Innocuous looking carbine for a petite young lady to tote long distances?

[frozentundra]

My daughter has been shooting AR pattern rifles in .22 or 5.56 for almost as long as she can remember. That form factor is really friendly for small people due to it's compact size, light weight, and adjustable length of pull. She already has a nice BCM with ELW-F upper, but I think we could use something that's less scary to plant-eating tourists and hikers. Even an unloaded M&P 15-22 in muddy girl camo seems to elicit fear responses from people who more readily accept the presence of traditional looking "hunting" rifles. The older DNR officers seem a little biased here as well.

This year she'll be turning 13 and has completed her hunters safety course, so she'll be toting her own rifle while out on public land. Uses would include close range deer hunting, target shooting/rifle training, occasional varmint hunting, extremely unlikely defensive use against back-country critters or goblins, but primarily it'll just be carried a ton in order to learn how to live life with a rifle to hand. It'll probably get knocked around real good on a regular basis.

We already stock 5.56 and 7.62x39 for other rifles, but I've also been thinking about 30-30. I do like the idea of cheaper ammo for volume of practice.

So far I've been looking at:
Ruger American Ranch in .223 or 7.62x39---This looks nice except for the LOP, which I could probably modify myself.

CZ 527 youth in .223 or 7.62x39---Backwards safety, problems with the stock cracking, 16mm scope mounts, and magazines make me hesitate here.

16" lever action rifle---I don't know much about lever guns at all. I suppose ammo would be more expensive. Not sure about ballistics vs recoil vs caliber in a short barrel.


In short: handy little carbine, of politically correct type, that's optimized for a petite girl to lug around everywhere and shoot the piss out of it. I'd really appreciate any advice from P-Fers. Thanks!

[David S.]

Ruger 77 in .357? May have to shorten the LOP, tho.

[peterb]

Tikka T3x Compact?
https://www.tikka.fi/rifles/tikka-t3x/t3x-compact-0

[whomever]

I wish Ruger made an American stock with the interchangeable comb/Length of pull inserts like they do for several other rifles. Maybe someday.

Random possibilities:

1)Marlin makes a 336Y with a 12.75 LOP

2)Ruger makes a Compact American with a 12.5 LOP, but not in 223. They do make a 243 if that might work.
You might be able to buy just the stock and put it on a Ranch (but alas, only the proprietary magazine versions).

3)Here's a vid of a fellow shortening an American stock, if you or your gunsmith likes projects:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=95vqHW5kk30

FWIW, I've looked at Boyd's and Magpul replacement stocks for a Ruger Ranch, and decided that it wasn't a light handy carbine anymore with them.

[ACP230]

CZ and Howa make bolt-action carbines in 7.62 X 39.
The magazines are detachable and protrude from the stock a bit.
Would that make them "scary" as well?

[nalesq]

My first “walkabout” shoulder-fired centerfire weapon as a young teenager was a World War Two era M1 Carbine. Back then, though, M1 Carbines and mags and ammo for it were quite cheap and plentiful. Don’t think that is the case anymore, unfortunately.




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[TGS]

I think a compact bolt action in 7.62x39 is the ticket. It sounds like you have a preference for the Ruger American, so you should go for that. It will be more accurate than a lever action and a better optics platform....I personally find these compact intermediate cartridge bolt guns to be handier than intermediate cartridge lever guns (which I find comparatively unwieldy; YMMV). To get the same comfortable to carry handiness factor with a lever gun, I feel like you need to drop down to pistol cartridges which doesn't quite fit what you're looking for as well.

7.62x39 has a good offering of loads these days. She won't be limited to corrosive COMBLOC surplus like decades past when people were picking SKSs out the 55 gallon drums at gunshows for $70 a pop. She can certainly buy cheap steel case ammo for plinking, but there is affordable, readily available quality brass case ammo available that is usually preferred for the bolt guns (or so I've heard).

There's also premium line ammo in 7.62x39 available that makes it an outstanding medium game cartridge just the same as any traditional American game cartridge. The Hornady SST comes to mind. Shooting varmints? Use 8M3 ammo and watch them explode.

[SecondsCount]

Tikka T3x Compact?
https://www.tikka.fi/rifles/tikka-t3x/t3x-compact-0

This would be my choice, in 223, loaded with the 75 grain Gold Dot or Hornady ELD.

Or the Mini Howa in 6.5 Grendel. You can buy the barreled actions and get whatever stock that would fit her best.

[HCM]

I've had my 527 for over 10 years. very happy with it. I believe the newer threaded barrel models have a synthetic stock.

Will the Magpul stock work with Ruger Americans in 223/300BO/7.62 ? It has spacers which would simplify your stock issues.

[pangloss]

I think TGS had a lot of good points. You could build something up from a Howa mini action. Brownell's has barrelled actions in several calibers. Tonight they show a 6.5 Grendel with a 20" barrel for $360 (LINK). They also have .223, .300BLK, and 7.62x39. Boyd's has stocks down to at least 12.75" LOP (before pad, I think) and you can get laminates with pink in them.

However, if you really want to stick with a semi-auto, maybe you could cut down the stock on an Ares SCR. I've never even seen an SCR in person, so this might be a terrible idea.

EDIT: @SecondsCount beat me to it!