Rifle Choices for Fiance

[rangeryo]

So, I've got a fiance that wants to go out of her way, to participate in one of my favorite hobbies with me (shooting). Shes about as green as they come, only having fired one of my lever action 22's for a total of two shots, but she claims she would shoot with me more if she had her own rifle. She did come into the man cave the other day, and offered to help work on some brass prep with me, so I gave her 40 pcs of Federal 308 brass and told her they were hers to load and shoot. She sat and went through the whole sizing/depriming, case trimming and deburring process, and then took my rifle to the living room, laid down on the floor and started doing some dryfire practice with it (after I cleared the rifle, and made her do the same of course!).

My rifle is 'Remmy 700 sps varmint in a XLR Evolution chassis, and I think I'm going to take her out to shoot her 40 rounds before I jump on buying her own gun for her, and I'm hoping she's okay with the 308 recoil (which is mild due to the weight of the gun).

Assuming she does okay with that, I'll want to get her a gun of her own. My problem now is choosing the right one. Shes held a few AR's, and liked the feel (mostly the pistol grip i think) but I'm thinking her first gun should probably be a bolt action. I know you've all seen the video of the cute little girls shooting an AR, and then proceeding to turn around in excitement with no regard to the muzzle direction. I feel like going bolt, would at least give me a chance at sanity, along with plenty of time to force that constant awareness of what shes pointing the muzzle at into her mind.

So for her, I'm thinking probably a .243 to be the best caliber. Large enough that she could hunt with it (if she ever would) and small enough that she isn't going to hate the recoil. I've found a few decent rifles, and I'm really trying to keep them between the 600-1000 range, optics included.

Heres my list at the moment:
Howa AXIOM - has the pistol grip which she would like, but some claimed of sloppy recoil (that was with 308, not sure it would even be a factor in 243)
Remmy SPS Youth - Assumed smaller, lighter package. 700 action allows for basically limitless upgrades. Lacks pistol grip but not sure if this will even be an issue.
Tikka T3 Lite - Never owned, nor have I shot one of these. But I've heard lots of good over the Tikka rifles
SAVAGE 11FXP3 PACKAGE - It's a savage. Again never shot or owned, but heard plenty good about their actions

Anyone have any experience with any of these in 243? Any other recommendations that I may be overlooking?

 

[madAB]

I don't have any experience with .243, but another option is 6.5 Creedmoor. The recoil is mild, factory ammo for a decent price, and factory rifle offerings.

 

[Bubb]

Tikka t3 in .243 lazer out of the box, not
A smoother action period!
.2# get a Howa barreled action in .243
Let her pick out a Bell Carlson stock
Have it bedded or do it together? That's
A nice cheap semi custom choice?
.3 float the idea of a Africa safari honey moon?
Worth a try???

 

[rangeryo]

Tikka t3 in .243 lazer out of the box, not
A smoother action period!
.2# get a Howa barreled action in .243
Let her pick out a Bell Carlson stock
Have it bedded or do it together? That's
A nice cheap semi custom choice?
.3 float the idea of a Africa safari honey moon?
Worth a try???

I'm laughing my ass off right now @ #3. Don't think I'll take it that far. She's an asian city girl, and I'm definitely from the sticks, so we come from two different worlds pretty much. I'm just glad she's willing to participate in my hobbies. I'm probably going to end up going with Tikka T3 but I figured I'd get some other input to be sure I'm not missing anything.

 

[VTSEAL]

What about starting her out with a nice .22LR that everyone can enjoy shooting for years to come, and a few hours of professional instruction? That way she can get the fundamentals down without recoil/noise/caliber choice distractions getting in the way, and start building a solid foundation of basic skills. Then together you guys could set a goal/reward for 6/12 months of picking up a full caliber centerfire rifle of her choice after she gets to learn more about what she does/doesn't like?

 

[Cegorach]

First I would say .22.

But for centerfire I would look hard at a faster twist .223. Either a T3 varmint or SPS tactical for factory rifles. That's how I got my SO hooked on shooting. Plus you can feed it cheaply so they can practice a lot and get better quickly.

 

[Sgposin]

I smell an opportunity!!! Give her your rifle and go get an AI AT or something else you been eyeing. “Hey babe, I love you so much that I’m going to give you my rifle”. That’s what I would do. hahaha

 

[kl3309]

Any take-down rifle - that way when everything goes south and she's demanding half your shit, you can unscrew the barrel, lay it at her feet, and walk away.

 

[diggler1833]

.243 is a great choice. I'd suggest going the cheapest route because the odds favor heavily that your girl will never be as enthusiastic about your hobby as you are.

