Thinking of building the wife a "sort of" custom...

[efw]

Try a Savage short or old intermediate action. Trigger is easy to tweak, rebarrel is easy to DIY, and for $150 you can put on a new factory take-off & aftermarket nut/recoil lug. With their floating bolt head it isn't hard to get em shooting, and while its apart you can use Brownells aerosol cerakote, throw it in the oven, and VIOLA!

Affordable custom. I just built one in 7-08 following this exact blueprint, adding a Boyds Classic pepper laminate & TLWs. Love it as a bad weather beater!

 

[JD338]

I would lean towards the 7mm-08 with 140 gr AB or 150 gr PT or the 308 Win with a 150 gr AB or 165 gr PT. If you are hunting big bears, I'd say 308 Win with 200 gr PT's and get close for perfect shot placement.
What ever you decide on, get a Pachmayr Decelerator recoil pad. It will help with recoil.

JD338

 

[Dr. Vette]

If she's a somewhat typical sized small-to-medium framed woman I would look at a Howa Youth rifle. 20 inch barrel, a variety of short action calibers, and mounted in a Hogue stock. This is an easy way to start her out with a nice accurate rifle.

http://legacysports.com/index.php?mact= ... eturnid=47

I made my girls a similar rifle in .243 using a Vanguard with 24 inch barrel, and dropped it into a Howa youth stock (aka Hogue) I bought from Legacy Sports, the Howa distributor.

 

[Anonymous]

I've looked at a few rifles lately... she's far from a beginner, but typically just packs around one of my rifles (usually my Scout with the spacer out)...I thought it might be nice to get her a nice hunting rifle of her own.

Then I might get my Scout back!