best rifle for women????

[Michaelr]

I have been looking at alot of different rifles for my wife.
She isn't a very big gal 5'3".
she shoots a 243, but we want a bigger cal for her to hunt elk with.
what do some of you ladies shoot??
She would like to keep recoil to a min, and still have enough to feel comfortable wacking an elk.

 

[kiwi hunta]

How about 6.5x55 " The Swede" I use the 155gn lapua bullet on Red Deer and I don't belive wapiti are that much if any tougher to nail,very easy to shoot and handles the heavier bullets well.

 

[elkgetter]

I just got a Win 70 .270 and I love it. I did alot of looking and I had it down to the 7mm-08 and .270. I agree with anaconda, take her and let her hold some.

 

[Muledeer4me]

All good choice's.
I shoot a Ruger M77 Light weight in a 270.
I needed something light and back when I bought mine there were not alot of choice's out there.
I also bought a 30-06 & 338-06 neither fit me good even though we cut the stock down,the barrel and forearm were still to long & heavy.
Let her go down and hold some of the lighter weight rifle's and women/youth model's.
Keep in mind---the lighter rifle's with the shorter thinner barrel has more recoil and the barrel heat's up faster then any of Steve's reg. size rifle's LOL (only a problem when shooting alot of target's)
Once you find one that fit's her,you will have some good choice's as far as caliber.

 

[tmsander]

The fetching Mrs. Sander really enjoys shooting her Rem Mod 7 in 7mm-08. Now, if I could just get her to squeeze off on an elk!

 

[A-con]

.308 Win, in a Rem MD 7, or a Ruger 77 ultra light, Win. 70 compact or a Rem 700 Mt rifle.

The .270 would be another good choice, just take her down to a gun show and let her hold a few rifles to see what she likes.

 

[JB Florida]

My wife likes my 300 win mag.
I think it kicks a bit but she doesent ever flinch....that girl was born with the shooting gene. I think she likes it because of the paint job though, calls it the Zebra gun

I would choose a 6.5 or a 25-06.
Probably the 25-06 because of available over the counter ammo. Nobody down here carries 6.5 anything

<FONT COLOR="#800080" SIZE="1">[ 01-08-2003 16:37: Message edited by: JB Florida ]</font>

 

[Nut]

Vipe loves the 6.5x55 "Green Machine". She is only 5'2" and she handles it well. The boys are able tyo shoot it also without any problems.

 

[tnctcb]

when my wife was looking at rifles she really liked the browning a-bolt.she ended up with a 742 woodmaster because of the reduced recoil since she bought a 35 whelen. a semi auto will be heavier but the recoil will be reduced so she can use a bigger caliber.if she is going to use the rifle for elk i would say at least a 308 but since im not at elk hunter yet im not the authority on that part.

 

[Michaelr]

We are leaning towards a 280 remington, probably in a ruger m-77,
Any thoughts on this.

 

[Lostagain]

micheal== I bought my wife an old win 70 in 375H&H, heavy and kicks too. Needless to say she doesn't think much of it, so now I have to have it. Poor me.
Any cal from that 243 on up is good on elk, the 270, 280, 06, are good choices. I did end buying her a Ruger SSM77 in 25-06, she really likes it other than its a little too loud, so I might have to have it too. Poor, poor me. Hell just keep picking them up until she finds one she likes, you can never have too many rifles.

 

[Whelen Nut]

Mike

I've set up several Rem M7 in 7mm/08 for women and young shooters. A compact 4X, a 1-4X, or 1.5-5X Leupold works well on them. The 7mm/08 has plenty of bullet weight for deer, bear, elk and it shoots fairly flat at the ranges they are likely to shoot at game.

Another excellent rifle would be the Browning Micro Medallion.

Hope this helps.

WN

 

[brokfut]

My grand daughters like my .280. While it is not a factory rifle, it is very similar to the Rem Mod 7. Light weight, low recoil, plenty of terminal energy, lots of available ammo, if you reload you can stuff anyting in the case and it will shoot 100 to 175 grainers. I like it for mountain packing for elk and mulies.

 

[Muledeer4me]

Mike ,just another thought here.
Steve has a rem M7 in the 7mm-08 while he really likes the gun he wouldn't recommend it as an elk rifle.
I know you can kill one with smaller calber's but its better to have the biggest one she can shoot and handle without going overboard.
The 280 is what he keeps trying to get me to buy

JB,your wife is tought cause she live with you

 

[Goat]

Tracy shoots a .308 Win Mod 70 Classic Compact. With 165gr bullets it is good for just about everything and light enough for her to carry. She is 5'2" and about 120pnds, recoil is minimal with handloads at about 2650fps.
I love watching a woman walking over mountainis with a rifle!!

goat

 

[danr55]

I've got to agree with Nut and Kiwi. The 6.5 Swede is about as deadly and accurate as any caliber around, and it is a pussy cat to shoot.

A rifle like Nut's Green Machine would be excellent for your wife. It's light enough for a woman to carry all day without a problem and the weight is shifted forward to the muzzle for stability for shooting off hand or from a bench.

<FONT COLOR="#800080" SIZE="1">[ 01-09-2003 09:53: Message edited by: danr55 ]</font>

 

[jig maker]

A 270 win or a 7mm08, but i would not be afraid to go larger 30-06 to a 7mm mag there are many things you can do to reduce the recoil a good decelerateor recoil pad to a muzzle break. my choice would be to get it Mag-na-ported I do not like the looks of a muzzle breaks. most important is to make sure that the gun fits her properly. remember she is only going to feel the recoil when target shooting. you can always reload with light loads for targets then go heavy when hunting you do the sighting in on the heavy loads this is what i do my wife shoots a 7mm Mag 5'5" 130lbs

 

[Calif. Hunter]

My ex-wife loved her .270 Ruger with the stock cut down for her and a 22-inch sporter barrel. She was 5'2" and 110 pounds. I disagree with a rifle with the weight towards the muzzle for women or children. Women do not have the upper body strength of men, and the last thing they want is to be leaning way back to compensate/balance a muzzle heavy rifle. I'm sure you've all seen people do this. Then the recoil really gets noticeable since they are off-balance before they even pull the trigger. It may even make them fall over, and then you can forget about getting them to shoot a second time.

 

[Muledeer4me]

Calif.hunter,Glad you pointed that out.
Thats really true.
That is one of the thing's I have to watch out for .
I have short arm's and am not as strong as you guys are.
The rifles I have bought that were cut down at the stock were still to heavy towards the front.
Shooting off of a bench wasnt such a big deal but if I had an off hand shot it was to hard to hold up.
The Mt. Rilfe's ,Light weight rifle's and now they have the woman/youth modle's ,all fit me real good.
The ruger I now shoot has a shorter lighter barrel ,make's holding it real nice.
The last thing you guys want to do (if you really want the women to get into shooting )is to buy a rifle and "make it fit them."
There are just to many good choices out there now for us smaller women/kid's

that with some checking around you can find that perfict fit.
The draw back (Steve used to try this)is that the rifle wont be able to fit you men if it fit's her real good.(most of the time)
If it's for her buy it for her ,not with yourself in mind LOL.
No reason in todays market that us women cant find sporting good's made for us.
My Ruger M77 light weight still needed to have the stock cut down and a good recoil pad put on,it just about killed Steve back then knowing it wouldn't fit him after that .

 

[Michaelr]

thats the rifle we are looking at

I already have my arsenal, so this one is hers..