First DeerRifle caliber for my Grandson

[Dogshooter]

I have to disagree that the 243 is for "experts" only. The caliber is a proven deer killer and is a perfect caliber for any young shooter. The main concern is that the young hunter be given the opportunity to shoot that rifle until he prooves his competancy with it. If he can't hit with it, he won't do any better with a 260 or any other caliber. I live in Wyoming and have a rancher friend that has carried one in his truck for longer than most people on this BB have been alive. He has killed his mule deer, antelope, and even his elk every year that I have known him with that 243. Caliber should be less important than competancy.

[Woodchuk]

Being only 21, it was only about 6 years ago that I received a Savage 110 in .243 for Christmas.  It was one of those Rifle/scope/case combos from Dick's Sporting goods.   I think it only cost about $350 or so, but I'm not sure.
   In my limited experience deer hunting (I say limited because I cannot attest to possesing wisdom beyond my years) I've never felt uncomfortable taking a shot a NY whitetail...and that's because I've never taken a shot at one that I thought I couldn't hit well enough to kill.
   If there was one thing that my father did right, when buying this rifle for me, it was that he gave it to me when I was 15, a year before I was old enough to hunt with it.  He also took me shooting during that year and I practiced shooting from various positions.  I used to head into our back field and try to demolish apples with that rifle at about 80 yards from a standing position.
   Now I don't claim to be a great marksman, but I can say that the confidence one gets from knowing he/she can hit their target is much greater than the false confidence provided by a more powerful rifle.  Know your limitations and take all your shots within those limits, and it really doesn't matter how big your gun is.

[Mainspring]

I started shooting my Dad's Winchester .30/30 and Remington 760 .30/06 when I was 11, and was his gun caddy in the woods at 12, humping that 760 complete with an old steel Weaver 3-9x42 all over the place.  I survived.  Unless a kid is very slight in stature for his/her age, I wouldn't be too concerned about a .30 cal of some kind being too much for them to handle.  I'm pretty sure that 20 years ago it was a law in Michigan that before a kid was allowed to hunt deer with a rifle, they had to fire a minumum of 100 rounds of .30/30  :-D