Deer Rifle for Neice, Recommendations?

[Hookeye]

I really hope the Grendel comment was supposed to be in purple. It is a very simple cartridge choice and available in many platforms. Why would a .300 Savage be the perfect round? It is double the cost per round and my quick search shows that it is actually harder to find ammo for.

Hornady Superformance and Federal blue box I see at some shops.
3 or 4 boxes of factory ammo, reload............non issue.

 

[thunderchicken]

My 17yo daughter is a dainty 5'2" @ 112lbs and she is dying to go deer hunting. Hoping to gather enough equipment to make it happen next year, for now we will stick with small game. Anyway, she has gotten quite comfortable shooting my Savage in .300wsm. I am thinking about picking her up something in .308 mostly because it's much easier to find and a good bit cheaper too. There are so many good options it can be a very difficult decision

 

[Kirk Freeman]

To offer perhaps a bit of a different direction, how about an 1873 style (in a hunting caliber) rifle with a note about Annie Oakley.

Dude, it's Freeman's family. She has 2 books on Annie Oakley.

 

[ScouT6a]

Of all the "new" rounds that I have shot in the last 6-7 years, the 6.5 Grendel is proving to be a real daisy.
Capable of excellent accuracy, flat shooting, mild recoil, low noise, highly effective on game, fairly inexpensive premium ammo availability.
What more would a young lady need in the deer woods?

 

[dugsagun]

I would say either a savage or ruger 243win "youth" bolt gun, add a 2-7x33 scope, and then go buy some hornady custom lite 87g sst ammo.

 

[Jtrain]

My eleven year old son killed his first deer this year with a .243, it dropped her like a rock. So I'm thinking about getting him his own next year now that he's officially hooked. I'm leaning towards a Savage axis, reasonable price and good guns

 

[ViperJock]

On private property, within appropriate range: 300 AAC. You can run supersonic out to a few hundred yards or subsonic in the woods (can or no can). It's soft shooting and versatile. My kids ran it at 11yo in AR platform with a 3-9x vortex scope with a mini vortex dot on top. Very versatile nice shooting youth hunting rifle.

 

[Hookeye]

How tall/big is the kid...........how tall/big will she get?
Experience level?
Medium weight .243 win w a pad.
Or maybe .25- .28 short action cartridge of some sort.

The power of the .243 win............

"drop like a rock"

to me that begs the question.............where was the hit?

FWIW I double lunged my deer last yr and he didn't drop (used the same Hammer of Thor .243 win).
In fact the deer walked about 80 yards before tipping over.

 

[Jtrain]

Hookeye, I'm guessing you're talking about my son's deer? It was a slightly quartering away shot at about 75 yds, double lung shot. Exit was offside shoulder and she dropped where she stood, this was the first year I've ever used a hpr and I was just impressed with the round

 

[Hookeye]

FWIW taking out a shoulder (or two) I call a "breakdown".
Might have also been a "knock down". I dunno.

One deer last yr with .243 win. Did not impress me. Little hole in and out, ribs hit.
Plan was for shoulder smack with diff bullet this yr.

Few deer, and none big enough to shoot.

 

[den57]

Granted it was a 6mm Remington with a 95 gr Barnes, but I had the same reaction on a buck at 100 yds that jtrain had. Double lung, dropped in his tracks.

 

[Kirk Freeman]

On private property, within appropriate range: 300 AAC. You can run supersonic out to a few hundred yards or subsonic in the woods (can or no can). It's soft shooting and versatile. My kids ran it at 11yo in AR platform with a 3-9x vortex scope with a mini vortex dot on top. Very versatile nice shooting youth hunting rifle.

Why does private property matter?

They live in PA like I said in the OP.

 

[Hookeye]

Low wall Browning 1885 in .243 on GB.........pretty.

http://www.gunbroker.com/item/721830050

 

[two70]

Granted it was a 6mm Remington with a 95 gr Barnes, but I had the same reaction on a buck at 100 yds that jtrain had. Double lung, dropped in his tracks.

With a rifle sometimes they drop to the heart/lung shot and sometimes they don't. When they don't drop they usually don't travel very far though.

 

[den57]

Fully aware of that. Double lunged a buck with a 200 gr. .35 Remington at about 50 yds or so. He ran about 50 yds before he fell over.

 

[LCSOSgt11]

I will second the vote for the Marlin 336. Nice rifle, plenty strong, not too heavy.

 

[AmericanBob]

You could look at a Ruger American Ranch in 300blk. Nice and compact, light, light recoil, definitely good out to 150 yds. I shot a nice doe with my daughter's this year at 50 yds. 110 grain Barnes load did it's job, smashed the front shoulder, took out the heart and lungs and exited through a rib. Akl that good stuff being said, it is headed back to Ruger, again, for an ejection issue.

 

[Buano]

I picked up a used Remington Model 7 in .260 Remington with a youth stock for my daughter a few years back. Once I mounted a good scope she had a good LIGHT deer rifle capable of handling deer at any reasonable ranges. Although she's only used it a few times (with 100% success) it has been borrowed by several other people who have loved it. Although it's not the most accurate rifle I've owned, 1.5" groups are not anything to be embarrassed by in the deer woods — or across a field. (It's for sale if you are interested.)

 

[ViperJock]

Why does private property matter?

They live in PA like I said in the OP.

Oops. I missed that. Sorry. did you make a decision yet?

 

[Kirk Freeman]

Oops. I missed that. Sorry. did you make a decision yet?

No her birthday is in April and I will talk to her dad in a couple of weeks.

I like to have like 5 to 7 ideas to go over with him. I mean he lives with her.

Here she is, Jael Freeman, in a school project. Tall and lanky . . . and a bit of a ham, like her uncle: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7J6n8jWPjcQ&feature=youtu.be