That is a great idea! Had not even thought about that caliber. It used to be all the rage for the BR crowd many years ago. I got plenty of 4895! There is so many 6.5 offerings out there now I was thinking about that or 243. I got a buddy that is talking smack about letting a Tikka 243 go.
Tikka's are really nice rifles and 243 is a good low recoil choice as well, but I like a little more leeway on bullet diameter and penetration with a new hunter. I went with 7-08 because I've been shooting a .280 for a long time and have a lot of 7mm bullets. The .308 win with 125 gr Sierra Pro Hunter would be an excellent choice as well. That bullet performs very well. My goal was to have 30-30ish ballistics in a rifle that they could grow into. My son was pretty recoil shy while my daughter seemed to like getting smacked by the rifle. I just tried to make it fun for them and would let him go back to the .22lr after a group or two with the deer rifle.
