Some of the best youth rifles are compact and light. Others say the .300 Ultra Mag is the only way to go. Here are two experts with two different takes.
Wayne van Zwoll is a long-time gun writer and expert marksman. He’s published 16 books and nearly 3,000 magazine articles on firearms, optics, ballistics, and hunting. Robert Hannenman is a Montana firefighter and hunt advisor for Huntin’ Fool. He and his three boys have killed almost as much big game as a Core-Lokt. I asked both Wayne and Robert what rifle I should buy my 12-year-old daughter to hunt big game—from whitetails to elk. They gave me two very different answers.
A Traditional Youth Rifle
Finding a rifle that fits a young, presumably smaller, shooter is key. Wayne says compact rifles deserve a look. Most have relatively short barrels, with a length-of-pull between 12 ½ and 13 inches. Note that standard stocks are 13 ½ to 13 ¾. “I’d keep barrel length at 20 to 22 inches,” Wayne says. “Shorter barrels increase blast and perceived recoil, and sap bullet velocity too much. A 12 ½-inch stock is long enough for most young teens to keep their body under the rifle and their face erect without canting or stretching their neck to aim.” Many young hunters acquire bad shooting habits early if their stocks are too long.
As for weight, a 5 ½- to 6 ½-pound rifle should suffice, carry easily, and absorb recoil enough so they will want to shoot it again. The rifle must be balanced, too. If the barrel is short and skinny, then the stock will also need weight reduction. More bad shooting habits emerge if a young hunter has to lean back to balance the rifle.
To trim weight and cost, Wayne recommends chrome-moly rifles with molded polymer stocks. Magazine type doesn’t matter. Yes, to a three-position safety. Most importantly, young hunters need a consistent and relatively light trigger—no more than three pounds. Ditch big scopes and high mounts because these pull their cheeks off the comb. “Firm cheek weld not only helps you hold the rifle consistently but steadies it,” adds Wayne. Mounted low, a 3x-4x, one-inch variable scope is fine for first-time hunters.
Youth Cartridges and Rifles
As for cartridges to kill just about any big game, Wayne says the 7mm-08 is ideal, especially for elk. As is the 6.5 Creedmoor that hunters love to hate. Both of these perform about the same with 140-grain bullets. “A .308 with 150s also has manageable recoil,” he says. Here are a few reasonably priced rifles with stocks 12 ½-13 inches long with 20-inch barrels. The photos are linked to the rifles. And no, I don’t get any kickbacks.
“I’ve found all those rifle actions and their triggers very good. Ruger Americans in 6.5 Creedmoor all seem to shoot more accurately than their price suggests. Hornady’s 6.5 Creedmoor ammo is excellent and at least partly responsible. Winchester’s XPR is its entry-level rifle, and as a Model 70 snob, I didn’t expect mine to shoot well. I was surprised at the quality of its trigger and its accuracy. This Savage Storm is stainless and a very lightweight rifle.”
Robert’s Unconventional .300 Ultra Mag Youth Rifle
Robert Hanneman readily admits that getting his boys behind a custom .300 Ultra Mag blasting a 230-grain Berger to kill everything from sheep to bison isn’t normal. “I took a completely different path than anyone I knew,” he says. “And now my kids are snipers.” His strategy makes sense once you hear it.
When he started hunting, Robert’s uncles and grandpas handed him a 12 gauge with slugs. As a result, “I was afraid of recoil my whole life,” he says.
Robert started his boys, now 18, 16, and 15, with .22s and break actions. He would hang balloons for them to shoot. Then, they would shoot a smiley face into paper plates. After shooting thousands of .22 rounds, Robert got the boys a 7mm-08 with reduced recoil loads.
Then Robert introduced them to his .300, but he kept the ammo out of the action. First, he set the boys up with a front and rear bipod system. Then he had boys lay prone behind it. They acquired targets, dialed the scope, and dry-fired—a lot. “These kids dry-fired this gun 500 times a year during hunting season,” Robert says.
A big believer in dry-firing, Robert uses it as a training tool and as a calming technique. “When I guided some clients, and they saw a good animal, I would watch them lose their minds,” he says. “I would unload their gun and have them dry fire it a few times to calm down.”
He used a similar strategy with his boys. They picked targets around the yard, dialed the scope, and adjusted the parallax. And then dry-fired. They would never shoot that gun unless they were shooting an animal.
That’s right. They never shot that rifle at the range. Robert wouldn’t let people even talk about recoil around the boys. And he never told other folks what those boys were shooting because “my kids didn’t know what they were shooting.”
Robert knew he was going to take the boys hunting across the West and into Alaska, and he wanted one rifle with enough kinetic energy to kill anything, from bison to pronghorn. Thanks to the front and rear bipod system, Robert could use the .300 with the boys at a young age. At first, he could get the animal dialed, set in the crosshairs, and the boys crawled up to it. Now that they’re older, they dial everything in using the same setup. Robert says that 90 percent of the animals the boys have killed have been taken prone.
“I didn’t want my kids to get bad habits and be afraid,” Robert says. “It worked for my kids. It might be a total disaster for others.”
And that’s a pretty good takeaway. Kids are different, just like their parents. I might just try both routes with my daughter. If that means I have to buy myself a new custom .300, then that’s alright, too.
PJ DelHomme is the owner of Crazy Canyon Journal, a side project of Crazy Canyon Media. I should note that the opening image is courtesy of Robert Hanneman and his boys.
