New Weapon

[LadyDoc]

Lever action gun is affordable but may kick a bit.
As an all around gun I would buy an AR15. Under 1k budget- Stag Arms, Rock River, a few of the Sig's.
Over 1k get a Daniel Defense, LMT, Colt, LWRC.

You can accessorize an AR like nothing else.

I personally as a shortish, though not "petite" female, don't find the recoil objectionable in my lever gun. As long as I have it seated well, I have run through several boxes of ammo in one range trip, and not had any bruising or soreness. The only thing I don't like about it, after 3 seasons, is the same thing that I do sort of "like" about it. That is, emptying the gun of ammo after a long day on the mountain with no deer to shoot, requires lever jacking all of the rounds out into the dirt/leaves. Then I've got to wipe the dirt off with my glove before they go back into my orange vest pocket for the next day. I can't imagine that is a terribly good thing over time. BUT - I always work the lever a couple extra times after the last round, do my visual inspection, and then I am SURE that the gun is unloaded. I have seen an old guy show up at the gun shop near the camp for a repair, and when the shop owner opened the bolt, a live round fell out. Apparently the old guy emptied the box magazine, but failed to empty the chamber. With my lever gun, that wouldn't happen.

I do need however, to get the stock shortened a bit. It fits fine in a T-shirt, but wearing 5 layers when it's 12 degrees on the mountain makes me a bit bulkier and makes for a little longer reach.

[zanshin]

A lever-action carbine and a pistola in the same caliber is a nice combo that takes a lot of the sting out of buying and shooting multiple calibers of bullets. Like, say, a .357 Mag. Easily handles deer and even black bear, not to mention your run-of-the-mill property-crosser. You can scope the rifle for longer shots (or the pistol, too, for that matter).

[yvette]

Thank you everyone for your help. I'm going to do some more research and some google searches. If I had fired my .12 gauge before buying it I'd have never bought it. You've all been very helpful.

[Jeff82]

Lever action gun is affordable but may kick a bit.
As an all around gun I would buy an AR15. Under 1k budget- Stag Arms, Rock River, a few of the Sig's.
Over 1k get a Daniel Defense, LMT, Colt, LWRC.

You can accessorize an AR like nothing else.

Problem is getting an AR in a deer capable cartridge. She'll be looking at +1k.

[mainiac]

IMAG0500 (2).jpgIMAG0501 (2).jpgI Just built this, It's a spikes tactical. It was a stripped lower and a trigger kit. I have $200 in it so far. Waiting for a trade in upper at local shop. Borrowed an upper for target practice . real nice trigger pull. Gonna paint the insignia and selector markings red.

[yvette]

Oh that's pretty mainiac. I writing all this down to google lots of good info here.

[Feetasshead]

Problem is getting an AR in a deer capable cartridge. She'll be looking at +1k.

You are correcto. Even a base DPMS in .308 or another brand 6.8 SPC will be over 1k.
I have a 6.8 but I have not hammered any deer with it. Ammo is approx $1 per round so I don't shoot it as much as I would like.

[Ricardus]

Colt 6920
BCM 20inch government profile, 16 inch government profile, 14.5 inch Hammer forged barrel - with 1.5 inch Battlecomp compensator permanently attached. etc.
Daniel Defense
LMT
Noveske - very spendy but sexy
Spikes - if you are on a serious budget

[zanshin]

How is your property laid out? Four acres stacked 2x2 gives you a side-to-side distance of 127 meters (about 140 yards). If your house is in the center, that means a defensive shot at someone on your property would likely be less than 200 feet. Even if it's stacked 1 acre wide by 4 long, just about the longest shot you'd have to take to engage a target on your property is 250 meters (about 275 yards) and that's shooting from the extreme back edge of the property clear across (missing the house) to the front edge.

