re: New deer rifle for my 21 year old daughter

A round nobody has mentioned that falls into her current comfortable max range is a 350 Legend. Low recoil big knockdown bullet. She may not be able to shoot 300 yards with it but it is very capable out to 200 plus. Available in bolt gun or single shot (double as primitive).

7mm-08 Ruger American is a badass budget friendly gun and caliber.

Ammo isn’t hard to find. Reasonable priced ammo, so you can practice as much as you want. Recoil is very manageable. Solid ballistics. Accurate. Plenty sufficient for whitetail.


Same gun in 308 isn’t a bad deal either. Slightly more recoil but probably slightly better in all other categories.


Hell most calibers commonly sold today are plenty good enough as long as recoil is manageable. Most rifles sold by the big box stars are fine too. Find one that fits her good, pair it with a good scope, and don’t overthink it.

7/08 with stainless barrel and composite stock

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other than the tinnitus

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I had a sudden urge to yawn real wide and pop my ears!!!
I finally broke down and bought a suppressor a couple of weeks ago.
550$ I stuck it on a 16in barrel 308 and it will probably be my 90% of my deer hunting hunting gun.

Why not stick with .243? All my girls still shoot .243 and they have no issues killing deer.

I still shoot mine every year.

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If you're having tinnitus now, you already have some irreversible hearing damage. Protect what you still have.

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Yep, same here.

My kids don't shoot without a silencer or ear muffs/plugs, period. My son has only shot a couple of rifles without a silencer.

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It has less recoil than the 308

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From memory I thought they were about the same depending on bullet weight.

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practically the same knock down power.

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Energy is energy. If it has the same "knock down power" it's generating the same energy at the rifle. You can do some tweaking with bullet weights and get minor differences but for hunting cartridges you won't see a huge difference between rounds with similar terminal energy.

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The recoil energy and muzzle energy are both less than a 308. The recoil is noticeable while the muzzle is very close.

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Because it's a smaller caliber so you can get a lighter bullet with a similar length/weight ratio. Look at the difference between the heaviest 308 and the lightest 308. A smaller ratio of bullet weight to the gun's weight is what reduces felt recoil when they have similar muzzle energy.

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So reducing the bullet weight in a 308 turns it into a 7mm08?

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Not for terminal performance because they're different calibers, but when it comes to recoil that statement is pretty accurate. A 150 grain bullet with a muzzle velocity of 3000 fps fired out of a 7lb rifle will feel pretty much the same no matter what the cartridge is.