youth .243 loads for deer?

[thelaw]

my son will be 7 in october. he's kind of on the small side at a little over 40lbs. however, from a bench position he shoot my nef. 223 with a youth stock installed pretty well, definitely good enough to double lung a deer at 50 yrds. i'm considering getting a .243 barrel and loading it with some 80-85gr. bullets for him to hunt with. he will be hunting from a blind with a bench setup. do you think the .243 with 80-85 grainers is too much recoil for him? i know its about twice as much as a 55gr. .223. i was thinking about letting him practice with the .223 and then installing the .243 barrel and sighting it in before his hunt.

[PA-Joe]

You may want to consider a 7mm08. That is what I used but my kids were 12 and about 100 pounds. I used 140 grain points with 35.5 grains of IMR 4064 over a cci primer (max load is about 42 grains). This is equivalent to a 30-30 load and is good out to 150 yards. You can problably use the same load for the 243.

[PEPAW]

What is minimum legal in your state?
My kids use a .222 for our small does and pigs.  Close range. Broadside shots.

pepaw

[quickdtoo]

You can see what the difference in recoil is here...

http://www.chuckhawks.com/recoil_table.htm

The .243 has roughly 3 times the recoil of the .223 and the 7mm-08 has even more....I think the .243 with a youth stock on it would be much better.


Tim

[Mitch in MI]

The .243 has roughly 3 times the recoil of the .223 and the 7mm-08 has even more....

Of course, with handloads recoil is entirely variable. All you need is enough velocity to expand the bullet at 50 yards if I interpret thelaw's situation correctly.

How easily do 85 grain Barnes TSX open?
Would Hornady's 75gr V-Max or hollow point hold together on deer at 2500 fps? Or maybe a 70gr or 80gr Nosler BT?

[oneshotonekill]

If the 223 is legal in your state I would let him use that this year.  As an NRA instructor there is nothing I love to see more than youngsters getting involved in the shooting sports.  Unfortunately, one bad experience shooting is all it takes to turn them away.  At 40Lbs and 7 years old a 243 may be a little too much for him.  If you were to let him practice with the 223 then switch to a 243 barrel for the hunt he may overlook the increased recoil and muzzleblast due to his excitement but he will definitely not overlook getting slapped in the face with the scope.  If you decide to use the 243 I'd suggest a long eye-relief scope to reduce the possibility.  Which ever route you choose good luck to you and your son.