RE: Deer rifle for small girlfriend
 

I found a great savage 110 in .308. Added the syn. stock with the extra recoil pad. My youngest nephew and niece can shoot it with no problem. It has the bull barrel. It is a little heavy, but little recoil.

RE: Deer rifle for small girlfriend
 

I guess my first question is much do you like/love this girl, and how much does she love you back?! It'd suck to spend $600 on her to buy her a gun just to have her cut and run on you with your former best friend! :D;)

Seriously, though, why not consider getting her a slightly less espensive gun for her to use for awhile while she gets her feet wet? I'd recommend the H&R/NEF Pardner single-shot rifle in .243Win or 6mm Rem, and spend a little more on getting good glass for it. The NEF's will shoot as well as most factory rifles, are simple to operate and maintain, safe, lightweight, and you won't cry when you have a 'smith cut down the stock to fit her frame.

I personally would lean toward the 6mm Rem if the NEF is available in it, but I'm a handloader so ammo selection/availability is a non-issue for me. If you plan on relying on factory loads, the .243Win ammo is plentyful, cheap, and offered in a wide variety of load/bullet combinations.

The added advantage of the NEF/H&R is that if later you decide to put a ring on her finger and a bun in her oven, you've got the perfect rifle right there to start your new little hunting buddy out on when s/he's old enough!

Mike

RE: Deer rifle for small girlfriend
 

if it is legal were you live a 223 is a nice choice but if not a 243 or a 308 are both great guns

RE: Deer rifle for small girlfriend
 

Even if it is legal, the .22's are not deer guns! Especially in the hands of beginners!

RE: Deer rifle for small girlfriend
 

I find it funny when we start talking about guns for kids,wives,girlfreinds, everyone tends to down play who we are talking about.I find it funny when someone asks about aquiring a new gun for say "every specie in the lower 48" we will go magnum.If these guns we are giving to our kids,wives,girlfreinds are so good how come we are not using them? I must admit I'm one of those fanatics,Bigger Is Better,(I call it the BIB syndrome).
Ok enough of my yacking,my wife and I both shoot the 6mm Rem 100 gr noslers.I also like the 7-08,25-06,250 savage and the 257 Roberts and any one of 7-08,25-06 or 257 Roberts will work for elk under 200 yds.

RE: Deer rifle for small girlfriend
 

This is an excellent point. I think there is SOME merit to the idea that bigger, to a reasonable extent, is better, but many lose sight of the fact that while a .30cal is certainly a better big game killer, it's certainly not NECESSARY to ethically take game. Almost any CF cartridge, from 6mm on up, is effective enough to take deer sized game, so it really boils down to using the biggest caliber you can shoot WELL. If you can shoot a 7mm Rem Mag (for examply) as accurately as a .243Win, and aren't bothered by the recoil, then there is little reason NOT to go with the 7mm Mag. But if you can't shoot the 7mm Mag very well, and dislike the level of recoil, but are a crack shot with the .243, then there is no reason that you should feel badly about your choice of weapon. The 6mm's are sufficient with good bullets, and a well placed shot is still very deadly.

So if your wife/GF/sister/son/daughter can't handle a 7mm Mag but can shoot the heck out of a 243, then they and you should feel confident that the gun is up to the task at hand. Where you hit them is 10 times more important than how much energy the bullet has or the size of the hole. liquified lungs and punctured hearts spell quick death for a deer whether the bullets a 6mm or .50BMG.

Mike

RE: Deer rifle for small girlfriend
 

Has anyone used the 30-06 reduced recoil loads? A gunshop buddy was telling me that the 130 grain reduced recoil round has pretty much the same point of impact as the full house 180 grainers. Here I run into a couple of options.... She could use the reduced loads for target practice and then the regular rounds for hunting if the point of impact is the same or very close. Or would these light loads be enough for mulies? It seems like a 130 grain .30 cal is going to be really short. Is that going to affect the proformace enough that it should only be used for paper punching? I found an -06 that has already been shortened and ported. I am going to see if the shop will let us shoot it before we buy, but in the mean time what do you guys think? This would be great for me b/c me and my brother also shoot -06s so we will always have back up ammo.

RE: Deer rifle for small girlfriend
 

I will say this I took a young girl deer hunting for her first year last October,she shot a awsome buck,145 class 5 pointer.She hunted hard,all day long keeping up with me and her cousins(by the way are also young ladies.)She shot my old Rem 7600 pump 30-06 with 150 gr power points,never once had a problem,the other 3 girls shot 25-06 rem,270 win and a ported 7mm Rm.Now I metion all this because the Cathy the first year hunter has Multiepole Scrocis(spelling) or MS,her leggs only worked 1/2 the time,I would carry her the rest,she stands 5 ft tall and weighs about 85 lbs.(she also shot a doe AND a elk)
So if you fund a 30-06 ported and cut down,buy it,shove some 150 gr bullets in it and let her go.I've looked at the big greens reduced ammo loads and they look einemic,not much more than a 30-30.I realy don't think a 30-06 is to much for a woman/kid.
Sorry for the rambling,BBJ

RE: Deer rifle for small girlfriend
 

Today we went to the shop and she put a couple of rounds through the rifle. We found some 125 grain Fedrals that were loaded warm enough that they could take a deer. The stock is still too long and the gun felt heavy to her. It is a win 70 with a light 20 or 22 inch barrel, so I think that most of the weight is in the stock, which is a fairly nice walnut. Since we would have to cut the stock anyways I was thikn ing of just ordering a lighter synthetic stock and puttin a limbsaver on it. Unfortunatly the run has a Tasco on it right now so we would likely pull it and put on some nicer glass. Damn thi is a pain in the butt. It is soooo much easier to just buy stuff I like. Thanx for all your help guys

RE: Deer rifle for small girlfriend
 

I see alot of guys mentioning 270s they are great deer rifles, but notorious for being NASTY kickers. An 06 with 130 gr bullets wont kick like the 270s. If you want a short action there are lots 7mm-08, 260, 257, 250-3000savage,243, 6mm. The rifle model should be a youth, rem. model 7, 600, or 660, Ruger#1's are great for small hunter because the action is very short(no bolt). A savage model 99 in 250-3000 is excellent for small people as are the rem 600's in 243 or 6mm. Both are very good handling rifles, as is the ruger #1. If you can get it ported or find one that is already she can probably shoot any caliber, my wife shoots a ruger#1 in 300win. mag., she weighs 125lbs.