Went through the same thing with my son tried evevry rifle combo you can think of. Hes not recoil shy he shoots a 3inch 12 gauge for ducks and geese and say and I quote"You dont feel the recoil when your shooting at animals". Settled on a remmington short action in 7mm08 with a youth stock. He is pretty small framed and wanted a 270 although he could handle the recoil I could not find a stock to fit him. So he will be limited to about 250 yards for his first rocky moutatin elk hunt.

