Youth rifle choices

My son recently passed hunters safety so it's time for a new rifle. He's a lefty so we've been looking at the following "youth" rifles for him in 7mm-08:
-Remington 700 SPS Compact
-Savage 11 Trophy Hunter
-Browning X-bolt Micro Midas

Thoughts, opinions, ratings, or advice on these choices?

Congat's to you and your son.

I have 3 son's, but it's been a number of years since they last passed their test's. Here's my approach.

First, is this going to be his and only his gun, or possibly will it be a family starter like I had?

If his and only his, then let him choose.

I'd caution that while I coached all my boy's to picking synthetic, they all thought they wanted wood. Now they regret the extra field mark's that show, but there's a life lesson in there as well.

PS Great caliber choice. All good gun's as well.

Wood looks way better and the usage marks are memories IMO. Get a laminate if you worry about durability and like wood. I have a M70 lightweight I carried in the field for years. Dropped it off a horse once and they don't mark up easy. Having said that I also have plastic stocks in the safe but the wood is more of an heirloom item if you ask me.
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Hello regularjoe,
I too am a lefty!
Just a few thoughts!
1) The Remington 700 SPS youth model comes with a spacer that can be installed between the recoil pad & stock to accommodate the shooter as he/she gets bigger.
2) Remington 700 BDL walnut stocks are fairly easy to find (even left hand ones!) and can be installed along with the mag box & hinged floorplate assembly to "upgrade" an SPS into a BDL.
I have a .243 Winchester set up like this and it consistently shoots 1" groups with no issues whatsoever!

FOR THE RECORD - I currently own 2 Remington 700's and have owned 4 others over the last 40 years. I have been directly involved with well over a dozen other Remington 700's owned by friends and family members. None of these Remingtons have ever had any of the issues that I have read about recently.

3) The Browning X-Bolt Micro Midas is undoubtedly a "prettier" rifle and, if it shoots half as well as my A-Bolt Micro Hunter (left hand 270 WSM), it should be a great shooter as well!

4) The last Savage I owned was a piece of, , , , well, that was a long time ago. I have read some very positive things about them in the last few years but I have no first hand experience with them!

Let us know what you decide and how it works out for you.

I'm a left handed shooter due to a vision problem in my right eye. My first centerfire was a Browning A-Bolt Stainless Stalker 270 win. with a BOSS. I still use it occasionally because it's real light and reliable.

Any of the other rifles you mentioned should be fine too IMO.

I bought my daughter a Remington 700 243. I chose to go with the regular sps with a 24" barrel. Then called Remington and ordered a youth stock for about $90. Now that she is older we put the regular size stock back on and the youth stock will go on her younger sisters new 700.

My daughter grew up on a .260 Remington Mountain Rifle and took many animals with it. I "borrowed" it a few times and enjoyed everything about it.

My vote is the Browning X-Bolt. It will be a tack driver, just like every Browning I have owned. You can adjust the trigger as light as you like and no recalls!


"You can fly a helicopter to the top of Everest and say you've been there. The problem with that is you were an a$$hole when you started and you're still an a$$hole when you get back.
Its the climb that makes you a different person". - Yvon Chouinard

Great choice for a cartridge. They will be happy with it. You won't go wrong with the Savage or Browning.

A BOSS equipped rifle will reduce recoil but it is louder. They make a non-vented attachment for it if the noise gets to bothersome.