How about a Thompson Center G2 single shot rifle chambered in one or more of a multitude of different calibers. I taught my wife to shoot with my T/C Contender carbine with a 22LR barrel, then moved her up to a 10mm barrel for some recoil. Then on up to a cartridge called 308Bellm which is a wildcat that gives 300 Savage ballistics.
Cam

Thanks for all the help and suggestions! It's much appreciated...

-Dan

Those M70 compacts are indeed easy on the eyes. If you can afford it, one of those in 7mm-08 (tho I'd prefer 260) with a 20" bbl and the stock cut just right would get 'er dun. If you/she don't mind, put a break on the end. It'll help keep the weight down.

You might also look at the Ruger 1A in 7x57. That was my favorite deer and hog rifle when I lived in Texas. I used 139 gr. Hornadys and 130 and 145 gr. Speers. The 130 Speer is a little fragile when you get it up to about 2,900 fps, but the other two worked fine. The rifle is short, light, and accurate, and the 7x57 kills cleanly with minimal recoil. A light rifle in .260 Rem., 6.5x55, 7-08, or something similar would probably work well for her also. I just enjoy that Ruger 1A.

i see your thinking ahead ,i wish i started out taking my wife hunting and shooting ..............................
it would be to obvious now...paul

Show her that you have a little class. Buy her a Kimber 84 in either 260 or 7-08. Replace the 3/4" Decellarator with a 1/2" or 1/4" Decellarator as needed for proper fit. The stock design on these rifles helps reduce recoil, and they are light enough to be easily handled by women.
Craig Boddington wrote a couple articles about taking his daughter and friend to Africa and this is the rifle they chose (in 7-08) and were quite successful hunting with it. If you can afford one the Kimbers are really nice rifles and a cut above the average.........DJ

Clark, if you really want to treat "your soon to be", get her a M77 MkII RSI in .243.
Regards.

Personally, I would suggest going down a different path than all those listed above. Why, almost all of the "youth/ladies rifles made today are engineered by tall people who regularly shoot guns and have done so all their lives. I believe the very best way to sour someone on shooting is to give them a short barreled rifle that doesn't weigh very much and have them sit down at the bench and get the stuffing pounded out of them while listening to the earth shaking muzzle blast of a 16-18" tube and developing a nasty flinch.

When I last did a rifle for a woman it was for my sister and we went with this approach: Winchester m70 classic action, 24" #4 contour barrel in .260 all set into a shortend stock with a 2.5-8 vari X III on top. An easier and more forgiving rifle would be very hard to find and body count from this rifle just keeps growing.

I recommend that the barrel be no less than 22" to hold down the muzzel blast. I believe that muzzel blast is the foremost cause of flinching in inexperienced shooters. If she needs to hit ANYTHING, she needs to be able to practice with the rifle first. For the above reason, I would absolutely stay away from a muzzle brake unless it's a Vais. The barrel of my choice would also be of a reasonably heavy contour, at least a medium sporter perhaps a light varmint. If you need to futher reduce recoil, you can always go with a mercury recoil reducer in the stock.

The factory rifle list that fits the bill is slim to none. A few suggestions come to mind. If you can hold the range to 150 yds. or less, look at the CZ 527 in 7.62X39. Top it with a Leupold or Burris compact and you're done. Otherwise you'll need to take a full size sporter and shorten the stock. If you go that route, I would stay with either the .260 (ideal) or the 7mm-08. If you handload, you can make almost anything work.

Good luck.

Gabe

I am short as well, 5 ft 4 inches, so I have an idea of what your wife (to-be) is going through. I have a number of rifles, 22-250, 762x39, .270, 30-30, 30-06, and with the exception of the 7.62x39 (mini-30) and the 30-06 (model 7400 Carbine), all my rifles have custom-made stocks.

