THE CARTRIDGE
The "flavor of the day" is for the grown-ups in the room to care about where cartridges are concerned. If it is a lawful method of hooved-game take where you plan to take your daughter hunting, the obvious cartridge choice for a little kid, to me, at least, is the .223 Remington / 5.56 NATO.
I filled 22 consecutive California A-zone tags with the .223 Remington fired out of a T/C Contender Carbine.
I also filled 21 mule deer tags, 3 pronghorn tags, 2 caribou tags, 1 bull elk tag, and piled up more feral pigs than I can count with the .250-3000 Savage.
I never had to shoot more than once per animal with either of them.
Let's dare to compare........
5.56 NATO 77grain TMK (Distance / Velocity / Energy) 20" PSA Freedom Classic AR-15 A4
M / 2854 / 1393
100 / 2636 / 1188
200 / 2428 / 1008
300 / 2229 / 850
.250 Savage 100 gr. Nosler Partition, SAAMI pressure. 20" Ruger M77RL Ultralight
M / 2620 / 1524
100 / 2352 / 1229
200 / 2100 / 980
300 / 1865 / 772
The "paper ballistics" don't tell the whole story. The 5.56 NATO load creates higher-volume wound channels from 150 yards out. Any difference twixt the twain isn't enough for an animal hit with either to live on. However, the 5.56 NATO is easier to hit with, having a flatter trajectory, shorter flight time to target, and less wind-drift.
THE RIFLE
If you're going to have a little kid shooting 5.56 NATO, the obvious choice of rifle is an AR-15 type, in the formerly popular "optics ready carbine" configuration.
If I had an adult shooter on a 200 yard range and let them shoot some discount bargain bin bolt action in .223 Remington in a course of fire duplicating a CMP Games Modern Military match, then let them shoot the same course of fire with my AR-15 A4, they'll shoot a higher score with the AR-15, every single time. If I run the same exercise with an 8 year old kid, and make the rifle my daughter's mildly modified 2009 DPMS Oracle "optics ready carbine," the kid will shoot a higher score with the AR-15, every single time. After shooting both, if you ask a kid with rifle they'd rather have, they'll pick my daughter's DPMS Oracle over a bargain-bin bolt action, every time.
Many adults can't or don't run a bolt-action rifle correctly; the don't "stay in the gun and on the sights" when they run the action. The gun community gives out advice as if they expect an 8 year old kid to do what many adults can't.
In bolt action rifles weighing 6 pounds, the felt recoil impulse between the .250 Savage and the .223 Remington is more or less the same. However, you can't run a .250 Savage in a gas-operated, semi-auto action while you quite obviously can with a .223 Remington / 5.56 NATO, and that kind of action mitigates what little recoil there is even further.
That's one advantage. Another is that your kid can stay on target while the action cycles itself and can't short-stroke the action ln the excitement of the moment like they can with a bolt action.
Discount bargain-bin bolt actions get a lot of fanboi hype on sites like this one. Owning a firearm might be potentially cheap if you're buying from the bargain bin, but actually using one never has been, is not, and never will be. I'm a pretty casual user in my old age, but even so, the cost of my shooting hobby isn't in the hardware. It is in the metal I send downrange through it and all of the costs associated with doing that.
If I wanted a Winchester Model 70 Super Grade, I wouldn't by a new Gen 2 RAR instead. I could make up the difference in cost by staying the hell out of Utah's Unit 28 during the next deer season, tanking one fewer trip to the Tonto National Forest for a quail hunt, and shooting two rounds of sporting clays a month for a couple of months instead of four.
The AR-15 world is a little different, in the sense that what you want and need in assembling a lightweight carbine for your little girl isn't what the tacti-cool crowd wants in their AR-15 carbine for "training" on stationary cardboard cutouts at 15 yards.
If I were shopping for my not so little girl now, I'd wait for Palmetto State Armory to have a "daily deal" on the Freedom Classic complete lower with carbine length buffer tube and M-4 butt. They'll run $199.99 or less. Take the Mil Spec trigger out and replace it with Midway USA's house-brand 2 stage National Match trigger for about $70.00. Ger a Freedom Classic 16" nitride barrel with carbine length gas system and bolt carrier group for $199.99. Get a Pro-Mag RM-5 or similar low-profile 5-shot mag for $12.00. Get an Ozark Armament A2 rear sight for $30.00 bucks. Swap the handguards for slimmer CAR-15 units. Add in a light nylon web carry strap, and your kid will have a better .30-30 than the real lever-action thing. The A2 sight (just the sight minus the rest of the carry handle) keeps the weight close to 6 pounds.
Before you shoot it, check the barrel nut torque. You want it around 46 ft/lb to start with. It will probably be over-torqued. Most barrel nuts on commercial AR 15's are.
Now, your daughter doesn't just have a hunting rifle, but something she can use in CMP Modern Military match shooting. and a rifle that is just plain fun to shoot and easy to maintain.
She needs to be able to pull the charging handle back fully rearward while keeping the muzzle in a safe direction, or course, but if she can do that, she'll have a lot more fun using an AR-15 than any bargain bin bolt action out there and I promise you she'll shoot it better than a bargain bolt gun away form the bench and rest, too.
