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Gun for my son(6 year old).

Congrats to your son and you. Pretty exciting when you share your passion and time together with your kids.

I’m hesitant to talk guns as there are so many who have way more experience and knowledge than I when it comes to them, but I do happen to own rifles in your listed calibers, albeit not in AR platforms. Specifically, 7mm-08 and 6.5 Creedmoor, both great whitetail cartridges. I would recommend either cartridge, but believe all of the listed cartridges provide plenty of lethality within normal hunting ranges on mid-size game.

However, to be up front, I think the 6.5 Grendel is a very strong candidate here, if you can source ammo, as well as the 350 legend.

Here is why:

You seem to have two priorities:
1. Recoil for a young shooter
2. Destructive terminal bullet performance

To me, with proper loads, you can achieve #2 with any of these cartridges at normal whitetail distances. So I’d emphasize priority #1. And while as an adult I don’t even feel my 7mm-08s or 6.5 Creedmoor kick, the free energy recoil of 6.5 Grendel and 350 legend measure out to something like 30%-40% less.

Between the two, I like that the Grendel shoots flatter and retains more energy, but the Legend pushes heavier bullets slower which generally equates to low noise and muzzleblast at the shot, and often big wound channels.

The Legend gives straight wall legal versatility, but the 6.5 is more versatile as a general hunting cartridge for small-mid size game and would be my choice, with a preference to 130ish grain ammo for deer.

Either of these should be soft on kids shoulders at the range, which I think is super important.

I suppose your kids could train on the .300BLK and hunt with one of the harder kicking, faster cartridges too.

As an adult, there is no question that 7mm-08 has been exceptional for me. I‘ve had knock downs or massive blood trails from everything I’ve shot with my 7mm-08 rifles which is why I own a few of them. As mentioned, the 6.5 x 55 Swede is another awesome round that I’d highly recommend we’re in not for the AR platform.

Certainly, as others suggest, bullet selection can impact terminal performance a ton, and should be carefully considered, but that’s another wormhole.

Best.
 
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A few pictures of when we finally found his deer and his excitement. Also a bonus pic of the damage to the heart.

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Plebe said:
And while as an adult I don’t even feel my 7mm-08s or 6.5 Creedmoor kick, the free energy recoil of 6.5 Grendel and 350 legend measure out to something like 30%-40% less....

.....The Legend gives straight wall legal versatility, but the 6.5 is more versatile as a general hunting cartridge for small-mid size game and would be my choice, with a preference to 130ish grain ammo for deer.

Either of these should be soft on kids shoulders at the range, which I think is super important.
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I agree wholeheartedly. Hunting is no problem, they won't feel the recoil in the heat of the moment. Good habits though are built at the range and that's where the lower recoil makes a big difference.

My first deer rifle was a Savage 219, single shot 30-30. Not a hard kicking gun when I shoot it now but it's light weight combined with a hard buttplate made it a little scary to shoot as a 10yr old. Best to make it as comfortable an experience as possible and the modern AR compatible rounds are great for that IMO
 
raisins said:
(I shoot them short range with 22-250 with no problems, just have to have the right bullet....soft point of sufficient weight or something with proper expansion)
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What bullets are you using? I've never deer hunted with my 22-250 but have considered trying it. Have a box of 60 gr Partitions but have never gotten around to loading any to see if they'll stabilize ok in the 14 twist. It was some years ago now when I bought them but as I recall the calculators put them as marginally stable.
 
brydan said:
What bullets are you using? I've never deer hunted with my 22-250 but have considered trying it. Have a box of 60 gr Partitions but have never gotten around to loading any to see if they'll stabilize ok in the 14 twist. It was some years ago now when I bought them but as I recall the calculators put them as marginally stable.
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I assume it is legal in your state. I use any soft point bullet that is 55 grains or over (but not too heavy) from a decent brand (federal fusion is pretty good). Then just take accurate shots under 200 yards and avoid heavy bone. They drop within sight. Your 60 grain partitions would probably be excellent if they shoot out of your gun. My gun is 1 in 12 twist.
 
My personal feeling about choosing a deer cartridge is this...
Bullet selection is much more important than caliber. You can choose any caliber you like, with felt recoil that’s comfortable for you or your kids, but wrong choice of bullets becomes an issue.
I talked with a gentleman that hunts with a 6.5CM. He was shooting deer and having a horrible time tracking and sometimes finding them. When I asked him what type ammo he was using, he told me Hornady Black, because it was cheap and available. Wrong choice! It is not designed to rapidly expand and dump energy like a hunting bullet. He changed to shooting a soft point interlocking bullet and it was a game changer.
my point being... select the right ammo for the job, it’s cheaper than a new rifle and much more ethical.
Unless u just need an excuse to buy another gun, nothing wrong with that!!!!!
 
