If she is handeling the recoil of a 12 gague nicely then the recoil from a centerfire rifle up to and including the 338 win. mag. would be the least of my worries. If she does feel that the recoil from a 300 or a 338 is too much after shooting it you could always install a decelerator pad, and / or a mercury recoil reducer and would bring down the felt recoil considerably.

IMO the 300 mag (short or long) would be excelent choices considering you said that a 12 gague is no problem for her. I don't think that she would have any problem shooting either one of these. Sighted in aproximately 2 - 2.5 inches high at 100 yards she could hold dead on clear out to 300 yards.

One option you might want to look at would be to buy her a used 700, 70, m77 in a left handed action and have it rebarreled for a 35 whelen or 350 Rem. mag. Or a new Savage and rebarrel it for the 35 whelen. You can buy a rebarrel kit for the Savage from Midway in 35 whelen for $175.00. You would still come in under what a new BAR would cost and you / she would have a good shooting, no frills gun that you wouldn't be worried about her banging up.



Here is a short list of recoil for different cartridges. These are aproximate and will vary depending on gun weight, bullet weight, etc.

7mm mag........160 grain....22 foot pounds
30-06..............180 grain....20.3 foot pounds
300 Mag..........180 grain....25 foot pounds
338 Mag..........250 grain....33 foot pounds
35 whelen........200 grain....22 foot pounds

12 gague.... 2.75" with 1.25 oz. shot at 1330 fps...........32 foot pounds.............Magnum turkey and buckshot loads are getting into 45 to 60 foot pounds of recoil.