Females first deer rifle

[reynolds357]

God's Country, if you like the .257 Roberts, the .25-06 would be a good choice.

[JD0x0]

I like the .270 win. It's up to the shooter if he/she can handle the recoil. IMO the .270 and 30-06 do not have overwhelming recoil, but everyone is different. Remember, if the shooter is a little recoil shy, you can strap-on some weights to reduce felt recoil, and work your down (weight-wise) until the shooter is more comfortable with the rifle, trigger, and recoil.

[Husqvarna]

Not sure if a left handed rifle is a must

for a lady I would stipulate that it is a must, women are generally weaker and it takes some strength to hold the rifle steady and operate the bolt with the wrong hand, maybe strength isn't the right word but rather stabilitity

I hunted for several years with RH rifles but saw the light a couple of years ago and will never go back!

[Barbicatter]

This thread caught my attention, being a left handed, short statured female shooter (5'-2"). Like the OP I've been looking for a rifle to fit me. I'm more confortable with pistols because I have yet to find a rifle or shotgun that is both designed left handed and reduced lenght (w/o extra cost and special order)

To me the lenght of pull is more important, as long as the cheek rest is ambidexterious. As for the operation of the action, I've long since adapted and overcome. With a bolt action, I control the ejection of the hot cartiridge, it doesn't matter to me which side it's on. However it's makes more of a difference when shooting semiautos no one likes hot brass flying at you. This is a fact of life for most left handed shooters Thank goodness my RR AR has a built in deflector and place the brass Forward Right of me everytime.

I do have a lefthanded .22LR Savage but I never shoot it because the stock is too long.
Just my 2 cents. I'm going to keep my I on this thread, it will give me some good pointers next I go shopping.

[Keg]

Wife and her Ruger 77 Hawkeye in 308....

http://thefiringline.com/forums/showthread.php?t=441491

[Sure Shot Mc Gee]

She's like 5'2 maybe 100 lbs, youth models will also be considered.

The stature of that Lady. Oh yes I can see there is a need for a little less challenging recoil now. Lets take a look at something more. 243 is good. 260 Remington another fine cartridge. 257 Roberts. 250 Savage. 6mm Remington. Even that old 6.5 Swedish. All excellent light recoiling calibers. If you two are into perhaps a larger big game animal hunt like the Elk down the road after she gets use to her new rifle. I would give some thought towards the 25-06 verses the 270. That's if she doesn't mind a little bit of recoil having to handle on a shot or or two having to make on those really big deer out west. (elk)__ 25-06 offers more light weight bullets than a 270 as you probably know. Having to shoot 150 gr. in a 270 is not difference than a 30-06 in recoil. 7mm 08? Again not much difference than the 308 also in recoil. I personally don't think either the (270 or 7mm08) would be her cup of tea.
It would be a better idea to perhaps stay within that 24 to 26 caliber range of calibers for her due to her slight stature. Besides if your there along side her with a Mag in hand I'm sure you could give her a hand in making sure that monster big feller hits the ground if and when she encounters one. The main point I'm try to make is not to spoil a good chance to outfit her with a weapon that may be discomforting to carry and shoot.
One rifle that comes to mind that would have been perfect. That little Ruger Ultra Light bolt action they made a few years back. And perhaps one like I carry myself. Rem 700 Mountain rifle. I actually have two of them. One in 270 the other in 25-06. (Twins so to speak.) You might want to check into those light weight skinny barreled rifles in her behalf before hand and judge for yourself what may or may not be appropriate. Although a stock may have to be trimmed a little for her comfort. But that shouldn't be a too big of a deal to have done. I wish you both good luck in your quests.

S/S

[Mausermolt]

i think that 257 Robs she has will do just fine. my mother has taken Elk with her 257. Bang, flop DRT. its all about the shot placement. but my next suggestion would be a 7mm Mauser. my girlfriend shoots her 7X57 quite well, and the recoil is very manageable.
BTW what area you gonna be in? if you drew a tag for the Silvies unit, id be more than happy to have a couple of new huntin buddies

[bcarver]

I would suggest an encore for a lefty. I know the contender came in a youth stock and I think the encore does too. If not get the walnut and add a sims recoil pad, cut the stock down to fit her. I think the 7mm calibers are the best.
The 7mm 08 will do but the .280 Remington would be my choice, but I can reload to what ever power I want in the .280.
My personal choice would be a 7x57mm but I like the older stuff and to have something "different".
She can add a muzzleloader barrel and a shotgun barrel for turkey and hunt for three seasons.

[iShoot17]

I'm with the other suggesting the .243. It is a great rifle and certainly does the job. I got one for my girlfriend this year as she has become a bigger and bigger fan of shooting and decided she wanted to get into hunting with me. I got it for her because she can pretty much shoot it all day, little kick, but can be loaded up with a decent whitetail load. She proved it this past rifle season by taking a pretty decently sized 8pt. She loves it and has had the opportunity to shoot a wide variety of calibers ranging from .223-.338Lapua.

She still goes for the .243 when we are shooting all day or when we go varmint or whitetail. (Although she has started to call the .22-250 hers and has started shooting it more and more..)

[BumbleBug]

I have several .270 Win rifles & I'm a big fan of this cartridge. I've always shot 130gr bullets as that was the standard.

