Life long rifle for teen

Don't buy a rifle with the plan of a barrel swap in the future. How many of us have only one rifle?

I do like the 6.5x55 Swede but that's because I also have a couple Swedish Mausers. If that is something that interests him, and you want to get him an old m/38 Mauser as well, or perhaps you are part Swedish, then by all means. Unless you live in Alaska, a 6.5x55 might cover all your hunting needs with less pain on the shoulder. However if you are starting fresh and he has no interest in past relics, there are other options.

AJC1 said:

I have a showroom quality sweed and he loved shooting it, but there is zero chance he will drag it through the woods. He will get it one day, and because I cast and shoot lead and 2400 at moderate velocity, it will still be in good shape. His response to recoil was an indicator of the area I wanted to be in.

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I'd say stick with it then. As a side bonus, anything that gets our "youngsters" interested in history is a plus in my book. 6.5x55 is one of those calibers that gets to straddle old-timey and hipster cool, which I'm sure is not lost on him. There are certainly worse choices.

AJC1 said:

I have a showroom quality sweed and he loved shooting it, but there is zero chance he will drag it through the woods. He will get it one day, and because I cast and shoot lead and 2400 at moderate velocity, it will still be in good shape. His response to recoil was an indicator of the area I wanted to be in.

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What is it that prevents him from "dragging it through the woods"?

Had a co-worker/buddy decades back who loved the 6.5x55 Swede. This cartridge is great. The 6.5mm bore is one of those sweet-spots / magic mojo niches for both hunting and target shooting. Its low recoil is perfect for a young man who has yet to put on his final height and weight. No shortage of big guys like it. The Swedish Army sure liked it.

The 6.5 Creedmore -- same family as the Swede -- having achieved the widespread acceptance it has will likely take it on into the future. This would be my pick were I young again and wishing a bolt-action center-fire rifle.

https://www.fieldandstream.com/story/guns/6-5-creedmoor-vs-the-6-5-55-swedish/

However grand the 6.5 Swede, it has become a thing of the past. I'll be the first to pat anyone on the back who still wishes to use it, mind you. Yet ...

Ask this young man about his feelings about the 6.5 Cred vs the 6.5 Swede. Tell him to read-up on the matter. Soon, VERY soon you know, this young man will be his own man. (My "little boys" are now bald and starting to show some grey in their temples.) In this decision and in all others appertaining to him, you must bring-in his ideas and judgements. Begin trusting him lest he begin pushing you away. At a certain point in being a parent, all we can do is guide ... if they come to us for guidance.

Me being an old git, I'd throw him a 6.5 Cred for Christmas or his birthday and say, "There's you a fine rifle. If you end up not liking it, then when you get older, trade it for whatever you wanna get. Your decision."

For a teenage grandson of mine, I got him a decent shotgun and said something like, "Go kill some turkeys with this." When having become some decidedly old nobody, you can get by with such actions and terse statements.
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I'd say look at it in reverse. What could your dad have bought for you that would still be useful decades later?

I'm finding it hard to fault a .243.

I'd be more inclined to think I could find it on the shelf fifty years from now than a 6.5 by 55. The .243 is a viable varmint/small/medium game cartridge (and perhaps more in the future given recent advances in ammo). Likely it is something your son could pass down to his.

243 WIN, low recoil, flat shooting and good energy for deer.

Russ57 said:

I'd say look at it in reverse. What could your dad have bought for you that would still be useful decades later?

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I've already looked at it in that way many times, and I very much appreciate that Dad (AND Mom) bought me a Model 100 Winchester, .308 Winchester somewhere around 60 years ago. I took many a mule deer and an elk with that rifle, and it's not, but it could be useful (if I wanted to use it) even today - 6 decades later.
I've had a lot of different big game hunting rifles over the years - a .270, a .30-06, 2 300 Mags, a .338 Mag, and now my great .308 Norma Mag, but my .308 Winchester remains even though I haven't used it in probably 30 years. One of these days, one of our daughters or grandsons will have it, and I suspect it will serve them as well as it did me.

valnar said:

Don't buy a rifle with the plan of a barrel swap in the future.

