Bye, Bye, Hunting Rifle.........

[montanaoffroader]

At Least For This Season.......

Ok, took my daughter out shooting this last weekend, getting some practice in before rifle season. Figured she would be using my Savage Axis in .223, mainly due to the relatively light recoil.

We set up and started shooting, but she was having no luck hitting the target. Took a closer look and realized the scope was too far forward for her even though it is all the way back in the rings. No way for her to get a good sight picture.

So we went through the line up in order to figure out which rifle she can shoot the best - my hunting rifle of course! A Marlin XL7 in .30-06, a very nice shooting rifle. She's not a big fan of the recoil, but she shoots it very well and that is what counts.

So I guess I will break out my backup rifle (Western Field aka Marlin .30-30), because it appears that my rifle is gone for this season at least........

Hopefully by next season she will have her own rifle.

 

[Outlaw Man]

Haha! That's always the way it seems to work. It's worth it to get another hunter out there, though.

Next thing you know, she'll be bringing in bigger trophies than you.

 

[inclinebench]

If you have to give up a gun, I think that would be about the best way.

 

[tightgroup tiger]

I never gave up any of mine, I just bought my son a gun like he wanted that was within reason. He has always been happy with it and still has it after 20yrs.
I had to use "hand me down guns" when I was young but he was luckier than me, I bought him a decent bolt action 243 when he came of age. One that didn't break the bank.

My guns are mine and they will stay with me, I chose them for a particular reason. He will get about 30 of them when I die.

The guns I had when he came of age were all pre-64 classics ranging back to pre40's, in excellent or better condition. I wasn't giving him one of those.

He was happy as hell to get the one he got and did pretty well with it. My wife thought I should have given him one of mine, and we had some discussions on that, but I couldn't bear to let him use a 1946 Win 30 WCF lever action in mint condition when he started hunting. My only other option was a mint 1948 model 70 so I sucked it up and bought him a Savage 110G cheapy and it turned out to be extremely accurate and when he went to college I used it for ground hog hunting with my father. When I bought it the people at the gun store were laughing at me for wasting my money. I asked them why they were selling them if they were so bad, they shut up immediately. After I started hand loading for it I found out that it was as accurate as anything else I had, save one, and I took a lot of ground hogs with eye shots that I called ahead of time with it.

Who would have figured.

When he left home it went with him and I was actually sad that I lost it but it was his after all. I bet he hasn't shot it for the 15yrs since, but it is still his and if I wanted another 243 I would have to buy one but honestly my 30-06 is my trophy rifle so I guess it doesn't matter, the 30-06 is my go to gun anyways, for anything serious. I haven't lost anything, he just gained a good rifle and a lot of good experiences.

 

[Speedo66]

If she likes it, I'd gift it to her and treat yourself to another gun.

Items belonging to a parent have more meaning than a new item.

Personally, I prefer to watch my kids enjoying something of mine while I'm still alive.

 

[montanaoffroader]

If she decides that hunting is for her, then I will make sure she winds up with a rifle she likes, be it my Marlin or something else. She will have the chance to shoot some other rifles after the season and we will go from there.

 

[Fremmer]

That's a good reason to buy yourself a new hunting rifle!

 

[788Ham]

Shooting one my Pop had since 1947, a real deer slayer. A Savage '99 in .300, just wish he was still around to hunt with.

 

[haywoodhunter]

Thats kind of how I feel. My GF decided she was ready for deer hunting last year and once she shot my .270, which is also a marlin xl7, she decided she liked it better than anything else I or her father own. I don't mind, I am always with her when she hunts, and she killed a big doe with it last year at just under 300 yards and now refuses to hunt with anything else lol. Of course now that she has her first bowkill under her belt she's a little addicted to that too lol.

 

[41 Mag]

Well my daughter got her first deer with "my" 25-06 when she was 9, she laid claim to it every opener after until i finally gave up and gave it to her. Now she has three son's, ages 11, 6 and 5 so guess what they are eyeballing.....

The oldest just about took my . 308 away and might still yet, he shot his first hog with it and reduced loads two weeks ahead of his 4th birthday, but I am trying to sway him towards a .270 I hardly use.

He already has a Sako .243 I fixed up for him and I already have the middle one a Ruger Compact in .243. So between them all I will end up loosing most of my rifles, but in the end well they will get them all anyway.

 

[tahoe2]

Amazing how our kids pick em. They learn from us and want to shoot what we shoot.
My 16 year old was 10, when he tried to shoot my 8mm Mauser, so I got him a 7mm Mauser;
he still uses it today, and I picked one up for myself, a couple years ago.
He can and does shoot the 8mm's but he hunts with the 7mm.
So we have 2-8mm's, 2-7mm's, and 2- 30-30 Win's, so regardless of terrain,
or species being hunted we can carry the same ammo.

 

[montanaoffroader]

After this season I'm going to have my daughter try out some of the compact rifles, maybe a Ruger American Compact or a Mossberg Super Bantam. At 5' 4" I would expect a shorter rifle to fit her better. If that's the case, I will probably buy the one that fits her better for next year.

If she doesn't care for any of them, I will most likely just let her keep using my .30-06 and pick up another rifle for myself.

Anyone with a suggestion for a rifle suited to a smaller person feel free to chime in, I can use all the ideas I can get!