Which stock for a little, little girl?

Plug in plenty of opportunity. A good .223, plenty of ammo, and a pivot full of sage rats, hooks them as fast as anything.
 
Plug in plenty of opportunity. A good .223, plenty of ammo, and a pivot full of sage rats, hooks them as fast as anything.
That sound FUN!

I have just about settled back on the 223. Partly because she can shoot her G-site laser all day in the house. But also because when I said she was a little little girl, I was serious. She is 41" tall and weight 36 pounds.
I love the idea of a 6.5 or a 7-08, but its just too soon for her. I'm mostly interested in helping her develop good habits and keeping her interested. There are two more coming up behind her so it will get plenty of use as a hand-me-down. I'm still mulling over the less than satisfying stock choices for a bolt gun in super compact sizes. There is a big hole in that market.
 
Have you considered .223 Ruger Ranch Rifle or similar with a fully collapsible stock to start & then something like a .243 in a Boyd's AT-1 Thumbhole - with an adjustable cheek piece & LOP -
I Cut down the stock on my Single Shot .22LR to 10" LOP to start & familiarize my young Grandson - and as more comfortable - proceeded to others after good habits were established !!!
 
I have considered the 22. I have a wmr that I could lop some of the stock off of, and probably will, but 223 checks a few more boxes. I'll probably do both.
I considered the ruger and savage. But I immediately started dismantling and replacing stuff in my mind. Then got perturbed by the lack of available parts. That's when I considered the Remington sps. Short, threaded barrel and tons of available parts. It's a third of the price of the one I was gonna build... so many choices, so little space in the safe
 
I did a .223 rifle for my daughter's first centerfire, she nicknamed it bruiser. It's a Stevens 200 that I had the factory stock cut down on to fit her better. Funny thing is I've been bothered more by that stock than she has. She killed a few prairie dogs, and her first two deer at 9 & 10 with Bruiser.

She didn't use that rifle very long before she moved up at 11 to a M700 Classic in .300 Savage, now at 15 she shoots a faux Howa Alpine in. 308 Win. I guess what I'm getting at is your young daughter probably isn't going to load a bipod or sling up hard enough in the beginning for that a cheap factory stock to throw her shots off. Your daughter is going to enjoy hanging with Dad shooting and hunting, the expensive stock is just to make you feel better.
 
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I wasn't too worried about weight - I am anti muzzle brake, so I felt like any weight would help with the recoil of his 6.5 creed.

I've put two dead mules in my CZ .300 WM and now after a little tinkering it seriously is very much on par with my Remington VTR .223 , my 10 year old grandson loves shooting this rifle ,and to quote him when asked about recoil his reply is Zero granddad absolutely zero , can I shoot the rest of the rounds in the box please !
 
I decided I would get a decent factory gun to start, do some cut and paste and make it work, but for a heap less than a ground up build. I found quite a few to consider, but landed on a Remington 700 SPS Threaded 223 20". Cheaper than dirt, Buds and a few others had em for about $630 when all said and done with shipping, transfer fee, transaction fee and what not. Then I found Tanner's Sport Center in Jamison, PA. You got to check them out. I got the SPS for $440 shipped ($399 CASH PRICE). I found 2 or 7 more that were as good a deal, but refrained. Just FYI...

Give em a look and thank you all for your input and ideas. I'll post a pic when I get it converted to fit my little girl.

Erik
 
So I'm gonna build my little girl a rifle. She loves to lay on the floor and shoot the G-sight lazer. Truthfully she shoots and shoots till I'm too tired for her to shoot anymore. But we have been doing that with a little AR I have so I can shorten up the LOP to fit her. She's is super small. That being said, the youth bolt guns that are out there are firstly, too long in the LOP. Secondly, no matter the size, the plastic, junk stocks are just that...junk. The only legit stock I can find is the Manners MCS-CS (or CS2). Is there a stock I'm not considering?
I suppose I am also questioning several aspects of this build. I have been convinced since the beginning that I was gonna build this "kids gun" in .223 for a variety of reasons. But as I think of it now and as this will be a remage build, something with a standard .473 bolt face would be perhaps a better choice as I can convert it to any of a very long list of calibers in a few years when the kids are bigger. I don't necessarily want to reload for the kids gun, so I don't want to build it in a wildcat. What am I not thinking of?

Thanks fellas,
E
Built a 6.5 Grendel for my daughter on a Boyds at-one stock. Perfect.
 
I have considered the 22. I have a wmr that I could lop some of the stock off of, and probably will, but 223 checks a few more boxes. I'll probably do both.
I considered the ruger and savage. But I immediately started dismantling and replacing stuff in my mind. Then got perturbed by the lack of available parts. That's when I considered the Remington sps. Short, threaded barrel and tons of available parts. It's a third of the price of the one I was gonna build... so many choices, so little space in the safe
/you are on the right track. After working with both my daughters as they were growing up, I found it was more than LOP. Comb is just important IMO. It will need to be higher, and most likely shifted in. This is important for her to be able to not only shoot it well, but to get on an animal quickly. Also helps with felt recoil in any cartridge. Needs to be adjustable because I'll bet if it fits her you won't be able to see through the scope to sight it in for her.
 
Just went through this with my smaller-than-average 9-year-old daughter. She got bored with .22s and wanted to move up to something she could hunt deer with this fall. We have a .243 minimum here.

I built a 6X45 to test the cartridge but the setup (built for me) did not work for her. I set aside the McMillan stock and got a Boyds At-One as it was the shortest factory LOP I could find without trying to custom cut a stock. Frankly it's still long for her. So I put a Picatinny base on the rifle and slid the scope back as far as possible and this is very comfortable for her...except for the weight. She needs a lot of support to be able to manipulate the rifle well.

Enter the Caldwell tripod rest setup. I'm REALLY impressed with this. She can pan and tilt the rifle accurately with a minimum of effort. Very happy little girl. Removed all frustration from the equation.
 
It's worth going into gun shop and find either a Weatherby Camilla or a Savage Lady hunter and take a look at it and shoulder it, it will click just how different our little girls are. My wife has been shooting all her life normal rifles and she threw up my daughters gun and it was amazing how it positioned her perfectly!
 
It's worth going into gun shop and find either a Weatherby Camilla or a Savage Lady hunter and take a look at it and shoulder it, it will click just how different our little girls are. My wife has been shooting all her life normal rifles and she threw up my daughters gun and it was amazing how it positioned her perfectly!
Girls and the women they become are built completely different from men. This really becomes apparent when fitting them to a shotgun. They have longer necks, higher cheeks, and a completely different shoulder pocket. They require a different comb, drop at heel, cast, and (very important for recoil control) pitch. Give a girl a 28ga shotgun with the stock cut off and it will bruise her. Give the same girl a 12ga that fits really well and she won't complain about recoil. The reason girls have a reputation for not shooting as well as men is because most of them never have the opportunity to shoot a gun that fits them!. All of this goes for rifles too. It is actually easier to teach a girl to shoot well than it is a boy. Preconceived Notions, I guess. Girls don't already think they know everything and will listen and try to do it exactly like they are taught. I will go out on a limb and say she will do better in the field with a factory gun with a stock correctly custom fitted to her, than she will with a $10,000 rifle with the stock cut off.
 
Any of the XLR chassis will fit a small child and you can easily adjust it to fit an adult, so it will grow with her. Watch on snipers hide and you can find them fairly cheap. I have the Envy for my daughter who is 9 and it fits her perfect. Look up the videos done by Long Range Only on youtube of them.
 
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