...

It isn't available in .30-06 but you can have them in .308 Win. I'd look at the Ruger M77 Compact and Remington M7. If you can find it a .308 in a Remington M600 or M660 would be a good choice as well. I know the Ruger has a 12.5" LOP and weighs less than 6 lbs.

Just don't let your daughter get beat up by the recoil and muzzle blast. Because what you would prefer and what your daughter would like to shoot may be to different things. I'm going throught the same thing right now with my daughter.

The Ruger Compact could use an aftermarket recoil pad IMHO. In .308 with full house loads, it does have significant recoil and, if you chose it or any lightweight rifle, may I suggest, at least to start, the reduced power loads offered by the major ammo companies, like: Remington Managed Recoil

They will all work on whitetails just fine until she is ready for full-power loads or wants to shoot an elk or a T-Rex.

Remington makes a youth rifle, too. I have one in .270 Winchester. It was barrel heavy so I added a couple of ounces in the stock and cut off the barrel two inches to balance it. It still is light enough for my daughter to enjoy carrying, but points well now. (It has the "new" trigger, btw.) Now that Emmy is recoil accustomed, I just load it with the faster-burning powders and find I don't get much muzzle blast as with H4831 or whatever and still 2800 f.p.s. with 130 grain bullets in the (now) 20" barrel.

A .30/06, being a bit more bore to case capacity friendly with short barrels, would work even better than a .270, I believe and a .308, perhaps even more so.

The Hodgdon reloading data has information for loading handgun ammo with .308, .270 and .30/06's that would work well in short rifle barrels, too. You might want to look there, particularly if you get the Ruger with the 16" barrel.

Here's a reference to a Remington youth model in .30/06 for sale. Good luck!

I think the New England Handi-rifle comes in a youth model. I used the Remington 30-06 Managed recoil ammo with my youngest son he handled it well and the deer he shot didn't.
Bryan

A lightweight kid-sized rifle in 30-06 would be a handful even for an adult with normal factory ammunition. There's not much out there that requires a 30-06 to kill...I'd lean towards a 7-08, 308, 260 Remington...and even then consider Managed Recoil loads to start.

It doesn't come in .30-06 but this Winchester in a .308 might work for you:

http://www.winchesterguns.com/...mily=001C&mid=535126

Sounds like you got your mind made up on the 30-06 but don't overlook the 7mm-08. Light recoil and it shoots bullets up to 160 gr. Started my son on one at 12 and at 16 he doesn't to shoot anything else. Just a suggestion.

quote:

Originally posted by Abob:
Sounds like you got your mind made up on the 30-06 but don't overlook the 7mm-08. Light recoil and it shoots bullets up to 160 gr. Started my son on one at 12 and at 16 he doesn't to shoot anything else. Just a suggestion.

That or the .260 if I were buying a factory rifle.

The tikka t3 fit my 10 year old son extremely well.

A little info about the Remington Managed Recoil 125gr loads in 308 and the Federal 170gr Low Recoil loads, in 30/06.

The wife and I have killed deer and I killed a couple of pigs as well with the Federal load. We use it in our 30/36 drillings. Perfect performance.

My nephew ahd I have killed seveal deer and several pigs with the Remington load.

I have shot it in 3 different 308's at 100 yards and did not even have to change the zero's I had with 168gr bullets in those 308's.

It also has worked great, and we have shot some pretty big pigs with it.

Recoil is very low in both loads.

I think Remington and Federal have done real good with these products.

Get a Savage lightweight hunter in 30-06 and cut down the stock for a shorter LOP. It comes with a 20" barrel (which is short for a 30-06, but you want the rifle to balance).

best would be a youth model rifle from any number of manufacturers with a 20" barrel in 308 or 7-08

quote:

Originally posted by Austin Hunter:
Get a Savage lightweight hunter in 30-06 and cut down the stock for a shorter LOP. It comes with a 20" barrel (which is short for a 30-06, but you want the rifle to balance).

best would be a youth model rifle from any number of manufacturers with a 20" barrel in 308 or 7-08

BTW - I think the best balanced youth rifle is a Remington 600 in 243 or 308. Just don't get an original rifle that has the factory buttplate and cut it down, get one that has had a recoil pad added and cut that one down.

