Wyoming,
The 30-30 is a Marlin 336. I tried the NEF 243 but it was a youth gun and that kicked hard for a 243 because it was so light.
She has a good pad and I was watching her form and she is pretty snug.

Now she is fairly light for a 13 year old (81 lbs)

it is all in the bullet selection. you can now buy a .223 in a 75 grain soft point that will lay a deer out like a rug. you said your shots are short a 125 yardsor less. you'll be real surprized how fast the .223 will put a deer down. i would not worry a bit about using the .223. it has alot more power than people think. from what i have seen most people are over gunned. our shots around here are also quite close usually under a 100 yards.alot of times under 50 yards. in our case a30-30 or less is more than you would ever need. i would say if she can shoot the .223 use it. not that this is a good idea but i have seen deer go down with a 22 long rifle.

You could .223 for your young daughter all you want, but I wouldn't do it because it's not fair to the animal she wounds becuase she couldn't handel the recoil of a larger gun (not saying it will happen, but you're not stacking the odds in your favor, or the deers for that matter.) As others have stated yeah .223 can and does take down deer, but you leave yourself no margin for error. Obviously because your daughters younger just weighting up a .243win won't work either so that leaves you the option of braking it. As long as she was wearing ears even during the hunt I would be all for it and a .243 would give you an even better varmit rifle.

A couple of other possibilities.

Winchester brought back the .25-35. I don't know all the details of the caliber, but I have read that it is light kicking yet adequate for deer.

http://www.gunblast.com/Winchester_25-35.htm

The problem here is that factory ammo as well as reloading componants may be hard to come by.

Also, there are quite a few sport rifles now chambered for 7.62x39mm. There are even handi-rifles now chambered for the round. Recoil energy is about 7 lbs. I have read that military surplus and Wolf ammo does not reliably fire in the handi-rifles.

To add icing to the 7.62x39 cake is it's basicly very similar to 30-30 in balistic terms.

I loaded up some 60gr Nosler partitions and 53gr Barnes TSX for my Ruger 77 .223 and my dads Contender .223. Both handloads were accurate in my ruger 1" or less and my dads liked the barnes better .8" at 100 yards. The .223 will kill a deer but a well designed bullet and proper shot placement is necessary.

Let me also suggest a .260 Remington. This caliber doesn't seem to kick as much as a .243, even though the foot-pounds of recoil are greater on paper. Recoil is a just a moderate push. Best caliber I have ever seen used for recoil sensitive new shooters who want a solidly adequate big game rifle.

I would look into the .357 Magnum also, or the 7.62 X 39. I wouldn't use my .223 in a normal hunting situation for deer, simply because of the very small margin for error. If you do use the .223,try to find some good factory roundsor reload. The Barnes TSX, Nosler Partition, or TBBC would be my choices. Good luck, and keep your daughter shooting!!

Oh, one more thought, I think there are some 125 grain loads for the .30-30, might look into that also.

Well, I guess I'll throw in my choice too. I have a sweet shooting 6.5x55 Swedish Mauser. My personal gun is really light (like 6 pounds I think) and I can never feel the recoil on it. On day when that gun acting up, I borrowed my dad's friends 30-30, and I was like WOW! The 30-30 kicked a lot more then my 6.5. So I guess I'm saying if you can find one, ask if you can test it out and see if your daughter likes it. I love mine, and in two years, I've dropped two deer in two shots. I also know some other people on the board use theirs for Moose, so as you can see, it's very versitile. Well, said all I wanted to say,

Cory

I think VT Hunter has an excellent suggestion. That is using .357 mag pistol ammo for deer. A relative of mine hunts whittailwith a 357 mag using a pistol and has never lost a deer. Another option if you think the 357 is not enough cartridgeis the good old 45 long colt. The loads vary from 255 FT/LBS to 1126 FT/LBS kinetic energy "made by Corbon"and are availble in several lever guns. If you want a bolt action Ruger makes a 77/44bolt using the 44 mag which would be less recoil than the 30/30. At any rate the pistol cartriges above areeffective to 100 yds, cheap, and have less recoil than a 30/30.