I am going to get the wife a new rifle. This will primarily be a deer rifle. I have been looking at the following calibers .243, 25-06, .270, and 7mm-08. I would like something with some knockdown power but not too much for her to handle. Does anyone have any experience with these calibers or any other calibers that you would recommend for a deer rifle for a female?
Why not a .30-30 lever action? Nice and light, not overwhelmingly powerful yet is a proven tool for deer hunting.
Personally I would pick the .243 ammo is plentiful, and not much kick at all. if you are looking at somthing a little bigger, I noticed you mentioned 7mm-08 I would recommend just stepping up and getting her a .308, way more versatile, and if you handload, you can load up some 130 gr. bullets that are not going to have any more recoil than the 7mm, but still have the option of stepping up to some heavier stuff she ever wants to hunt somthing bigger.
.243 will do most anything that you need in Oklahoma, not everything, but most. Ammo is very plentiful, recoil is minimal and it carries plenty of energy to cleanly take a white tail at responsible ranges. If you hand load, then you can dial it up or down, and custom tailor the loads for your situation. Every year, for the Youth season, we sponsor a youngster to come hunt our place in Pushmataha County, and they use my .243 that was built up from an old mauser action. She aint purty, but she's a straight shooter. Last year's hunter was a little guy of 11yrs and he had a blast shooting it at the range. He also made a perfect 1 shot kill on his first deer ever.
Anyway, back to topic. The .243 is an excellent whitetail gun for young hunters and recoil sensitive shooters.
Check out the Winchester that DirtyDawg has in the classifieds section. It would fit your bill, just dandy. Please, buy it before I do!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Anyway, back to topic. The .243 is an excellent whitetail gun for young hunters and recoil sensitive shooters.
Check out the Winchester that DirtyDawg has in the classifieds section. It would fit your bill, just dandy. Please, buy it before I do!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I would say the 243 with 80gr bullets OR if she is a good shot just go with a 223 and a 60gr bullet, these deer around here are not that big and if you put the bullet in the right place you don't need a cannon. The biggest thing is to get her something she can shoot and not be scared of! nothing worse than the flinches for accuracy. Later,
Kirk
Kirk
I shoot all of those and they'll all work well for deer. Of the four, the 243 Winchester will have the least recoil. I've also taken deer with a 204 Ruger, a 222 Remington and a 22-250 Remington; they have even less recoil than the 243 Winchester and will do the job well but one has less choices for bullet placement.
That said, shooters, including females are different and some will tolerate a lot more recoil than others. Your best bet would be to let your wife try a few guns to see what her recoil tolerance is. She might do just fine with a 270 Winchester or a 25/06 and, if so, one of those would be my choice for her.
This right here!!!! Same as if your wanting her to get into handgun shooting!
Seems like the general concensus is the .243. That was my initial thought as well. I have done some research and read some about the 7mm-08. Quite a few people recommend it, I am not very familiar with it. It should have more knock down power down that .243, I am just worried about the recoil? We hunt in NW OK so long shots and big body deer are rather common. I am going to try to let her shoot some different calipers to see which one she likes best.
Everything is a trade-off but the best advice I saw above was let her shoot as many guns as you can. Rifle fit and stock shape will affect how recoil feels to her. Starting my daugher out this fall but....I can only afford to ask her to shoot what I already own. Like you, we hunt NW OK in open terrain and our caliber is not perfect.....7-30 Waters.... but fortunately...I reload and we have a youth length T/C Contender set up as a rifle that is weight-forward and the fit is very good. Single shot with less than ideal caliber means I get to teach her to wait for the right shot. (more important than the caliber IMHO)
Don't over look rifles bigger than .243 that have muzzlebrakes.
Don't over look rifles bigger than .243 that have muzzlebrakes.
