Marine27

My wife hs recently showed intrest in shooting and possibly hunting just wondering what a good caliber rifle to start her off on is. I am building a 300 WM which she will NOT be shooting so I was thinking around a 270 any suggestions?

HEAD0001

Lever action 44 magnum. Low recoil, very effective on deer. Fun rifle, and light to handle. Cheap to shoot. 270 is way too much rifle. I started my girlfriend out on a 30 carbine. Now she has a Marlin 1894 in 44 magnum. Any deer within 150 yards is in deep DOODY if she decides to shoot it. Tom.

driftrider

If you have a .22LR, start her out on that. It's where I started my wife. Buy her a brick of ammo and take her to the range. The .22 will let her get her feet wet without worrying about recoil or muzzleblast at all. Use it to familiarize her with safe weapons handling and firearm operation, and let her plink with it to her hearts content. You may be surprized how good of a shot she becomes, and how quickly too. Just be advised that whatever .22 you start her on will likely become "her gun", whether you like it or not! Don't expect to shoot it much after that.

Now, if she's like my wife, sooner or later she'll get bored and ask for a more powerful rifle that she can shoot farther. When my wife did I got her a .22-250 target rifle (Ruger M77MkII V/T and later a Rem M700 VLS 22-250). She loves going to the range and shooting, even though with our two young kids (one is 3 years old, the other is 5 months) we don't get out there like we used too. She has recently expressed an interest in hunting, and I plan on getting her her own rifle and a ML soon.

My wife is pretty recoil sensitive, so I won't be getting her anything too large. I'm debating between a .243 Win, .25-06, .260 Rem or 7mm-08 Rem. I think maybe the 7mm-08 may be above her comfort zone, and .260 Rem is semi-rare and ammo is more expensive. So it'll probably be a 25-06 or .243. I don't really have a concern about her shooting abilities, as she is a remarkably good shot and is very patient behind the trigger (a trait more common to women I think). She won't take an iffy shot at anything. But those would be my suggestions. What I'd do is feel her out as far as her comfort zone for recoil and muzzleblast. Maybe, once she's put a few hundred rounds thru a .22, let her shoot a couple of your CF rifles if you have the, starting from the least powerful. Chances are, being that she's a woman, and women to their credit seem to have less of an ego to bruise, she'll tell you exactly when she's at her limit. Once she cries uncle, back the power level down by one step and that's her limit. And don't push her either. Let she go at her own pace.

One last thing. Don't be surprised if she starts to outshoot you. My wife is easily on par with my marksmanship abilities, and I've been shooting since I was 6 (I'm 32 now). But my wife had the advantage of learning the right way from the start (I had and still have a few bad habits from my past that even the Marine Corps couldn't completely break me of), she is also much more patient and is very smooth on the trigger. I sometimes tend to rush or force my shots unless I try hard not to.

I'm glad she's interested, and I'm glad you're willing to encourage her interest. Some guy's I know would never want or allow their wives to shoot or hunt with them. I think it's a great thing. It'll also be better if/when you have kids, because you'll know she'll have no objection to allowing your kids to be involved in shooting/hunting sports when they're old enough.

Good luck to you and your wife,

Mike

rjhans53

2nd onthe 22lr teaches form, follow threw, no recoil to worry about, when she gets ready to go to the woods, a 7 08 might be something to look at

JeffS

I agree get her a good .22 and a brick of shells and let her get used to shooting. After she is used to shooting you can move her up to a 7MM-08 or something similar.

Paul L Mohr

22LR to start with then get a nice .243 unless she plans on shooting bigger game. The .243 is great on varmints and deer, low reciol and flat shooting.

Paul

Briman

.22 then .243.

eldeguello

Marine, do you have any friends or relatives close by who have some smaller caliber rifles THAT WILL FIT HER? If so, I suggest letting her fire a few different calibers, and see what she likes. Often for e beginning shooter, muzzle blast is more intimidating than recoil, so GET HER A GOOD PAIR OF EAR PROTECTORS before she shoots any gun! But yes, of course, start her off shooting a .22 rimfire, if she has not already done this.

The .270 indeed has less recoil than rifles using heavier bullets. But a .243/6mm Remington, .260 Remington, or a 7mm/'08 has even less. In additon, all except the 6mm Rem. will fit in a nice little gun like the Remington Model 7...... How much a person feels recoil often depends more on how the stock fits and stock shape than on cartridge. I've fired a couple of hot .30's (.300 Weatherby and .300 Rem. Ultra-mag) that did not feel bad at all due to their stock shape. There is also a line of what they're calling "managed recoil" ammo out now, which might be good to use while she's starting off.

Marine27

Mike thank you for the encouragement with taking my wife out. As you can probably guess from being in the Marine Corps I am catching alot of flak from my fellow Marines, imagine that. I didn't even think of a .22 to be completely honest with you, guess I'm jumping ahead of myself at the thought of her intrest in hunting. Also, I was a range coach/PMI on Stone Bay, Camp Lejeune NC for three years and after teaching female and male Marines I have to agree, females have the upper hand at shooting so hopefully she will stay intrested in this and surpass me someday. Thanks everyone else who has replied

BigTiny

I still use my .22 for the majority of my practice, it's cheap fun too. If you have a good dealer with a range anywhere near you, take her there and let her try some on. Just start small and move up from there. Women will surprise you with what they can shoot. They are physiologically better suited to shooting than men, and they look better doing it.