recoil reduction for wife

I would recommend a normal weight 6.5 x 55 with a stock that fits here properly. A good recoil pad makes a world of difference. I had a sporterized swede that kicked like my 14 pound 22-250
 
.260 in a properly fitting rifle. Recoil of a .243, knockdown power of a larger caliber.my daughter started off with a Remington LSS mountain rifle in .260. It fit her well and is on the light side.
 
Get rifle that fits her with a good pad. A 7-08 is fine, although there's others that are about as mild.


People get scared of their guns from shooting them from the bench, that's the hardest a gun can hit you. Do all her sighting in for her, and all the load development. She can do all her practicing from field positions with the Trail Boss loads and you can sight it in for her with the hunting loads. A couple shots a year with the full power loads aren't going to hurt anyone if she even notices the difference, and with a bit of time the practice loads can be bumped up to higher levels. She'll probably get up to .460 Weatherby before a bear wanders into camp.
 
Find a shop with a length of pull gauge and then find something real close to measurement. You'd be surprised how big a bang you can manage if the rifle fits properly. Also follow Dogleg's advice to get her comfortable.
 
try to find a savage lady hunter for her to shoulder, ex gf tried a few guns and she liked it the best

7-08 with reduced loads, or maybe a 6.5 creedmoor
 
I dunno about semis, I've always found their recoil to be more unpleasant, like I'm getting hit twice instead of once.
 
hmmmm. Lots of great advice! So get the stock fit right, get an excellent recoil pad, practice her up with light loads from field positions. As for the stock fit, is more drop at the heel advisable, in general, for women? Her 1st (and last, so far) center fire was a marlin 36 in 30-30 but she found the loading through the gate too hard for her small thumbs. She goes out grouse hunting a lot with her .22, and is an excellent shot. So is the mercury recoil reducer more of a gimmick in a situation like this?
 
Since you are in the Yukon, and animals are large and potentially want to eat you; i would think that the .284/7-08 should be a minimum. I have a very light T3 in 30-06 that recoiled like a 300 wm with the factory hockey puck. A Limbsaver for about $55 tamed it to 243 level.

My Kliengunther K15 came in 300 Rum with a muzzle break and a mercury tube. Felt recoil is next to nothing, but then it weighs probably 11lbs. A Browning Bar in 338wm was too much, so i added a merc tube. It is still to much.

I think the order for recoil reduction would be ....reduced loads/smaller projectile, good aftermarket recoil pad, mercury tube, and muzzle break. That is in order for cost. For me the order is pad, break, and merc tube; if recoil is the issue.
 
nowarningshot said:
Since you are in the Yukon, and animals are large and potentially want to eat you; i would think that the .284/7-08 should be a minimum. I have a very light T3 in 30-06 that recoiled like a 300 wm with the factory hockey puck. A Limbsaver for about $55 tamed it to 243 level.
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I've owned/shot a couple of T3's pre and post limbsaver and imo it doesn't really make a difference. The .300 and .338 still kicked pretty good and the .270 was ok either way.
 
lledwod said:
hmmmm. Lots of great advice! So get the stock fit right, get an excellent recoil pad, practice her up with light loads from field positions. As for the stock fit, is more drop at the heel advisable, in general, for women? Her 1st (and last, so far) center fire was a marlin 36 in 30-30 but she found the loading through the gate too hard for her small thumbs. She goes out grouse hunting a lot with her .22, and is an excellent shot. So is the mercury recoil reducer more of a gimmick in a situation like this?
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Women apparently have proportionately longer necks, and then of course shorter arms and smaller hands, less upper body strength usually, all of that affects how the rifle fits. Consider drop at heel, raised cheek comb, shorter LOP and skinnier grip/palm swell, and then also overall weight and balance. Most manufacturers seem to just chop the stock, shorter barrel and add some pink paint. Savage does address all of those points with their lady hunter, but they aren't the easiest to find.

Could also think about ordering a custom boyd's stock with a shorter LOP and doing some reshaping on your own, and test fit as you progress.

I'd think about a 7-08 or 308 and start with reduced loads.
 
Google 'gun fit for women' and click the link from shotgunworld. It's a pretty long article, and is geared towards shotguns, but the same principles apply to rifles. It's written by Rollin Oswald. It's the most comprehensive breakdown I've been able to find on the internet.
 
7-08 120 tsx loaded to 3050fps with varget/h4350 would be a good 100m elk/moose load IMO. Very mild on the range and very effective on deer sized game in the field. Stay with what you have working and adjust the load to suit, load down a bit to 2900 fps or so. I also hear very good results for the 120gr Nosler BT in the 7-08.
Keep the ranges sane and you will fill the freezer just fine with that lil 7. my 2c
 
Riverboy said:
Google 'gun fit for women' and click the link from shotgunworld. It's a pretty long article, and is geared towards shotguns, but the same principles apply to rifles. It's written by Rollin Oswald. It's the most comprehensive breakdown I've been able to find on the internet.
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There was also an excellent article in African Hunter or some similar publication. Can't find it now.
 
elkhuntr said:
7-08 120 tsx loaded to 3050fps with varget/h4350 would be a good 100m elk/moose load IMO. Very mild on the range and very effective on deer sized game in the field. Stay with what you have working and adjust the load to suit, load down a bit to 2900 fps or so. I also hear very good results for the 120gr Nosler BT in the 7-08.
Keep the ranges sane and you will fill the freezer just fine with that lil 7. my 2c
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I think that 120gr would provide a SD of less than .225 which seemingly would be adequate for deer but light for elk and more so for moose, No?
 
120gr TTSX or TSX both have a published SD 0.213. Remember these are solid monometal bullets which cannot be reviewed in the same light as a cup and core. In my experience with ranges under 100 m (2900-3050fps muzzle)you are impacting at 26-2700 fps at 100yds with well over 1000ft/lb of energy. These bullets will penetrate well and using common sense ethical shots I have yet to be disappointed. I have experienced a 243 with 100gr partitions on elk and it will do the job if you do yours. You need to be choosey on the kill shot and don't expect the critter to drop. You may have to track 50-100 yards at times.

The op was looking for options for light kicking rifles for bear woods. If so, then I would stick with the solids for optimum penetration within normal hunting distances. IMO, there is no need to find a new rifle just load down the one they have within the tolerable limits of the shooter. As noted, the 110 TTSX will kick less as well and could be another great option because with any given charge, the lighter bullet kicks less. Just keep the ranges short and get your pack frame ready. Elky's 2c.
 
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Muzzle brakes are more effective on bigger calibers. A 300win mag will see more recoil reduction than say a 7-08 because of the greater amount of gases that can be redirected via the break.

For a smaller cartridge like the 7-08, i would be looking at the stock fit and recoil pad. Once these are done right, if recoil is still too much then look at the mercury tube, but they add weight and shift the balance point. Neither of which is ideal in a rifle you'll be carrying all day.
 
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