TIKKA WHITE TAIL HUNTER DELUXE

[fastnighthawk]

Hi everyone, I  just bought a tikka white tail hunter 30-06 for my 13 year old son and with the new low recoil management shells I think it will be a good gun for him. He has shot my 270 and a 7mm mag but not with repeated accuracy and I think with the low recoil shells he will be able to. I also was thinking of putting a leupold vx II 3 x 9 x 40 on it with talley light weight mounts the extra eye relief might be helpful. Do you think that this will be a good choice I have made ? I hope so since I have already bought the rifle. Also there is still some Tikka White Tail Hunter Deluxes at Auction Arms NIB for $550.00 in the 30-06 and 7mm mag cal. Those Tikka deluxes are getting really hard to find just wanted to add that info for anyone looking for one.

[Zachary]

I have a Tikka Deluxe in 7Mag - what a beautiful piece of craftmanship.  I bought mine from a store in, I think, Arkansas, on clearance at $465 (or something like that).  Anyhow, even at $550, the gun is a steal - waaaayyy better quality than any Remchester and very accurate rifles.

As for the .30-06, I think that it's too much for a 13 year old, but, then again, with the reduced loads, then it should be okay.  I'm not sure because I haven't shot these reduced loads so I don't know.  If these loads really kick much less, then it should be great.  Still, I would only advocate taking shots are deer well within 200 yards - and more like 100 yards (which is probably the national average anyway).

Your son has an absolutely wonderful rifle - one which should he should grow into and be with for a lifetime if he takes care of it.  :grin:


Zachary

[fastnighthawk]

Zackary yes I agree, I also thought that a 30-06 is a large cal. for a 13 year old but he shoots my 270 well, he groups it about 2" at 100 yards. From what I have read the low recoil shells should be good out to 200 yards and that would be our farest shot for sure where we hunt. I would make sure he was able to hit the kill zone at that distance before ever letting him shoot at a deer of that distance. When I started him shooting it was when he was 8 years old with a bolt 22 and when he turned 11 he shot at deer size targets at 50 yards free hand and then 100 yards free hand with a 22 till he could hit the kill zone repeatedly. when he turned 12 he used the 30-30 in the same way and it worked out great. he also shot the 270 and the 7 mm mag threw out the summer.  He hunted last year with a 30-30 and ended up with a button buck for the youth hunt and a good size doe in the regular hunting season with both good shots one in the neck at 70 yards and one in and out both lungs at 100 yards traughting. He is a large 13 year old 165 lbs, he also uses a 12 ga. for small game and is a decent shot with it as well he ended up with a couple of ringnecks last year and he is a very good shot at skeet as well. I think I have made some good choices and will have a great hunting partner to share the outdoors with.

[longwinters]

If your son was shooting 150 gn bullets out of the 270 and shoots bullets of the same weight in the 06, the recoil difference is neglegable.  Plus if he can shoot the 12 ga.  The 06 should be no problem.  I bought my oldest son an 06 (I think he was 17 and about 145lbs).  I loaded him up 125 gn bullets and had him use a Past recoil shield  just to make sure there were no problems with recoil.  It worked out quite well.  I hope your son enjoys a very nice rifle like that Tikka.

Long