Tennessee Firearms Assoc. Inc.

My daughter turns ten in September. She has always gone hunting with me but now she wants to take her own deer. I have been considering a 30-30 or .243 until my local gun shop said i should cosider the
Ruger 99/44. He said the 44mag in a rifle has less recoil than either a
30-30 or .243.
So far she has not shot anything more powerful than a Marlin .22 rifle.
Any comments or suggestions on what would be a good deer gun would be appreciated.

Thanks...Bill, Jr

Bill, I started my son on a 30-30 at that age. He had shot .22's and his grandfather's SKS quite a bit by that age. He also had shotgun experience in addition to the Hunter Safety Program (I did it on the KY side of Fort Campbell where the entire course is covered in one day).

He hunted two years with the 30-30 with no problems except my concern about the ability to easily unload the weapon. I switched him to a Ruger 77 in .25-06 and he loves it.

I started my son two years ago with an M-1 carbine. I know the round is small , but that is still what my grandfather uses and he always has 1-shot kills.

He is almost 9.

an overlooked caliber for young shooters is the 260 remington. less recoil than about anything, enough power and flat enough trajectory for shots up to 300 yards. ruger makes a dandy little rifle that includes scope rings. obviously remington makes a fine rifle also, but the ruger is hard to beat for the money. the model seven remington is expensive, and you must get bases and rings. the 243 can give outstanding failures in the field with the wrong bullet type. there is not a bad choice in the 260. a light 44 mag will kick more, and is out of gas at 125 yards, and the 30 carbine is a poor choice for deer sized critters, and starts out with an empty tank.