I am looking at getting my daughter a youth rifle. Just wondering about your thoughts on the Howa youth and Savage Axis. Thanks

My opinion start and stop at the youth model 7 Remington. In 7-08 unless you can find one in .260. I'd suggest getting a full sized stock and buying an after market "cadet" stock for use now. Later you can replace the youth stock with the full sized one.

MY PERSONAL OPINION ONLY,

The Howa is one of the most underrated and overlooked rifles available. A sako style extractor, good fit and finish, three position safety and a two stage target trigger. Great value for the money.

Rem M7 and never look back

+1

Own both a Howa and the Axis. Buy the Howa.

I'd suggest a Browning Micro Medallion or Micro Hunter, and then the Model 7 both in 7mm08, although I do (did) own a Model 7 in 6mm that my wife now calls "her rifle"

It's killed a large herd of deer in the nearly 30 years I've used it, and is very fun to shoot

Of those two, the Howa. The axis feels cheap to me. I have no doubt that the axis is a serviceable, reasonably accurate rifle, but it just doesn't feel like it's put together well.

I have both the Howa and Axis as well as the rem model 7. Between the two you chose the Howa for sure. The Axis trigger is quite stout and needs a trigger job right out of the box. In the 3 axis rifles I bought the lightest pull was 7 lbs. The Axis trigger is also not loved by my gunsmith but I don't know the particulars there however he easily (meaning he did it) got them to 3ish lbs. The Howa I have is a youth 308 amd had a great trigger out of the box and shoots one inch groups easily. If you throw the Rem 7 into the mix there is no comparison, but it but it is a lot more $, like twice the Howa and more than twice the Axis if I recall but worth it in my opinion. My short 11 year old for some reason just decided to use a full size Rem 700 this year and gave up the model 7 which I thought was odd but he has no problem shouldering and shooting it even if he looks funny with the big gun.

Matthew

My son has the Weatherby Vanguard 7mm08 that came with both a youth stock and an adult stock. The Vanguard action is just a Howa with a Weatherby label. He's had it for 7 years now and still uses the youth-sized stock. It's compact, light and has been 100% reliable.

It would depend on how old your daughter is and what she thinks about shooting it...she needs to tell you what she can or cannot shoot...

My kids and grandkids all started deer hunting with a .222 under my supervision, with perfect results..then graduated to something bigger such as my 6x46, then a 7x57 or whatever they liked..for us to make that decision is a mistake sometimes, we think we know best and we ruin their desire to shoot or hunt..let her guide you, listen to what she says as to recoil, noise etc. It makes no differnce what the rest of us think.

Keep in mind that a kid needs a scaled down gun to fit their hand and proper length to be comfortable, just like the rest of us..I cut down stocks to fit my kids with skinny grips, forends and shot butt stocks, don't worry about pretty, kids rough guns up pretty bad even trying not to scratch them..at some point they will need a different stock..I have a kids gun that I keep around the house, waiting for great grand kids.

I have a model 7 that was re-barreled with a MC 700 barrel. I put it in a B and C Ultralight stock but am now going to the Wildcat composite to shave some weight. I have not shot the Howa but I did see sometime back CDNN had the youth model and it came with an adult stock. I don't know if anyone still offers that package but it might be good if you plan for the rifle to grow with the child. If you are going to recycle the rifle and just upgrade your child when they are older then a more dedicated build might be in order. That is certainly my plan with multiple children / niece and nephews. I am building a dedicated youth gun and then will buy them a full size if they decide they want to continue hunting. Long eye relief scope that is easy to get behind is going to be your friend. I have noticed a lot of kids struggling to get a good head position sight picture and then when they do they yank the trigger because the yare afraid they will loose the picture again if that makes sense. Some would suggest a 2-7 Leupold but the two I had I found to be critical of head position. Same with the Conquest in 2.5-8 but the 1.8-5.5 was a good fit and I will be trying the 2.5-8 Leupold next. The problem is magnified when they aren't shooting off the bench ie., hunting. The one thing I noticed was my son shot much quicker and better with open sights so that may be an option. To look at what is available for each rifle and pick that way.

When my Son was 9 (2 yrs ago), I bought a Rem SS mountain rifle.
I then bought a "Youth" take-off stock from an SPS, bedded it, and he & I together painted it his color of choice, then installed a Rifle Basix trigger...very accurate Rifle & It fits him real well.
I loaded up some 100gr Sierra's...real good minimal recoiling combination for him to gain confidence....