Comfortable rifle solution for my wife (5'1")
Posted: Mon Apr 22, 2013 11:30 am
Update: I made a quick deal and will have a 452 Scout on its way to me to hopefully have next week. Thanks for the help.
Hey folks. I took the wife to the range this Saturday to do a bit of practice with me, in hopes that on Sunday she might come and try out a match with me. When she shoots, she uses my old Marlin XT-22 rifle which was my first silhouette gun. She normally shoots off the bench and that's well and fine, but when she started to try shooting off hand, she just couldn't really cope with the dimensions of the gun.
She stands barely over 5'1" and as you can imagine has a very short reach compared to the typical adult male that most stocks are probably designed to accommodate. When trying to shoot off-hand, the balance of the gun is much too far forward for her and the length of pull is much too far for her. After trying to help her a bit, it looks pretty clear that I'm going to need to either butcher the stock on that gun to fit her better (which is fine, as it's a sub-$200 gun), or else find her a better stock or better gun that will fit her more nicely. Because the XT-22 is an entry level rifle, I'm not inclined to buy an aftermarket stock for it. I'd sooner upgrade her to a youth rifle or some rifle with a shape that works better for her that's built on a decent action with a better trigger than that Marlin has.
In hopes that some of you have also dealt with the problem of selecting a gun for a petite woman, I am hopeful that someone may have some specific recommendations. If we go the route of a replacement, it would need to be no more than about $300-$400. I'd be fine with just cutting a few inches off the butt of the stock and then affixing a pad over the rough end, but I am not sure what the unexpected ramifications of such a job might be.
Thanks in advance for any feedback/ideas.
Justin
Hey folks. I took the wife to the range this Saturday to do a bit of practice with me, in hopes that on Sunday she might come and try out a match with me. When she shoots, she uses my old Marlin XT-22 rifle which was my first silhouette gun. She normally shoots off the bench and that's well and fine, but when she started to try shooting off hand, she just couldn't really cope with the dimensions of the gun.
She stands barely over 5'1" and as you can imagine has a very short reach compared to the typical adult male that most stocks are probably designed to accommodate. When trying to shoot off-hand, the balance of the gun is much too far forward for her and the length of pull is much too far for her. After trying to help her a bit, it looks pretty clear that I'm going to need to either butcher the stock on that gun to fit her better (which is fine, as it's a sub-$200 gun), or else find her a better stock or better gun that will fit her more nicely. Because the XT-22 is an entry level rifle, I'm not inclined to buy an aftermarket stock for it. I'd sooner upgrade her to a youth rifle or some rifle with a shape that works better for her that's built on a decent action with a better trigger than that Marlin has.
In hopes that some of you have also dealt with the problem of selecting a gun for a petite woman, I am hopeful that someone may have some specific recommendations. If we go the route of a replacement, it would need to be no more than about $300-$400. I'd be fine with just cutting a few inches off the butt of the stock and then affixing a pad over the rough end, but I am not sure what the unexpected ramifications of such a job might be.
Thanks in advance for any feedback/ideas.
Justin