She shoots the 30 carbine out of a TC Encore with a 24 inch barrel. I never checked the velocity gain with the longer barrel, but I am sure there is a little gain. She also uses the thumbhole style stock. There is no recoil. You can see impacts with this rig. She is deadly out to 100 yards with this rifle.

I am not sure, but I think TC made a Contender rifle in this cartridge. I would buy this for here if I could find one. Tom.

I picked up a 7-08 for my second son to start hunting with (first with a 30-30). Both were good rifles to start with. The second son wassmaller than the first when he started hunting and the 7-08 was somewhat lighter and seemed to fit him better. What ever cal. you choose together make sure that the gun fits her well when she shoulders it. I think you should consider the model, style, type of gun and then consider the cal.

7mm-08 in a style that fits her well, and with a recoil pad. Remington makes a 700 youth model in 7-08 that would fit, especially if she's little.

Ruger compact is what I got my wife. Hers is a .308 but there are certainly other choices.

Id say a marlin 30-30 would be a good choice. Ive had one since i was 11 and have had great success with it. As a kid my build was small and i couldnt handle a 30-06 very well. Ive used the 30-30 ever sinceand I have no complaints.If my girlfriend wanted to hunt that is what i would start her out on.

i took my wife to shop for a rifle for deer hunting i showed her the browning bar in 243 she held it said it was to heavy she picked up a remington 7400 in 243 and it fit her perfect. it had a bushnell scope she said she didn't wont a bolt because it was to much trouble for her, she like to push safety and pull the trigger.that gun would put 5 shots in a quarter at 100 yds. she killed 2 buck with it. she stop hunting and gave the gun to me to use i used it about 4 years i sold it and got a bar safari 30 06 but i think a women like things simple and a auto is the gun for them

7mm-08, or maybe .260 rem. both are .243 cases just alittle heavier bullets, I'm considering a .243 for myself as a lightweight antelope setup and maybe back up muley rifle or even a muley rifle.

Error in shot placement? I dunno, it wont kick so you should shoot it well, not sure any poor shot equals death on the spot. I think on antelope a .270 is overkill from what I've witnessed, so ya im not shooting an elk with this thing.

Firstly, I'll say that if you're around here much, you're better off saying you hunt deer with a .22 LR than you are a .243. "Lack of killing power", "no margin for error", etc.

At the core of hunting with ANY caliber is something called marksmanship. I know guys who can't "kill" deerwith .270s and .30-06s - their solution is to buy a fancy new WSM or something bigger. Huh?

I normally hunt deer with a .30-06. I cut my teeth on a .243 and to this day wouldn't hesitate taking it to the field. A .243 is THE most forgiving caliber I own. I learned to hunt with it. My Mom hunted with it. I've loaned it to friends so that their sons and daughters could learn to hunt. I've had more offers to purchase or trade my .243 than I've had for any other rifle in my battery, simply because it HUNTS!

The .243 is perfect for deer (yes, even big western mulies have fallen to mine) and pronghorns. There's something about the balance of bullet weight and velocity that just knocks the stuffing out of deer I've taken with it, which I can't say for the .308 (the .243,.260, and 7mm-08's parent) thatI've also used under nearly identical circumstances.

A more important consideration for smaller-statured shooters is how well the rifle itself fits them.Not knocking the other calibers, but if the only platform that fits yourwife that you can get your hands on happens to be a .243, the world is NOT lost.

I second Swampcollie's recommendation of something in the .260 Remington class. In addition to the .260, a 6.5X55 or 6.5X57mm would be about the same performance-wise. For some reason, the6.5/.260 bore size has never been very popular here. That's strange, because it is a very capable caliber. By all means have your wife use very good ear protection. When I first started shooting centerfre rifles, I discovered that it was the noise & muzzle blast that was intimidating, NOT the recoil per se......

25-06 has very little recoil.