New rifle

[Bushwhack Jack]

So I am thinking about picking up a new rifle for predator hunting, and will serve a dual purpose as a caribou hunting rifle for my wife. My wife is tiny and petite. I was thinking about letting her use my 30-06 next fall for caribou, but I was leaning towards a 243. That way I could use it for predator hunting also. Any suggestions out there? I have also heard of guys using a 22-250 for caribou hunting. I suppose a 223 would also be a good choice. Anybody out there have any suggestion? Thanks.

 

[LuJon]

Alaska_Lanche has one of the new Marlin XL7's in .243 and his results have been impressive! They also make a youth version depending on just how "petite" the little lady is.

 

[markopolo50]

I like the 243, killed my biggest mule deer with that in 100gr Nosler partition. I have some handloads with 60 Sierra hollow points that really cruise and anything that size would be great for predators. Never have too many guns. roud:

 

[Bushwhack Jack]

Well, I appreciate the input guys. Lujon, my wife is about 4'11'' and around 105-110 lbs. She is pretty strong for her size though. She shoots a youth model 20 gauge remington 870 for small game. Works perfectly for her. Once while we were duck hunting I let her try out my 12 gauge with 3 1/2" mags. It layed her out flat on her butt. She has shot my M1 Garand, which is a 30-06, but it is a really heavy gun. So my guess is that my browning A-bolt 30-06 would give her a little too much kick. But back to my original question, which caliber would work best as a dual purpose caribou rifle/predator rifle? 243., 22-250, 223., 308.? Or would something else work better?

 

[AGL4now]

Hard to beat the .243 Win. (Note: I have a new in the box, H&R .243 Win. for $299.00)

 

[Alaska_Lanche]

LuJon is right. I bought a Marlin XS7 in .243 for this exact reason. Want to have my neice and nephew be about to shoot caribou with it when they get old enough, but also will use it for predator hunting until that time. I had a 22-250 but sold it to get a 243 simple because I liked the greater bullet weight range the 243 offers.

I like the 243 for this as you can go down to 58 grn hornday V-Max rounds for predator hunting and 100 or more grain for caribou. Kicks like a kitten and super fun to shoot.

For a $300 gun to shoot like this at 200 yards you can hardly go wrong IMO:

 

[LuJon]

You need to find a rifle that fits her first of. There is almost no way at that height that a standard length of pull rifle is going to fit her. It is one thing to "shoot" something all that involves is pulling the trigger on a live round. Being able to comfortably fire a weapon with some level of precision is completely different. My Wife is 5'3" and is very comfortable w/ a 12.5" LOP (Standard is about 13.5"). My opinion is that you need a trip to the gun store to test fit some youth rifles. My cousin purchased his wife a full length X-Bolt for his and I could tell it didn't fit her right off when we were at the store. I tried to talk her into trying a youth rifle but she kept saying that she didn't want a "kids gun". I tried to explain that it shot the same bullets but it didn't sink in. :shot: She never really did get into shooting with that gun but finally at the range one day I let her shoot my wife's rifle..... Last time I talked with them they were shopping for a youth model

 

[Bushwhack Jack]

Good advice guys. Thanks. I think I'm going to start looking for a 243. youth model. That sounds like what I'm looking for. My family stopped at Chimos today on the way home from church. I had her pick up some of the guns and shoulder them. I think the 243. sounds like the way to go.

 

[Cast Iron]

I think the .243 will be a very good choice. The lighter weight bullets are not very fur friendly however you can slow the bullets down if reloading and have a fur friendly load. I shoot and load for the .243 and it is my favorite rifle to tinker with. Most are easy to load for and fun to shoot. Most of my loads have either a 80 or 100 grain bullet. If loaded to the right speed they work well for predators and speed them up a little and they are a good round for deer sized animals.

 

[wyobohunter]

Something with an adjustable stock would be nice as well. Shrink it down to her length of pull when she's using it... stretch it out for you. There are AR-10's in .243 Winchester but I'm not sure if you could get one that has an adjustable stock. There is always the AR-15/M4 but .223 may be a little on the light side for caribou.

 

[LuJon]

I am putting together a 6.8SPC with a Performance AR upper when I get home just for this purpose. Light weight 16" SOCOM barrel and 6 pos Magpul MOE stock should be just the ticket as they are getting significantly higher velocities w/ the 1 in 11 twist and hand loads.

 

[stid2677]

I just bought a Remington VTR carbine in .223 for predators. I have seen a ton of whitetail deer taken with them and many people in the villages use AR styles rifle with surplus ammo to take Caribou each year. You can get an adjustable stock so you could change the length of pull so you could both use it. FMJ bullets for varmints and soft points for Caribou. Sure is nice to have an automatic to engage running predators. The recoil is next to nothing, great fun to practice with and very economical to shoot as well.

They also sell reduced recoil ammo for your 30-06 if you want to let her try that. Not the best choice for predators but great for about everything else.

When I bought my wife "her" our sheep rifle in Remington 700 270wsm she did struggle at first getting comfortable shooting it. I also have a Remington 700 22-250 and took her to the range and let her fire it until she was shooting the center out of the target. Gave her back the 270wsm and she was shooting it sub MOA at 100 yards. She can now fire it all day long and has proven to be deadly with it.

Lots of great options for sure and fun to practice and hunt with the wife.

Good Luck Sir.