youth rifle

I am looking for a left handed youth deer hunting rifle for my son.

I have a Remington model 788 in 6mm Cal. in a left handed bolt. The 788 has a good reputation as an accurate gun with a strong action. The gun is lightweight and the 6 mm (.244) has mild recoil. It would be a great gun for a youth gun. The length of pull is 13 inches with a 1 inch recoil pad which could be removed and a butt plate added for a less than 12 1/2″ length of pull. Price would be $500. If this is something that might work for you, you can reach me at 608-685-4842 or email [email protected]

Also a great youth caliber and a great deer caliber is a 257 Roberts. That caliber may be tough to find though.

Also for the record I would go with a Winchester Model 70 Featherweight Compact. You can probably call them and they will direct you to a left handed fire arm.

We are looking at the Savage Axis youth combo in muddy girl. .243. Stinks having one lefty and two righties. I guess we just buy more guns….

How old is your son and how is his build? I bring it up because of how many kids out grow a “youth model” in 1 or 2 years. Not all kids are built the same, so sometimes its better to look at accessories rather than rifle.

I started Olivia at 9 years old on a 22-250 for target shooting and advanced her to a Browning .270WIN within a year. She needed a good bipod and a standard size rifle worked fine. By 11 years old, she was shooting a 7mm Ultra Mag on a bipod. She needed the bipod or shooting rail until about 13 years old. She’s 17 now and any standard rifle is easy. My long range guns like a 270WSM in a laminate stock and big glass is difficult for her to shoot off hand, but thats a 11pound set up.

Is there a youth model a person can buy and later down the rode change out the stock for an adult one?

Howa makes (or at least they used to) a 2 in 1 rifle. It comes with both a youth and adult stock. You could also look into a standard Remington 700, then just buy a youth stock for around $70….use the youth stock now and you’ll still have the standard stock when they grow into it.

Edit: sorry, I missed that you said you need a left handed gun. I don’t believe they make the 700 in left handed models.

I agree with Randy, I started with a Winchester model 70 featherweight in 30-06 when I was young but I was also 6 feet tall and 160 pounds. Go to a good gun shop and have him hold a shoulder a few rifles to see.

Nitrodog wrote:

Is there a youth model a person can buy and later down the rode change out the stock for an adult one?

The simplest option I can see is to buy a youth LH rifle and then replace the youth stock with a Boyds or other aftermarket stock later.

Tapping my brain as to who I know makes at least LH entry level models. Savage makes a youth LH model in their Axis range (and others). Remington makes a “compact” LH Model 700, not sure of the exact LOP on this, they don’t list it on their site. Both have many aftermarket stocks available from Boyds and other brands.

Not an exhaustive listing, there may be others.

As far as chambering, the boy’s size and experience are the guiding factors. I will say, however, don’t be tempted to overgun hoping he’ll “grow into it”.

There is absolutely no reason to pound the boy into next Tuesday with a mule-kicking cartridge. My neighbor kid dropped a nice doe stone cold dead at 120 yards with his .243 this season. Clean chest shot, too out heart and lungs, game over. My father stoned a buck a few years back with my .243 Tikka, it literally tipped over, kicked once, and game over. 90 grain Nosler BT bullet hit him like a hammer.

If you have the opportunity to let him test rifles and different cartridges, it’s always best. If in the east Metro, I’m happy to meet at a gun club and he can test drive my Tikka in .243 just to see how he likes it.

Grouse

I have a ruger american in 7mm-08 and it is a great round. Mild recoil and a very accurate gun out of the box. They do offer it in left hand as well. While i have not shot a deer with it just yet i am very confident it will stop one just as well as a full .308

We have a lefty in our hunting family and faced this issue….. until it was discovered that he’s right eye dominant. Being right eye dominant, he’s learned to operate a right handed rifle and seems happy with it. Otherwise, I agree (again!) with Grouse. Buy any entry level, left handed rifle, caliber of your choosing, and either order a youth cut stock from Boyds or a standard stock later. Better deals are usually found on standard models so ordering a youth stock might be better….. might not. It all depends on what you want to do and what deals you find. Research who has what available in left handed offerings on gunbroker.com so you can not only see who makes what but you can shop pricing as well.

My 12 year old grandson got his second deer this year ,this years deer he shot with a 95 grain Nosler BT 243 dropped in its tracks,last year mentor hunting with his dad , his dad handed him his 30-06 and he didn’t even relisize it, he’s only practiced with the 243 so no jerking and has developed into a good shot.
Stan