Looking for some input and ideas for daughters first rifle.

[Orange Dust]

As an interesting sidenote, Mom would not let the girls hunt with her until they were older and hunting by themselves. She was neither willing to give up her shot, or let one get away trying to let her child shoot it. Women are so bloodthirsty....

 

[PNWdude67]

Looking for some input and ideas for daughters first rifle.

Thinking of building my baby girl a bolt gun to hunt and learn with. I'm after low recoil more than a distance requirement. Mostly for Texas/Nm deer, antelope, coyotes, and some pigs. It'll be a switch barrel on an existing Rem 700 short action I have. First barrel will be .223 Wilde.

Second barrel- I'm debating between 300 Blackout, 6.5 Grendel, or 6.8 Spc. Any input is appreciated.

6 BR or 6 BRA.... accurate and fun to shoot with enough energy for up to deer size game.

 

[ddavis5030]

6.5 CM. Lots of off the shelf choices, as reloading options, and easy recoil.

 

[SergeantD]

Looking for some input and ideas for daughters first rifle.

Thinking of building my baby girl a bolt gun to hunt and learn with. I'm after low recoil more than a distance requirement. Mostly for Texas/Nm deer, antelope, coyotes, and some pigs. It'll be a switch barrel on an existing Rem 700 short action I have. First barrel will be .223 Wilde.

Second barrel- I'm debating between 300 Blackout, 6.5 Grendel, or 6.8 Spc. Any input is appreciated.

243 or 7mm-08 are perfect.

 

[nicholasjohn]

Why not a 6.5x47L, 6.5CM, .260 Rem, etc.? Start with some lower charge weight 100-120gr loads, work up to 130-140s and full power when she gets older.

Or a 6x47L, 6CM, 6XC, etc.? 105s @ 2600 to start, bump them up to 3000+ later on.

My daughter, who is now 17, has been shooting her 6.5SLR since she was 11. And my AR & .260 Rem with reduced loads since she was 8. Even shot her first bull elk @ 11 with my .300RUM w. Brake. She has taken 2 elk (1 bull, 1 cow), 2 mule deer bucks, a buck antelope, a javalina, and numerous varmints. Hope to put another big mule deer buck on the ground in 2 weeks. She is a stone cold killer. And a very good long range shooter with her 6.5SLR. She just smacked a squirrel at 741 yards on a cold bore shot on Saturday while tuning up for her deer hunt. Got it on video too.

Since you are using an action that has the length to digest these cartridges, any of them could be loaded with a lighter bullet to the performance level of the 6.5 Grendel initially. ( Lighter bullet + lighter load of faster-burning powder = lower recoil.) Then, as the young lady grows and gains experience - and can handle the cartridge's full-capacity loads - you won't have to re-barrel the rifle to get her there. Just sit her down at the loading bench and cook up something that works for longer ranges and/or larger animals. The bonus is that she'll already be familiar with the rifle & scope, so the only changes she'll need to adapt to will be a flatter trajectory and a little more recoil. By the time she's into full-power loads she'll be serious bad news for the local deer herd.

 

[T3ninja]

I'm a gas gun fan. I'm pretty sure my daughter (4 years old right now) will be hunting with my 6 predator. (6.5 Grendel necked to 6mm) The Grendel is going to be a close second

 

[436]

Looking for some input and ideas for daughters first rifle.

Thinking of building my baby girl a bolt gun to hunt and learn with. I'm after low recoil more than a distance requirement. Mostly for Texas/Nm deer, antelope, coyotes, and some pigs. It'll be a switch barrel on an existing Rem 700 short action I have. First barrel will be .223 Wilde.

Second barrel- I'm debating between 300 Blackout, 6.5 Grendel, or 6.8 Spc. Any input is appreciated.

