My girlfriends 16 year old fixing to be 17 in just 2 months is going to do deer and pig hunting with me this year. He's been shooting with me for about a year and a half. Mostly a zillion .22lr rounds. My girlfriend gave me permission to buy him a rifle. However she said its got to stay in my gun safe and when he turns 18 and graduates highschool I can give it to him to keep. He's a levergun fan like me. However today we where looking at rifles and he got the fever for an H&R Handi rifle. I have only one experience with these rifles. How do they handle recoil? I want to get him a 7mm-08. He was looking at a .243 but I think I'd like him to have one with a little more kapow in case we get the chance to shoot a bigger pig. Plus I already have a bunch of powder that will work for the 7mm-08 and a hung of 7mm bullets. He can handle my grandfathers .35 Remington Marlin. I'd get him a .30-30 in a lever. Maybe a .308 in the Handi download to .30-30 levels then as he gets use to it we can crank it up? What do you guys think?

I think the 243 and 7-08 are both great rounds. Having the same parent case there's always the option of a 243 now and then a re-barrel to 7-08 although the fact that you load adds a great opportunity to load down then bump up as you talked about. Either way you can't go wrong. Since he likes the lever guns have you considered a 308 Marlin Express, best of both worlds where having the lever gun is concerned and the extra punch you want over the 243. The Hornady loads are a 140gr Monoflex at 2800 fps and the 160gr FTX at 2660 fps out of a 24 inch barrel. With the LeverEvolution powder available you could still load your own. Best of luck to ya !!

The H&R SB2 frames almost always lock up nice n' tight and they handle recoil pretty well. The barrels tend to be fairly stout, making the gun a little heavier which helps keeps the felt recoil down. I've got them in 50 ML, 243 Win, 30-'06 and a wildcat 35GNR. They work well and I took a deer with the 35 last fall.

You could start him out with a 308 or 7-08 and work up Youth loads with H4895. Although, depending on his recoil tolerance, full-house 7-08 loads probably won't bother him too much. If larger pigs may be on the agenda, I'd skip the very fine 243 and go with a larger cartridge. If he wants a dedicated deer and varmint barrel later on, he can send the frame in to H&R and get a 243 barrel fitted for a nominal fee.

If you scroll down to "Rifle Barrels" on the page listed below, you can see what options are currently available.

H&R 1871 - Barrel Accessory Program

Also, Graybeard outdoors has what is undoubtedly the most comprehensive forum postings on H&R rifles you'll find anywhere. If you want to know ANYTHING about an H&R, searching through their pages will almost certainly get you the answer. Good luck and let us know what you decide!

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Zapzoo, is this boy small, med or large in frame and what is his body weight? Now that 30-30 Winchester for deer would be excellent as a first time rifle, the recoil with 170 grn bullet factory ammo is 10-lbs of felt recoil. Same goes for the .243 Winchester but the handi-rifle is lighter in weight and generate more recoil (don't remember how much more) I personally think the are fine for a float trip maybe. I like the wood stocks etc.

Now the 7mm-o8 is big enough to handle ELK, ok. There are lots of bullet weights to choose from and it is one rifle he can use on varmints up close, shoot 20 to 40 rounds a day and not get sore. Also I would advise to purchase a PAST RECOIL PAD for the boy (cost is $38 dollars) it will make a 30-06 feel like a .243 in recoil. He can use the 7mm-08 for predators as well (coyotes & fox) it makes a great deer caliber and can take em out passed 300 yards.

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