My suggestion is that your wife finds a caliber she is comfortable shooting and then buy a custom stock that fits comfortable. After struggling for many years with stocks that were too long and provided a poor eyerelief for the scope, I broke down and replaced three of them.

My next rifle will be a .338, and trust me, it will have a custom stock, because that is the difference between enjoying the hunt and range, and dear frustration.

Congratulate her on her first deer for me!!! AWSOME

Ok you already have a caliber that works great i say stay with the 308 and find the rifle that best suits her and have a stock made to her.My gunsmith is making a stock for me at around 150 dollars exact fit to me that is not bad in my book and it is making a rifle more fun to shoot so there it is my 2cents

I just got my wife a s/s Ruger 77/44 44 mag rifle for a camp gun but if I was to get a hunting rifle for her it would be the s/s black/grey laminate stocked Ruger Compact in 308 Win and load her bullets to 300 Savage velocities (150gr @ 2650fps). I would use top loads if I where to borrow her rifle for some unknown reason.

Cam

The problem I have with the Kimber is weight. Nothing else. 5 1/2 lbs. is just too light for a new person to shoot well or handle recoil effectively. I love those guns, but I don't think that they are right for beginners.

Gabe

I like the Remington Mod.-7 youth mod. as well.
If she won't be shooting anything but deer or smaller game .260 would be great with a premium 120 gr. bullet.
Deer or larger, 7mm-08 or .308 if she's ok with the recoil.
Too short a bbl can lead to too much muzzle racket and 20- 22" should be fine.
A few of the local gals I know use a .308 with a good 150 gr. and seem to do very well.
One gal does all her huntin with the .257 Roberts and a premium 120 gr.
But I would not recomend the .243 win. for most folks, and I own one.
Most important factor is the fit and let her decide on the rifle "she" likes and you'll have a happy huntress.

FWIW, I'm not especially fond of the Model 7 for several reasons, recoil being a big one in the .308. This is in the context of a gun for the wife/kid/whatever. I suppose that a 7-08 or .260 would have less, but haven't shot one.

I have not read all of the posts on the subject but tend to agree with the suggestion of the T/C G2 or Encore in a mild cartridge. Another alternative is the NEF HandiRifle which is cheap and comes in a youth size. That the NEF is a bit heavy is more a benefit than problem in this application. We don't need any bruises on the little lady... Being comfy with it will lead to confidence, which leads to bullets going where they are supposed to.

If you reload you may load down bigger cartidges of course, or you may also put pointy bullets in a 30-30 case as an example. A 150 gr Spitzer of suitable design in the 30-30 is a slam dunk 250 yard load if the gun and shooter are up to it. Recoil and report are mild as well.

All that said, the T/C concept is not especially cheap, and they(T/C Fox Ridge) are on my crap list anyway. If you go that way, try Bullberry for the barrel and stock if you can afford it, and you'll not notice a 24" barrel as being long on that action.
Good luck!

Thanks for all the suggestions guys! A while back we went to the local Sportsman's Warehouse and she tried the various youth rifles. They had a good selection there. If I recall correctly, she tried a Model 7 Youth, Winchester Classic Compact, Ruger Compact, and possibly the Browning youth model. She liked the way the Model 7 felt the best so I've been trying to find one in 7mm-08. That's when I ran into the problems with D&R that I've posted elsewhere on this site. I did find someone on this board that had a new takeoff wood youth stock for a model 7 so I bought it from him (the brown truck should drop it off today) and now I'm searcing for a Model 7 to drop in the stock. I figure if I get the full-size model and she ends up not wanting to hunt, I can swap the adult stock back on and have myself another rifle.

Thanks again everyone...

-Dan

Clark98UT--Dan,you have a plan with options from one angle. That being if your wife doesn't like hunting/shooting you can convert the gun to one for yourself. How about another option--plans always better if you have several options. Get yourself several girlfriends. Your soon to be wife might have other flaws besides not liking to hunt/shoot. Perhaps a bad cook.

So True...........