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When my grandpa passed away he left me a sporterized US remington 1903-a3. it was the first 'large caliber' rifle i ever shot. i was 10 when he died, 12 when my dad felt comfortable letting me shoot it. at 18 i hunted with it for 2 years and decided its worth way too much to me to get banged around in the sticks and so i retired it and bought a .308 and 300 Win mag. in my opinion a .308 or .270 is perfect for your grand kids. especially with a muzzle brake on it. honestly, im sure they'd be happy with whatever. if my grandpa were still alive i wouldnt care what gun he gave to me to hunt with as long as he was around. my other grandpa retired from hunting long before i could go with him and always tells me the stories and shows me pictures of all the elk hes taken. wish i could have been there. i know a guy who cleanly takes elk with a 270, another guy with a .243 and another guy with a 308. a buddy of mine hunts them with a 338 win mag. me, a bow and arrow or in some instances a 300 win mag. its 6 1/2 to 1 and a half dozen the other. He(mr .338) argues that anything under a 30-06 just doesnt have the knock down power. i laugh and show him ballistic charts of a 308 and a 30-06 and explain that bullet technology has come a long long way and that a good handloader (me. not that im a "good" handloader... just sayin. ) could make a 308 load out perform a 30-06 factory round(atleast i think so. a few beers may have been involved in that conversation). long story short. i now help him handload his .338. needless to say, good luck. enjoy every moment with the grandkids.