I've got a 12 year old girl thats ready for her first deer rifle. She has been giong hunting with me for a few years now and I'm going to enrole her in the fire arm safety course this spring.
We have been getting alot of target practice in this year with the 22's and she has realy enjoyed
shooting and I think all the pushing safety I have done has taken pretty well. Now my problem is I have next to no experience with any of the smaller youth model rifles or lighter calibers, my smallest big gam rifle was a 7mm. rem. mag.
I'm looking for opinions (what would be a good first deer rife for my daughter?) In WA state it must be .24 cal. or larger. The rife has to be an off the shelf model.
Jamie

I have to say that the Contender Carbine in 7-30 Waters is the way to go. Add a .22 LR, a .223 Rem and maybe even a .410 barrel. Anybody can bolt together the various parts and a 4X in a Weaver mount is just about perfect. You can get the youth stock fairly easily andwhen she is bigger it will be easy to put the longer stock back on. It is comfortable, light, handles the recoil well, and isn't so light with the 7-30 cartridge that it accentuates the recoil. PLUS, she'll have a 7mm just like Dad (well almost). Of all my guns, my daughters prefer the Contender carbines.

The problem I found with ladies/youth rifles wasn't so much caliber as LOP. At best they are only an inch shorter. My remedy was to take my Kimber sporterized Swedish Mauser with my kid to the smith, have my son measured and cut the gun to fit him. He's 10 now and should get a couple of years out of it; then I can buy another 100 dollar Ramline to put the gun back in. 6.5X55 is a great hunting caliber and great for kids as well. The difference in percieved recoil is only 2 pounds higher for the 6.5 as opposed to a .243 Win. and a kid that can handle a .243 can go the 6.5. You specified off the shelf and my answer may not apply because of that...but it may be worth a little consideration.

[ 03-05-2003, 22:52: Message edited by: vibrasonic9 ]

The little Remington Model 7 Youth in 7mm-08 comes to mind. They make .243 and .260 as well.

The contender/encore idea is a sound one. Youth stocks availabel for both, and the caliber selection is pretty broad, especially with the Encore.

Another option is the Ruger M77 Compact. I understand it's a pretty nice little package. It's available in .223, .243, .260 (I think), 7-08, and .308. The .260 or 7-08 would be a great little deer gun for a small person. It's unfortunate that the .257 Roberts isn't chambered in more rifles. We found that to be a perfect match for my 5'1" 105# wife.

Thanks for the fast responces. I never even thought about the encore but I like that idea and will check some out. How is the recoil from a light 7-08? I have never fired one but have allways figured it would be a good deer cartridge.

Swampfox. The Remmington 700 is one of my favorites and I currenty have a few in assorted
calibers,but with all the negitive stuff I've read about the mod.7, I'm going to stay away from them.

Remington makes a nice youth rifle, it the M700 ADL youth model. I would go with the .308 cartridge, plenty of stopping power & accuracy and recoil isnt painful.

One thing to consider is if you handload, you can throttle back some of the rounds, yet still have highly effective terminal performance. The 260, 708 and .308 can all be throttled back to push 120-125 gr bullets 2700 fps. Recoil will be on par or even lighter then the 243, but you'll be throwing almost twice as much bullet weight. New hunters don't need the flat trajectory of the .243, and IMHO, are better served in launching a bit more bullet.

Paul H
I do hand load and agree with you, about launching heavier bullets. I guess
I should have stated in my first post that I hate the 243 and there is no way my daughter is going to hunt with one. I looked up the balistics on the 7mm08 and it looks like a good candidate.Can anyone tell me about it's recoil compared to a 308?
thanks Jamie

Given that it's based on the same case and has a very similar powder capacity, recoil should be comparable with bullets of the same weight. However, with the lighter bullets (say 120-140 vs. 165 in a .308), the recoil should be noticeably less, particularly if you handload some mild beginner rounds to get the young lady started.

I am not familiar with issues with the Model 7.
I've been seriously considering trading for one, so if anyone is aware of problems, I would be interested to hear them. I'm looking for a pre- "j" lock 7mm-08, probably a youth rifle.

A 100 yrds. will be about as far as she will shoot deer starting out. I do alot of varmit hunting so yotes will eventuly be on the ticket for my daghter too.

Swampfox: check out the posts in gunsmithing
(7mm-08)

Here's what I did for my son's and small frame wife. Purchased a Winchester Ranger model 70 in .270. It has the same profile as the featherweight model 70. Had the gunsmith cut the wooden stock down to fit the boys and install decelerator recoil pad and then installed a muzzle break. The gun has zero recoil as is a peach to shoot. For Moma I purchased a mcmillan stock that fits the winchester featherweight.

The boys love to shoot their rifle at the range and my wife is happy to carry it with the fiberglass stock. As the boys grow out of the cut down stock the can move up to the fiberglass model with the same rifle they are familiar with.

Some of us will use any excuse to build one more rifle.

The biggest problem with youth model rifles is that being very light and often short barreled, they kick and roar like daddy's big gun. Just get a full size rifle in a moderate caliber and have the LOP cut shorter.

Lets go at it another way. Get a model 7 in .260 or 7-08 and a full sized stock. Buy an after market "cadet" stock (I think sold by midway) and use that until the child grows into the full sized stock. And a .260 is a dandy piece. Ask anyone that shoots a swede.

Rifle makers should take a look at the stocks on the Steyr SSG and other rifles ie. removable sections. the "youth" stocks could be adjustable from say about 12" lop to adult sizes. That way a "youth" rifle would fit all size youths, and then "daddy" could use it when the "youth" got big enough for his Magnum.
Also stocks like these can be adjusted from hot weather clothes to winter hunting clothing.