Gun for the wife

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littlemonster

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I'm looking into getting a rifle for the wife and am trying to decide on what caliber to get. I want an all arround caliber that she could hunt anything from deer to elk. A rifle with a shorter stock would probably fit her better. I'm thinking about a youth rifle. Thanks Michael
 
If she is on the small side, a youth rifle would be best with the shorter stock. Marlin, Ruger, and Savage offer youth rifles at a reasonable price. As for caliber, you should consider the 7mm-08 or 308 as the other calibers offered would be too light for elk.

RELH
 
I was in the same boat a couple years ago. I ended up finding a Remington 700 sps in .270 with a youth stock on it, and it also came with a full size stock to switch out if I wanted. It is a great rifle and fits her perfectly.
 
I bought my wife a savage in 7mm-08. That rifle shoots incredibly accurate and will handle deer or elk with very mild recoil.
 
Seems that we get this question several times a year at least so you could do a search on this topic here and find tons of all good advice.

So you are looking for a all around "Cartridge". Most here will tell you to get what they have because that's the best. The problem with that though, is there really is no best answer.

As far as what cartridge, being elk might be involved, i personally would stay with cartridges at or above .264 caliber. A couple decent cartridges there would include the .260 Rem and the 6.5X.284. I might prefer though, to go up a bit in caliber and go with the ever more popular 7mm-08.

There are lots of cartridges that will work. Let the little lady pick out what she likes in looks and what feels comfy to her in a rifle. If in any of these, or other mid-range cartridges that will get mentioned, she should be good to go. Good Luck!!

Joey


"It's all about knowing what your firearms practical limitations are and combining that with your own personal limitations!"
 
An elk is just as hard to kill for a woman or kid as it is a 7' man. choose the round based on who's on the muzzle end of the gun not the recoil pad end.

A 308 or a 06 would be about the minimum for elk, so it's the minimum for the hunter no matter who they are. my wife is small and she shoots a custom lightweight 300 win mag loaded hot. she's killed several elk and moose with it. for deer size game she shoots a 270. any woman can shoot an 06 or 270.

What I do is I only let her shoot it when she's shooting at game, I do all the bench work with it so she doesn't know if it kicks or not. I let her shoot her .22 and 270 all she wants and that's how she stays in practice.









Stay thirsty my friends
 
LAST EDITED ON Mar-11-13 AT 12:33PM (MST)[p]440 said, "A 308 or a 06 would be about the minimum for elk"


Lots of guys having taken many Elk with a .264, .277, and .284 caliber cartridges would disagree with you! Lots!!

Joey


"It's all about knowing what your firearms practical limitations are and combining that with your own personal limitations!"
 
Wide variety of guns and calibers will work. I suggest taking her into a gun shop and handle some rifles and see what she likes in terms of fit and what she is willing to carry for weight of a rifle. Winchesters featherweight rifles would be a nice one to look at, or the Savage Lightweight hunter just as acouple of suggestions. If recoil is of concern, dont overdue it, if you get her flinching or give her scope eye, could ruin her wanting to shoot or shoot accurately. 7-08 is a great little round to consider. 6.5 Creedmore is another to consider.
 
Sage if you agreed with me that would be confirmation I was wrong.

When I said 308 or 06 I mean guns with similar energy, I stand by that. when you've chased down as many leakers from incompetent and undergunned depredation tag holders as I have on my property you get a fair feel for what guns work and what the average hunter is capable of.

90% of the lost elk we have are from guns that shouldn't be used by novice hunters on elk. if you can't handle an elk rifle don't hunt elk. starting last year that was my policy when hunters asked permission, and the elk I had to go on the neighbors to retrieve ( only I'm allowed on his ranch ) was the lowest since we started this hunt.











Stay thirsty my friends
 
Dude, you have two factors in there that you failed to address concerning what caliber to use for elk.

One is the novice hunters you stated. Can they place the bullet in the right spot or do they miss the vitals too often resulting in a long tracking job.

Second thing is selection of their hunting bullet. Too many hunters go cheap on this small item or just plain use the wrong bullet for elk.

A 7mm-08 with a Nosler Partition 140 gr. bullet in a elk's heart or lungs or shoulder will do the job. A 500 gr. 458 mag bullet in the paunch will result in a long tracking job and maybe a lost elk.

Alot of novice hunters fall into the market hype of using a super duper magnum that they can not shoot with any degree of good accuracy. They would be better off with a lighter caliber that does not kick the crap out of them and learn to be accurate with that caliber. Only thing left to do is choose the right bullet for the job.

Maybe you should start making your ranch hunters demostrate their ability to shoot with accuracy from a field position before you allow them to hunt on your ranch. I hunted one ranch in S.Dakota that did that with me and my two hunting companions before being allowed to hunt the ranch.

RELH
 
+1 RELH. Shot placement is key. Now a days we're lucky to have some great hunting bullets to utilize. Other factor to also consider. Knowing limitations of the selected round. Not a good idea shooting "lesser" caliber at excessive ranges or quartering shots at large game such as a elk. But that is with any caliber, all have limitations to a certain extent. Ive seen a 257 Roberts kill bulls and did a great job doing it.
 
You're correct bullet selection and placement are as important as anything else but I have to draw the line at the factors I can control. I can ask them what they shoot and most of the time they don't lie, because like many people on here they think a 243 is just peachie, after all the kid or womans is small. I'm not in the business of checking shells or marksmanship so I tell them I won't accept that on my ranch.


The yahoos that show up with a car load of kids and a 243 were almost always a trainwreck, I knew it when I said yes. at least with a 338 when they flock shoot there's a better chance of a killing shot than there is with a 257 Roberts that's what I'm saying. I love all the great white hunters with all the ethics, they'll pass anything they're not comfortable with, sure they will. 10% of them will, the rest blaze away that's just the sad reality of the whole thing, it's made me cynical about the any old pea shooter is great for elk thing.

Elk are tough, if you can't cowboy up enough to shoot a gun that will cleanly kill them with a shot you're most likely to take with the skills you actually posess then try golf out. I'm not directing this at the guy who's asking about a rifle for his wife, if he has the good sense to ask then give him sound advice.


Just my two bits, everyone does what they want anyway.









Stay thirsty my friends
 
RELH got it right, good info! If you were looking for a dedicated Elk rifle only, i could see going with as big as she could stand to shoot accurately.

440, thinks elk are made of steel. Nobody suggested a .243, or anything less than .264 caliber stuff, but him. Same debate with him, different day! One would think he would tire of being the fool.

Beech18, sounds like you know your stuff!! Might i suggest though that you do a little tune-up in your use of the terms, "cartridges" and "calibers". Two different but important terms when you want to sound creditable.

Joey


"It's all about knowing what your firearms practical limitations are and combining that with your own personal limitations!"
 
LAST EDITED ON Mar-11-13 AT 08:51PM (MST)[p]What is the difference between a rifle you're going to use for elk and a dedicated elk rifle ? a few leakers getting away is no biggie but lets just not make a habit of it? brilliant.

Elk are damn tough, I bet I've put in 1000 miles horeseback to finish off more yahoo's elk than you've ever shot wise guy, dozens. then get them to a place people like you can try to figure out how to get them in their Subaru. anything less than a hole in the right place better be a big hole or you're going to be lucky to find them you'd know that if you'd killed many.

Your the last one who should be giving advice on how to sound credible, I mean "creditable" by the way. I'm done here so take it or leave it this is going nowhere.








Stay thirsty my friends
 
Oh goodness, now i got him mad! LMAO!! :)

The OP asked, "I want an all arround caliber that she could hunt anything from deer to elk.

A dedicated Elk rifle would be a rifle that was to be used for Elk only. The OP clearly asked for a rifle that would also be used to hunt other lesser sized animals. Try reading these threads when not looking at them threw a glass full of whiskey. lol

440, in your best day, you could never hang with me and that's a fact. I still wouldn't even let you pack my rifle. Come back soon, we need more laughs around here!! LMAO!!

Joey



"It's all about knowing what your firearms practical limitations are and combining that with your own personal limitations!"
 
Thanks for the constructive suggestion Sage. I know what you mean. Guess thats the redneck in me showing up, cant spell cartridge with out looking it up so use a word I can spell correctly like caliber. Me didnt score so well in english class back in High School.
 
beech, thank you! It's a mistake a lot of guys make but i think it does help to tell those that know a bit and those that just think that they do. No matter what though, there will be times when all of us ask what caliber instead of what cartridge. It's easy to do.

Example of my point if interested: 7mm-08, 7X57, .280 Rem, 7MM Rem Mag, .284 Win, 7MM Ultra Mag,.. are all the same caliber! They are all different cartridges but the same exact caliber.

My long time hunting Pard is, IMO, one of the best, most accomplished hunters out there. Along with amassing a far more than respectable display of both trophy Blacktail and Muley bucks, he was on a 13 years in a row run of taking a decent or better bull elk with over the counter tags. He shoots a 25-06. I don't recommend that, wouldn't go that low myself but he swears that's all he needs. Me, i'll take my .280 AI stuffed with good hand loads. :)

Joey


"It's all about knowing what your firearms practical limitations are and combining that with your own personal limitations!"
 
LAST EDITED ON Mar-13-13 AT 08:43AM (MST)[p]" I want an all arround caliber that she could hunt anything from deer to elk. A rifle with a shorter stock would probably fit her better."

You know, my wife has taken elk with a .270, .308, and 30-06. She isn't a big person either.

To stay on topic, she doesn't shoot alot but favors that .270. Loaded up medium to heavy; its an excellent cartridge for elk/deer. Loaded down, you can shoot yotes all day long.

With that said, look up the load data for a 30-06. It is such a versatile round. Folks use them for jackrabbits to moose. They have been around since the early 1900's. Reloading these would be a bit more manageable because there are so many powders and bullet combos that are available. In these days of shortage, brass, bullets and powder may be easier to get.

Amazing amounts of load data on the .270, too. You can load from yotes to elk on that as well. Heard of people using them on moose as well. Jack O'Connor was a well-respected gun writer who really favored that round.

Hear good things about 7mm-08, & I don't have a 300 win mag which is a phenomenal round as well, but the only calibers I see on the shelves with any regularity these days is .270 and 30-06. Ammo seems to be available for these calibers where others are not.

Just my observation. Good luck.
 
Thanks for all the input. I am leaning towards a 270 or 308. She has shot my 300wsm and may think about it also since I already reload for it.
 
You could go with a 30-06 and load it down to 308 levels. That way if later on she feels like she could handle a little bit more gun you are good to go.
 
Where do you hunt? How? I hunt elk in very vertical country, in the deep dark timber, you might get a 100yard shot if you get lucky to get one in the meadows, generally though your inside that. I hunt a 06', kills everything I hit(although often more than 1 is needed). I will most likely start my son of when he is 12 with a 30-30. The .30 cal is great, in that range its fine, and I want very quick follow ups for him. I used to hunt deer in the cedars and sage brush and more often than not you were laying on your stomach shooting through the cedars. In our family more deer have been killed with a british .303 than anything else. Again the 30-30 is great here.

Having said that my family kills elk every year. In our camp we have 9 tags every year. Of them we have 2-.300, 2-06', 4-7mm, and one .300wsm. Those 7mm's have killed the majority of the elk over the years, so I wouldn't hesitate using the non .30 cal for elk.


"The only thing that stops a bad guy with a gun is a good guy with a gun"
 
Sage:

Why do you get so defensive when someone disagrees with you?

I don't agree with 440 politically but he actually makes a good point. In addition, so does RELH.
 
Ruff asked, " Sage: Why do you get so defensive when someone disagrees with you?

Why don't you mind your own business? :)

440 likes to jump in right behind my posts and try to discredit my opinions. He's done this a lot. It's a game he likes to play, and i'm to the point now that when he comes here to this Forum and does it to me, he'll get it right back in spades.

IMO, RELH is "The Man" here in this Forum. Himself, and a bunch of others really, i would never think to come right out and say that they were wrong. Give respect, get respect, it's a two way street.

Joey




"It's all about knowing what your firearms practical limitations are and combining that with your own personal limitations!"
 
Kinda going through this with my daughter. She's 16 and this will be her first year hunting. (I never pushed her, I let her decide when she was ready.) I have several rifles she can use, .243,.270 and .30-06 being the ones suitable. I'm not going to let her hunt elk with the .243. I'm leaning toward the .270, but hoping to work her in to the .30-06. Realistically, I don't think the ol .06 should be to tough for her to handle. I handload so I'll stuff them with a good bullet and we'll see what happens. mtmuley
 
Mtmuley, you may want to download the 30-06 to 308 velocity with 150 gr. bullets. If she can handle it, just switch over to 150 gr. Nolser Partitions at 308 velocity for her elk load and have her keep her shots confined to 250 yards and less.
I prefer the Nosler Partition for downloading, as it will give reliable expansion under 2000 fps where some of the other premium bullets will not expand below 2000 fps unless it hits bone.

