Been reading for a bit, but first post.

Looking to get my wife a rifle. One that will mostly be used on New England Whitetails, but will also be used to go west for anything from antelope to elk.

Range of shots will be under 200 yards as it's almost impossible to find a range local to us in NH that goes past 125. A "long shot" where we hunt is 100 yards.

I am a bit concerned with recoil. Some research and reading I've done has pointed me towards a 7mm-08. She took a turkey with my single shot 16 gauge, said it kicked, but not to bad. I'd rather get her something that she can practice with without developing bad habits. She's hell on chipmunks on the birdfeeder with a pellet gun!

I am not all that literate on different caliber limits. Know lots more about bow hunting! I rifle hunt with a .30-06 Remington 700.

Will the 7mm-08, using off the shelf ammo (we don't reload) handle everything from antelope to an occasional elk (occasional as in maybe 1 trip every 3ish years. We've been archery elk hunting and loved it)

yes.

Yes.

Tikka T3 lite stainless in 7-08 with limb saver. once piece DNZ or talley rings with quality scope and you're set for life.
The end.

Not being literate or experienced, you have chosen well for yourself.


Absolutely! That would probably be the highest recommended by most on this forum, with few exceptions.

The .30-06 was an easy choice!

Thanks for the verification. Now to find the actual rifle that she will like, time to visit some shops!

You chose well.

The 7-08 would be perfect, and I think you could also step down to the .260 Rem IF you use a good controlled expansion bullet on the elk trips. (Perhaps you can find a buddy to handload some for you.) 100 grain bullets in the .260 would be fine for deer and would drop the recoil below the 7-08 level with 120 gr bullets, which are typically as light as people go.

Bob-H-in NH -

WELCOME to the 'Fire'.

IMO you are definitely on the right track!!
The 7-08 isn't too small nor too big and IMO will have less recoil than a-single shot- 16.


Jerry

243 or 308 would also fit the bill. 243 for recoil sensitive. Ammo for these two is likely a little easier to find anywhere, if that matters to you. I have 7/08 and 308 and would use either on any of the game you mention.

Consider a youth model if she's a typically sized gal. A stock that's too long will cause trouble, especially when she gets all bundled up. Better to go light on the barrel than too short. 20-22" is about right. I'm not usually a Savage guy, but the Lightweight hunter deserves a look. Whittakers has Howa Lightnings in 7-08 for $329. The Winchester Featherweight Compact has a shorter LOP and a 20" barrel and looks pretty nice. 6 1/2 lbs and has a Decelerator pad.

I might need one of those myself!

You should have her try a Remington model 700 SPS compact in 7mm-08 got one for my wife and she loves it using Federal 140 grain Nosler Partitions or check out a Remington model seven in 7mm-08 or even a 308 Win.

Hi Bob,

The 7-08 is a good choice in caliber. Now that that is out of the way, to Pappy's point, have her handle as many rifles that she can for ergonomics. There is a balance when it comes to weight. The lighter the rifle the more felt recoil but on the field ounces = pounds and pounds = pain.

Finally, your comment about picking up bad habits because of heavy recoil, if you have one or can swing the added price, get a 22LR to practice with. The ammunition is less expensive and without all the recoil she can concentrate on form.

Oh and welcome to the fire, there are a lot of great people here.

HaYen

I have a bunch of great hunting rifles, but when I head out, I usually have one of my 7-08's in my hand. Great choice!

WTH, I thought we already had a Bob H. in NH????

Either way, welcome aboard

My wife and daughter both shoot Remington Model Seven youth models in 7-08. They just flat out kill stuff from pronghorn to elk.

Welcome, the 7mm-08 is a great choice for women.. I am probably going to give mine to one of my friends for their sons or daughters to start with..

If you are concerned about recoil get her a 7mm/08 and have her practice by dry firing it. She needs to work the action each time, and do everything just like normal. 500 times and she will hit any deer. Use a deer target so she practices where to aim. after 100 X then put the occasional round in the gun that she shoots.

Here are your steps to success:

1. Take her to a store.

2. Put LOTS of different 7mm-08's and .308's into the hand of your beautiful bride.

3. Let her pick one of them. Buy her some ammo loaded with 160gr Nosler Accubonds.

4. smile as she kills everything from mice to moose with it.

5. Post plenty of pictures on the campfire.

The 7mm-08 is perfect. She can shoot a reduced recoil 120grn load and it will kick less than full house 100grn 243 loads.When she gets used to shooting it, she won't even notice a hot load.

Since she's new to all this, I'd suggest that you get some good properly weighted snap caps to use for the dry fire practice so she learns to operate the bolt fully each time. We don't want her short-stroking at her moment of truth! The practice loading the magazine will help too. Good luck to you both.

Thanks everyone! This place is great!

She has been hunting for a few years, shot her first turkey this spring and her first deer in October, she got that one with a bow.

She's excited to get her "own gun", she used the 16 guage I started with for the turkey and is rifle hunting with my Dad's hand-me-down Ruger .44 mag carbine. Hasn't shot at a deer with the gun yet.

Once we get through deer season (ends this weekend) and Christmas we start the hunt for her gun. We will be heading to Harrisburg PA and she'll get to handle some there, plus we will visit a few shops.

