relocating the front sight?
I second the Ruger compact rifle in .308 I had one and loved it. Stay away from rounds over 150 until he is bigger.
I’ve sold a couple of Ruger compacts in 7-08. They down loaded the rounds using Hornady’s reduced load recipes and used TSX to be successful hunters.
I also see nothing wrong with the youth rifle in 243. Every one needs a coyote rifle after they get older. It’s all about bullet placement.
I find it’s the weight of the rifle that keeps the kids from shooting well. I made mine shoot kneeling and seating. When she finally shot her mulely, she shot off hand after all that practice in good positions. For her, I got her a tikka t3 in 270. She is recoil immune and was 16 at the time with no stock issues, she could not hold a heavy gun well.
^This^ is good advice.
I’d go with the .308 in a youth stocked version. You can use the low recoil ammo at first if need be. Later you can install a longer LOP stock if need be, and of course you can buy full power ammo as well.
I have the Tika in a 7.08. and love it. The 308 would not be bad either. But don’t count out the 243, I live up in Northern WI with some pretty good size whitetail and every year the someone in my party gets a nice one with the 243. Very nice little deer rifle would be a tika 243 T-lite.
I bought my son a Remington 700 ADL youth in .243. The round is good for deer and hog in Florida. He is 10, about 80 lbs, and under 5’ tall. I took him to the range and it is still a bit too big for him.
Another thing I was wondering after shooting it is what about an AR in .243? I’m thinking about less felt recoil
I have killed a bunch of deer with a 243 and my son has been using my old Sako with a cut down stock for a few years now quite successfully… (13 now)
I built a youth model 308 this year as an experiment (Browning Micro Hunter) and some downloaded ammo using 130g Barnes TTSX at 2850 FPS
Recoil between the two guns is about identical and the 130 Barnes load cleanly killed a nice hog…
I let him shoot both rifles back to back and he opted to keep shooting his rifle as he was use to it, fine with me…
The 308 can definitely be loaded meaner and more capable, but a 243 is a wicked deer round…
The downside to the 308 and reduced loads are you have 2 options:
- Remington’s reduced loads (hard to find)
- handloads
With a 243 you can get ammo in any Walmart that will work fine for deer hunting…
Both work of course, just offering up my experience…
I would cut the stock down and put a good recoil pad on it
The .243 in AR will be on the .308 platform and heavy for him. If going semi and AR—6.8 baby! You can easily get that set up in a lightweight rig if you choose components wisely. Check AR perfromance on the 6.8 forums for some good info