After a year of shooting and Hunter ED being completed my special someone wants her own rifle.

She's been shooting my 270 that was given to me and she has decided that she can handle more. She can sit at the range and put boxes of ammo through that gun and she's cut loose a few through my 300 win mag a few times and hasn't complained.

We've been looking at the Sako Finnlights, Rem 700 Mtn Rifle, Kimber 8400 and possibly a Montana Rifleman built rifle. But she is really stuck on the Rem 700 Mtn Rifle because of how it feels to her over the others.

She's wants a gun that is about 7-7 3/4lbs when its all said and done with. She's afraid of week gun and if you ask her, her polite little self will outwardly tell you she doesn't a "Pu$$y A$$ Gun", excuse the language. And that is coming from all of my friends telling her she needs a 270 or a 243 after they tell her about how far their deer run after they're shot wiht their guns.

So far she's done her research and she wants either a 06' or a 300 WSM and I've decided I'm going to get her a VX-III with a B&C in it to make shooting easier for her.

Any advice would be nice,pros or cons, and please add as much detail as you can so she can read and understand this.

Thanks

Magnum61
As a fella whose wife is a hunter, she has taken deer, wild pigs, blackbear, and a couple of elk, having her hunt with a rifle she likes is the number one priority.
Your/her choice of the 30-06 is a great one. She can use regular 30-06 rounds for most game, and if ya'll feel it is necessary use the Federal High Energy loads for the BIGGER stuff.
In fact I killed 2 wild pigs with Federal's new Low Recoil load in my 30-06 Drilling with excellent results.
I am teating that load for possible use on the smaller cats in Africa this Oct. I want a load that will not "blow them up".

2 friends of mine have leupold scopes with B&C reticles. We have shot them to 400 yards. They work pretty darn good.

Sounds like a good set up for ANY hunter, man or woman.

I'm not a .270 fan, but it's a good caliber for her application & can be had in a 7.5# rig w/o a lot of recoil. I think the 300wsm in a lt. rifle is going to kick quite a bit more than your .300wm ( I assume it weighs something closer to 9#). In a lt.wt. rig, I would think a .270wsm or 7mmwsm if you want shortmags. In std. caliber, I like the .280 over the 06 in a real lt.wt., just that much less recoil w/ very good downrange perf. No flys on the ole 06 either, recoil starts to get a bit annoying w/ 180gr bullets in a 7.5# rifle (& I shoot a .338-06 for just about everything).

A .30-06 would be a fine choice, or a brand spanking new .338 Federal (.338-08) to be different. A good thing about the .338 Federal is that you can handload some heavy .338-caliber bullets for close work, and still shoot far using the lightweight factory or home-loaded ones.

I think she should shoot a light '06 and find out if she's ok with the recoil. If you wanted to, you could even borrow a heavier rifle and buy a cheap plastic stock to bring it down to the right weight. If she shoots one that weighs about the same as what the Mtn Rifle would and she's ok with it then ask her if she's wanting to go bigger. She'll let you know.
I'd try to find her a Kimber Montana to try on for size and feel. If she still wants the Rem. then you'll have eliminated a lot of choices. Then just pick the caliber she is comfortable with.
Either will do about the same in the field. Nate

I have a Mountain Rifle in '06. It is not what I would call a light recoiling rifle. Anyone could get used to it and away from the bench it's not bad. But sighting that thing in on the bench is a mother. I installed a Decelerator pad and still use a wadded up towel between the stock and my shoulder. Then again maybe I'm just a wuss.

NoCAL

How about a 7MM Rem Mag?

See if your local library has an old copy of the 5th Edition Gun Digest Treasury. Have your friend read the story entitled "40 Years with the Little 7mm" by Jack Oconnor. Very interesting story of how his wife Eleanor hunted big game with him all over the world with her little Mauser in 7 x 57, which was made up for her by thomas Burgess and stocked by Russ Leonard. A very interesting read, and might convince your sweetie that most often its the bullet and the aim that count much more than the power of the rifle.

I never even thought of the idea of the 7mm Rem Mag........That could be a feasible choice.

I wonder how many women actually shoot something like that?

quote:

Originally posted by Magnum61:
...So far she's done her research and she wants either a 06' or a 300 WSM ...

Hey Magnum, If that is what she wants, then that is what you should get her.

Since she shot the 300WinMag and didn't whine, and since you reload, you could "Down-Load" a group of cartridges for it and explain to her that it is not a requirement to do all the practice shooting with Full Power loads.

If she likes that idea, then you can get her a light weight 7mmRemMag or a 300WinMag and specifically load it to where you get acceptable velocity, excellent accuracy, not pound her unnecessarily during practice and have the potential to up the Load when and if she wants to.

That way you can have the best of all situations, a light rifle with Magnum capability - when she is hunting.
---

You are a lucky man to have found a lady who enjoys hunting and shooting.

