Just thinking about a gun for my wife, maybe an all aroung caliber for deer and elk, need some advice.

Mine fell in love with a winchester 94 30-30 and belive me i don't get her that mad any more.she has shot my 270 win. and my 35 whelen with no problems,but the 30-30 is her fav.Good Luck

My wife started with a 243. She now has a 7mm 08. She picked a Remington model 7 as it was perfectley porportioned for her (she is about 5') it is also much lighter than the old model 70 243. I think fit is more important than caliber, any of my guns would have been to long for her.

Tikka T3 in .30 '06. Started her off w/125gr. Remington Reduced Recoil Loads. Plenty good enough for whitetail deer, axis and hogs. She'll work up/try 180gr when we start getting her ready for Africa...just as soon as the blood clot in her leg goes away. 2010 I hope!!!
Robert

Wife don't hunt, but she used to shoot my 264 Mag really well. My daughter started with a 223. She always wanted the biggest a baddest on the block, so she started shooting my 7 Mag at age 12. She's now 28 and is really deadly with her
7 STW.

My wife used a 30/06. It's a Parker/Hale. Her brother's gun---he stopped hunting years ago. We had the stock cut down to fit her with a good recoil pad. She has used it to take a couple of elk & a nice bighorn ram. But now she's into turkey hunting----uses a 12 guage. There is never any recoil when she shoots a gobbler. CB

My wife loves her 243 Husquavarna.

robbie

i bought mine a new rem 700 bdl in 243. she shot it once and said it was too loud and kicked too much. she never made it to the woods and now the 243 is my primary deer rifle. if my wife were a little bigger and wanted to hunt, i'd get her a 7/08.

My wife is a petite 4'11" and shoots a 270Win and a 264WM. Thinking on getting her a 25/06.

troy

I tried to start my wife off with a 577 T-Rex; love spending quality time with myself.

My wife has a rem 722 in 300 Savage with 165 horn sp pt at 2500fps, her other rifle is a Savage 99 in 284 that we load 140 gr X,now TSX at 2750fps. With these 2 rifles 12 moose,3 brown bear,a few caribou (when there was caribou) and 2 wolves have been harvested. Nearly every animal was taken with a broadside shot through the heart-lung.

SIR MAUSER

L.O.L

They both shoot my 7 mag. I keep the scope cranked up high, and stay close and tight.

More seriously, my wife doesn't hunt, but is a good shot with most anything that doesn't kick too badly.

My wife has taken over MY Interarms mark X in 7X57.
My daughter shoots a Rem. 788 in .243. I'd like to get her shooting something a little "bigger" like a 250 sav. or a 257 Roberts or a 6.5X55 or a 300 sav.

My wife shoots a Model 77 Ruger Ultra-lite in 257 Roberts and loves it.

I would like to get her a 7mm-08 as I think it would do a little better job, but she had done real well with the 257.

As soon as she's done shaving, she grabs her .458 and heads out to slaughter me some dinner.

7 X 57 and 260 Rem are good choices. Not too stout in recoil and large enough to do a good job. My wife won't touch a rifle but my nieces find that .243 plus the .260 work well.

A Ruger Mark II .257 Roberts. Dropped everything its shot out even to 244 yards.

My wife shoots what ever i give her most of the time a tang safey ruger in 06 but she has use several other calibers.

My daughter shoots MKII ruger in 06 but started with a contender in 357 max.

My wifes favorite "hunting" gun is her 12x12x30-06 Drilling.

When she uses a regular rifle, she uses a Blaser R 93 in 308.

She killed her cape buff with a 450/400 3 1/4" double rifle.

Mine shoots a 260 Reminton with 130gr Berger VLDs.

Mine shoots a Blaser R93 7mm08.

My wife's favorite is her Ruger 243 Win. She also uses a 25-06, 308 Win and a 257 Wby.

Two..... 7mm-08 and a .243 win.

