Beginner Lady Hunting Calibers??

[GWP]

.308 or .243

  lmao

Wasn't the .243 made from the .308 case? I believe it was a necked down .308, if I remember correctly, developed in the 50's.

[bearhunter99]

Lots of great suggestions on here.  My wife and daughters all shoot 7mm-08 and have killed a lot of deer with my wife's TC Encore single shot 7mm-08.  I bought a 6.5 Creed but they all wanted to stick with the 08.  The girls have Howa 1500 08s and love them.

Have you done much shooting of other rifles?  Even shooting any of the calibers listed above I would recommend starting out with a .22lr, or light varmint caliber (.223, .222. .204. .22-250 etc) and shoot as many rounds as possible before moving into a heavier caliber.  I ran my wife and kids through hundreds of rounds of ammunition with something that doesn't kick at all just to teach them the feel of the trigger and getting used to shooting before they moved up to larger calibers and I think it made a huge difference.  Moving from low/no recoil up into something with recoil slowly is much less daunting to a new shooter than just grabbing a hunting rifle and getting at it.

[Raincast]

Do you want one rifle to hunt all over the counter game in Washington with, or are you happy to get one for deer, and one for Elk down the road?

Consider more than recoil (as noted the 243, 7mm-08 and 6.5 cred will all be similar).  Consider ease of finding ammo.

My gut says finding ammo for a 243 and 6.5 Creedmoor would be easier than a 7mm-08. 

Consider a 308 Winchester too.

I'm definitely interested in one rifle to rule them all haha since I am fortunate enough to buy a nice rifle and scope right now... probably not so much down the line.

I'd say the only animals I don't have any nterest in is varmints and coyotes.

Thanks a ton for the information! I'll have to check local ammo selection when I get back from Idaho. Definitely more interested in the 6.5/7-08 now.

[Raincast]

Lots of great suggestions on here...

No I've never shot before which wasn't helping with my concern over recoil lol. I hadn't thought about getting a .22lr, thats a great idea. I'll definitely look for some cheap ones while I'm out and about this month. Ty!

Do they find the 7-08 just more pleasant to shoot than? I find back and forth info on that front in my research. I was looking at T3X which may be too light weight now.

[bustedoldman]

My wife has shot everything but prefers .270, both my daughters (16 & 20, both 100 lbers) have shot everything 1 prefers the 6.5CM and 1 prefers the 6.5PRC and if those weren't available they reach for the .25-06 or .308......My suggestion is try to shoot everything you're interested in and then go from there. Good Luck!

[dilleytech]

My little 5-4 wife has a youth browning x-bolt in 308 that’s has a 20” barrel/brake/ and shorter then typically stock. And shoots very accurately. I don’t see why someone would need less recoil then that. But just another option. Also a lot of rounds through a target 22 or .223 would be very helpful for practice.

[WSU]

My wife shoots a 270 for elk and deer.  Great all around caliber without a ton of recoil.

[KFhunter]

I don't see the point in shooting a bunch of random guns in random calibers setup for random people

Pick the caliber thats best for the job, best compromise on recoil vs knock down.

Especially in today's ammo crunch how's she gonna do that?

I Especially don't reccomend a new shooter going to random dudes,  and getting random advise on shooting random guns in random calibers into random paper targets

[sjhgraysage]

My wife has not hunted in years but when she did she shot a bunch of deer with a 257 Roberts and used 100 grain handloads.

[Rob]

Do you want one rifle to hunt all over the counter game in Washington with, or are you happy to get one for deer, and one for Elk down the road?

Consider more than recoil (as noted the 243, 7mm-08 and 6.5 cred will all be similar).  Consider ease of finding ammo.

My gut says finding ammo for a 243 and 6.5 Creedmoor would be easier than a 7mm-08. 

Consider a 308 Winchester too.

I'm definitely interested in one rifle to rule them all haha since I am fortunate enough to buy a nice rifle and scope right now... probably not so much down the line.

I'd say the only animals I don't have any nterest in is varmints and coyotes.

Thanks a ton for the information! I'll have to check local ammo selection when I get back from Idaho. Definitely more interested in the 6.5/7-08 now.

Holy wars have been waged on this very board regarding this very topic...

But I would suggest looking hard at a 270 Win or a 30.06 if you have interest in something that works for Deer and Elk.   
-Ammo is cheap and plentiful (normally)
-bullet weights and velocities are generally good for both Deer and Elk

As for recoil - it is a tricky thing to quantify.
For example, rifles chambered in 30.06 Springfield will all have different levels of felt recoil - even if shooting identical ammunition.  The biggest variable is total weight of the rifle.  The heavier the rifle, the less it will kick. 

My suggestion would be to get something a little bit more powerful than what you think you want right now, and have a muzzle break put on it.  That will tame a good deal of the recoil.

I tend to look for the lightest weight rifle I can find and then just deal with the recoil - I carry a rifle a whole lot more than I shoot it so a light rifle is important to me.  If recoil is a big deal, then you may want a heavier rifle.  you can always reduce some weight later by getting a lighter stock, or a lighter scope. 

[WSU]

I was just going to say don’t get an ultralight rifle until you try one out. My friend has one in 308 and it kicks like my 300 mag. The more I hunt and shoot, the more I’m convinced magnums are overrated for normal hunting.  The 270 kills elk plenty dead and plenty quickly.

[Wetwoodshunter]

I was just going to say don’t get an ultralight rifle until you try one out. My friend has one in 308 and it kicks like my 300 mag. The more I hunt and shoot, the more I’m convinced magnums are overrated for normal hunting.  The 270 kills elk plenty dead and plenty quickly.

I made the mistake of selling my .270 man that was a good gun. Ruger Hawekeye 77.

I would recommend for lighter recoil shooting 7-08 or .270. I have a Browning x-bolt 7-08 I bought for my wife, it shoots reduced recoil Hornady loads real well. My wife decided hunting was not for her but my son will use it when he gets to hunting age.

[CaNINE]

No particular order...

.243 win
6.5 creedmoor
7-08

My wife started with the .243 and now shoots the 7-08.  Everyone in my family shots the 6.5 creed.  I would suggest the 6.5 creed or 7-08 over the .243 purely due to the heavier bullet choices.  Will allow you to hunt bear and elk where the .243 is a little lite in my opinion.

Any of these will be pleasant to shoot and with proper bullet placement very effective with quick and clean taking of animals.

[jrebel]

Don’t over think this....sometimes asking questions like this on a board of gun nuts, will only muddy the water. 

Most women benefit from a higher comb height.   Look at rifles made specifically for women.  Set it up so it fits you (scope height, eye relief, recoil pad, etc.) and go shoot.  Recoil management can be a learned trait with practice.  Worst case scenario, put a break on it, though there are drawbacks to that as well (I’m a huge fan of breaks but they are loud and most recoil sensitive shooters anticipate the sound more than the felt recoil.   7-08 and 6.5 creed are big enough for any hunt-able animal in North America with the exception of maybe a grizzly (some will argue this but purely out of bias for what they shoot).   Regardless of caliber....you can learn to shoot it.  Practice practice practice.   I also agree with others that a female meeting up with random dudes to shoot is generally not a great idea. 

[KFhunter]

When buying a new rifle it goes like this:

1) intended use, how heavy, what distances, and what species, method of hunting etc. backcountry vs a stand in the back 40.
 
2) best chambering for intended use

3) best compromise recoil vs shootability in a chambering that's ethical for species hunted.

4) budget

5) availability of ammo and rifle, in size/type of stock needed

6) desired features like threaded barrel and magazine
 
7) glass

8.) addons like slings, cases, cartridge pouch etc