looking for youth gun suggestions

How old is the boy? Is he sized for his age? What are his shooting skills? What are his hunting experiences? Just trying to help..

handloads an option?

look to ruger compact/frontier, and remington m7.

my 9 year old daugter runs a 300 wsm (radically reduced handloads) in what started off as a wood stocked full size gun that i cut the stock to fit her... as long as you can get it wood stocked, a full size gun may offer a viable option for you.

308 is a fantastic chambering, handloads or no...

I don't know the age, skills, preferences, etc. If you're interested in a .22, many think quite highly of the CZ 452 youth rifle. I think the model is called "Scout", but am not certain of that.

.243 Win. no particular brand but most manufactures offer it in a youth model. Recoil is very manageable and shouldn't scare off a new shooter. Took my first deer with a .243 and several more after. Still one of my favorite calibers to this day.

Your kid and all but a 308 seems like it might beat him up unless he is pretty big.I believe Hornady has reduced power/recoil loads available
Many will choose the .243 for a first gun. Of course that would be light for a moose.

I concur-- .243 for a "big" caliber-- you may even go the Rossi Trifecta route-- in 20 Ga/.22/ .243 -- they make good starter guns and I think you could get the trigger worked--

Nothing beats a Remington Model 7 in .308 or 7mm-08.

Take a look at the TC Encore. You can get him both a rimfire barrel for small game, varmits and practice as well as a centerfire barrel in about any caliber you can name. It would teach him the discipline of one shot kills and provide a platform for future growth into hunting handguns and muzzleloading. I think they even sell shotgun barrels for the Encore. If he's still growing, TC sells youth buttstocks that can be later replaced by full-size versions.

Encores don't come cheap, but they are high quality and a lifetime investment. You can't beat TC's lifetime warranty and service either.

If you're on a budget the HR1871 Handi-rifle might be a good alternative.
Bob

There are several choices out there, I will suggest you check out the Weatherby Vanguard. They make a 243 and 308 called a "compact", it comes with a full size stock and also a youth sized stock and the barrel is a little shorter to make it easier to handle for a smaller person. It's a pretty good value in today's market.

Just got my boy the CZ 452 scout and will probably go with a 7mm08 when hes ready to hunt deer

the remmy mod 7, mentioned above, is pretty much the hands down king for youth rifles, and in 243 or 7.08, it is fantastic.
Also, i would never overlook anything remmy did in 600/660 mohawk; allthough no listed as youth rifles, they are tiny, and fan-freakin tastic, and will only go up in value. last but not least here , believe it or not, a mossy package rifle with scope allready on it, called a Bantam or superbantam, also comes with I think 4 or 6 buttstock inserts. So as he grows, he can add inserts to the recoil pad.
check this out;
http://www.gunbroker.com/Auction/ViewItem.asp?Item=134742834
http://www.gunbroker.com/Auction/ViewItem.asp?Item=134742920

Remington Model Seven Youth in .260 Rem. Next question!

Browning Micro Hunter. You can get it in .308, 7mm-08 and other calibers and it's a beautiful, well made rifle. They have them in A-Bolt and X-bolt.

Weatherby Vanguard offers a youth rifle in 308 that comes with a 20" barrel and 2 stocks. One is a birch wood stock painted black with a shorter LOP for a youngster and a 2nd standard length synthetic stock. The standard Vanguards are selling for $399 now and the youth rifles are still under $500. Considering it comes with 2 stocks that is not bad.

Also consider a used rifle. I picked up a used Winchester Ranger with the cheap birch stock that someone had shortened for a kid for about $250 last year. I ordered a new B&C stock for it and now have a really nice rifle for around $400 with a short and long stock.

With reduced hand loads or the new lighter factory loads do not worry about caliber. My 10 year old neice handles my brothers 30-06 just fine with Remingtons reduced recoil loads. Kicks about like a 30-30.

interesting... you know what cal. will work. Let the "kid" pick the tool. You both will be happy. Good luck.

I went with the Model 7 youth in 7mm-08. Its a very nice, handy little rifle. Unfortunately, I believe Remington has discontinued this model in favor of the (better selling?) Model 700 SPS Youth Rifle.

I would definitely go with 7mm-08 or .308 if you plan to use it for black bear and moose in addition to deer. Use reduced recoil rounds for deer for a few years then use full power rounds for the black bear and moose.

I would get a .308, 7mm-08, or .243 over the 6.5 Swede any day. You want something with readily available ammo. Practice, practice, practice is the key to getting a young hunter ready.

Do you live in Scandanavia? If not then don't drink the Kool-Aid. I believe you were greatly misinformed.

We still don't know how old the boy is, how big he is, or how much shooting he's already done.

IMO I'd go with either a 243 or 260 Rem. The 260 would be a little hotter than the 6.5x55mm.
A Remington Model 7 would probably fit him well. A Tikka T3 is a full sized gun, but seems to fit smaller people well too.

I wouldn't go bigger than those calibers due to the recoil.
It wouldn't be a bad idea for him to have a smaller caliber for deer and get another, larger caliber rifle in 30-06 or bigger when he gets older.

Remington Model 7 in 260 . Ihave one and it has become my go to rifle for all my deer hunting where rifles are allowed.

Here's a couple of pictures of a Winchester Youth Ranger .243 and a Remington Model 7 .308 in my collection.

The top is the Youth Ranger. Notice that the gun is slightly longer than the .308, but the length of pull is shorter as it is designated "youth." I used it mainly from ages 9-13. This gun has killed 30-35 deer between myself when I was a kid, brothers, cousins, my mother, neighbor's kid's, etc. I still bring it out of the safe every once in a while for coyotes and it will be used when my kids get old enough to hunt.

The bottom is the Model 7. The length of pull is slightly longer as this gun is a carbine and not necessarily designated as a a youth gun. This would be better if your kid is say 14-16. I've killed lots of deer with this gun as well and I still use it from time to time as a tree stand gun. I included a picture of the tiger striping in the stock. It is still one of my favorite rifles.

By the way, I have a *brand new in the box / never fired*, only taken out of box once, Remington Model Seven, with iron sights and the laminated wood stock, in .243 Win, which I'm wanting to trade for a Remington Model Seven, new or used, CDL or laminated, iron sights or not, in .260 Rem, if anyone wants to make that trade. Not youth stocks though, mind you.

Youth Hunting Rifle

My son went hunting for the first time this last year and out of all the guns that I have we found that he shot my Remington Model 700 in .270 win the best. With the reduced recoil loads, he didn't want to leave the rifle range. He weighs about 120 lbs. and had no problem handling the gun. He killed his first deer, a small spike buck, at 220 yards. I was really happy with how well the gun worked for him.
This is a gun your kid could grow into real easily. A .270 Win is a caliber that could be used to take Elk, Mule, and Whitetail. It would easily last them a lifetime. I did purchase a set of shooting sticks as my rifle was not a youth model.