The Weatherby Vanguard Camilla .243 Winchester or 6.5 Creedmoor. Perhaps I should've included this'..., https://weatherby.com/store/vanguard-camilla/

 

[freddiej]

Okay, I have some suggestions on the second barrel, contact Wilson Combat and see if they have a 300 Hamm'r barrel for the Rem 700. it will be a improvement over the 300 blackout, or so I am told. The 350 Legend would be a huge improvement over all of the rest of those cartridges you listed.
I was going to suggest before you restricted me to a 223/0.374" bolt face some other calibers than above. I was going to say build a heavy twist 243 Win, heavy twist 6mm Rem, 7mm-08, heavy twist 260 Rem, or a 257 Roberts. all of these I have taught girls as young as 7 years old to shoot comfortably.
My friend down the road (28 miles down the road) has a 6.5 Grendel he loves to shoot. Come to think about one more suggestion that probably will not be made.. 6.5X55 a wonderful low recoil cartridge.
short receiver and small bolt face.. kind of restricts the possibilities.. you could get a larger faced bolt and open up the 0.473" case heads. this would be best. If you go with a detachable mag you can switch bolts, barrels and mags and have the most versatility.

 

[Littlehud]

You couldn't go wrong with a .243 Win. or possibly a 6.5 CM. These should both give low recoil and are very popular so shells would be readily available. Of note, you may consider buying here a smaller platform than the Remington 700 depending on her size. I have a son who is now 40 years old that is only about 5' 4" and he still shoots a youth size rifle because the Rem. 700 and the Ruger M77 are both too large for him. he is not a tiny wimp by any means. Strong and tough as they come. just short. Fit the gun to your daughter, the caliber is easy.

 

[del2les]

In order to avoid the bolt change and still use the rifle's mag:

https://sierrabulletsblog.com/2013/11/18/look-at-this/

https://loaddata.com/Cartridge/7mm-TCU/5449

But, as stated earlier, the varied versions of the TCU's, x-223, will all work on deer with little recoil. Personally, and since I had used several Contender's in the cartridge with great success, I went with the 7TCU using the Sierra 120/130g loads. YMMV

 

[James H Wall]

how old is your girl?
I started my 7 yr old boy out deer hunting with a 243 with barnes 80 gr ttsx and it was golden outto about 250 yds. With my older son 11 yr old he either shoots 6.5 creed or 7mm08 with 140 gr bullets.

The 243 is first thing that came to my mind, but I also have a bolt action 223 and a 6.5 Creedmoor, where I live you dont see 6.5 Grendall or 6.8 spc ammo, when I looked at buying I had several gun stores said go with the 6.5 Creedmoor, so this and 243 get my vote

 

[Stgraves260]

Looking for some input and ideas for daughters first rifle.

Thinking of building my baby girl a bolt gun to hunt and learn with. I'm after low recoil more than a distance requirement. Mostly for Texas/Nm deer, antelope, coyotes, and some pigs. It'll be a switch barrel on an existing Rem 700 short action I have. First barrel will be .223 Wilde.

Second barrel- I'm debating between 300 Blackout, 6.5 Grendel, or 6.8 Spc. Any input is appreciated.

6.5 Grendel would be perfect. 20" Barrel 1-8 twist

 

[Lefty G-gear]

Looking for some input and ideas for daughters first rifle.

Thinking of building my baby girl a bolt gun to hunt and learn with. I'm after low recoil more than a distance requirement. Mostly for Texas/Nm deer, antelope, coyotes, and some pigs. It'll be a switch barrel on an existing Rem 700 short action I have. First barrel will be .223 Wilde.

Second barrel- I'm debating between 300 Blackout, 6.5 Grendel, or 6.8 Spc. Any input is appreciated.

6.5 CREEDMOOR
AMMO https://ammoseek.com/ammo/6.5mm-creedmoor

 

[milo-2]

I guess if it was me, I wouldn't be in that big of a hurry to find a secondary harder recoiling rd for a 3 yr old girl. Let her shoot the 233 for a yr or 2 and decide which way to go then.
I get a lot of young boys shooting, and never introduce them to centerfire before 5, I've yet to see a 7 yr old want a steady diet of even 6mm's, XC, X47, 6 creed, where a 6BR or Dasher allows them to get more downrange.