@DanielB89 my son has shot the 300 blackout for several years. We’re not shooting the Barnes this year because of the ammo shortage but I would say that’s the best bullet for deer in the 300. Did you not get an exit? I always got an exit with the Barnes. If you had an entry an exit and a heart shot deer only ran 40 yards there’s not much else to ask for.
 
I typically rifle hunt with a 270 win or a 300wsm, I’ve shot plenty of deer where I haven’t gotten a river for a blood trail. Just this year I shot a doe with the 300 right behind the shoulder at 225 yards and she ran about 85 yards to the bottom of the field. All up hill from there back out of course ha. Opened her up and her cavity was completely full of blood. But only had drops while tracking. Was starting to think I didn’t hit her well.
 
EricS said:
@DanielB89 my son has shot the 300 blackout for several years. We’re not shooting the Barnes this year because of the ammo shortage but I would say that’s the best bullet for deer in the 300. Did you not get an exit? I always got an exit with the Barnes. If you had an entry an exit and a heart shot deer only ran 40 yards there’s not much else to ask for.
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it did have an entrance and exit and I agree, but my fear was that on a perfect shot like that, there should have been more blood exit the cavity. I am going to try to do some more testing this summer with it in hogs hopefully. I want to compare the Barnes with the Winchester xp. I’m hoping for better results with it.




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I shoot the hornady whitetail loads. 130gr in my 270win. Great wound channel inside. Like I said sometimes not the best blood trail. However I have blasted thru both front shoulders before and got full penetration right thru. I have not lost a deer shot with either gun. Sometimes on weak blood we just have to track more carefully. But I’d say 8/10 drop in sight. Depending how thick the woods I’m hunting are. If I shot them in a field in PA their dead before the exit 9.9/10 times.
 
Here’s a few more pictures:
This is the entry side that was facing up when we found her. You can see there was no blood that exited the cavity.

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Here is a picture of the entrance hole, again, no blood has drained down the hide.

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And finally, she was laying on the ground; this is the exit side which is facing the ground. This is ALL the blood that was on the ground under her.

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I agree 100% that the .300 black out will kill a deer, but if it won’t produce more blood on a shot like this, idk what I’ll do on a worse shot. Yes it had an entry and an exit, but I would have expected more blood out of cavity.


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I’m wondering if lack of blood could be from destroying the heart and it’s not “pumping” the blood out the hole and deer running on adrenaline and oxygen till it expired in the 60 yards or so it went.... I shot the heart clean off a doe this year. Dropped dead where she stood. Waited probably 30/40 minutes for my pal to get quad and when we went to her there was the same amount of blood under her. Inside was full but she dropped dead and heart never pumped blood out the hole is what we assumed.
 
My son shot a doe with the Winchester load this year. Shot was a tad high through the lungs and she ran about 60 yards. I could tell the shot was good and followed to where I last saw the doe and started making walking an arc in the direction the doe was headed. Found the doe and backtracked to see the blood trail. She didn’t bleed until 50 yards out and most of that was from the nose and mouth. The result would have likely been the same if he had used a 270. It’s not at all odd to have rifle shot deer run 40-60 yards before they start bleeding good regardless of cartridge used. I don’t care to waste meat but also don’t like to trail deer in the dark. What I do is shoot lungs in the morning through early evening. If it’s close to dark or time to go I’ll go high shoulder. There are other good cartridges for the ar platform but in a hunting scenario inside 150 yards you’re not going to see much difference.
 
DanielB89 said:
it did have an entrance and exit and I agree, but my fear was that on a perfect shot like that, there should have been more blood exit the cavity. I am going to try to do some more testing this summer with it in hogs hopefully. I want to compare the Barnes with the Winchester xp. I’m hoping for better results with it.




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Click to expand...

It's somewhat random, just like an arrow.
 
I know shot placement is highly debated, so take this as just my view. I prefer the high shoulder shot placement. Yes you tend to loose some meat, but deer tend to drop not run. No tracking necessary. If you have a quartering away shot it’s even better, less meat damage, I have used this shot if I’m near an area where restrictions to tracking or access are not an option. I live next to federal land where there is no legal access. If the deer jumps the fence your done. So the high shoulder shot for me is the best option. My wife has always used the heart/lung shot with 25/06 120 gr until she had to track a deer without my assistance. She was frustrated and upset at the difficulty of that adventure. Now she has changed her impact aim and killed 4 this year, no tracking or blood trail needed, just patience for the right angle and position of the deer
 
Another shot I’ve come to love....neck shot. Yet to have one walk after that. If it don’t have horns that are going on the wall and it’s getting late or I flat out don’t wanna track or want to get done ASAP and get back on stand for another I’ll shoot her right in the neck. You either hit em or miss em. And if you hit em their dead right there
 
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