My fiance is small statured and my rifles just don't fit. We've looked at the Model 7 CDL and it seems to fit her well.

We're thinking of either the 7mm-08 or .308 for deer hunting here in the Eastern US.

Is anyone using one of these and how do you like it?

Rick
My wife and I have used the Mod7 for several years in several calibers,223,243,308 and I had a 350RM for a while.

I like the 308 best.
Try some of the Federal Low Recoil loads [170gr bullet] or the Remington Managed Recoil loads [125gr bullet.

I have kiled 2 pigs with the Federal load in 30-06g, same ballistics as the 308 , and I killed 2 turkeys with the Remington 308 load last weekend.
Both are very plesant to shoot.

If she ever travels to hunt bigger game the 308 will do a good job. My wife took zebra, wildebeest and giraffe with a 308 in Zim a few weeks ago.

I shot a bushbuck and a big heyena as well

N E 450 No2 - said it well. Excellent recommendation.

The do make a Youth Stock for it if the length is a bit long.

thanks guys, she doesn't like the fit of the youth stock, but the downsized CDL stock seems to fit just right.

Hopefully she'll be up to speed with one by next deer season.

Rick,

My wife is shorter too and she wants me to get her a Ruger M77 compact. It fits her really well and the short barrel is easier for her to hold to shoot. I think she just likes it because it is stainless and shiny. She has a tendancy to gravitate towards shiny things and if those things happen to be Rugers instead of Tiffany's I'm okay with that. I would go with either the 7mm 08 or even the .260 rem. A .260 would be plenty big for even black bears in West Virginia, and it would have lighter recoil than either the 7mm 08 or the .308.

Kimber,

I normally like Ruger rifles, the compact just feels like it needs 1/8" taken off each side of the stock. The compact stock fits her well but she didn't like the way it "looked". I was also leary of the muzzle blast from the short barrel. She likes Stainless Steel rifles too, but wanted a wood stock.

The .260 would be a neat caliber for the eastern half of the CONUS, but I already reload for the .308, 7mm-08, and .243 so I suggested one of those three. Her other rifle is a .45-70 Guide Gun, so any of these would be a step down in recoil.