I stuck together a trainer rifle off of an SPS Tactical in .223 with a H-S PST093 stock. Recoil was basically non-existant, and my better-half's whole female side of the family enjoyed shooting it. The rifle is more than capable to 600+ yards with 69gr pills, and I doubt I'll ever have any one of them shooting past that (wasting my handloads).

There will be a lot of differences of opinion here, but I have always found that the mildest recoiling rifle is the one they enjoy shooting most. It would kind of suck to drop the coin on a rifle to have her rather shoot your .22.

 

[diggler1833]

First I would say .22.

But for centerfire I would look hard at a faster twist .223. Either a T3 varmint or SPS tactical for factory rifles. That's how I got my SO hooked on shooting. Plus you can feed it cheaply so they can practice a lot and get better quickly.

^ Saw this after my post. A big +1.

 

[rangeryo]

I smell an opportunity!!! Give her your rifle and go get an AI AT or something else you been eyeing. “Hey babe, I love you so much that I’m going to give you my rifle”. That’s what I would do. hahaha

Oh there's definitely an opportunity. That's why I'm looking at getting her a 243. I'm dropping my rifle off at hawk hill customs in about three weeks for the works. If I go the 243 route, and she decides she don't want to continue shooting, I won't have to worry about offloading it, and I'll just make it my next project rifle

 

[HodgdonExtreme]

Couple of points:

If you shoot past ~600 yards much, the 223 is going to be a bit of a problem because they're harder to hit with.

After all, you want her to have FUN so she'll keep at it. If you are shooting out to 1000 but she can't really connect past 600 or so, she may feel left out and alienated.

That said, the 243 seems like a huge winner to me. The soft recoil, plus the excellent ballistics will make it fun for her.

I'd be careful about taking her out for the first time with a 308. Heavy rifle or not, 308s have a fair bit of recoil and a petite asian woman might find it objectionable - and be turned off about the whole thing.

You could buy a 243 for her, and if she doesn't like it - you have a new match rifle!

 

[emdeucee]

I love my 223 howa 1500 for a fun and cheaper shooter than my 308. Recoil is very manageable, rounds are abundant, afforable and i also find that cheap ammo vs match grade does not make as dynamic of a difference compared to 308 ammo.

 

[Twisted .308]

DTA , start small and work way up to .338 ;-)

 

[rangeryo]

Couple of points:

If you shoot past ~600 yards much, the 223 is going to be a bit of a problem because they're harder to hit with.

After all, you want her to have FUN so she'll keep at it. If you are shooting out to 1000 but she can't really connect past 600 or so, she may feel left out and alienated.

That said, the 243 seems like a huge winner to me. The soft recoil, plus the excellent ballistics will make it fun for her.

I'd be careful about taking her out for the first time with a 308. Heavy rifle or not, 308s have a fair bit of recoil and a petite asian woman might find it objectionable - and be turned off about the whole thing.

You could buy a 243 for her, and if she doesn't like it - you have a new match rifle!

I wouldnt say she's "petite" but I see what you are saying. My rifle really does have very little recoil as is, and that's before Shawn receives my weapon and installs one of his brakes. Granted I'm a pretty big, tough guy, but I think she's pretty tough as well. My buddy's girlfriend has a 243, I'm trying to get them to hook up with us so she can try it out and see how she likes it before I make any final decisions.

 

[rangeryo]

Update: I talked to my Fiance about this while we were out shopping last night. Most importantly, she said she would spend $600 of her own money on the rifle. That means I can throw in some more, and build her a pretty nice system. She did say that she definitely prefers the pistol grip as well. So instead of buying a new rifle with a crappy plastic stock/pistol grip, I started looking at Chassis systems. I think the most interesting one that I've found is the MDT LSS Chassis. For $399, I'm thinking it would be hard to beat. Of course I'd have to add a little more for a butt stock and grip, but that isn't too bad.

So here's what I am thinking right now: Tikka T3 in 243, MDT LSS and accompanying furniture...

 

[jdh1982]

congrats on finding a girl that has the interest to shoot...after 7 years my wife figured if you cant beat em join em...im gonna give her my savage 308 and get me a hospitaller here very soon,,good luck and the tikka is an awesome choice I have one in 25-06 and its amazing..

 

[SUIScide]

OP, you're going about this all wrong. I know you haven't been beaten down by years of nagging, I mean marital bliss, but here's what You should do. Buy a rifle you want and tell her it's "hers". Then when she tires of spending time with you or doing anything you consider fun at least you still have the rifle!