Good hunting and clean 1-shot kills to you both.

Magnum,

I also agree that the 7mm Mag would be an outstanding choice for many reasons.

First of all she'll have it in her head that it's a "Magnum" rifle since you said she wants a big gun. It'll only kick about like a 30-06, plenty of bulllets to choose from, plenty of factory ammo available in a pinch, good trajectory and down range ballistics, and can be used to hunt everything in NA.

My wife does not like recoil much. She can shoot her 270 plenty w/o complaints and she has shot my 7RM a few times as well and she couldn't hardly tell the difference in recoil. The 7RM does kick more than the 270 but, not as much as my 300s.

Good Luck

Reloader

It looks like she likes the Mn rifles, so I'd think that the .280 would be a small step up from the .270 not to mention the better bullet selection and ablility to load it near the 7mag.

quote:

Originally posted by NoCAL:
I have a Mountain Rifle in '06. It is not what I would call a light recoiling rifle. Anyone could get used to it and away from the bench it's not bad. But sighting that thing in on the bench is a mother. I installed a Decelerator pad and still use a wadded up towel between the stock and my shoulder. Then again maybe I'm just a wuss.

NoCAL

My experience with my Remington Mountain Rifle in .30-06 mirrors yours. Mine kicks like a mule, is extremely accurate with my 180 grain handloads, and is nice to carry. Fortunately, I don't mind the recoil. I have another .30-06 (Savage model 110) that does not kick nearly so hard.
My suggestion to you if you are considering a mountain rifle in .30-06 would be to talk to a competent gunsmith about recoil reduction, should the recoil present a problem.

Find the gun she likes, then pick the caliber. I don't think you can go wrong with the 06 or the WSM. Or 280, 270, 7mm(RM, x57, or even the 08) the list goes on.

It is real easy to reduce the loads for a nice pleasant gun. My wife and two nephews shot their first deer with reduced 270 loads.

My wife is going to apply for an elk license this year. So we went through all the guns I own. She picked the Rem 700 in 270 over the CZ 3, Model 70 featherweight, CZ 550 FS, a JC Higgins FN and a Montgomery Wards Heym. Exact same reason, likes how it feels.

If she draws you can bet she is going to put a couple hundred rounds of reduced loads through it before I step it up a notch.

This is pretty funny... My wife and I went through almost this exact same scenario.

She really liked my M700 MT rifle in 280, but didn't want a pansy azz rifle (that big dic syndrome). And when she heard that Winchester was going belly up, it didn't take much talking into to get her to buy a M70 Feather weight 325WSM!!!

Recoil is quite stiff, but I'm going to down load some light bullets to get her real comfortable with it. The day after she bought it she put a box of 200 grainers donw range. She's only about 125 pounds soaking wet as well...

Get her what she wants... With a little work she'll be able to handle it, you could always get a break put on it if she wants to!

My wife said the next rifle she's going to get will be in the 375H&H class. She said that the 325 was a stepping stone for her... Since she knows that she'll not likley be hunting buff or jumbo anytime soon with it.

What ever rifle you and your better half decide on put a limbsaver recoil pad on it. My Rem 300 Win Mag kicks like a Mule but with the Limbsaver pad it only pushes like a Mule.

My friend has a Winchester "Coyote" 300WSM that is one HEAVY rifle it does not have the Limbsaver recoil pad and it kicks and leaves bruses.

If she is having fun now getting the sh*t kicked out of her may turn her off of shooting and hunting.

Magnum61 ----- Get her a .300 and load it to suit her, from 30-06 up to the full .300 loading. She obviously wants the .300, and if she is like my wife, once she says something, you better listen. If it does not work out, the decision was hers not yours. Good shooting.

My wife shot her father's 7mmRM and my 300WM but kicked to hard for her. I bought a Tikka T3 LS 270WSM in Aug.2004 with a Leupold VX3 BC reticle, and she took this rifle over, so I got another for me. She shoots this rifle extremely good, taking her first mulie buck @ 440yrd in 2004, then her cow elk 2 weeks after. Both one shot kills. The 270WSM has a little more power than the 270.

My suggestion is what ever caliber your wife is comfortable shooting is the rifle for her. Shooting at the range builds confidence, and when a person shoots at big game, you don't really feel or notice any recoil.

Good luck, have some fun!

It might be okay to make her up a 7mm Rem Mag or a .300 Winnie, but I have carried Rifles in those calibers up and down a few mountains, and even though she may be able to easily handle the recoil, I think that before she makes up her mind she ought to go on a hike with a heavy rifle for a few miles before she makes her decision. After carrying the thing for awhile, I am betting she will prefer a lightweight rifle.

remind her that a 7 x 57 shoots the same bullets as a 7 mm Rem mag.

22WRF--------Well said.