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How many cars have you sold, instead of just buying new tires?

Varminterror said:

How many cars have you sold, instead of just buying new tires?

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If new tires cost 2/3rds the price of a new car, I’d have sold the car

Competitive shooters live in an alternate universe. I don’t personally know a single average shooter that has ever swapped out a barrel on an average factory rifle. Obviously there are guys that do it, but to think it’s common is not realistic from what I’ve seen

I worked at the LGS and used to spend a lot of time there. Over the years I remember one “custom” rifle with a new barrel. I bought it because it was relatively quite cheap. It was poorly done and nothing close to accurate

Varminterror said:

How many cars have you sold, instead of just buying new tires?

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I have many rifles. You just have one? What happens if you want to use two different calibers for different reasons?

redneck2 said:

If new tires cost 2/3rds the price of a new car, I’d have sold the car

Competitive shooters live in an alternate universe. I don’t personally know a single average shooter that has ever swapped out a barrel on an average factory rifle. Obviously there are guys that do it, but to think it’s common is not realistic from what I’ve seen

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valnar said:

I have many rifles. You just have one? What happens if you want to use two different calibers for different reasons?

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My point is rather that someone ACTUALLY shooting their lifelong rifle will use it up, or their heir will do so. So then what? Leave it in the safe, sell it down the river, and buy some other rifle - in all cases such the life of the shooter, or the shooter’s family outlasts the rifle? Or replace the tires to breathe new life into it?

Sure, a $300 budget rifle isn’t really an heirloom, and I DO feel for folks which never experience finer rifles, and which never hold a rifle worthy of leaving to their heirs.

But I think of my brother who holds grandpa’s pre-64 Win 70 in 270 in his safe, which is completely smoked and doesn’t shoot worth a hoot any longer - $450-600 would make it useful for his son, carrying on the tradition, whereas right now, it’s largely garbage with no value… how good does anyone feel saying a pre-64 Win 70 in 270 has no value?

Varminterror said:

My point is rather that someone ACTUALLY shooting their lifelong rifle will use it up, or their heir will do so. So then what?

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My post was regarding what the OP said, which is changing the caliber, not replacing a barrel because it was shot out.

valnar said:

My post was regarding what the OP said, which is changing the caliber, not replacing a barrel because it was shot out.

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Either either… why not instill a habit of not throwing away rifles when they can be easily modified to renew their usefulness?

It’s the same paradigm into which so many parents have been unfortunately convinced. “Buy your kid a youth rifle, then buy another rifle when they grow!” So now the rifle they first fired has no utility in their life, and those memories are sold down the road to someone else… when spending the same money on a new stock could let the rifle grow with them? Have an opportunity to hunt plains game in Africa, but only have your old 243? Why buy a single serving rifle to make once-in-a-lifetime memories which you DON’T put on your familiar rifle… why not just run a magnum bolt face bolt and a new barrel into your old rifle for the same money, easily reversed upon return, and keep piling memories onto the same rifle?

For whatever reason - throwing away rifles with their memories attached when their utility in current form wanes for a shooter or their heir just seems silly.

At 13 if deer is about the largest animal he will be hunting a bolt action 243 would be my first choice because he will probably shoot it better and enjoy it (practice) a lot more than a harder kicking rifle like a 270, 308 or 30-06. If you think he needs a bigger caliber a 7-08 would be my next choice. I don't think he will ever need to swap barrels for any of these two unless he wears them out.

Regardless of what he ends up with he's a lucky young man. When I was 14 I was elated when I got a 22 rifle (which I still have and shoot). It was all I had until I graduated from college and could afford another rifle.

RetiredUSNChief said:

Do you know what he LIKES or WANTS, or are you just guessing or impressing what you like on him?

Buying a guy is a very personal thing for many reasons, and often people undersell the esthetics of it, as well as the ergonomics and other factors that go into this.

Not, mind you, that I'm against gifting a firearm to anybody "out of the blue". But this is something that you really ought to do the personal research into your own son to figure out rather than people like us. ....

