I want to build hunting rifles for my wife and daughters. My goal is to build them lifetime rifles that fit so no matter what life brings they can always provide.
Im seeking pillar bedded wood, high cheek, short length of pull and light weight. I'd probably opt for standard long action, ultra light barrel and brake. But better options may exist...
Has anyone done a recent build for the ladies in their lives? Appreciate the help from those who have been there and done that.
Tyson
Natural wood has "issues" witch changes in temp and humidity. Personally I prefer laminates to natural wood because they are basically about 70% or more epoxy with thin strips of plywood as filler. Lighter options are the quality composites but with them of course the price increases. I have a lightweight McMillan on one of my .375 Rugers that is awesome but you're talking around 650.00 for the stock alone.
Whatever stock you go with you want to go ahead and have it properly pillar bedded if you choose one that doesn't come with a full length bedding block. There are also some "drop in" aftermarket blocks that can be installed by a gunsmith with some mill work on a wood stock.
H-S Precision and Bell and Carlson are some mid range priced composites that are pretty good quality as well. One problem I've noticed though with some of the old H-S's is that eventually they will crack and chip around the thin edges contacting the action. These are 20 year old or older stocks though and I think they are using better epoxies now.
My wife is very petite so youth model stocks are necessary for her to have a good fit. I dropped one of my Ruger FTW Hawkey .260's into a nice laminate and cut it off to fit her but if I'd looked hard enough I'm sure I could have gotten her a nice McMillan or Laminate in a youth model that would have worked just as well or better.
In a long action there are dozens of different cartridges that will work well.
The size of the girls/women, their tolerance of recoil, and application will all factor into the "ideal cartridge" for each.
If they can shoot I wouldn't at all be afraid of using one of the 6.5's even on Moose/Elk with the right bullet out to 400yds. The heavier/large diameter the bullet and greater the energy the more margin of error you have but you're also increasing felt recoil and muzzle blast so there are lots of things to consider.
With a good muzzle brake though you will be surprised. Even my wife and nieces the latter two of which will barely break a hundred pounds if that can shoot my 7mm STW's with no problem using pretty stout 150-180gr bullets because of the reduced muzzle flip and reduced recoil.
