Wife needs a gun

aninchlow

aninchlow

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My wife is thinking about hunting with me. Which according to jeff foxworthy is a huge mistake.... but.....

what would be a good fire arm to get her started with. I'm a 220lbs and 6'3" so the 300 win mag and me = love. She's 135 pounds and I don't want her to be fearful of pulling the trigger.

every gun that isn't a magnum doesn't really work for me.... but I've not been 135 pounds since I was.... like 12.

I like remington firearms and spend every bit of my allowance on black rifles so I'm trying to be good and not go "overboard"

cheers,
 
I feel you. Since I bought my Rem. Mtn. LSS in .260 last year, my wife loved it at first sight. I told her it's ours... but now, I like to have all for my self. So recently, been thinking of her buy her own rifle.
I've heard about the 7mm-08 for the "old ball & chain", so I showed her the Remington catalogue and gave her all the options that offers the 7mm-08.
Her choice was... again the Mountain LSS.
Currently, I'm the only one (better 1/2) earning salary since we just adopted a SON!. And want her to get the rifle before fall, I better save up $$$ for her to leave my .260 alone.
 
What will she be hunting and in what conditions? Stalk hunting, stand hunting, will moose, bear, elk be in the cards or will she be sticking to deer, varmints..... ?

Sensible cartridges are just plain sensible regardless if you are 230 pounds or 130 pounds. Matching the cartridge requirements to game to maintain lower recoil improves accuracy at any size however, using a marginal cartridge for the class of game to avoid recoil does not make sense.

I would think you will want something light in a so called 'allround' cartridge on the lower side of recoil. Something like a Remington Model 7 CDL or a remington model 700 LSS in 7mm-08 might be just the ticket.

If she wants to stalk larger game and you feel the smaller cartridges are not up to the task I would go with a .308 or 30-06 in a more standard wieght rifle. My wife tollerates recoil and enjoys shooting my .300 savage in model 99. Makes a great allround hunting rifle and has very tollerable recoil.

We have found that rifle fit is super important as rifles are made for the male stature (longer arms etc.). Really iportant to go to the shops and make sure she tries alot of models. My wife is more comfortable with smaller handier rifles with shorter barrels 22" and smaller
 
Don't make the mistake of buying a rifle for her that will fit you (in case she doesn't enjoy it).

The quickest way to put her off, as you mentioned, is to make her uncomfortable, physically or emotionaly.

Get the stock cut to give her a comfortable trigger pull with a coat on.

If you're going to scope the rifle, keep it simple and not to powerful.

As for cartridge choice, there are so many good mild kickers out there that your best choice would be to stick with the bullet diameter you handload for and have the best selection of bullets available.

You mention the 300 Win Mag. The 308 Win will use most of the same bullets well. If you load for calibres in 7mm, 6.5mm, 6mm, .257, go for one of them.

Your wife may be quite comfortable with the recoil of a 30-06. Some ladies are.

Get a couple of friends together or borrow a couple of their rifles to let her try the recoil. Just remember, an overlength stock "seems" to increase felt recoil, mainly because of the uncomfortable angles and poor stock welds.

The same thing applies to younger, smaller shooters, normally refferred to as children.

bearhunter
 
If you handload you can adjust the recoil to match her comfort level, if not the milder cartridges might be the better choice until she can move up to more power, if she ever needs to. I personally think that all around big game cartridges begin at 6.5 despite the success some have experienced with sub calibers. This is the smallest bore size that provides bullets with enough weight to kill well at moderate velocity. While I would urge you to consider a .308 or a .30/06 if you handload, a 6.5X55 or a .260 Remington factory loads perform very well.

If you are a Remington fan a Model 7 carbine with a wood stock cut to fit her, finished off with a Decelerator or some equally squishy pad will keep her from being intimidated from the bump on the shoulder even from a .308. If she is introduced to shooting this rifle with good hearing protection there is no reason for her to ever worry about the discomfort of shooting it. If she decides she likes the rifle you could upgrade the stock to one that is factory made to her length of pull from McMillan or some other maker.

The scope should be low powered and physically small to match the size of the rifle. There is no need for a 50 mm objective on a carbine size hunting rifle, besides which big objectives require the scope to be mounted too high above the barrel for a solid repeatable cheek weld. Low powered scopes can be mounted quite low making a solid cheek weld natural and repeatable. A low powered scope also normally has lots of eye relief so the scope can be mounted well forward, say even with the end of the cocking piece so there is no chance of her getting hit with the ocular when the rifle recoils. If the scope is a variable with a long eye piece, extension rings might be required to mount the scope far enough forward. If the scope has to be set farther back than in a line even with the rear bow of the trigger guard before she can get a full field of view, the stock is probably still too long for her.

Don't underestimate what a woman can do with a good rifle that properly fits her. My wife is about the same size as yours and she is extremely confident and competent with her Husky .30/06. I'm loading her 180 gr practice ammo to about 2500 fps, but she shoots full powered 180 gr TSX's with no difficulty.
 
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go to a gun store and have her handle a Ruger Frontier/Compact. .308 or 7mm-08 with managed recoil loads (less recoil than .243, but still plenty of poof at hunting ranges) might do the trick.

my g/f is tiny and 100lbs and the Frontier fits her and is easy for her to swing around. someone that small is not going to be able to hold a 26" barreled full size gun steady offhand on a target. she also really likes how they look - which god knows with women can actually be a factor in getting them to take interest in something -- chicks love the laminate :D
wood stocks can be cut down to size very easily too.

spend the extra $50 or so and get one in Target Grey, less maintenance for her.
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you can mount the scope traditionally on these, but with a scout mount shell also have 0% chance of being bitten by the scope and it will get her shooting with both eyes open, and since its her first gun this habit should stick with her.
 
260 remington and 6.5x55 are wonderful cartridges to use to get someone into shooting, whether the new shooter is a man or woman:

(1) There is enough recoil to make it feel like you're shooting a "real rifle".
(2) Even if they don't manage to remember every instruction you give them on proper shooting form, it probably won't hurt them if they mount the gun wrong.
(3) Neither cartridge is really rare or odd, but at the same time it can be nice for the new shooter to have their rifle be something a little bit unique.
(4) They'll like that you can honestly tell them "sure it's enough rifle to shoot a moose, providing you shoot straight, and to tell you the truth, my _____ magnum would do no better without good shooting"

Do remember, though, that even these cartridges can be uncomfortable to shoot from the bench, so "here's your rifle honey, you might as well start by sighting it in properly" might not be a good idea.

RG

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