Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Ask The Gunwriters Rifle for Wife

About 17 years ago, I married......a....vegetarian. She had been one for a long time, and while she tolerated my hunting, she always told me not to shoot Bambi or any of his friends. Fast forward to this year, and she wants to go hunting with me. Miracles happen!!

I am letting her shoot my Encore in 7-08, which is about tthe most novice friendly rifle I own. We went out the other day "looking" as we don't have extra cash to buy right now. Anyway, after looking at about a half dozen rifles, the only one that brought any response from her was the Ruger Compact. My first response was, boy that is small. Second response was, boy is that expensive.

Does anybody have experience with that rifle? My questions would be mainly concerning muzzle blast, and the short LOP. How do you owners like them? Any feedback would be appreciated.

My wife has one in 243. She loves it.

My wife is just over 5', anything that fits me is not good for her. She like myself grew up in Northern MN so hunting is a normal thing. Bought her a Winchester XTR in 243 in 72, she used that for many years cut 1 1/2" off the stock. Told her two years ago it is time for a new rifle. She looked at what was available Ruger compact, Savage youth, Howa youth, Weatherby youth and a Remington model 7 youth. Let her pick what fits. My wife choose the Model 7.

Rifle for a wife???? What make and caliber are you offering?

(Don't see this please, honey! )











Actually, I bought my wife an UL Ruger in the Roberts chambering. She likes the fact that it's unusual and sounds tougher, somehow I guess, than the more common 243.

Miracles can happen!!

What about maybe a Marlin or Savage in 243 or a little bigger caliber.

If she does not like the synthetic black stocks you can always buy a wood stock from Boyd's for around 92 bucks.

Well it wasn't for my wife, but my sister just got a 700 youth in 243. She really likes the rifle and will be using it Saturday morning...

...............Joe,,,,,,,

After owning fully sized rifles for so many years but still have one, my Ruger compact that I bought 3 1/2 years ago is quite a refreshing change in the hunting fields.

I`m 6'3" and 240 lbs and I will say that my shorter Ruger Frontier is still not too small. It`s quite fun, very handy, and is wonderful to carry around and to hunt with. The new Ruger compacts have the same OAL and barrel length as the Frontier and are lighter than the Frontiers.

The shorter barrels will have more muzzle blast. But that is the trade-off for owning a much handier, a more manuverable and an easier carrying compact rifle.

In a moderately powered cartridge like a 260 Remy or a 7/08, and although there will be more, I don`t think the muzzle blast will be all that much greater than say from a 20" or 22" barrel in the same cartridges.

My buddies wife shoots his 300 RCM Ruger compact all the time, and she has had a go on my Frontier a few times as well, which is even more potent; the 300 WSM Ruger Frontier.

Also have another friend with a 338 Federal Ruger Frontier target grey which his wife loves to shoot.

I use a Limbsaver slip on recoil pad, so I can increase my LOP by 1" to 13.5" if needed, or I can leave it off keeping the LOP at 12.5" if needed.......

They are great little rifles in the field, are very accurate with handloads, and shouldn`t be under-estimated in terms of power for their size.

you didn't say you handload or not..

I don't like them for aesthetic reasons...but beyond that they function quite well...but Wally World had Savage Edge Models for sale for $270.00 or so...

A used Model 200 Stevens in 243 or a Marlin XS 7 in 243 would be around $300 or less.. and will be as accurate as any Ruger ever made...

all 3 come with synthetic stocks so they are light...and the stock can still have the recoil pad removed... lob an inch off the stock and put it back on.. or a gunsmith could handle that..

you might have luck and find a used one for even less..

but they are certainly quite capable deer rifles...

The Ruger compact in .243, .260, or 7/08 would be a wonderful thing. Since she's interested and willing, I'd suck up the price and get one. If my wife ever said she wanted a rifle (fat chance), I'd get her whatever she was comfortable with, just to get her out to the range, woods, or wherever.

Stevens 200 in .243 or better yet 7/08 and you could always trim the stock if need be. I have 1 200 in .223 and one old 110 in .243 and they are both very accurate and handy rifles.

How much has she shot? How much has she hunted small game so far?

If it's legal in your area, and the ranges are not too long, there'd be nothing wrong with running a Compact in .223 for game up to deer. They have a 9-twist so you could shoot heavier bullets if desired, the kick is negligent and the practice ammo is relatively cheap.

If blue walnut Compacts are an option, they also come in 6.8mm and 7.62x39mm, two more relatively mild cartridges, the latter being cheaper to shoot for practice.

Just put a 4X scope on it and she'll be GTG.

All that said, while it's certainly louder, our .260 Compact was a death ray on deer and coyote with 120 Accutips.

Steve Timm's wife shoots a 250AI. When it came time to "build my wife a gun".....grin, I chose the 250AI. A NULA,Kimber,or faux ti would have been easier but she really wanted a pretty blue stock. Alot of money could be save by getting a 243 and putting it in a ti handle. Ain't the first time I went the long way around though.....lol.

.........Whelenman........What scope is that on your wife`s Ruger compact????

Ruger compact all the way... wife wanted one for years and is finally happy. Both kids like theirs too. Ours are 260 and wear 2-7 leupies all around.

I haven't figured out if I should be using a wooden stake or a silver bullet on my wife yet. I don't think a rifle would cut it...

I bought my wife a Winchester M70 Featherweight in 257 Roberts, found a really good second hand one over here.
We had about an inch cut off the stock, then a 0.8" Decelerator added to it.
She shoots 85 Ballistic Tips with AR 2206H (H4895).
I started her out on a load of 28 grains, a youth load, and every time I load ammunition for her, I increase the charge by 1 grain, without telling her, so far she has not picked the difference, and is now shooting nearly "full power" loads.
We are off to the range tomorrow, she wants to try my 35 Whelen, I have loaded some cast bullets at about 1600 fps so she can get used to it as well. After a while I'll graduate to jacketed bullets and a bit more speed.
After all, I want her to keep shooting with me, not to have her give up because "it kicked too much" no point in that at all.

Regards,
David.

You have alot of good advice here. All that I can add is if my wife said buy me a rifle so I could hunt deer with you(after regaining consciousness) I would buy her whatever she wanted. I would not look for a bargain and turn her off of it from the get go.

A close huntin' buddy bought a Ruger Compact in 308 a few yrs ago. It was pretty accurate with factory ammo but heneve got used to the short LOP while in the field and gave it to another friends 12 yr old daughter who shoots it very well. I never found muzzle blast/flash to be signficantly more then some of my 20" carbines and have thought one would make a pretty handy truck gun.

If your wife is a new shooter, I would stick to a mild cartridge, say a 243, 260 or 7mm-08 w/120's. The 6.8 is another good candidate though I like the SS/Grey Lam version myself.

MattMan; is that a painted laminate stock on your Compact or what?

That stock is an "Or What"... haven't gotten around to making one for the other two yet.

Compact Stock

My wife shoots a Remington Model 7 Youth in 260 with 129gr. Interlocks and she is stone cold deadly with it.