Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunting Rifles Well I have a real problem...

actually the Dad to my surrogate daughters has a problem.

His oldest one is 13 and this is her second year of hunting with Dad. He bought her a good used Ruger with a Nikon scope in 7X57. Number one daughter is a good size girl, not fat, and the 7X57 makes her a good elk and deer rifle.

Number two daughter is a eleven. Next year when she turns twelve she wants to take hunter safety and go hunting with Dad and number one daughter.

Number two daughter is a little bit of a thing. She's almost 5' and weights 85 pounds. It will probably take her two years to hit a 100 pounds. She can lift a .22lr rifle but that's about it. Montana allows a .22 center fire rifle for elk and deer hunting and that's probably the caliber she will have to use for the foreseeable future. I'm thinking a bolt or single shot in .223 will probably have to do and weigh no more than 5 to 6 pounds.

Any of you guys with very petite daughters have any suggestions?

It sounds to me like she needs a lightweight 257 Bob. The Montana is great, but if number 1 daughter already has a Ruger then the Ruger M77 UL in Bob might be a good fit for number 2.

I am thinking the same. Plus a good sling will help. Easier for her to carry up to the point where she needs to shoot. Find a rest and go from there. I assume she can't hunt alone. Just means she might need some extra help from Dad is all.

yeah i think using a 223 on elk would be like spitting sunflower seeds at squirrels.

steyr scout 7mm-08

I have no experience with in this but you may check out the Ruger Compact, lots of different calibers including .223 .243 among others.

fwiw

IMO it'd be like starting the kid out with a .410 on ducks. Why set her up with a good possibility of failing? A light weight 7-08 and taking the time to acclimate her to shooting it with light loads progressing to heavier loads will take her where she wants to go.
I have never understood the rationale of folks wanting to start their wives or kids out with a weapon that was marginal at best and then add in buck fever and overall newness and expect them to precisely place the shots needed to kill the animal. If the time can't be taken to train the wife or child to shoot well an adequete weapon for the game sought, they shouldn't be in the woods.

Take a look at ruger compact and savage youth. the ruger has more chamberings

Savagage in 243 and 7mm-08

Ruger has in addition 260 and 6.8mm spc

these are the offerings that will not back up to bad and the 243 is as small as I would recommend for elk.

The savage is "suppose" to be easy to put a different barrel on While I have never done it you may be able to make a 260 or 7mm-08 or 308 out of a 243 down the road some time. You need to check with someone that knows more to be sure on that.

Be the way I hope all your problems are this good.

8mmwapiti

For deer and the possibility of an elk, I would vote for the Ruger compact (youth model) in 260. I would load the Hornady 95 gr V-max bullet to 2800 fps and let the young lady shoot a few hundred of them during the summer.

Then I would switch over to the 120 ballistic tip at the same velocity for deer hunting. It is a pretty decent deer bullet, and I doubt the young lady would notice much difference in recoil in the field.

For use on really big muley bucks, or even for elk, under these conditions I would recommend the use of the Nosler 130 gr accubond at 2800 fps.

The trajectory of the three rounds will be so similar inside 250 yds that a young shooter should not have to worry about the difference on big game. The only caveat might be if the rifle does not shoot them to the same place. One might have to resight the rifle when switching to the heavier weight bullets.

As a matter of fact, the Savage is just as easy to rebarrel as the rumors claim. I have done it myself with a standard bench vise in the garage.

I drilled a hole in a piece of 2x6 hardwood just big enough to secure the barrel and then rip sawed the block through the center of the hole.

I used the wooden block to pad the vise jaws as the barrel was clamped and loosened the barrel lock nut with an inexpensive wrench from Midway USA.

The newly chambered barrel was headspaced on a freshly necked down empty case and then the locknut tightened.

Contact Sharp Shooter's Supply for all things related to Savage rifles. They can rechamber your barrel, or supply you with new or factory takeoff barrels in a variety of chamberings. They rechambered my 22-250 to 22-243AI.

There you go, Derby. Now grab your wallet and go for it!

have dad buy one of these in 243.

http://www.kimberamerica.com/products/rifles/84m/84m_montana/

Get the Marlin XS-7 youth rifle in 243. Since it is nearly a clone to the Savage 110 series, you can swap barrels with a minimum of 'smithing to set the headspace. Lots of 1 in 9" ROT Savage/Stevens 223 barrels out there just begging to be rechambered to 22-250.

I'd also suggest getting her the Savage Mark II BV 22 as an understudy rifle and have her shoot 2000+/- rounds from a variety of positions with the same scope that you're going to put on her hunting rifle. This rifle has a heavy barrel, so she'll get used to the weight while building her confidence. I know that it is an extra cost that you might not have factored in, but it is hard to "unlearn" bad habits.

Jeff

I sure like my new 308 win kimber montana and my select classic in .257 bob. The bob in the kimber montana sure would be a nice light low recoil rifle.

the kimber is a hell of a rifle for the money a mod 7 rem or faux TI would be another good choice!

Another vote here for a lightweight Kimber 260.

In my opinion the Kimber is more expensive than I would put in the hands of an 11 year old. Most 11 year old kids can not appreciated a fine firearm and would be better served with a less expensive starter rifle. But that is just my opinion.

8mmwapiti

Kate is 14, runs a Remington Seven Youth in 7-08 and loves it but she is over 100 pounds by a lil bit and an athlete but her 11 year old sister who is closer to 100 can run it fine.....my Kimber 84M Montana is a full pound lighter at a couple ounces under 7#'s when both are ready to hunt but its also got a longer length of pull that a smaller build might not like...

Thanks guys for your input. I'm looking a Thompson Center as a possibility.

I never thought of a Ruger sub compact or the Savage. Will have to look at both.

Dad doesn't re-load never has and I don't think he ever will. Strictly a factory man. If the factory doesn't make it you don't need it.

As to caliber it has to be really light. She has the body mass of eight year old. I think the re-coil of the 7X57 would break her shoulder, certainly dislocate it. Weight of the rifle is a real problem. We have her doing push ups to build up her upper body strength.

We are talking really petite light body mass. Personally, I don't think she will have the strength and body mass to handle the re-coil of a .260 Remington until she is about 18.

A buddy of mine had a similar problem his son was about the same size. Put together a tc contender carbine with the youth stock and it worked very well. Over all length was very short with the 16 in bbl. one thing to remember is when they are that small is weight out front seems to make a much larger difference than for a larger person. Leverage and all that. Nice thing about the contender is you can run a 22 lr for practice then just swap barrels and everything else is the same for them. What we did was use a 30-30 barrel and run light bullet low recoil handloads. Now remington makes low recoil factory loads. I am not a fan of brakes but a buddy had one from ea brown co that had the muzzle brake you could turn off and on. You could chamber it in something like 6.8 spc and stay away from the hot loads.