Does anyone have any advice on a rifle for a woman for hunting deer elk and antelope? My wife has been shooting for 6 years now she still has some issues with heavier recoiling rounds. Any help you be amazing!
What is she shooting now? For deer and antelope something like a .243 Winchester is plenty of power, and pretty light recoil. I wouldn't recommend it for elk however. Other options are recoil pads or even using a heavier rifle.
7mm08. Stock design is a huge factor in recoil. A Winchester model 70, or if money is a factor the Marlin x7 is a good choice. Stay away from featherweights and pumps for the recoil sensitive in any caliber.
Tikka T3 - fairly lightweight, but not a hard kick with a .308. maybe look at .270, 25-06, or even 6.5 x 55 another option, depending on where you live, is a semi-auto -- they frequently have less perceived recoil than a bolt gun.
In Wyoming, I would say 308 for range, Savage with the accu-trigger is still my favorite bolt action.
Id say let her shoot as many as she can get her hands on that will do the job for the intended prey. If shes like my wife its either a no or a go theres no in between.
Tika in 65X55 will drop anything short of bear out to 300 yards and will not recoil much more than a .243
You want a rifle in a straight stock design. Stock design has a huge effect on felt recoil. Secondly overall rifle weight if you walk snd stalk like I do I always opt for the shortest and lightest rifle possible. Now calibres, if you want short and light for anything upto Elk a 308 would be my first choice followed closely by a 7mm08. In your shoes I would probably go with the 7mm08 just for the reduced recoil with lighter pills however for Elk a 140gr 7mm08 factory load and a 150gr 308 load, the felt recoil will be the same. however for smaller deer a 120gr 7mm08 will have quite abit less felt recoil than a 150gr 308. Both calibres have near identical performance out to 300m on deer. Most people in feild conditions thats the limit anyway. Unless your starting to use a dial up scope I wouldnt shooting at game over this distance and If I was neither of these calibres would be my choice
Thank you everyone for the sugesstions. I guess i should have said some thing in the orginal post the largest caliber i can get her to shoot right now is 7.62x39. She is also right handed but left eye domintant im not sure how that will effect rifle selection im trying to get her put this weekend to try a few rifles to see what happens right and left handed.
The 455 is a rim fire. I assume you mean the 527? Savage makes a rifle for the female frame. I would look at the 6.5 Creedmoor. It has less recoil than a 708 and the 6.5 caliber has killed more moose in Scandinavia than anything else. I am biased. I love the cartridge. She could also use it to plink at very long ranges.
Elk may be a bit of an ask in the type of rifles you are looking at. Do you reload ? If I were in a similar situation I would be looking at something in the order of .308/.260Rem/7mm08 (in that order). If she is a smaller build all these can be chambered in medium action rifles. The 6.5x55 is a favorite of many out here (and I live the round) it generally needs a longer action in which to house it though (which is why my walking rifle is a .308 not a 6.5x55 but why the .260Rem is well placed in my list).
You could always do a 30-06 with a ported/ Muzzle Break/ Recoil reducing holes in end of barrel (different names different places) OR a Browning BAR
243 will kill anything you need, even elk if its placed well. Hardly any recoil, flat and superbly accurate. My 2cents worth. My wife is only about 110lbs and her 243 doesn't kick her very much at all.
Thank you everyone. I dont reload but i do have everything i need to do it i just never got around to setting it up. I guess i could adjust loads to be a bit lighter for her i didnt even think about that. Thank you again for all the advice its kinda a pain to find rifles for her to shoot she is very short 5'1" and any rifle i can borrow to let her try a caliber ends up being too long and difficult to use.