Mossberg ATR 100 Super Bantam.
Comes in 30.06, made for the growing kid:

I just went through the youth rifle thing myself a couple years ago, twice three years apart. The selection isn't real good especially if one of them is a lefty!

In hind sight I should have bought them 7mm-08's probably. I got them 243's as I wanted to be able to load one caliber for both boys that would due double duty, varmints to deer. I wanted to get them .257 Roberts but couldn't find one in lefty and Roberts in youth models were not to be found either.

I have one word of caution about the light short barreled in a high energy loading. They are NOT small person friendly!!! I bought a Rem 600 in .308 thinking it was just the ticket for my wife. Huge mistake! The thing is easy to carry but recoil and muzzleblast were stiff to say the least. I think it kicks as bad as my .338 Win Mag with full power 180gr loads. A longer barrel would help.

I would now recommend a .257 Roberts, .260, 6.5 Creedmoor, or a 7-08, full size. Then purchase a cheaper synthetic youth stock. They will outgrow the cheap stock quickly but have a rifle that will be a companion forever. If I had it to do over now I'd have bought Ruger Hawkeyes in .257 Roberts, and got a Ramline stock or something along those lines. Nate

I'd recommend the light, recoil reduced loads from the factory ammo manufactures for a 20" or less barrel as well. My son used .308 125 grain reduced recoil Remington ammo until recently. Not so much because of the recoil, but muzzle jump. He's good now.

I think the optimal barrel length for a youth rifle is probably a 24" #1 barrel, cuts down muzzle blast, muzzle jump, and you get the full barrel length.

A 22" standard barrel is fine.

I definitely think a 20" barrel is too short for a full length medium bore (or smaller) cartridge. short action ok.

quote:

Originally posted by Antelope Sniper:
Mossberg ATR 100 Super Bantam.
Comes in 30.06, made for the growing kid:

Website says 243, 7-08, and 308 only.

pick any rifle ya want, and then you can pick up a synthetic stock off the classifieds and cut it short.... or a Boyd's laminate stock for $90... and cut it short an 1 to a 1.5 inches...and keep the factory original for when he grows into it..

as far as the Rem Managed Recoil... they load it with 35 grains of IMR 4198, and a 125 grain bullet...

my son has shot an 06, as that is what he wanted...last seasons load was a charge of 30 grains of IME 4198 and a 150 grain Ballistic tip....zeroed 3.5 inches high at 100 yds, it was dead on at 200 and 3.5 inches low at about 240 yds...

the scope was a cheap tasco Mildot in 2.5 x 10...

quote:

Originally posted by z1r:

quote:

Originally posted by Abob:
Sounds like you got your mind made up on the 30-06 but don't overlook the 7mm-08. Light recoil and it shoots bullets up to 160 gr. Started my son on one at 12 and at 16 he doesn't to shoot anything else. Just a suggestion.

That or the .260 if I were buying a factory rifle.

I agree with z1r. For a wife or child who is not already an experienced center-fire shooter, I'd start with something like a Remington Model 7 in .260 Remington. Then I'd check carefully for stock length and shorten it still more if needed.

Then I'd still probably steal the danged thing and hunt with it myself. Just too comfortable not to use, on deer.

I think too many of us tend to overgun our kids and wives also..I know its the best way to take any desire to hunt out of them...

I started all my kids out with a 222 and 60 gr. Hornady SPs...I made them take shots under a 100 yards on deer, and they had to practice until we were confident in their shooting and they all shot their first 4 or 5 deer with that same cut down gun and all one shot mostly instant kills.

Then as they got into high school and the boys were big they graduated to the 250 Savage and in later years they went to the 270s and 300s and they are darn good shots..

The daughter used a 25-35 and later she used a 30-30 trapper and she could flat out shoot iron sights and she could roll a running Muledeer at 200 yards every time with the first shot..she wouldn't even try anything else.

As she aged, now in her mid 40s she doesn't hunt anymore but she loves deer meat and doesn't mind tagging along with her dad..

I have seen a lot of young kids and female hunters come to our camps and you could tell they were their just to please the boys and they hated shooting and they lent new meaning to the word flinch, and most were overgunned..

For what its worth..

Once put together a "light" 6.5x55 for my first wife. Went right along with Ray's observation of magnus flinching. Split the sheets shortly after.
roger