Remington Model 7 is one of the top ones to look at!

welcome Bob:

Lots of great advice there. Many years ago I built a rifle just for my wife. Now years later and after a family, she has started to use it. She's killed 2 deer in past 2 years, both with clean 1 shot kills. I don't really think I'd change a thing on her rifle. The 7mm08 would certainly be great, although a bit more recoil than the smaller calibers. I felt there were 2 vital aspects of the rifle prior to building it: IDEAL FIT for her (she is 5'2") and light recoil. Her rifle is a .257 Roberts that I equipped with a 4x Leupold scope. It weights approx. 6 1/2# as it has a very light 20" barrel with a very slim stock with 12 1/2" length of pull. I think recoil, or keeping it down, is vital to fun shooting, especially for a small shooter. I handload and load a VERY LIGHT load using 100 gr. bullets. For our whitetail deer they have worked perfect. Shot placement on game animals will always trump size of cartridge so I personally would go with the rifle/caliber that had the least recoil as that is a huge factor. Even men enjoy shooting a smaller recoiling rifle, even though many won't admit it, and shooting should be FUN.

She doesn't shoot a lot, as she likes hunting more than shooting. But each season, she shoots a little off the bench and then does a little practicing off of our shooting sticks. Practicing off the sticks has been very beneficial as we always take the sticks with us in the blind and use them. Honestly, I don't think she would have killed those deer without them.

Best of luck Bob.

I'll go along with the 7-08. I don't have one myself but I do hand load ammo for my 7x57 M70 Featherweight to 7-08 levels. Currently working up a load for an elk hunt coming up in about three and a half weeks. (My Christmas present to me. :D) One minor suggestion. If whatever you choose does not come with a good recoil pad, have a competent gunsmith put a Pachmeyr Decelerator pad on the rifle. My wife likes shooting my Featherweight but complained a bit about what came one the gun, roughly .50" thick piece of relatively hard rubber. I had it replaced with the Pachmeyr and now she says that's her rifle and if I ask nicely she'll let me use it.
Paul B.

The7 08 or 243 would be a great choice. My wife used to flinch a lot from shooting a 270, when I met her. I got her good ear protection, and had her shoot my .222 all the time. Nothing else. The combined ear protection and virtually no recoil,made her an excellent shot. Did the same with my boys, and they are very good shots. You might consider something along these lines in addition to the rifle you get your wife. A confident person who isn't scared of recoil, or noise will likely shoot very well. .223 ammo is cheap.

X5 on the 7mm-08 recommendation.

The 7-08 is great, but I still prefer the 308... more brass/component availability, factory ammo availability, and far easier to get shooting with a variety of bullet weights. No brainier really.

Agreed. I would recommend consideration of the .260 IF you reloaded. The factory Federal Fusion load would do what you want.

However, as much as I love the 260, I have to say that 7-08 is the better choice since there is a much better selection of factory ammunition offerings.

Wanted to update this since everyone gave so much great feedback!

We spent most of the last weekend with her handling guns, we went to the Harrisburg Outdoor Show in PA, then stopped at Cabelas on the way home. Overall she handled:

- Remington (BTW, what's the thought behind Remington going to a 10 day outdoor show with 40 guns for people to handle and not a single Model 7 or 700 compact? Just dumb)
- Savage
- Ruger
- Tika
- TC
- Browning
- Winchester
- Mossberg
- Winchester

Once we got the dealers to stop talking to me and talk to her she had a blast! by far the best vendor was the Winchester guy. He showed the gun (drawing a blank on the name now), features, explained length of pull to her, how to quickly check it etc. She didn't particularly care for the Winchester, to heavy, he then pointed us over to Browning with the specific gun (X-bolt) to check there.

Overall, after handling them all, aiming, shouldering etc. She fell in love with the TC Venture Weather Guard. I was a bit surprised that she didn't like the Venture compact as much, but when I asked her "why this one?" she said she felt like she couldn't explain it, but out of all the guns, this one "just felt natural to hold and shoulder and aim"

Told her that's what we're looking for!

Unfortunately couldn't actually buy it there, so we will be getting it locally via a dealer near us, in 7mm-08, then topping it with a Leupold Vx-III in 2x-7x.

We also booked a mule deer/antelope hunt in WY for Oct 5-10, so she will be hopefully Christening it then!

Thanks for the info and advice to everyone on this site, you guys rock!

I don't think that Leupold catalogs a 2-7x scope in the VX3 line.

Leupold VX3 - gold ring, 2.5 - 8. Sorry. Was going from memory!

I have the same scope on my rifle, pulling this one off my other rifle!

Regardless, of cartridge choice, make sure it weighs enough and has really good aftermarket recoil pad. For big game, a variable just introduces something else to go wrong (set a 8x when the Elk appears at 50 yards). Go with a Leupie fixed 4 heavy duplex.

My 7 pound 7mm08 kicks as hard as my 9 pound 270 .... just sayin'

243 will kill anything in New Hampshire that a 7/08 will...

but truth be told, a man with a 243, 260 or 7/08, would be set to take anything that walks, flyies or crawls in New Hampshire...

Heck yes, it'll work quite nicely.

BTW, welcome to the fire. I'm a bit concerned that the first BobinNH is already more than we can handle.