Hunting Rifle for Young Hunters

Am Shooting Journal ^ | 8/3/2018 | J Hines

[Badboo]

I turn 66 tomorrow, so today I laid down a good bit of scratch for a limited production M70 Featherweight in .257 Roberts. Nicest Model 70 I will have owned. I’m going to use it for ten years and then it goes my grandson when he turns 16. Hopefully we’ll hunt some together with it before then.

I started all three of my boys on patched round ball muzzleloader, then moved them up to a .243 youth Model 70.

There are a ton of options today. What is important is getting them out in the woods and doing it right. Mine were hiking in on three day backwoods pack trips sleeping in a tent in late November. I made sure they had good boots and a good bag.

They started at six and all hunt today. They learned the important stuff with that $99 sidelock smokepole, including how to ambush deer consistently from 15-30 yards away.

If you are into deer stories here is one written about me.

https://www.roanoke.com/sports/outdoors/national-forest-deer-camp-more-folklore-than-reality/article_0452a4b3-bb24-5c4f-9446-a01edc6a1b5c.html

[shotgun]

.30-.30 Winchester lever action. My dad dropped me and my brother off at Hunter safety training and when he picked us up he handed one to each of us.

[nobamanomore]

Not a bad choice! The Ruger Americans are the best shooting under $400 rifle in existence. I got my grandson one in .243 several years ago, it is a deer killer.

[Figment]

223 wouldn’t be legal to hunt with in my state, except maybe squirrels