Suggestions for wife's first hunting rifle?

B

Bustercluck

CGN Regular
Rating - 100%
27   0   0
Location
Fort McMurray
My wife is taking the core course right now and I was looking for a small calibre rifle, maybe .243. She's fairly small, 5'2" and I was looking for suggestions on a youth model or something.
Thanks
 
I think it was savage that is making a lady hunter model now that is essentially a youth model for women. For caliber a 260 rem, 25-06, or similar would work well. Winchester M70 featherweights are also another option as they seem to fit women a bit better than most guns do.
 
Bought my wife a Remington model 7 youth In 7mm08 , I would have preferred a 260 for her but it seems fine, my wife is 5'8", hopefully your wife gets an opportunity to try a few different rifles and calibres before you buy.
 
Take her to a gun store and have her feel as many different types as possible.

A rifle stock that fits her frame is critical and having a balanced feel is important also, try rifles with scopes on them if she is wanting optics as this adds to weight.

A poor fitting rifle in any chambering will give her a bad experience and possible "learned" apprehension from recoil.Also important to wear clothing similar to what she will be hunting in.

A well fitting, well balanced comfortable rifle will have recoil but it will be perceived and felt as much less than a cumbersome fit.

As for chambering , anything .243 up to .308 would work fine, short action will save a some weight also.If larger than deer may be on the ticket a .260 would be a good start as well as 7-08 however fewer manufacturers are chambering 260 but 7-08 is still largely available.

Optics- something with long eye relief and moderate magnification so she can use the scope with as much ease as possible and not become frustrated.A fixed 4 or 6 if she doesn't want to fumble with adjusting , 2-7 for variable would also work if she feels comfortable with the extra option and will still give good field of view and fairly easy to acquire a sight picture.

Just to stress again, fit and comfort before chambering. IMO of course.

Remington Model 7 does seem to be a popular choice.
 
Last edited:
My GF is shooting a savage 99f in 308. I put a mercury tube in the the stock and handloaded 150gr bullets and she's liking it. I think a 6.5 55 or 7mm08 would be better for her still.
 
my wife rocks a 6.5x55 husqvarna with a shortened stock. i have never bothered measuring the pull as the rifle fits her very well. her only complaint is the lack of a removable magazine
 
The Remington youth comes with stock spacers to adjust length of pull and a soft recoil pad. The bbl is 20" long. I have one in 7-08 and the recoil with 140g bullets is way too much for the average person that would use this type of gun. Get the 243.
 
A Savage FCNS or FCSS (Stainless) with the Accustock. Very accurate rifles that will never change their point of impact, as the stock will never warp from weather like wood stocks are known for.
 
nothing wrong with a 243 -but if you go with a 6.5x55 swede-then she can shoot anything from coyotes to moose.Light-low recoil and very accurate.Ammunition readily available,even the good stuff.Check out the SD-its about as efficient a hunting bullet that you can buy-when a cartridge is still on the market for over 100 years they must be doing something right[like putting game down very efficiently ].
 
I am a big fan of browning a-bolt micros. x-bolts are good too, but a-bolts fit me better (actually just the cheekpiece is more comfortable. With a light scope leupold vx2 3-9x weighs about 7 lbs.
243 would be perfect for deer. pretty gentle on the shoulder. a-bolts are discontinued though.
you might need to trim back the stock though to fit her arm length.
If you have access to cgn Equipment Exchange , watch for a used one there: they come up pretty often.
 
Kelly Timoffee said:
Take her to a gun store and have her feel as many different types as possible.

A rifle stock that fits her frame is critical and having a balanced feel is important also, try rifles with scopes on them if she is wanting optics as this adds to weight.

A poor fitting rifle in any chambering will give her a bad experience and possible "learned" apprehension from recoil.Also important to wear clothing similar to what she will be hunting in.

A well fitting, well balanced comfortable rifle will have recoil but it will be perceived and felt as much less than a cumbersome fit.

As for chambering , anything .243 up to .308 would work fine, short action will save a some weight also.If larger than deer may be on the ticket a .260 would be a good start as well as 7-08 however fewer manufacturers are chambering 260 but 7-08 is still largely available.

Optics- something with long eye relief and moderate magnification so she can use the scope with as much ease as possible and not become frustrated.A fixed 4 or 6 if she doesn't want to fumble with adjusting , 2-7 for variable would also work if she feels comfortable with the extra option and will still give good field of view and fairly easy to acquire a sight picture.

Just to stress again, fit and comfort before chambering. IMO of course.

Remington Model 7 does seem to be a popular choice.
Click to expand...

Well that saved me a bunch of typing!! :) My wife shoots a Browning Micro xbolt in .308 and loves it. I can think of ~20 deer that don't ..........
 
broncoo said:
my wife rocks a 6.5x55 husqvarna with a shortened stock. i have never bothered measuring the pull as the rifle fits her very well. her only complaint is the lack of a removable magazine
Click to expand...

We got my wife a 6.5x55 also. Ended up liking it so much I got me one too! A youth rifle in 7mm-08 is commonly a very good choice for smaller women too.

RG

<><
 
Republic of Alberta said:
The Remington youth comes with stock spacers to adjust length of pull and a soft recoil pad. The bbl is 20" long. I have one in 7-08 and the recoil with 140g bullets is way too much for the average person that would use this type of gun. Get the 243.
Click to expand...


The Rem must be different than the Savages as my wife 5'1" loves my Sav gcns in 7mm-08. Someone else told me the Remington show alot of recoil but I took as total BS?
The wife uses a Marlin 30-30 for here deer hunting.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom