If you must only do one rifle
+1 for the Ruger American gen 2 over a savage axis. Having owned both I personally would also take a gen 1 American over the axis. And I would put the 10/110 series savages more on par with the gen 2 Americans. But then you looking at a few more dollars.
If you can do two rifles , as someone else suggested an AR in 6.5grendel is a great deer cartridge (for a bottleneck legal state, NOT Ohio) I have a couple friends that have used it for years and I have most of the pcs to build my wife one when/if she decides she wants to start hunting. But the smaller you go/ lighter recoil your going to loose something. So either range or forgiveness of shot placement, being said; how new is your wife to shooting? Will she have time or want to get the practice in?
Then for the Ohio trip I have one of the bolt action savage 410s and it has been great for going back up north to hunt.
One last thing a 270 is not a light recoiling round. It's not the stoutest by any means but if my wife was new to shooting its not a round I would put her behind for getting into it. She will not want to put 20+ rounds down range in a single trip like she would with an AR or a braked 243, or 308.
+1 for the Ruger American gen 2 over a savage axis. Having owned both I personally would also take a gen 1 American over the axis. And I would put the 10/110 series savages more on par with the gen 2 Americans. But then you looking at a few more dollars.
If you can do two rifles , as someone else suggested an AR in 6.5grendel is a great deer cartridge (for a bottleneck legal state, NOT Ohio) I have a couple friends that have used it for years and I have most of the pcs to build my wife one when/if she decides she wants to start hunting. But the smaller you go/ lighter recoil your going to loose something. So either range or forgiveness of shot placement, being said; how new is your wife to shooting? Will she have time or want to get the practice in?
Then for the Ohio trip I have one of the bolt action savage 410s and it has been great for going back up north to hunt.
One last thing a 270 is not a light recoiling round. It's not the stoutest by any means but if my wife was new to shooting its not a round I would put her behind for getting into it. She will not want to put 20+ rounds down range in a single trip like she would with an AR or a braked 243, or 308.
I have yet to hear of anyone getting shot eating breakfast while sitting in their kitchens. That was an egregious tale spread around that hunters would be shooting through houses if they were allowed the use of modern hipower cartridges. The wild propaganda that DNR was spreading was insane. In indiana you still can't use modern non straight walled bullet rifles on certain DNR properties. I'm not sure how the use of the best and quickest humane killing cartridges are so hated by the Indiana DNR. I guess hunters and the DNR have different objectives.