RELH
 
A really nice 25-06 would fit the bill to a "T".

"I have found if you go the extra mile it's Never crowded".
>[Font][Font color = "green"]Life member of
>the MM green signature club.[font/]
 
My brother just bought the Savage 11 Trophy Hunter youth model in 7mm-08 for his daughter. We went to the range to sight it in and I liked it so much I bought one myself a few days later! Very accurate rifle with minimal recoil. I think the cartridge has plenty of killing power for an elk if you do your part. I think the 140 grain in TSX will be a deer killing machine. Can't wait to test the theory. (Yes, I plan to use it to hunt until my daughter is old enough herself. My 30-06 and .338 will just have to be jealous of the new mistress on the block.).
 
its amazing how a simple question can get blownup to unreasonably portions you asked that type of question to 100 people and you will get 100 different ansewrs there all good cals. let her decide what she likes take her to the range let shoot a few different rifles shot placement is more important than cal anyday and knowing how far to to far
 
Last year my 11 year old daughter started hunting...after passing hunter education I did the same thing you are doing, asking about a caliber that can take down the size of an elk and down...after researching I bought her a browning a-bolt in 7mm-08...the gun is really awesome and i know i made the right choice for her...she loves shooting it and the recoil is minimal...i like this gun so much that if i ever go rifle hunting again i would not hesitate to use it because 1. no recoil for me; 2) it's light to carry so i'm not exhausted hauling it around; 3)it provides enough power to take down an elk

so far, two animals have been downed with it, an antelope and a cow elk...

we like this caliber so much that we got one for our son, a savage, and my nephew bought a tikka...great all around gun i think and if you are concerned about her getting gun shy due to recoil this gun will get rid of that fear...we had also considered a .308 but a similar round that the kids shoot packs about 3lbs of additional recoil and from what i have read the ballistics on the 7mm-08 are better...

if you know someone that has one ask to borrow it, buy a box or two of bullets and take her to the range...
 
When my wife decided she wanted to start hunting with me and wanted her own rifle rather than using one of mine I had her do some research on various cartrideges. The Speer reloading manual was a great reference as it gives a lot of history for each cartridge as well as its typlical uses. At first she kind of balked at the idea but she began to really dig into it she really liked it. She would come to me with questions or to discuss various ideas she had but I let her make up her mind and pick the cartridge. In the end she really had a lot of confidence in what she picked and knew why she was using it.
 
Not trying to start anything. I have my 06' a bolt that i have hunted for 23 years. I picked up a a bolt in 25-06 thinking that it would be a good starter gun. I really didn't notice a big difference in recoil. To the point that I gave up on the 25-06 as a starter gun. Am I missing something? There was a noticeable differnce in ballistics, like I expected but I was supprised at the similarity in recoil in the same platform.


"The only thing that stops a bad guy with a gun is a good guy with a gun"
 
>I'd recommend a 375 H&H......so she'll
>never ask to go again...
>


How many times have you been married?
 
OP: did you just want "caliber" recommendations or do you want "cartridge" recommendations also? I like ,284 and up for a caliber selection with a projectile of 130 grains or more if elk are on the menu.

As pertaining to cartridges:
I've bought short mags in various "calibers" for all my kids...well, most of them.

My youngest daughter shoots a 300 WSM cartridge and with a light powder charge and a 130 grain Barnes bullet it recoils like a 243 Win and not a lot more. It's deadly on deer. For her elk hunts, I load full throttle 150 TTSX and I don't let her use them at all except to kill an elk.

That might be a little trickery that would work for your wife. A couple guys already eluded to this practice and it works like a charm. (my wife uses a 325 WSM or a 300 RUM for elk. She shoots a 308 win, 243 Win or a 270 WSM for deer)

Also, bullet placement and construction is even more important than caliber and chamberings but a heavier bullet in a larger caliber (diameter), placed correctly, is the best of both worlds.

By the way, I've recovered enough bullets from a train-car-load of elk that I can assure you that size matters.

There,
Zeke
 

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