Deer hunting rifle for 16 year old girl

I just picked up another Winchester 94 in 30-30. It’s a handy, well balanced and light weight rifle for all purpose hunting. The ergonomics of the rifle and balance point make it easy to carry in the field.

depending on her LOP and growth potential, consider a 1/2 or 1 inch butt pad. Make this rifle fit well and comfortable to shoot so she will target shoot for fun in the summer with it. This goes for any chambering or action you ultimately decide on.

7MM-08

jamesjames said:

I just picked up another Winchester 94 in 30-30. It’s a handy, well balanced and light weight rifle for all purpose hunting. The ergonomics of the rifle and balance point make it easy to carry in the field.

depending on her LOP and growth potential, consider a 1/2 or 1 inch butt pad. Make this rifle fit well and comfortable to shoot so she will target shoot for fun in the summer with it. This goes for any chambering or action you ultimately decide on.

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For a '94, I'd recommend a good aperture rear sight... either a Williams 5-D (set and forget) with a Twighlight aperture, or a Marbles tang sight. I killed my first deer with a Lyman #2, which works, but the Marbles version has click-adjust windage/elevation, plus a spring/cam that holds the sight in the upright position while in use.

Mossberg Patriot .243 in Walnut
Local dealer had them for $350 a few months back. Can't seem to find them that cheap now.

Ruger American .243 in Synthetic
Local Dealer has them for $280.

Those seem like the best option in each category to me. But my buddy's 11 yo has busted 3 deer this year with a Remington 583 in .243. The rifle and cartridge has its detractors but they both have performed well with Rem 100 gr Core-Lokt. A difficult rear neck shot from 125 yards basically decapitated the deer and the broadside shots expanded and exited on both shots. One deer ran 40 yards and the other two dropped at the shot. He has a discontinued 2-7x33 Leupold VX2 he picked up for $119 on it.

If you are not taking Texas Heart Shots I think the .243 is plenty for whitetails.

Go to Walmart and get a .243 Remington ADL. $400. It's deer hunting and not brown bear hunting.

kwg

I will likely have to follow my own advice and get a 243 win for my 16 yo granddaughter who just today expressed interest in hunting after seeing the pictures of my buck.

Upstate NY I would likely run with the 7mm-08 in any of several light bolt guns. I like the 7mm-08 and being of small frame never found recoil to be an issue. In hunting applications I normally don't place much emphasis on recoil since after some sighting in you are not shooting all that much.

Ron

Reloadron said:

Upstate NY I would likely run with the 7mm-08 in any of several light bolt guns. I like the 7mm-08 and being of small frame never found recoil to be an issue. In hunting applications I normally don't place much emphasis on recoil since after some sighting in you are not shooting all that much.

Ron

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I have a 7mm08. I don't want to push her to big to fast. Like many shooters first exposure to guns. 10 yo kid shooting full power 12 ga slugs.
Progressively higher recoil levels just makes sense to me and it's what got me back into hunting and target shooting.

kwg020 said:

Go to Walmart and get a .243 Remington ADL. $400. It's deer hunting and not brown bear hunting.

kwg

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No, not walmart, support a local business or gunbroker.

stillquietvoice said:

I have a 7mm08. I don't want to push her to big to fast. Like many shooters first exposure to guns. 10 yo kid shooting full power 12 ga slugs.
Progressively higher recoil levels just makes sense to me and it's what got me back into hunting and target shooting.

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I had a Rem 700 classic with rubber pad, 7-08 gouged the heck out of my shoulder on bench, its gone now. 243, 257 Roberts 6mm Rem. much better for kids, women

I picked up a Mossberg patriot bantam 7mm-08 for my 9 YO this year. Took the spacers out and loaded it up with the Hornady lite 120g SST ammo. Dropped her first buck with it at the beginning of the season with ease. That thing barely has any recoil at all and is a blast to shoot, plus she'll be able to use ammo with more pop when she gets bigger
My two oldest daughters started with a 243. The 17 YO shoots a 270 now and I just picked up a 7mm-08 for my oldest.

Deleted. Someone else already made this point.

Check out the Henry single shots ,just got the grand daughter one in a youth model 243. Fine quality,safe little gun .

My petite girlfriend shoots a mossberg patriot in .243 and she absolutely LOVES it.

sharps59 said:

Almost a year has gone by since I updated on what is going on w the 16year old. Nothing over the winter started shootng a few mo ago. I’m adding a 13 yr old into the mix. Well they are both naturals when it comes to shooting. The have shot the 22’s, 223 ar stile and up to 20ga. And my 45 acp. They love shooting clays in my back field. For rifles we are going w the 6.5 my sons suggest. The girls are not his but are related to him. And of course they want muddy girl stocks on them. So we are getting on savage 10/110 apex Hunter

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Nice choice should work out great.

The 7mm-08 is a great deer cartridge, as are the .308 Win and .243 Win. The .243 Win we have has impressed me with it's ability to down deer within 200 yards, but the 7mm-08 is a really great deer cartridge in a short action...adequate to over 300 yards on deer.

I don't think an AR is a bad choice. 556 is somewhat marginal on deer but for the closer shots a young person will probably take it would work. Or even better get an upper chambered in 6.5 Grendel. The ergonomics are good, recoil is minimal and it's super easy to adjust the stock to fit the stature of the shooter.

Is the 16 year old 5' tall and 90# soaking wet or 5' 10" and 150" or more? Size has a lot to do with what she can comfortably shoot.

Does it? I knew two girls when I was a teenager that fit the first description that shot Trap, and competed at the State and national level. One of them shot Skeet at the national level also. Both shot several hundred rounds of 12 ga. Trap or Skeet loads a day, and their guns were almost as tall as they were. You don't get to that level if you are shooting uncomfortably. I'd say gun fit has a lot more to do with it than body size.

entropy said:

Does it? I knew two girls when I was a teenager that fit the first description that shot Trap, and competed at the State and national level. One of them shot Skeet at the national level also. Both shot several hundred rounds of 12 ga. Trap or Skeet loads a day, and their guns were almost as tall as they were. You don't get to that level if you are shooting uncomfortably. I'd say gun fit has a lot more to do with it than body size.

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100% true.

4 pages and hardly a mention of the 257 Bob

The OP told us what he's decided in post #89.