I wanted your opinion on a ladies rifle as my wife wants to give it a try. She has held several guns at the matches and all feel equally awkward at this point.

I looked at the CZ 452 Varmint and don’t like the single action screw/plug design. Past experience tells me if you don’t get an exceptional shooter out of the box adjusting for accuracy and bedding them is very challenging if not futile to improve accuracy. The 453 Varmint is just over $500 but has the 2 action screws and a mediocre improved trigger. Leave it alone or with a drop in trigger it is $600.

The 452 American is another option that has 2 action screws. It does desperately need a trigger and has the longer barrel with a very different balance. That would be $370 + trigger. I could go Brooks type cheap trigger on this and be under $400.

I was considering moving up to a Weatherby XXII or a 1416 in the $700 price point or even take more time trying to find an excellent condition 64 MSR etc. I really lack experience getting a woman going in this sport.

I know getting a good start is important. What do you think?

You definitely hit my suggestions!

Can you explain what feels awkward to her? My first thought was weight, followed by unfamiliarity with rifles, but then the Drill Instructor's definition of "assumption" took over so I need to ask.

A lot will depend on the physical size and strength and build of your lady...the Anschutz 1416 is a great choice for smaller statured persons, the CZ is more along the lines of "full sized"...Same for the Remington 504 and the Anschutz sporters....When you move into the dedicated silhouette rifles, like the 64 MSR you run into different stock proportions, etc...Give us some indication of size (we won't tell her ) and maybe some more specific solutions will come....Also bear in mind, to someone who is not a shooter and has not handled a rifle much all will seem foriegn...It is not a natural thing to pick up a rifle and shoulder it properly and hold it very still on target, it is a learned thing.....Also some very good female shooters and coaches (Inncocent comes to mind and I'm sure there are others) frequent Steelchickens...I would give special attention to what they might say concerning the matter..

Kitty

Austin870, you do not say where you are from in your profile. My strongest suggestion would be to take her to several matches, let her try various rifles, I've never been to a silhouette match where the shooters aren't willing to let someone shoot their rifle (we must be very proud of our toys). LOP (length of pull) will have a lot to do with the rifle feeling 'off balance'. My peronsal choice for what fits me is a Winchester 52 remake (the Jap copies), but then this crowd knows that I am somewhat vertically challenged. Although I have and do play with the CZ452 Lux, Browning A bolt, Remington 541, and a Biatalon 7-2, as well a custom Annie on an old 54 action.
Beware that we can be very picky about our rifles. LOL Feel free to PM or email me with any specific questions.

Innocent Mary Watkins

Innocent wrote:I've never been to a silhouette match where the shooters aren't willing to let someone shoot their rifle (we must be very proud of our toys).

Innocent Mary Watkins

I have known very few groups so anxious to share equipment and information, or more polite in asking permission! Everyone is at Winnsboro in particular was very generous in sharing information, gear and supplies, and apologetic when they couldn't. Otherwise, it was harassment as expected, but this group is very helpful.

I kind of figured we would need more information and I am happy to supply it. She is 5’5, reasonably athletic at the later part of middle age and a little on the stocky side. She is very strong for a woman her size and not little and petite but not overweight. Boy do I hope she never sees this post!

By “awkward” I mean she has never shot rifles before (new marriage) so they all feel like wearing boots for the first time after sandals. She does not know what a good “balance” is. There would be great adaptation for any size, weight or balance rifle at this point.

She has tried several rifles at the local matches. She kind of thinks a light sporter rifle is better just because it is easier to hold up before acquiring any supporting muscles or technique but may not necessarily be a good choice for holding the wobble or when she aquires some technique.

I don’t want to buy just a cheap rifle until she can build all this. If down the road she is committed and decides on something else in particular the resale of most these will be fine or I can keep it for friends, investment etc. It is a starting point and we don't want to just "get the pink one". lol

Now what is wrong with anything other than age and if she's like me I'm not middle aged yet, as I intend to live to be at least 100. All right keep quiet El Puma and Dawg, and remember to treat your elders with repsect.


LOL

Check your email austin870.
Innocent

If the LOP works, I'd go straight for the Weatherby XXII because of weight, balance, and ergonomics. She sounds like a fine woman!

CZ makes a high value rifle that needs tuning to work well, especially in balance and trigger, while the Weatherby is complete from the box.

Well as luck might have it, I have a very nice Weatherby Mark XXII that will be for sale in the very near future. It shoots great, but I am moving on to another rifle. I Also have a Leupold VXII 6-18 power scope with the target dot reticle that goes with it...

Wife and both daughters cycled thru a 1416 (now also marketed as a Weatherby) with a 6.5 X 20 Leupold & dot. (Oldest daughter shot her way into AAA with it...) I've never owned a CZ but they have a great reputation. I've owned an Anschutz or two... buy Anschutz and you will have no regrets. As an aside, 'they' rapidly improve 'their' tastes in firearms so you might as well go on and spend the money now... you're going to anyway.

CWS

The nice things about the Anschutz 1416/Weatherby XXII with a Leupold VXII 6-18 is that it's a really tough rig to beat without stepping up to a 1712 with FX3/VX3, and it holds value pretty well. Buy new, use and maintain well for a year or so, and sell for 10% less than you paid. And since new prices have probably gone up, the buyer's getting a 20% discount over new so they're happy too.

Good gear holds value, particularly when you stick to very desirable components like the Weatherby, Leupold VXII 6-18 or the VXIII/VX3 6.5-20. You may have to be patient and market several places, but it always sells.

My wife is just a tad shorter than yours. She shoots a Anschutz 1712 with a 13.5" LOP (factory LOP) and shoots it quite well. The weight is not a problem for her and the gun is robably the standard for silhouette shooting - just walk the line sometime.

I would get your wife one of these and she should be happy forever without buying another gun. Sometime in the future, have Evileo put a Pharr stock on it as a birthday/anniversary/whatever present.


George Toney

After you buy the Wheather-schutz you could have Innocent teach the Mrs how to shoot in sandals, or barefoot for that matter!

I went through this years back with my wife, she has a 64 MSR and a Kimber HR, she prefers the standard rifle because while it's heavy and harder to hold up the extra weight makes it steadier. The stock configuration of the Anschutz heavy/standard guns is very novice friendly with the flat surfaces and stippleing as long as there able to handle the weight. Her prefered scope power is 16X, I would reccomend a 6.5x20 leupold for beginners.