Youth rifle

The boy turns 10 in April. So he can deer hunt next fall. My father-in-law has a remminton 700 in .257 Roberts. What do you think of this for a kid? One problem I see is it might be to long for him to shoot comfortably. After market youth stock maybe? Another problem right now is finding ammo so he can practice with it next summer. I have done some searching online and have not turned up one single box in stock. Father-in-law said he found a bunch of hand loads in his basement that his uncle loaded up probably 30+yrs ago. Not gonna trust them. I may just end up with a new youth rifle in a caliber that I can find ammo for. Any thoughts?

I’ve seen kids starting that couldn’t hold up the gun to shoot it while standing. I think that is a necessity to safe gun handling. That seems like a good baseline because I wont even shoot guns I cant hold up with confidence.

I bought a Youth Rossi 243/20 single shot. Swap out the barrels for whatever you’re after.
Yes, 243 ammo is tough to find, but I have been finding it online if you keep checking.
This gun is properly sized for kids. My 3 boys have all hunted with it now. Very light, short, etc perfect for kids. Only trouble I had was it came lubed with some VERY heavy lube from factory and I never cleaned it. The first time my kid went to shoot it at a deer it didnt fire. It was the coldest it had been when we tried shooting it and the firing pin dented the primer, but not enough.

7mm-08 is a great youth rifle. Nice and light. Popular gun and ammo is tough to find this year, by what isn’t?!?

Obviously, only you know his handling ability, and you make the call. I would swap out the stock for a fitted youth length. The small investment would be well worth it. As he grows into it, can always put the original stock back on

No option for just a 20 gauge, just a simple Winchester would be perfect.

Randy Wieland wrote:

Obviously, only you know his handling ability, and you make the call. I would swap out the stock for a fitted youth length. The small investment would be well worth it. As he grows into it, can always put the original stock back on

This is my number one option as long I can find ammo. Any suggestions on stock manufacturers? My cousin has put a couple together with Boydes stocks but they seen pretty spendy for possibly only a few years use. Love to find a cheap plain jane wood stock even if i have to cut it down myself.

Red Eye wrote:

<div class=”d4p-bbt-quote-title”>Randy Wieland wrote:</div>
Obviously, only you know his handling ability, and you make the call. I would swap out the stock for a fitted youth length. The small investment would be well worth it. As he grows into it, can always put the original stock back on

This is my number one option as long I can find ammo. Any suggestions on stock manufacturers? My cousin has put a couple together with Boydes stocks but they seen pretty spendy for possibly only a few years use. Love to find a cheap plain jane wood stock even if i have to cut it down myself.

I’ve done a lot with Boyd and have been very pleased with the majority of stocks I purchased and used or modified. Unfortunately it will take a lot of sifting through the web to find a “cheap replacement” Not impossible though. Most manufactures are chasing the “custom” market and trying to provide a higher end solution. Ebay, Marketplace and so on may be the option for searching. If you have the skills for it and have the right wood stock to modify, easy to make a jig and run it through a bandsaw. Quality pad will help on recoil and make it more enjoyable to shoot. Be careful on synthetic stocks because many do not offer the internal structure to allow cutting down very much.
I didn’t look but I think Boyd has some basic replacement stocks that are reasonably priced

https://www.ebay.com/itm/304213437361?hash=item46d488abb1:g:It8AAOSwxglhhNXE

Would need to know the exact model, but I did a quick search and had a lot of hits

Thanks Randy. I don’t have the gun in hand. Father-in-law is hunting with it this year. So need more info before I go any further. I do know it was his father’s gun so it is at least 50ish yrs old very possibly older.

Gun Parts corp has a factory 700 ALD youth synthetic stock listed as in stock for $67. URL https://www.gunpartscorp.com/products/1152800

I bought my son a .243 and he shoots it very nicely. He is a very tall 10 year old and can handle the regular sized stock. He had a .410 youth but outgrew it quick.

Well last Friday I stopped at Timberline Sports in Blackduck on my way to my cousins for the third weekend of rifle season. Walked back to the gun counter and asked Carl (of IDO fame from last winter) if he happen to have any .257 Roberts? “Yep just got some in” he says. Not cheap at $65 for box of Remington Core-Locs but at least we have something to start with.
Now I can start seriously looking for a stock. Think I’m gonna look for a used wood one that maybe needs a refinish or one that is unfinished. Maybe turn it into a project we can do together. I am leary about buying used and getting the right one with right fit to barrel and action.
P.S. they said .257 Roberts was the 2nd hardest loads for them to get. The 1st being 7mm-08.

i bought my son a Savage 25-06 Axis II XP last year. at under $500 it seemed like a good starter package with the Bushnell scope. the same rifle is available in .243 and 7mm-08, so i considered those as well.

i chose the 25-06 based on the spectacular ballistics: very flat-shooting out to 200yds and with great knock-down energy. it’s essentially a 30-06 cartridge narrowed to shoot a .257/6.5mm round. there’s a wide range of factory load options (though currently hit-and-miss like everything) including being able to push a slightly larger grain bullet than what a .243 likes to do. one drawback for youth is that it does need a standard size barrel, so no short “youth” model, but my kid’s already over 5′ tall so he can shoulder it effectively and handle the 7lbs just fine. i’ve been very impressed with it’s accuracy and grouping out to 100yds on the range. recoil is quite modest shooting a 117gr bullet.

my son’s 9, so in MN this year he carried it unloaded to practice carry safety and scoping in real life on some does. to this point he’s only fired it in a lead sled, so over the next year we will need to work on firing from his shoulder on a rest to get used to the recoil in preparation for hunting next fall. he could hunt this year back here in WI, but he needs more work with the gun first and another year will have him more mentally ready too.