Advice on son's first rifle

[yobuck]

I am needing advice on purchasing my 10 yo son his first rifle. I'm looking at a new savage model 16 trophy hunter XP in 7mm-08. My questions are can the stock be shortened any, will a youth stock fit this rifle, and what other aftermarket stocks will fit. I've checked on line and it doesn't seem to have many choices for drop in fit stocks. Am I correct in this assumption? Is there any thing else I should be considering? Don't have a ton of cash and would like to keep it in stainless. The trophy hunter XP with Nikon scope was thus attractive at it's price. How good is the stock that comes on it? He may use a biped also. Hope this isn't too much info. Thanks

Keep in mind that time does indeed fly by. As has been said, he wont be 10 very long.
Using lighter bullets in the 7/08 will keep the recoil on par with a 243 or a 6.5.
Yet he will still have the advantage of using heavier bullets up to 180s in the future.
When my oldest son came of age i bought him a 243.
When my youngest son reached that point, the 7/08 was available and thats what i bought him.
He will be 44 tomorrow, and on the same day i will become 80.
Take pictures, some day you will enjoy them.

[Newsshooter]

If you get him a savage you can always swap barrels later. I just put a .223 together for my 12 year old nephew to shoot at 600 yard matches. Just zeroed it today, barely kicks at all. Pretty simple to swap a bolt head and barrel to move it to something bigger later. For hearing protection you can make custom plugs with kits from Radians really easy and they work well. Put some electronic muffs over them for extra protection and you can still talk with your ear pro on your head.

[JASmith]

How about a 6.5 Grendel,
have just put one together for my 11 yer old son base on the zastava mini Mauser action and about to build one for myself on a left hand model 11.
+!

There are two differences between the Grendel and the Creedmoor: The Grendel has less recoil and the Creedmore reaches out a tad farther for proper bullet opening.

the Grnedel is good for almost all medium game and he will find it a very good shooter.

BTW Do a Google search for the 6.5 Grendel Relaoding Handbook. Good discussions about hinting and bullet choices for the 6.5 caliber.

[jonbearman]

How big of a ten year old do you have. If you choose a .223 the model 25 may be a better choice , if they make it in that caliber anymore or a model 7 rem in .223 or .243 so he isn't overwhelmed.

[tufrthnails]

I got my 9yo a .243 for christmas. He was a bit shy of it at first but I had him put ear plugs in under his ear muffs and now he has no prob at all with it. One thing I will say is the youth model kicks a lot more then a standard model. shorter barrel and not as much weight in the stock.

[JASmith]

Regarding the .243 Winchester, it is a fine rifle with an excellent reputation for harvesting deer.

With its heavier bullets, the 6.5 Grendel covers a much larger waterfront, to include elk while keeping recoil consistent with 90 - 100 gr 243 factory loads

The 6.5 Creedmoor can be handloaded to yield similarly low recoil with bullets adequate for the game a 10 year-old is likely to be taking. Then, the bullet weight and powder charges can be incrementally increased as his stature and shooting confidence increase.

BTW -- Very fine deer-capable bullets weighing 95-100 grains are available in 6.5 caliber.