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!