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This is right on the money. A young man needs to figure out who he is, whether he favors blondes or brunettes, and what kind of rifle suits his fancy. That means exposing him to several different options and then letting him pick. For purposes of nostalgia, it's also important to let him know which gun is YOUR favorite and explaining that that gun will one day be his.

Marlin will make a great truck gun also.

I rarely post outside of the reloading forum, so most of you would only recognize me from there. Latest project there is getting my old 6mm Rem to behave.....or else. So what if it doesn't? Been going over my options..........wanting to stick with 6mm or 6.5mm range. For what I do, which will never exceed (or at least never has) exceed 200 yards, so a 6 or 6.5 option more than effective enough.

Not a fan of fads, but super sexy new cool kid on the block is 6mm Creedmoor. As near as I can tell, similar to both 243 Win and 6mm Rem, but an improvement over both. Capable of sending a heavy for caliber bullet like a 100 grain partition down the tube at close to 3100 fps plus, which if put thru the boiler room of a whitetail deer is going to drop it dead on the spot. Vs. the 243 Win, slightly hotter and heavier. Vs. 6mm Rem......available......ammo and brass. Peterson, Starline, Sig, Hornady, Nosler, etc, now all offer 6mm Creedmoor brass. My 6mm Rem? Brass now unobtainable.

As for effectiveness, I've never shot at big game larger than a whitetail. If I wanted to, I've got access to either a 270 Win or 308 Win. Both one shot, one kill options. But if I wanted to shoot a little, or a lot, one of the 6mm options is just as much fun and not nearly as much punishment.

One of the knocks on 6mm options is always is it enough? Will it get the job done? Effective, ethical kills? Discussion always gets around to comment "requires effective shot placement", but then authors who make that statement never go on to elaborate. Well this guy elaborates...........

https://www.ballisticstudies.com/Knowledgebase/Effective+Game+Killing.html

Go thru all that.....top to bottom......and twice.......and there will be little doubt that a deer inside of 200 yards is going drop dead on the spot.......if you put the right 6mm bullet in the right spot. And he actually tells you / shows you where that spot is.

My old buddy Stan Taylor of Douglas barrels told me one day that he had shot a deer with a 6 mm from nearly 800 yards, I asked what happened ? He replied- it died..

Howa 9700 said:

I rarely post outside of the reloading forum, so most of you would only recognize me from there. Latest project there is getting my old 6mm Rem to behave.....or else. So what if it doesn't? Been going over my options..........wanting to stick with 6mm or 6.5mm range. For what I do, which will never exceed (or at least never has) exceed 200 yards, so a 6 or 6.5 option more than effective enough.

Not a fan of fads, but super sexy new cool kid on the block is 6mm Creedmoor. As near as I can tell, similar to both 243 Win and 6mm Rem, but an improvement over both. Capable of sending a heavy for caliber bullet like a 100 grain partition down the tube at close to 3100 fps plus, which if put thru the boiler room of a whitetail deer is going to drop it dead on the spot. Vs. the 243 Win, slightly hotter and heavier. Vs. 6mm Rem......available......ammo and brass. Peterson, Starline, Sig, Hornady, Nosler, etc, now all offer 6mm Creedmoor brass. My 6mm Rem? Brass now unobtainable.

As for effectiveness, I've never shot at big game larger than a whitetail. If I wanted to, I've got access to either a 270 Win or 308 Win. Both one shot, one kill options. But if I wanted to shoot a little, or a lot, one of the 6mm options is just as much fun and not nearly as much punishment.

One of the knocks on 6mm options is always is it enough? Will it get the job done? Effective, ethical kills? Discussion always gets around to comment "requires effective shot placement", but then authors who make that statement never go on to elaborate. Well this guy elaborates...........

https://www.ballisticstudies.com/Knowledgebase/Effective+Game+Killing.html

Go thru all that.....top to bottom......and twice.......and there will be little doubt that a deer inside of 200 yards is going drop dead on the spot.......if you put the right 6mm bullet in the right spot. And he actually tells you / shows you where that spot is.

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That was a very useful and informative link. Thanks. I am a confirmed believer in the heart shot as it always kills and quickly.

