if you were setting up a rifle for yourself with the intent of using it as a loaner for an aspiring young hunter that you also knew you would give the rifle to said young'un after her first kill or high school graduation, how would you set it up? what rifle, scope, etc?
i want my niece to have good, dependable equipment. she has demonstrated a real love for animals, hunting animals, and being outdoors. she bought herself some cold weather hunting gear w/ her summer work money and 2011 will be her 4th year of big game hunting (always w/ loaner guns), and she will be graduating high school and headed to the university of nebraska in fall 2011...
thanks for tips!
Is there any gun currently in your stable that you might bequeath to her? I think giving a rifle that already has its own story, is a far greater thing than picking one up off the shelf. You could say, "I took my 1st _________ with this rifle. Ah, I remember it well..." Or "I remember when your Grandpa first took me out to shoot this rifle...".
Of course, all this goes out the window if it's a .378 Weatherby, and she's an 80 lb. 12 year old. But if there's a reasonable match between rifle & shooter, and it's a rifle that you could see handing down in the future, anyway, why not do it now? That way, you'll get to see her enjoy it while you're still able to take to the field with her.
FWIW, I'm suggesting this with the knowledge that she's shown a tremendous amount of interest, & demonstrated the buy-in of using her own $ to buy the clothes to participate. In today's "all about me" mindset among youth, her actions speak extremely well of her.
Now, if there's no rifle you own that works for her, I'd suggest you take her to handle a few, & see what picks her. My 1st rifle was a surprise to me, and a wonderful surprise, to be sure. However, it didn't handle well for me, and that damned 18�" carbine barrel made enough racket at each trigger pull to help me develop a flinch that lingered for years.
If we have to pick cartridges, I'd suggest a 7mm-08. I don't notice any difference in recoil between a .243 with 100 grain bullets, & a 7mm-08 (well, a 7x57) with 139 grainers. Then again, she might. Ideally, you'd take her to the range, and shoot a .243, 6 mm Remington, 6mm-06, .257 Roberts, .25 Souper, .25-06, .257 Weatherby, .260 Remington, 6.5x55 Swede, 7-30 Waters, 7mm-08, 7x57, 7x57R (just to make sure), .280, etc., and see which one she likes best. Oh, and it would be prudent to shoot the AI version of each one of those, too, just to be thorough.
Or, you could flip a coin to pick one. Whatever you choose, take her shooting often enough to become proficient in shooting from field positions, and then remember to bring the camera with you on opening day.
FC
PS - Since you asked about scopes, I don't know that you could do much better than a 6x42 in South Dakota. If you can spend $150 or better and stick with respected brand names, you're likely going to end up with serviceable glass.
FC
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