Now I'm 60, arthritic and need glasses, and I'm confident I can shoot a man-sized target at that range with a $300 rifle with iron sights. Granted, I was trained as a rifleman and you are not. To me, the idea of spending nearly $1000 or more for a special purpose firearm (like many here are recommending) that you will probably never need for long-range property defense isn't a wise decision unless you have all the cash in the world. We're talking about spending the price of a set of new truck tires, a transmission overhaul, a new washer and dryer. If you have that kind of cash to drop on a gun and still have plenty for all the rest of life's obligations and recreational desires, drive on. (Don't forget that guns cost more than just the purchase price, unless all you want is a wall-hanger or something to impress your neighbors and friends.)

If you are considering a multi-purpose firearm for both Alabama-size deer and home defense, many of these recommendations make even less sense for someone like you. You've already indicated you are recoil-sensitive, aren't knowledgeable about guns and ammunition in general, and have already bought the wrong gun once. This leads me to assume you aren't a proficient hunter, either, and most adults who don't already hunt usually don't take it up unless they have experienced hunters to do it with -- if you did, you'd be better off asking them for their recommendation rather than a bunch of paratroopers online.

All this leads me to believe your firearm will spend 99% of its time in the closet, and an adequate, no-frills hunting rifle does that just as well as a tricked-out assault rifle suitable for sustained combat use.

You would do well to read the article I've linked below about calibers useful for taking deer in Alabama. It discusses calibers, recoil, muzzle blast and tracking animals of the size they grow there. The author believes a .25 caliber is the minimum to consider, and the .223/5.56mm NATO that most of these "black rifles" come in doesn't measure up. In the hunting world, it's a varmint round, for woodchucks and such. Granted, you can get some of these recommendations in .308/7.62mm, but then you're back in the recoil and muzzle blast sensitive zone, and at a price near or over $1000. There is a reason people don't wear $900 high-heels to stand all day in a grocery store; cheaper alternatives may not be as glamorous, but they do the job better. If you're only buying one rifle, keep in mind it's a tool, not a lifestyle.

http://blog.al.com/outdoors-alabama/...and_calib.html

[T10]

After reading all this I came to the conclusion a 20 gauge would fit the bill. Within the confines of your property it would be great with low recoil and you can get a Mossberg or Remington for about $400. Slug or the variety of shells offered would be great I think.

[Jeff82]

I'm in the boat with zanshin. A conventional rifle/carbine is a better fit for her. Something in a .243 Win up to say a 7mm x 08, depending on ammo availability.
http://answers.yahoo.com/question/in...1181229AA3jfM1

[yvette]

The house I'm moving into is the last one on the road. my nearest neighbor is about 50 or 60 yards from my house.
The woods are in back of the house, after my four and a half acres, there are more woods but I'm not sure who that belongs to.
Zanshin, thank you for the link, and thank you all for your help.

[bg]

There's more to consider than just the range distance; the bullet needs to have sufficient shock value when it hits the target. This is why the AR15 is usually not permitted for hunting, because a .223/5.56 round doesn't drop a deer unless it's been fired by a skilled and experienced hunter. What you end up with is a wounded deer that takes off at high speed through the brush only to bleed out 24 hours later at some spot two miles away. It's a waste of perfectly good meat.

The main advantage to a semi-auto is rapid follow up shots. Clint Eastwood might be fast with a lever action, but he didn't get that way overnight. Plan on putting more than one bullet into an attacker (two OR four-legged) regardless how awesome the first shot turns out. Most rifle cartridges are available in designs (sometimes referred to as "soft nose" bullets) that expand rapidly, helping them to stay inside the target instead of passing through. The kick of an AR10 (.308) is hardly more than an AR15. However, the cost of one--as pointed out--is a little prohibitive. But you'll only buy it once if you take reasonable care.

If your rifle will be used in a defensive capacity, then the optics really shouldn't be more than a 1.5x. If people can hit a human silhouette at 500m using iron sights, you can easily hit what you need to at 100m with a low power optic.

T10 also had a good suggestion with getting a quality 20 gauge shotgun. There's a huge variety of shells available for those.