I bought my daughter (5'6" 100#) a 308 . Six months later she put 100# of prime Nv mulie in the freezer ,standing off hand 75 yards 1 shot. My son a little older at 5'10" 130 shot my 8.5 lb recoil pad equiped 30-06' just fine though his first deer was taken with a borowed Sav 99 in 243.

Off topic a bit all 4 of them started with 12ga pumps the oldest boy shoots a 20 now and the youngest was gifted a 16.

My daughter is a Navy gunners mate and prefers the M-40 to the M-4,she's still just 130lbs at 5'10" .
The youngest (and runt) is 5'7" 140lbs in the Army he wants an M-4 when he gets home from Afganistan something about it being familar after 26 mo in the muck.

Get all your buddies gathered up let the young 1 try them out you might be suprized at what he/she likes or picks