RE: First time female shooter, What Caliber?
 

my dad (he's 66yrs) recently bought a .260, not long afterwards his kid brother (52yrs) bought one... got a chance to fire it last week and I gotta tell ya, its one SWEET shootin gun... its quick, light recoil, flat shootin, and is generally as much as anyone needs for a whitetail deer... i'm actually considering getting one in Rem Mdl 7 to use as a stalking gun that i can let my oldest boy grow into as he gets a bit bigger...

RE: First time female shooter, What Caliber?
 

I have owned & shot the 7mm-08 & 25-06. The 7mm-08 was a Remington, model-7, the 25-06 is a Ruger,model-77. IMHO the 7mm-08 kicked like a mule. I am not sure how much of this recoil was felt from stock fit & design???
The felt recoil of the 7mm-08 over the 25-06 was at least double.

RE: First time female shooter, What Caliber?
 

If you say the 7-08 kicks more than a 25-06, there's not much I can say to dispute it, since I've never shot a 7-08. I just would never have thought it would be that way, since the 25 is built from a 30-06 case, which is significantly bigger than the 308 case that the 7mm-08 is based on.

All the more reason to love the 25-06, I guess. :)

RE: First time female shooter, What Caliber?
 

MARINE.....'06 and those managed recoil loads.. or work up some light handloads...that way she'll never need to buy another gun...and you can buy yourself sumthin new for being so darn smart...semper fi

RE: First time female shooter, What Caliber?
 

According to the charts, given the same weight rifle, the recoil of a .25-06 shooting a 120gr bullet at 3000fps will produce nearly identical recoil to a 7mm-08 pushing a 140gr bullet at 2850fps, but since the .25-06 is a long action cartridge and since rifles chambered in .25-06 often come with 24" barrels to take full advantage of the larger case capacity vs the more typical 22" barrels common to the 7mm-06 sporters the rifle will likely weigh about 1/2lb more, making recoil less. If one were to use a stout 100gr bullet in the .25-06, recoil would be further reduced. But it's more or less a toss up.

Mike

RE: First time female shooter, What Caliber?
 

I'd definately agree with this. My30-06 was too much when my 12 year old first started shooting it. We switched to managed recoil rounds from Rem, and he shoots great now. Helped a lot with his confindence too. One thing toremember is that they will place different than regular rounds, so you can't just switch back and forth without sighting it in again. But I gotta tell ya, I don'tmind shootingthem either, so it worked just fine.

RE: First time female shooter, What Caliber?
 

I bought a 7-08 Remington Model 7 for my 12 year old daughter to hunt dear with. I shot a box of 140 grain Rem factory loads and decided that it was to much so I found a youth load and it was very mild using 120 gr BT and H 4895. Sweet shooting round that did not kick at all even in a light rifle. She was even able to kill a doe this year with it. Before the season we went target shooting and she was able to shoot it 15-20 times during practiceand she did fine and did not develop a flinch. She also uses a recoil pad that fits under her coat.

Any of the 308 based rounds 243, 260, or 7-08 will do just fine with a little reloading.

My 2 cents.

RE: First time female shooter, What Caliber?
 

It makes no sense to buy a rifle chambered in a cartridge that is more powerful than she'll need or be comfortable with the intention to load it with reduced power loads. It makes much more sense, in this case, to get her a rifle in a cartridge that meets her needs completely when loaded to its potential. Since he already stated that he has, or soon will have, a 300 Win Mag for himself, he can get her her own rifle.

The managed recoil ammo is an excellent idea when a person already has a rifle that is too much for a new, young, and/or female shooter and cannot afford to buy another rifle specifically for that person. If, however, the purchase of another rifle is possible, then that is, by far, the best way to go.

Trust me on this, if he just gives her one of his rifles, and she likes shooting, it will no longer be his rifle. She'll also appreciate have HER rifle, that he too the time with her to pick out just for her.

Mike

RE: First time female shooter, What Caliber?
 

Unless she is shooting waaaaay out there... get a Marlin 336 in 30-30. It'll do the job, and confound the uninformed who think it insufficient. Ammo is cheap, the cartridge sufficient, Marlin quality is good, and it is very classy. Put a fixed 4x or a 2-7 scope on it, and she'll be good to go.