The Remington Model Seven in .243 is a sweet little "carbine" and also comes in a "youth" model. Either model is a superb deer rifle.
http://www.remington.com/products/firearms/centerfire_rifles/model_seven/model_seven_CDL.asp
They can be bought on Gunbroker.com for less than Remington's MSRP, especially if there is a used rifle.
The .243 is quite authoritative and legions of newcomers have been started with it. The Remington Model Seven (
without a scope) weighs 6.5 lbs. - the same as a Winchester 94 and a half-pound less than the Marlin 336. Adding a scope will add about 3/4 lb. The recoil figures below are for an
unscoped Model Seven and an
unscoped Marlin 336.
The 30/30 has a little more recoil than the .243 (
11.5 ft./lbs. instead of 8.5 ft./lbs.). Remington makes a "managed recoil" version of their 30/30 ammo that will help a lot if the recoil of regular ammo is bothersome. Using "managed recoil" ammo will shorten the effective range a bit but not so much that the shooter is seriously disadvantaged. Of course an inexpensive recoil pad would help too. It too is a
splendid deer caliber and the lever guns are
splendid deer rifles.
One of the nicest things about the lever actions is that they are less weight to carry and that makes a real difference after an hour or so. Unless you're hunting froim a blind, rifles are carried many, many more minutes than they are shot. Marlins are about 1/2 lb. heavier than the Winchester 94. Am not sure about the weight of the Mossberg but it should be close to the others.
P.S. I have found that earphones have a magical way of "reducing recoil" for young/small/timid shooters. Once such a shooter has fired a dozen shots or so wearing earphones they often reach the decision that the rifle really doesn't kick them much.
Making sure they
begin with and keep using firm shoulder contact (not "death-grip") and good cheek contact is a must too.
Good Luck !