Savage Axis .243 youth, best deer round?

It is hard not to like the 100gr Hornady BTSP over 34.2gr of IMR4064 and seated to cannelure. Very low recoil and will kill deer very well. If he is shooting a 410 already he can handle the 243 and that load. Just make sure of eye relief for him on his first instructional shots. That load put a bullet through the next to last rib left side, both lungs, through the ribs right side, and lodged in the shoulder bone. The deer took 5 small steps and collapsed. West Virginia button buck.
 
WV button buck, how big can those be ?
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Originally Posted By: Tim Neitzke2 things kids/ beginners need :
1. lite recoil
2. a scope with lots of eye relief. Creaping on a cheap scope will get them bit. Very hard to recover from that.

I've killed lots o'deer with 55gr up to 100 gr bullets. An 80gr hp or soft point is a good one for starters.

I agree on both points. For beginners I like a shotgun scope 4x32 with 4-5 inches of relief. If they get scope bit they will have a fear for a long time. My cousin's daughter got hit by the scope on a .30-30 five years ago and even today she won't pick one up, but she will shot the calibers that have as much recoil. A lighter bullet at reduced velocity or even a Nosler 95 grain BT or Hornady 100 grain SP under a reduced load will deck a deer. The main complaint on .243s were that they were bad for wounding deer and letting them get away was a bullet issue. Running the old bullets too fast caused some to splash. Reduced velocity would probably have solved the issue, but the caliber was sold on speed. Today's bullets are much better.
 
get the break and use the mid weight bullets, you can get the hornady superperformance to even further reduce the felt recoil (for what ever that is worth)

I might have another idea that you may like. If you are here, then you hunt coyotes. Why not get a Delcon AR, they are like $600 now, and then get another upper and build a 6.5 Grendal and load those up. Get the adjustable stock AR. Then get the check relief thing and set that so that it holds his head up right. Then he shoots 223 for coyotes with you, swap the upper and shoot the 6.5 on everything else, no real felt recoil.
 
Well not as big as what we have here in Ohio but they are bigger than what I wanna drag for sure. That one was 120-130. I would imagine they are similar in size to original poster in VA.
 
Why not just get a heavier rifle like the savage predator, the recoil will be like a .223. Especially if you're shooting from a box blind.
 
.243 is a great round for deer. I started with a Remington model 7 youth using 100 gr soft points. When I got older all I did was swap the stock out and still to this day it is my go to rifle for deer. If you don't think they can handle the recoil of the 100 gr start off with a 80 or 85 gr and see how they do.
 
Thought I'd share a pic of my sons 100 yards group off a field pod standing up with Hornady 85 grain low recoil rounds. He's ready for youth day this weekend.

 
Scout rifle would work great for a young hunter or lady. Scope is mounted out farther on barrel. No worry about scope eye. Nice set up. Martyd
 
Originally Posted By: leebrownThanks for the replies everyone, I'll be getting his gun next week.

What would be a good sub $200 scope with long eye relief?

.243 is an excellent round. Put 2 deer down for our family last year.

Plenty of low recoil stuff to choose from. Also you can use a Limbsaver type recoil pad.

Good scope: Nikon with the BDC or the Vortex Crossfire II series. I have both and they are excellent.
 
Congratulations to Your Son for shooting the .243,the Managed Recoil bullets are great and as He gets older He can always go with the standard Ammo.I use a Browning A- bolt Hunter .243 for Deer and it's taken down many large Doe's and several nice Bucks over the past 9 years!
 
.243 is a great deer round and honestly I think it is perfect for deer and pronghorn size animals. If your worried about recoil and don't reload you could always get Hornady's 87gr SST custom light. I use SST's every year and kills the deer around here stone dead. I use a .270 but when my sister is around I snatch her .243 when going to the woods.... (Lets keep that a secret)
 
Congrats to you and your son!!! Judging from the smile on his face it looks like you picked out the right equipment, and with any luck hooked him on a great sport!!!!!


eta: What load did you end up using?
 
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Originally Posted By: travmackCongrats to you and your son!!! Judging from the smile on his face it looks like you picked out the right equipment, and with any luck hooked him on a great sport!!!!!


eta: What load did you end up using?

Hornady reduced recoil, think it's 85 or 87 grain. It destroyed one shoulder.
 
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