My wife has a NEF 243. She has killed one deer with it. The rifle is a piece of junk, but she likes it's short length and ambidextrous operation. I want to find a lefty Savage 110 to build a 260 or 25-06. Think a 5'1" woman can handle working a long action?

My cousin's wife uses his Ruger Stainless 243. He wants to get her something else, becuse the last two years it took hours of tracking to find well hit deer.

My Browning Safari grade 06 that I bought for me and now have to ask her to use it. She has taken three whitetail bucks in three years. I just bought her a custom Win 70 Classic in 270 WSM that fits her better than the Browning, but she still won't let me have it back. JC

Thanks for the suggestions everyone. Since we been togethor she has only shot a 243 a few times. I think a 270 or 30-06 or any caliber in that area would be too much for her. She is 5'1 or so, she has never shot any big game animals before.

There are many things to consider before calibre. With her size, your hand-me-downs won't fit her properly and will kick the snot out of her. Get a rifle with the correct length of pull and get one that is balanced with the shorter stock. Put a good recoil pad, like a Limbsaver on it and ensure scope height works. With a properly fitted rifle, you'd be surprised what she can shoot and with an ill fitting rifle you'd be amazed what she can't shoot. I know many smaller framed women that very comfortabbly shoot their "own" .30-06. 7mm08 is another great choice.

The wife has used a .308 for many years... imagine that.

My wife uses either a Ruger MkII in 7x64 or an old husky in 9.3x57

My wife doesn't hunt or shoot. But she sure owns a lot of guns. At least that's what she keeps saying....

My wife has a Ruger M77 Ultralight in .30/06 and shoots 180 gr. Noslers.
For the big stuff she has a CZ 550 in .375 and has no trouble handling it.
I think a lot of it has to do with working up to the bigger calibers as they get more comfortable with the recoil. Pad up at the bench if necessary and you know it won't bother them in the field.

My wife doesn't hunt with a rifle, although she's hell on wheels with a shotgun.

My daughter, on the other hand, started with my 6.5-284 that I made a stock for with a shorter length of pull. I can't get it back now.

I bought my girlfriend one of the new Ruger Hawkeye Compacts in .223. She's only 5 feet tall, and it fits her really well. When she's ready to hunt something bigger than deer, I'll probably get her the exact same rifle in .308.

.30-06. My wife has killed elk, deer, antelope (pronghorn and African), zebra, wildebeest, warthogs, etc. with hers.

George

My wife has a .30-06 that was stocked to fit her. My daughter has a .257 Roberts for deer-sized game and a 9.3x62 for the bigger stuff.

Having the stock fit is vital. We took about an inch off both of my wife's rifles, added a Pachmayr Decellerator pad and she has no problems.
We have a PAST shoulder pad, but she doesn't even use it at the bench. Even with the .375. She says it pushes more than punches and it's no big deal to her.
Of course everyone's different when it come to sensitivity to recoil. I know guys who think a .30/06 is too much.

.375 H&H, .30-06 Springfield, .22-250 Remington and 20 gauge O/U. She has taken Cape buffalo, crocodile, kudu, zebra, gemsbok, sable, whitetail, ferral hog, p-dogs, g-squirrels, yotes, quail, dove, duck, geese and clay

My wife claimed my .35 Whelen. 250 gr. loads.

quote:

Originally posted by bja105:
My wife has a NEF 243. She has killed one deer with it. The rifle is a piece of junk, but she likes it's short length and ambidextrous operation. I want to find a lefty Savage 110 to build a 260 or 25-06. Think a 5'1" woman can handle working a long action?

My cousin's wife uses his Ruger Stainless 243. He wants to get her something else, becuse the last two years it took hours of tracking to find well hit deer.

Take a look at a Remington Model 7.

Before I started using Blasers my wife and I used Model 7's quite a bit.

She used a 243 for a while and then when we got on a lease with wild pigs she moved up to a 308.
I have used a 308 quite a bit.

I have never seen a Model 7 that did not shoot goot. I have shot three 308's to 600 yards on paper and to 800 yards on steel.

They are a lot handier and lighter than "full" sized rifles.