Re: Deer Capable Caliber for a Small Child
I see this is an old post, but here are some considerations, and what I did, I have 2 sons close in age, and when they were young, about 9 and 11. I searched all the gun shops and pawn shops for used 243's. I really wasn't too concerned about the physical appearance of the stocks, I paid closer attention to the wear on the action and the bores and bluing.I knew I was going to cut down the stocks and refinish with a flat black epoxy paint (to keep them matching)and eliminate sibling rivalry. Short action, short barrels, decent scopes with see thru
mounts for the original iron sights. I personally think that the kids need to know how to shoot iron sights first then graduate to the optics, just my opinion. What I purchased was a Remington 788 in 243 with iron sights and a Remington Mohawk 600 in 243 with iron sights. Both rifles I found were in or around 200 each.
I cut the stocks to 11-1/2" lop, which included 15 dollar decellerator pads, sanded the pistol grip and palm swell a little smaller for little hands, used Holden Ironsighter see thru mounts about 15 bucks each, and inexpensive Nikon 3x9x40, great optics for a inexpensive scope, about 100 bucks each. A couple padded slings about 15 bucks each. These rifles are extemely accurate, 1-1/2" groups at 100 yards consistently, ammo is a Wally World drive away if it's needed. Grand total 350 each for a woods ready, tack driving, killing machine for South Florida. New stocks have since been replaced, the Ramline for the 788 (80bucks) was a perfect drop in fit. Numrich has a drop in replacement for the 600 Mohawk, and it's genuine walnut, much nicer than the original stained Beech and only mod is the safety release offset needs to be massaged, The guns are now back to original status 15 years later, and my boys have the cut down stocks to give to thier boys when the time comes. If you search around these guns are still available altho discontinued years ago, and parts are readily available. This, at the time was the only way I could afford to outfit my kids, a real viable option for others who just can't afford the luxury of a new 700 dollar micro rifle for thier kids. A properly dialed in 243 will drop just about anything in the ConUS without killing the kid's shoulder, IMHO............Dan
