Good first Calibre for 18 year old daughter.

[Muskokaguy20]

250-3000 savage if you can find one

[blargon]

Go for the .243. Endless choices for ammo, and also doubles as a great coyote round.

My personal favorite is the .260, but unless you are handloading, probably not the best choice.

[Whosinthebushes]

243 is a great choice out of the box she should be able to handle it no problem. 270 would be a gun she could hunt anything in ontario with although you might want to upgrade the recoil pad depending on the brand. Ask around see if you could get her to the range with a gun in each cal am let her try them out and see what she likes and what she thinks she can handle. Remember to tell her to wear a thicker coat. When your hunting your rarely going to be just wearing a t shirt or a thin Long sleeve.

[NoCleverMoniker]

SWEDE, SWEDE, SWEDE, all the way. Awsome round for everything from coyotes, to Moose!!!! Recoil is so so minimal. My boy has had his since he was 12. Thats his go to gun everytime!!!

[mox72]

20 gauge with smooth and rifled barrels is another option but agree with the rifle suggestions too

[Roper]

Earlier Laker Taker ( I have never caught a laker) said a .243 BLR. I own a .243 BLR and it is an incredible gun. They are light, easy to handle and extremely accurate. I shoot very tight groups with mine. If you choose to follow this suggestion - I would spend some time on the computer looking for a good used BLR pre 1981. Mine is 1980 and the quality of the gun is far superior to the 1981 and later models. These pre 1981 BLR's are not expensive. IMO

[Kilo Charlie]

Any of the ones you listed, plus the .250 Savage and the .257 Roberts. People will yelp about ammo availability but I never had the slightest problem finding ammo in the South, ever. Mind you, when I went to a gun shop I bought more than one box at a time.

[Big Jack]

You can't go wrong with a 6.5x55. Sold one to a fellow member here and it was a T3 blued synthetic and out of the box shot 3/4 groups all day long.

The one I still have is the Tikka varmint version and it is so darn accurate it is scary.

Easy on someone her stature and if she ever decides to go for moose or bear she will have no problem.

If you handload you can make a round for everything out there. 85 grain to 160 grain. Or just buy over the counter stuff.

[GrouseWhisperer]

My brother g/f is 21 and she's about 100lbs and can handle a .308 no problem. She is a good shot, but has practiced with a 17hmr and .22-250 quite a bit.



I'd go for a Ruger American Compact in .243. They are under 37" long which helps a small framed person hold the gun up a lot better. 6lb rifle with a decent 3-9-40mm scope and she should be good to go.

I'd agree. I like the Ruger American, and plan on buying one soon. .243 should mean lots of ammo choice/availability too. Recoil should be reasonable for even a light gun like this. Heck, my (not quite) 5' tall, 12 year old daughter was shooting 12ga. slugs off hand on Sunday, and was disappointed when we ran out of the 15 I brought!

[Species8472]

Thanks for the input everyone.

I think we have decided to start shouldering some rifles in 6.5x55 Swede Calibre. If she does not find something that fits we will then move to a .243. We are not in any rush and as long as we have it figured out by the end of the summer it should be fine. That will give us the months of September and October to break it in (if new) and practice.