I don't know if you are a handloader, but I recently tried some 110gr Barnes TSX bullets. This produced noticeably less recoil shooting from the bench. They shot very well & according to Barnes, the performance of their lighter bullets is equal to or better than heavier lead core bullets.

I shot one deer with the bullet & it performed fine, but I can't draw any big conclusions yet.

FWIW...

...bug

[sc928porsche]

25-06 would be ideal if you can find one for a lefty. Otherwise its beginning to look a bit more like the 270. Your choice is going to be limited due to the lefty configuration. I would shy away from the 243 in your neck of the woods. After all she is young and she may want to hunt more than deer. You do have an elk or two out your way you know.

[reynolds357]

Savage lightweight hunter in 6.5 Creedmoor would be ideal.

[publius]

My 16 y/o daughter shoots a .308 and does well with it. That would be my choice, especially if elk are next on the menu.

[J270]

How big and far away does a game animal have to be before a good one hundred grain bullet from a .243 Win won't take it down with a well placed shot?

[jimbob86]

270 is available in Managed Recoil Ammo by Remington and maybe FEDERAL, too.

Or you can make your own- IIRC, I loaded a 130 grain bullet on top of 46 gr of IMR4064 ..... made 2700 f/sec, and dropped bambi like a bad habit for my eldest daughter when she was 13.

[Miss Stana]

My first rifle was a .264 bolt action and I loved it! I am recoil and noise sensitive. I have also shot a .270 Wby and it was really nice. I would strongly recommend a left handed bolt rifle and fit the pull to the shooter.

[the blur]

I used the 7mm-08 managed recoil ammo, and it's not accurate past 100 yards. 200 yards, it was off paper.

So I'm stepping down to a .243 semi auto. With regular ammo.

[Art Eatman]

It's easy enough to shorten a stock for a correct length of pull. Any wood worker should be able to do a clean job of cutting off the excess and installing a new recoil pad. Generally easier with wood than "plastic".

[wet]

What Brian said. 270 is an excelent choice also

[thallub]

i would recommend a Savage left hand youth model 11 in .243 Winchester. A petite college classmate hunts with one.

http://www.ableammo.com/catalog/sava...-p-130772.html

There is also a Savage Axis youth model in .243.

http://www.kygunco.com/savage-arms-a...0-barrel-58718

[Pilot]

The .243 is a great choice, but you don't have to go all the way up to 7MM to get a bit more. The .260 Remington is also a good choice, and kind of splits the difference.

[wyobohunter]

Mostly open country or woods? By your choice I'm guessing mostly open country. Is she a smallish gal? If so I'd lean toward a 7mm-08. Plenty of power but soft shooting.

For woods I'd go with a 30-30 win, the Marlin 336 youth is a great choice and works well for a lefty.

[Paul B.]

"I do have a lefthanded .22LR Savage but I never shoot it because the stock is too long.
Just my 2 cents. I'm going to keep my I on this thread, it will give me some good pointers next I go shopping."

No reason to not shoot that .22. Find a good gunsmith and have him cut the stock to fit you. Easiest fix in the world.
Paul B.

[Paul B.]

I'm thinking it would help a lot to know if the OP was a reloader or not. I would think that if the .270 is an option, a left handed model witht he stock cut to fit the lady having a Pachmeyr Decelerator recoil pad wodl be the way to go. If the OP does reload, he could very easily make up "managed recoil" type load and gradually work up to full power hunting loads. A 130 gr. Nosler Accubond or Partition would work just fine for deer and even elk although if hunting elk I'd prefer either bullet in 150 or 160 gr. weight.
I've seen how the .243 works on big Nevada Mule Deer and frankly, I was not impressed. I used to guide kids on their first deer hunts when I lived in Northern Nevada and some not havnig a deer rifle would use my .243 with a fairly stiff load using the 100 gr. Hornady sp bullet. I don't remember if they were Interlocks or not as this was in the late mid 70's. Only one deer was a drt bang flop out of 6 deer shot. All the others ran off after being hit, one almost 250 yards and may have kept on running except a fence got in the way. He backed up and hit that fence twice before expiring. Most of the deer ran from 35 to close to 100 yards before dropping. I coached each of the kids on their shot and all were good chest hits either into the heart or lungs. Most shots were at roughly 100 to 150 yards and these kids shot well.
Now I'm certain all the lovers of the .243 will be all over my back saying, "It ain't so." but it is exactly as stated. These deer were all taken on a private ranch with almost no hunting pressure. It was also fairly open so we could see where the deer fimally dropped. Good thing because there was so little blood trail that if cover had been thick, some of those deer would have been lost. Anyway, out of 6 deer shot with that rifle, only one dropped at the shot.
Now if the OP is not a handloader, I believe I would look at a 7-08. REcoil would be in the same level as the 7x57 and would be just fine for deer with 140 gr. Factory ammo. I don't shoot the 7-08 but do shoot a 7x57 and I load my ammo to 7-08 specs. A 7-08 with a premium 150 or 160 gr. load would be more than adequate for elk. A factory 175 gr. load would probably be just fine out to 200 yards on elk as long as it's not Federal's load. All I will say is I've had problems with that one. I've been hunting for 64 years and have lost exactly two deer in all that time. One was with the federal load just mentioned.
Paul B.