I think she would be better off w/ a .260 or 7-08, recoil is very mild in a light rifle. The .243 makes a good varmint rifle, but honestly, you can hardly tell the diff. in recoil over a .260 & the 7-08 is just a bit more.

This my rifle, This is my gun,
This is for huntin and this is for fun!

HAR!

As long as she understands the terminology, I suspect most anything will work. God knows if I could find myself some purty little petite thing, I'd get her any kind of rifle she wanted. A Model 7 sounds good to me.

Some friends are first time hunters so they got a Tikka 308.That was too much recoil and too long a stock for the wife so she got a Savage 243 youth.Now both are happy and both guns can do 1". We'll see soon if they get the venison.

J, and can be loaded,ust went through the same thing for my daughter. I went with a Tikka T3 in 7mm08. The stock length is between a youth and standard (I guess we yankees are a bit larger than the europeans) I was looking for a .243, however they were backordered. I am really glad I (we) ended up with the 7-08, it really is a lot more effective, and it can be loaded down to very mild recoil loads.

Nice job, by the way, in finding a new hunting buddy. Just think, on those cold nights in the tent, you can keep each other warm!

While many people tout the 7mm-08, there is absolutely NOTHING wrong with the 243 for DEER, Antelope and ELK. I realize there has been comments that the 243 is too light for DEER (not top mention ELK) but that is BS plain and simple. A 243 bullet in the lungs has stopped ANY DEER OR ELK me, my sons and my wife have shot over the years, plain and simple.

Then again, we pick our shots and do a double lung shot....we bring home the meat.

Papa, I'm mostly going by a 1 person sample so I have to keep in mind others may have differing experiences. I did read a couple of articles by Craig Boddington where he took his teenage daughter and Friend to Africa and they both found the Kimber ideal. With my wife who is 5'0 and about 105lbs her problem with shooting most rifles wasn't as much recoil as it was LOP and rifles that were too heavy for her to hold up and aim properly. To me it seems logical that a 210lb man with a 11lb rifle might have the same feeling as a 105lb woman with a 5 1/2lb gun. She's fired a 338 Win Mag or two and the only thing she complained about was the weight and not the recoil. But women are just like men in that some don't mind heavier recoil as much as others.
I do think that you're right in wanting to keep recoil to a minimum especially at first. Since I handload my strategy if she was wanting to hunt would be to load some light bullet loads that had the same trajectory out to 200yds or so for training and then substitute the full power loads just for hunting. Some of the new reduced recoil factory ammo may be ideal for the non-handloader to do the same thing. I have 2 good buddy's that have taken wifes and daughters hunting and this strategy worked well for them. Also the availability of the excellent Kimber 22 Rimfire rifles that handle almost identically to there 84M gives another possible avenue to train a recoil sensitive shooter without getting them gunshy...........DJ

I got my wife believe it or not a 458 win mag. She was new to shooting so I took her out and I grabbed some 350gr handloads put three in the magazine told her what to do. She closed the bolt and shouldered the rifle this is off hand now. Well she pulled the trigger and boom it went she fell one way the gun went the other. There laid M-70 in the dirt she is laying on the ground knocked out the scope came up hit her above the eye brow she is bleeding and unconscious. Well she came to about a minute later she is crying her head hurts and her shoulder hurts to. So I take her to the hospital they stitch her up 7 stitches, shoulder dislocated. She misses a week of work and to this day she still reminds about it and she refuses to shoot guns.

I made this story up how many of think husband have made this mistake and let there wives shoot there pet 338 or 300 win mag.. When I went looking for a gun for my wife I got her a beautiful 7x57 AI I took it out and shot it with some handloads these weren't max loads either boy oh boy did it kick I knew it wasn't for my wife so I traded it for a real nice 7x57 that I load down for her and she enjoys shooting it. I also have a real nice 6.5x55 that she shoots to when you handload for either these they are real pussycats for smaller stature people to shoot.

Clark, I've read these posts and the guys are pretty close to on suggesting the 7mm-08. I've started my daughter-in-Laws out with 7mm-08's and have never regretted it. If you look up the ballistics on a 7mm-08, you'll see that it just about stays right in there with the 270 Win., especially with the 130 gr. bullets and does it with about 5 grs less powder, plus it can go up to the 175 gr. bullet if needed. We load the '08's for the girls with light 100/115 gr. bullets at about 2500 fps for practice and rabbit hunting. Make sure they have ear protection (Muzzle blast can make a person flinch more than the kick sometimes) and have them shooting targets out to 300 yds or so. As they progress in the shooting skills, you can turn up the bullet speed and eventually use full loads for hunting. One girl now has an Antelope and a Desert Bighorn with her rifle and the other has a nice big Muley Buck (They've taken these animals with medium speed loads - 130 gr. bullet @2700 fps.) and they both are totally corrupted to hunting. Makes my day. Godsdog.

If you happen to be an east coast woods hunter, you could hardly do better for your intended than a CZ 527 Carbine in 7.63x39. It's light, accurate, low recoil, handsome, and not overly expensive. Main limitation is the effective range of 150 yards. If long range shooting is expected, you would want something else.

I recently got a new rifle for my wife...good trade, huh?