 

[jdh1982]

^^I like this guys way of thinking

Sent from my SCH-I535 using Tapatalk

 

[KCshooter89]

OP, you're going about this all wrong. I know you haven't been beaten down by years of nagging, I mean marital bliss, but here's what You should do. Buy a rifle you want and tell her it's "hers". Then when she tires of spending time with you or doing anything you consider fun at least you still have the rifle!

This. I wouldn't build her a rifle that I wouldn't mind having.

 

[rangeryo]

This. I wouldn't build her a rifle that I wouldn't mind having.

I wouldn't mind having a 243 trainer

 

[scotharr]

The 243WIN is a great cartridge, but it is more expensive to shoot and tough on barrels. I'd recommend a 223 REM as a better choice. My family shoots a LOT of F-class in different cartridges: 243 WIN, 6BRX, 308WIN, 284 Shehane, 223 REM. The 223 REM is great fun and extremely accurate. My son just won the last 500 yard F-TR match with his 223, whipping a lot of 308s. Bottom line, a 223 bolt gun is accurate, cost effective, little recoil, and quite effective out to 800 or so. Could not think of a better cartridge for a junior or lady (or anyone for that matter) to start with. Heck, after the long-range season is over, I retire my 308 and shoot the 223 also to save money.....we shoot about 15K rounds per year. Get a barrel with an 8 twist or faster and shoot 80 grain bullets.

PS. Nothing will turn a new shooter off faster than excessive recoil, 308 WIN is usually not a great first choice.
PPS. Get a 223 with an 8-twist or faster. Tikka and Savage offer the faster twist 223s. Unfortunately Remington does not.

 

[KCshooter89]

I wouldn't mind having a 243 trainer

A T3 in .243 in a KRG X-Ray chassis would be as great setup IMO.

 

[Asperly Aimless]

It is going to be her gun so let her pick it.

 

[athanasios23]

I was in the same situation few years ago. My fiancé started shooting with me and I set her up on my bushmaster varminter(223). Has magpul stock to make it a little more comfortable. She soon got the bug and started shooting my 243 and then she put a few rounds through my gap 308. My gap rifle is a pig and recoil is very light. She then went hunting with me and saw me take two deer. now it was over and she wanted her own hunting rifle. I agreed as long as she took hunter safety course. She ended up with tikka t3 lite in 243. She loves it. I was truly surprised on how accurate it was out of the box. and don't be surprised if you get her to take a trip to Africa. My african safari/hunting/honeymoon trip was two seconds from being booked when we decided we would rather save that money for a down payment on a house. Not sure we made the right choice

 

[xcDave15]

I started my girlfriend off on my .22 bolt guns, after her asking a couple times to shoot my .308, I let her and it went well. I just made sure she was into the stock on every shot so it didn't punch her. And I loaded some 110 grain bullets light for her first shots so there was no recoil. She did handle my hot 155 grain loads well though, no complaints about recoil and she shot exceptionally well (3 in one hole, pulled the 4th and put the 5th on top of the 4th at 100yds)

 

[rancilio]

I agree with a few of the previous posts, a .22lr is tough to beat as an all-around favorite. A .223 then a .308 would be next if I was doing it all again. I'd start with 10/22 and bolt guns for everything else. A fast twist .223 slinging 77gr bullets is lethal on deer sized critters. Between the .223 and the .308 purchase, I'd buy a rimfire and .30cal suppressor. By the time the stamp comes in approved, its time for the .308.

Just my experience... My wife did not enjoy shooting anything until I she shot a suppressed .22lr Ruger Mk III pistol. That seemed to open the door to everything else, suppressed anyhow. She does not want to shoot unsuppressed at all, but then neither do I. So now, at least suppressor addiction is also marriage therapy. Perfect.

 

[sib1948]

OP, you're going about this all wrong. I know you haven't been beaten down by years of nagging, I mean marital bliss, but here's what You should do. Buy a rifle you want and tell her it's "hers". Then when she tires of spending time with you or doing anything you consider fun at least you still have the rifle!

This was my thought exactly when I first read this post. She can reciprocate by buying you some nice jewelry and shoes in the future!

 

[kjoens]

As states above. Build something you want that she can shoot. I did the same with my wife. I built "her" an AR with a CLE Krieger, she never shoots anymore and I have a nice ar. But enjoy it while it lasts.

KJ

 

[308Gunner]

This was my thought exactly when I first read this post. She can reciprocate by buying you some nice jewelry and shoes in the future!

Thats what my wife does and she is getting good at buying me diamonds. Damn this shooting habit.

 

[JC Steel]

get her a tikka t3 tactical in .223. it will be perfect. Let her grow into shooting and like it, The low recoil of the .223 will be perfect. And it will stretch out to at least 600 with out any problems.