It makes no difference what the rifle is, all that matters is the experiences had with it. It can be expensive or cheap, pretty or ugly, accurate or not so much, but the interaction with you, the experience gained, the joy of the outdoors learned, are what will bond it to him. Everything else is secondary. He needs to love what he does with it, not love it, and it will stay with him forever!

When I was 13, my dad traded an old ruger blackhawk .357 he had found in a river, for my first deer rifle...a JC higgins Model 50 in 30-06. He gave me that rifle while we were on a camping trip and that year I sighted in that rifle myself, and used that rifle to kill my first deer and over the next 10 years I used it to kill many more.



I still have that rifle because it is a very well made rifle and 30-06 is a very versatile cartridge, powerful enough that I never aged out of it, and it truly is a do-all rifle. Here it is today, 30 years later. I will never get rid of this rifle, and if this rifle was all I had, it would do everything I need it to. Every single rifle I've ever bought in my adult life have been superfluous.



I guess my point is, don't underestimate what a child can handle and accomplish.

6.5cm/308...

Depends a little on what age of teen we are talking about, but I don’t really think there is a great option for a lifetime one size fits all deer rifle. Kids in the first half of their teen years likely need a shorter than standard length of pull and many but not all will benefit from a lower recoil option like a 6.5 grendel or the like. Plus tastes change in both rifles and calibers.

I’ve thought about this a lot wanting to get my own kids heirloom type firearms that they can keep for a lifetime. I think a shotgun or 22 is better for that because what one wants in a deer rifle will likely evolve over the years and will even depend on where they end up living. Should be no shame in trading in a deer rifle when circumstances dictate it.

To expand on my train of thought above. My first deer rifle was a 25-06. I picked it out because I wanted an everything rifle that could function as a varmint rifle and a deer rifle, and for quite a few years it served that role pretty well for me. I wouldn’t choose a 25/06 for that role again given what I now know about ballistics, but it served me well. But now I have rifles that are much better varmint guns and others that are better deer rifles, so it just sits in the safe now as I have no practical use for it. I’ve found through experience that I prefer big bores so I do my deer hunting now with a 444 marlin, a 358 yeti, and now I’m building a 375 ruger to be my universal big game rifle.

A 375 ruger would be a horrible rifle for a young teenager, but it makes sense for me now. I really can’t think of any cartridge that would have made sense for 16 year old me, that I would have any interest in now. Needs and interests change.

I have some experience with a "youth rifle". Nephew bought a Mossberg Patriot youth rifle in 243 for his kid. Seemed effective as kid was able to kill as many deer as dad could afford to have processed (has since started doing his own). But in early 2021, ammo shelf was bare. Both at home and in stores. By then, I was reloading for several pieces and had everything needed for 243 but the brass and dies, and he had 5 boxes of mixed brass. So I found a set of Lee dies and off we went.

First attempt at testing my loads.......put up a target at 100 yards.......fired a couple shots and hit nothing. Moved target closer to find out where it was hitting, and it was 10 inches to the right. That was how I found rifle. Not sure how the kid hit anything, but deer generally at close range (50 yards or so), so perhaps close enough it didn't matter. If he did miss, would have been chalked up to marksmanship.

So move impact 7 inches left, and get a group of about 5 to 6 inches. Bad scope (cheap combo scope what came with rifle)? Bad gun? Bad Ammo? Bad shooter (me)? I wear 2X to 3X sized shirts, so not a good fit for a youth gun. So me shooting that not good. Also, kid has now outgrown youth gun and no longer uses it. Has upgraded to a full sized 6.5 Creedmoor (also a cheap package deal) his dad bought. Little 243 now idle.

I'd have to check, but the youth gun may have come with inserts to extend stock to adult size when outgrown. I have something similar with a Ruger American 22, plastic stock. In my eye, inserts are cheap. There is a child's plastic nerf gun on table in front of me that has better build features than the stock inserts.

Other than Boyds, is there a common way or theme used to upgrade youth gun stocks to adult sized once outgrown?

Gun clearly has life left in it. Needs a new stock and new mounts and glass, but can probably be made to shoot well.

Guess what I'm saying is buying a youth gun may seem like a good idea, but unless there is a clear upgrade pathway, probably isn't. Shelf life is pretty short.