My Wife's first Gun

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futa_mill

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Hi All,

OnSaturday I took my wife out to the local Cabela's and Wholesale Sports in search of her first gun. She had just recently passed her CFSC course as she will begin hunting with me this year. We spent about 3 hours in total going between the two stores having her try out a few rifles, thankfully she has patience for me. We ended up going with a Browning Xbolt Micro Midas in 7mm-08, topped with a Vortex Diamondback 5-12x40mm. My wife is very lucky as her first gun is nicer and more expensive (though more expensive doesn't always mean nicer), than any of my guns. But I guess that means I got an excuse to get a nicer newer gun, though my wife never really objects to my firearm purchases anyways.

Here it is.

 
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Excellent choice. The only thing I might suggest and this depends on size of your maybe specifically her face. It seems the combs are low for the eye to automatically centre in the scope and some type of a cheekpiece or something to raise the comb might be in order.
Neil
 
Suther said:
Micro Midas is the youth size right? How does it fit her for length of pull?
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Yes it is, and it fits her perfectly as she is only 5' 8".

Neilm said:
Excellent choice. The only thing I might suggest and this depends on size of your maybe specifically her face. It seems the combs are low for the eye to automatically centre in the scope and some type of a cheekpiece or something to raise the comb might be in order.
Neil
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Yeah she had a bit of an issue figuring where to place herself when fitting the scope, but she seems to have it down now. But if it becomes an issue we will have to try a cheekpiece.
 
That'll work!

My one small criticism has to do with the choice of scope. It seems to me that scope is a bit big for the rifle. There's little need for 12X magnification in order to see targets the size of medium-large game, or even coyotes, out to a quarter mile or so. Aesthetics aside, there are practical reasons for choosing a physically smaller scope. The first, as already alluded to with respect to cheek weld, has to do with the mounting height of the scope due to it's 40 mm objective. A 32 mm objective allows the scope to be mounted closer to the bore, and a more solid and repeatable cheek weld could then be achieved. The importance of a solid repeatable position on practical field marksmanship cannot be over emphasized. A large scope makes a handy quick handling rifle, which the Micro rifles should be, bulkier and slower to get into action. Had the rifle been chambered for a .22 or a 6mm I doubt that I'd have brought up the issue of scope size, because a varmint rifle's target is typically small and is engaged at longish ranges. But large scopes tend to be more fragile than smaller scopes of equal quality, and fragility becomes an issue with rifles that are to be used in the general purpose role. A compact 3-9X33 or a 2.5-8X32 provides a clear a target image, in a shorter, lighter package, that can be mounted closer to the bore. The Vortex Diamondback HP in 2-8X32 might be worth a look, and would IMHO, change the handling characteristics of that rifle for the better.
 
I got my wife a ruger scout .308 black laminate for her first hunting rifle and she picked out a nice black leather Ruger sling to go with it. just shopping for a monarch 3 , 2-8x32 Nikoplex and she's ready to go
 
Boomer said:
That'll work!

My one small criticism has to do with the choice of scope. It seems to me that scope is a bit big for the rifle. There's little need for 12X magnification in order to see targets the size of medium-large game, or even coyotes, out to a quarter mile or so. Aesthetics aside, there are practical reasons for choosing a physically smaller scope. The first, as already alluded to with respect to cheek weld, has to do with the mounting height of the scope due to it's 40 mm objective. A 32 mm objective allows the scope to be mounted closer to the bore, and a more solid and repeatable cheek weld could then be achieved. The importance of a solid repeatable position on practical field marksmanship cannot be over emphasized. A large scope makes a handy quick handling rifle, which the Micro rifles should be, bulkier and slower to get into action. Had the rifle been chambered for a .22 or a 6mm I doubt that I'd have brought up the issue of scope size, because a varmint rifle's target is typically small and is engaged at longish ranges. But large scopes tend to be more fragile than smaller scopes of equal quality, and fragility becomes an issue with rifles that are to be used in the general purpose role. A compact 3-9X33 or a 2.5-8X32 provides a clear a target image, in a shorter, lighter package, that can be mounted closer to the bore. The Vortex Diamondback HP in 2-8X32 might be worth a look, and would IMHO, change the handling characteristics of that rifle for the better.
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I can see where your coming from about the scope, the sales people were actually encouraging us to go with a 50mm objective and trying to shy us away from the Vortex Diamondback 2-7x35. The reason we went with the 4-12x40 was because I have typically felled my deer either early morning or late afternoon, and the 40mm will pass more light through and basically allow her to shoot earlier and later. Though if the scope height does become an issue for marksmanship we can always reconsider.
 
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