Thread: New rifle for goat control/sons first rifle

223 is a good choice but you could always go to a 243. Least that way you can keep it for years and your son can still use it as his main rifle for deer and big stags . No recoil, easy to shoot and knocks anything over out to a certain point. Otherwise a 223 is still good to keep for the goats etc(deer) and move up to something bigger, esp if he tends to shoot longer range later on if he gets into the hunting thing. My first rifle was a open sight 303 then moved to a 243 for goats. Years later still have a 243 as my main rifle and its my main deerrifle now and it works a treat.