Assault rifle/carbine for the wife
 

I'm looking to get my wife an assault rifle or carbine, and am looking for suggestions. She's petite and has very small hands so size/weight as well as recoil are my concerns. She prefers so far to shoot my... well now her Kahr 9mm, but she'd like to have (and I'm encouraging it of course) a rifle to shoot as well. I've got a Bushmaster M-4gery that she has shot but it's still a bit too heavy for her to put many rounds through comfortably. My initial thoughts were either a Bushmaster Carbon 15 for the weight, an H&K USC, or possibly a Mini 14. I'd like to stick with wither 223 or 40 cal or bigger, but am open to other suggestions.

Any thoughts would be appreciated, her use will be primarliy just plinking/shootng for fun, and of course my back up in case of the zombie wars :D

I came very near to purchasing a USC. I really liked the way it felt in my hands although I did not get to shoot it. The biggest reason I chose not to buy it was the cost of extra magazines, at $60 a pop it made getting the ten or so I like to have for each of my weapons a bit unreasonable. That may not be an issue for you and perhaps someone else here knows where to get magazines a bit cheaper.

Rock River
 

Have you considered the Rock River 9mm line? I have a 16 inch Car-15 chambered for the 9mm and I have found it is a hit with female shooters on the range. Recoil is about nonexistent, and you can modify the furniture just about anyway you want to fit her shooting style. Rock River also offers "pistol versions " of the car in 9mm that would cut down on the weight factor..

Just a suggestion. I personally really enjoy mine. My gf loves it,,,

Rather than an M-4 style AR, why don't you go with a lightweight carbine version? 16" Pencil barrel, standard handguards vice rails, Magpul MOE stock...unless you need the doo-dads, an AR can be pretty lightweight.

I have a Beretta Cx4 storm that is cheap and fun. Its chambered in 9mm, but there are three other calibers available.

My wife loves her AR....Stripped down, no extra rails or bullshit it doesn't need. Flat top with a full length JP free float foreend (no front sight block, gas tube block underneath) and a standard weight barrel with an M68 on top. The rifle is so slim, and lightwieght I often find myself monkeying around with it, lamenting the fact that I have all this extra crap hanging off both my work, and personal rifles...

Eitherway, if you already have an AR, then get her an AR too....Same Mags, Same ammo, interchangable kit capabilities, same spare parts, same knowledge/tools/experience to maintain.

No need buying a SLR-8 (HK Civi G36), mini-14 (Good rifles though), etc. and then having to buy a whole new set of mags, spare parts, etc.

Gun and gear compatability is just plain good sense.

If you have a Glock or 1911, you could get a Mechtech upper??

http://www.mechtechsys.com/

Fairly inexpensive.

Craptastic! Why not just teach her to shoot the Glock?

Concur!

TR

Mine's had her own M4 almost from Day One. For all the aforementioned reasons. It helps that judicious shopping will yield a decent, entry level carbine in the $750.00 range. (Though I still can't figure out why none of the women I know want pink furniture on their rifles - despite the wife having just bought a pink pistol and putting pink lasergrips on another one.. :confused:)

You could try a kel tec sub-2000. My father uses one because he keeps it folded up in a pack so he can deploy it when he needs to. It comes in 9 and 40 and uses glock magazines which is a plus if you have a glock pistol yourself. Plus it is extremely cheap which is good considering in all reality this weapon system will rarely if ever be used.

http://www.kel-tec-cnc.com/sub2000.htm

Good points, I wasn't really thinking about commonality of accessories though that's a very good idea. I was considering the Bushmaster Carbon 15 R97F Rifle because it's light weight and I'm very familiar with AR's, but I've read some pretty negative opinions on Carbon AR's. My only experience was firing one about 7 years ago, anyone done much with them?

I have, I was just kind of hoping for something in 40 or better with the price of 9mm ammo now and I've had good luck finding brass 40 for only 2 bucks more per box and God forbid she have to use it on someone I'd rather have her shooting 40 for the stopping power. Olympic arms makes one but I don't know much about Olympic, still doing the research on them.

Ooooh, you were doing so well up to this point.

Auto Ordnance makes a knock off .30 cal M1 carbine. It is light and a fun shooter.

http://www.auto-ordnance.com/PA-1AO_m1.html

Concur...very funny :D

?? Razor I take it you would disagree that when compared to a 9mm the 40 cal has much better stopping power?

There's been much discussion on caliber and that a 22 LR will kill you if put in the correct place, and I agree, however this isn't me, it's my wife, she's not had the years of training, practice, and experience in high stress situations, and like I said I hope she never has to use it in a personal defense mode, but if she did I want her firing the largest round she can handle effectively.

Let me also clarify in terms of 9mm vs 40 cal, I can get 40 cal right now, and have been able to find it much more reliably than 9mm in the past 9 months in my area, now I know that eventually the ammo shortage may loosen up, but all things being equal (or near equal), price, availablity, etc I'd choose 40 cal over 9mm.

Just my .02