Women’s rifle and cartridge suggestion

[Peddler 76]

I bought my wife a Savage Lady Hunter in 6.5 Creedmoor when they were introduced. She loves it. She used my Remington Model 7MS.257 Roberts for a number of years. The Savage fits her much better.

I believe the Lady Hunter has been discontinued now.

 

[OldDutch]

I took an elk with a rifle that had a brake on it once. I'll never do that again. It happened fast, and there was no time to put on hearing protection.
It hurt bad enough I hunt suppressed now.
Basically, I can't say I'd recommend a brake on a hunting rifle.

I know a few women who hunt with a .25-06. It's got about half the felt recoil of a .30-06. Anything you listed would be good though.

 

[Sanford338]

I'm looking at buying my wife a new hunting rifle, I was mainly looking at a weatherby mkv or vanguard Camilla. She's short and got short arms so a small frame rifle is a must. Gun will be mainly used for whitetail hunting but she says she wants to go elk hunting with me someday. Was really thinking a .308 with a brake would be the ticket. My choices of what they offer in the vanguard series are 7mm-08 or .308 and the mkv in 280 ai or 6.5 rpm. What would be your choice of a light recoiling deer/elk gun?

240 Wby or 257 Wby and don't look back...

 

[Aussie Hunter Steve]

Depends on the amount of shooting experience your wife has had... I've found women seem to be more put off by noise than recoil, just something to consider if thinking of a brake. The balance and setup of your outfit will go a long way towards making it pleasurable for her to use, more so than a simple measure of recoil.

 

[fmuguira]

+1 to 7-08

Also, if your wife has minimal experience do some H4895 reduced/youth loads with a 100-120 grain bullet. She ll have a ball shooting those, banging steel, plastic water jugs, etc.

If you Google Winchester Youth loads you find their recommendations and methodology.

I ve done those for 4-5 friends grand kids and they re fantastic.

 

[derfssor]

You did not mention the 270 win. I believe that the camille is chambered in 270 also. With a muzzle brake she would be able to handle an Elk easily and recoil of a 243. The old 270 does the job and easy in recoil and available at the stores.

 

[Paladin300]

7mm-08 Rem

 

[MostlyUselessLurker]

I'd buy Browning Micro Midas in 7mm-08. Change the spring or install a Timney if the trigger isn't acceptable.

I bought one in 6.5CM for my wife (5'1" tall) and she loves it. So do I for the lightweight. 12.5" LOP with 3 additional shim plates included (2 @ 1/4", 1 @ 1/2"). I changed out the trigger to a Timney.

Guess it depends on your budget and the quality you want. Plenty of options out there.

 

[skipglo]

I'm looking at buying my wife a new hunting rifle, I was mainly looking at a weatherby mkv or vanguard Camilla. She's short and got short arms so a small frame rifle is a must. Gun will be mainly used for whitetail hunting but she says she wants to go elk hunting with me someday. Was really thinking a .308 with a brake would be the ticket. My choices of what they offer in the vanguard series are 7mm-08 or .308 and the mkv in 280 ai or 6.5 rpm. What would be your choice of a light recoiling deer/elk gun?

X2 with Codyadams...Camilla

 

[Rem7mm08]

I'm looking at buying my wife a new hunting rifle, I was mainly looking at a weatherby mkv or vanguard Camilla. She's short and got short arms so a small frame rifle is a must. Gun will be mainly used for whitetail hunting but she says she wants to go elk hunting with me someday. Was really thinking a .308 with a brake would be the ticket. My choices of what they offer in the vanguard series are 7mm-08 or .308 and the mkv in 280 ai or 6.5 rpm. What would be your choice of a light recoiling deer/elk gun?

7mm-08 would be my first pick. 120 nosler BT downloaded will recoil light and be plenty for deer. ABLR will work for elk downloaded inside 400 yds. I would avoid the brake though.
My .02

 

[ducky]

I think you'll be pleasantly surprised at the cartridges your wife can handle with a properly fitting rifle. That said, I believe that the 7mm-08 and .308 are perfectly adequate for elk. My daughter uses a .308 and I have a buddy who has killed several elk with the 7mm-08. Also both are extremely deadly on deer.

 

[huntinghuasna]

.280 AI

 

[emp1953]

A decade ago, hunting with a NC outfitter a group of 5 ladies showed up all decked out and ready for the tree stands. In 3 days all 5 had tagged out, 3 whitetails each. Further investigation showed they were all shooting some flavor of a 6mm. Two had Remington 600's in 6mm Rem and three had Remington Model Seven's in .243win. The outfitter said that a couple of them had shots out to 425yds. The ladies said the rifles were short and handled easily in the confines of the elevated blinds, while muzzle blast and recoil were mild. And the stocks all fit them adequately. It turned out these ladies knew what they were doing and they could shoot. They were all shooting factory Hornady Ammo.

 

[Teri Anne]

I'm looking at buying my wife a new hunting rifle, I was mainly looking at a weatherby mkv or vanguard Camilla. She's short and got short arms so a small frame rifle is a must. Gun will be mainly used for whitetail hunting but she says she wants to go elk hunting with me someday. Was really thinking a .308 with a brake would be the ticket. My choices of what they offer in the vanguard series are 7mm-08 or .308 and the mkv in 280 ai or 6.5 rpm. What would be your choice of a light recoiling deer/elk gun?

From a fair amount of experience with smaller people (I am a DNR Hunter Safety Instructor) I would have to recommend the Weatherby Camilla in .308. The Camilla is built for Women, It has a shorter length of pull than usual but not as short as a youth model.

Checking the ballistics on the Federal ammo web site the 7mm-08 and .308 are fairly even until one comes to energy at range. At 300 yards, which would be in my estimation the longest ethical shot with either of these cartridges Federal reports the following:
7mm .308
Muzzle velocity 2800 2700
300 yard velocity 2191 2161
Bullet Drop -13.5 -14.5
Energy (ft lbs) 1772 1994

As one can see both are relatively equivalent until it comes down to energy at 300 yards where the .308 has a 222 ft lb advantage, which is a substantial advantage when hunting larger animals like Elk. While I prefer wood (Yes old school) I do own several rifles with composite stocks. All shoot well. Federal classes the 7mm-08 as a Medium Game cartridge while the .308 is considered a Big Game cartridge.

The Camilla comes with a recoil pad but if the recoil of the .308 is still a bit heavy for a smaller woman then a good muzzle brake will tame it down a lot.

There you have my humble opinion as a Woman with much experience with smaller hunters both male and female.