New Rifle Reccomendations

[killdeer]

Time to get the little woman a deer rifle, I,m thinking 260 rem, but have considered 25 06.  Own several rems, but their current offerings all seem to list for about $700.  Would like to keep recoil down, she is an inexperienced shooter other than back yard plinking and I do not want her to develop a flinch. Also weight is a consideration. Hunt mostly wooded hills and overgrown former pasture. Any ideas?

[PA-Joe]

Rem Model 7 Youth in 7mm08! Should be around $550.00.

[Dave in WV]

1st the rifle should fit her. The better the fit the less felt recoil. The 7mm-08 is a good cartridge.

[Gregory]

Take a look at the Browning Micro Hunter.  Light weight and smaller stock.
7-08 and 243 available that I know of.

http://www.browning.com/products/catalog/firearms/detail.asp?value=001B&cat_id=035&type_id=020

[Handwerk]

I got my son (11 years old) a tikka t-3 7mm-08. Very light and mild in recoil. Nothing else around $500 came close to it's quality. I can't think of a better first deer rifle.

[killdeer]

Thanks guys, very sound advice that opens an avenue I had not considered. I,m not equipped for reloading and I also want her to fire lots of rounds from this rifle.Economically speaking, is this still a good choice?

[longwinters]

The 7m-08 is, in my mind, the best beginner cartridge with probably the 6mm next.  You should be able to get factory loads, for the 7m-08,  in most any reasonably sized sporting goods store.  Start with the 120 gn and work up to 140 if your wife is comfortable with it.  Cartridges should not be too expensive from $16.00 - $20.00 a box.

Long

[marylandeer]

My vote would go to the Tikka T3 in 7mm-08. These Tikka's are very nice rifles. They are light, shoot great and have a very smooth action. I bought a Savage 10 fm for my son in 7mm-08. This is a nice rifle it shoots well and he doesn't mind the recoil. But I bought this before I was aware of the Tikka's and it's no Tikka. I bought myself a Tikka T3 lite stainless in .30-06 and put a sims recoil pad on it. This is now by far my favorite rifle.
Here's the Savage
http://www.savagearms.com/10fm.htm
Here's the Tikka just click on the T3 symbol
http://www.tikka.fi/

[Don Fischer]

My wife's first deer rifle was a 6mm Rem. Then I had a 6.5x55 put together for her and she never used thr 6mm Rem again, she's 5'4" and a shade under 120lbs. She said the 6.5x55 was nicer to shoot. That's not an option as you don't reload but in your position I believe I'ed go with the 260 Rem in either a Winchester model 70 featherweight or a Ruger m77.

I've never owned that Winchester but have hefted a few and boy do I like it.

[killdeer]

The Tikka looks like what I,m looking for. It turns out under the dealers listed for my area, is the one I am picking up my new cdl at tomorrow.Kill two birds with one stone!... So to speak.    Thank you all and great hunting!  :grin:  :grin:

[buffalobob]

Over 25 years ago I sold my Ruger #1 25-06 to my hunting partner so he could give it to his wife for a mule deer/antelope gun.  It is a very simple gun to work with no complicated motions and a very good deer cartridge.  It is not light, but the weight absorbs the recoil and even with a long barrel it is a short gun.  To help with the weight, what I do with my son is have him use a shooting stick.

[killdeer]

That seems like another great candidate to me.  A longer action cartridge seems more natural to me, but thats just what I grew up on.

[FURocious]

For the love of all things, stay away from Winchester.  I was all amped to get a M70 CRF gun and dismissed all the bad press about the gun thinking I only heard the exceptional cases.  I've bought alot of guns in my life, and never have I experienced such a low quality, piece of crap gun like a M70.   You'll need a dremel tool to finish the job Winchester doesn't complete at the factory.  Not only are they to blame for lack of attention to detail, they lack attention to the obvious!  Weak follower springs, burs on the feed lips and feed ramp preventing good feeding.  Burs on the  cocking ramp, making for tough bolt operation.  Can't even flush the recoil pad to the stock.  Barrel not centered in the channel.  For fucks sake.!

I would go with either a Tikka or a Browning.

[Zachary]

Time to get the little woman a deer rifle, I,m thinking 260 rem, but have considered 25 06.  Own several rems, but their current offerings all seem to list for about $700.  Would like to keep recoil down, she is an inexperienced shooter other than back yard plinking and I do not want her to develop a flinch. Also weight is a consideration. Hunt mostly wooded hills and overgrown former pasture. Any ideas?

For your purpose, my vote goes for the Remington Model 7 stainless synthetic in either .260 or 7mm-08.  If she doesn't mind a gun a tad heavier (yet still light) but a tad longer, then take a look at the Tikka T3.

Zachary

[killdeer]

I think I will take a look at a T3 tomorrow. What do you see as pro,s or con,s between 7 08 and 25 06.  I already have a couple 30 06,s and I might just sneak this out of the house myself a few times. :twisted:

[marylandeer]

The 7mm-08 is a much better big game hunter in my opinion due to the heavier bullet weights available.
The 7mm-08 is one of the most accurate cartridges out there thanks to it's father the 308 Win.
The recoil on the 7mm-08 is not that bad, maybe a little more than the .25-06 but you're dealing with a lot more knock down power also.
Don't get me wrong the .25-06 is another nice caliber but in my opinion it's just a heavy varminter that WILL cleanly take deer.
I know a lot of guys that deer hunt with both calibers but if I had only one gun I would wish it was a 7mm-08 over a .25-06.
The only thing the .25 has over the 7, the .25 shoots flatter out to farther distances but hey the 7mm-08 has enough energy to take whitetails out to 400 yards.

[mountainview]

Both the 7-08 and 25-06 are nice deer cartridges. I use both and like them equally well. Nothing wrong with the 260 though the 25-06 and 7-08 have better availability of ammo for the non handloader. If you are working on a budget, take a look at the Savage rifles as they offer excellent value and accuracy is on par with any of the other manufacturers.

Safe shooting.

[Nontypical]

lots of good suggestions,

unless you want to surprise her, I think it'd be good to let her pick the rifle with you giving caliber guidance, as long as you're sure it fits

if she gets to participate in the shopping experience, she'll feel like it's hers and it may help draw her into the sport

hopefully, you end up with a great hunting partner... who also happens to be your wife

cheers,

KJ :-)

[killdeer]

You guys are great. The wealth of knowledge and experience conveyed on this site is of unmeasurable value. THANK YOU ALL! :-)