Small framed, left handed girls rifle

[freediver111]

My 13 yr old daughter is quickly becoming my main hunting buddy, which is awesome. In 1-1/2 seasons she’s harvested a doe, black bear, and 32” beauty of a mulie, mostly hike-in wilderness hunting. It’s been a ton of fun watching her progress say to the least. She’s doing great in cross country and has my old ass training (mostly trailing) with her.

Up to now she’s using one of my custom rifles in 6.5 creed, XLR chassis, and adjustable stock. It’s a little heavy and my kid is petite. Like short, lean, coming in around 75 lbs.

Also, she’s a leftie. I also shoot left, but I’m right handed and learned as a kid to shoot right handed rifles on the left side, so I’m an odd duck. I should have invested in left handed rifles a long time ago, but I used tikka actions I already had for custom builds. Oh well.

My 6.5 is just too heavy for her. It’s not super heavy, but was built as my comp/trainer gun rather than mountain gun.

So thinking I should go left handed guns for her.

Criteria:
-left hand, threaded muzzle (always shoot with a can and area 419 hellfire adapter), and prefer 20” barrel. Shorter LOP would be nice but she shoots well with standard LOP guns. Also will have an Arca rail as she almost always shoots off a tripod.

I wanted to get her a Sako S20 thumb hole, but it’s only in right hand.

I contemplated a compact tikka t3 model, but they aren’t threaded nor any left hand models.

Love tikkas, but in lefty it’s limited. I can get a Veil model, which pretty much checks all my boxes except for a 24” barrel.

I have limited experience with Bergara’s, but really like the new Mg micro they have in the XLR mini chassis. But it’s a little over budget after my recent custom builds.

The Bergara Wilderness Sierra checks off all the boxes, plus adjustable comb which I like. Based on pics alone I would prefer a little more vertical grip closer to the trigger, but might be about perfect for her needs.

Thoughts or suggestions?


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[sierracharlie338]

Here’s my 0.02. I wouldn’t spend the money on Bergara due to the gamble on QC. I’m sure someone will come on here and tell me I’m wrong shortly.

Honestly I would build what you are after. MPA can get you a compact youth chassis (if you want to go that route for adjustability) painted in prison pink

There are some solid carbon stock options out there possibly with girl colors or you could always order plain and have it painted/paint it.

Pick a lightweight action or even source a left hand Tikka action and get a quality barrel chambered in the cartridge of you/her choice.

Sincerely
Another girl dad whose kid loves hunting and fishing

 

[bpctcb]

I’d give a hard look at a Savage 110 Magpul Hunter Left Hand - 18" - 6.5 Creedmoor.
I have one in a righty and it’s crazy accurate.

BP

 

[gbflyer]

Get the lefty Tikka of caliber choice and have the barrel cut and threaded. Easy peasy. 6.5cm, 7-08 are great choices and the suppressor is the way. Also they have a lefty 8 twist 22-250 which would be fantastic for the heavies. Unless her mom is tiny I suspect she will quickly grow into the stock. If not, there are options. I had McMillan make a game scout for me with a spacer system. It goes from 12.5 to 14 lop.

 

[LeftyWilbury]

i bought a lefty tikka 243 w 1:8 twist, hunter wood stocked because that's what i could get. sent it to kampfeld customs. chopped to 20" and threaded 5/8-24 w collar and thread protector for under $200. that doesn't help with getting a smaller stock but it's a great rifle and awesome with a can on the end. a T3x Lite with plastic stock would be lighter if you can find one. i ended up putting it in a stocky's VG carbon fiber but that trigger reach is too long for me and definitely her. great stock otherwise tho

easy button would be T3x roughtech in 308 left hand. already threaded. lighter stock. my 308 LH roughtech has 20" barrel too. but recoil is a bit more than 243 even shooting 125 gr GMX (vs 87 gr 243 hammer hunters). not that much more, but noticeable to me and i'm not recoil sensitive, just aware. both are great guns but 243 is more funner for me.

boyd's stocks probably have a smaller stock option that could be had for under $200 to pass the time until the regular stock fits regardless of caliber.

 

[Loper]

I’m not aware of any factory configurations that meet all your criteria. I beleive you are going to have to compromise somewhere. Either going to need to cut/thread the barrel, cut the stock, or get a customer stock.

I think the suggestions above about the tikka are good ones. Browning makes the micro midas x-bolts in left hand but you’ll still neeed to thread the 20” barrel. The Ruger American Gen2 may fit the bill for you as they are adjustable stocks as well as threaded 20” barrels. However, they don’t make them in a left hand configurations yet. Perhaps they’ll announce the lefty version at SHOT show in January.

 

[Bfish22]

Tikka T3x CTR 6.5 Creedmoor 20" 1:8" Bbl Left Hand Rifle JRTXC482

Tikka T3x CTR 6.5 Creedmoor 20" 1:8" Bbl Left Hand Rifle JRTXC482 For Sale

www.eurooptic.com

As far as the compact stock, my sons also are lefty’s. I bought a right handed compact stock for his lefty 308 and just ground the notch for the bolt handle out on the left side with a dermal and it works great. I’ll grab a pic of it and send it to you.

To fit the compact stock to the ctr, you’d need to open up the barrel channel a touch, get a standard tikka mag and a mag retention spring

 

[willtim]

Browning A bolt Micro left hand.

 

[SomeJackassOnAForum]

My daughter is right handed but left eye dominant. I've kept her on right handed rifles shot lefty because she'll have more access to better choices.

 

[wesfromky]

https://www.eurooptic.com/JRTXB415-Tikka-Tikka-T3x-Lite-LH-243-Win-S-S-SYN-224--barrel.aspx Just get it chopped and add the tikka vert grip or an aftermarket stock.

Or, the bonus round would be to buy a left handed 6.5cm and put a 18" 6cm barrel on it.

 

[Clarktar]

You know the answer already.

 

[freediver111]

You know the answer already.

Yeah, I was just flirting with what people thought about Bergara’s.

If I’m being honest, it’ll almost certainly be a lefty tikka (veil or roughtech), and probably eventually put it in a XLR or MDT chassis if she still prefers shooting chassis down the road.

So Tikka roughtech vs veil vs ember? What’s the difference between these? Roughtech saves me about $400 over the veil or embers. All seem to be threaded and stocks all about the same? Stock color is of zero importance.


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[BREAKCONTACT]

I would look to get something that would be more multipurpose when a kid is that young. I would just look at building a upper or rifle in 6 arc if you dont already have an ar. Still can be very lightweight and nothing on it will be something that someone outgrows, and build the rifle she wants when she's older with enough experience to know what she wants. My $.02

 

[Mojave]

The biggest problem is weight.

I built a short action 6.5 CM for my daughter with a Greybull Precision stock I cut down, and a custom barrel on a ARC Nucleus.

I don't recommend building anything. Just buy the lightest 243 or 6.5 cm she can manage. In a stock that is adjustable like the savage.

 

[Mojave]

The biggest problem is weight.

I built a short action 6.5 CM for my daughter with a Greybull Precision stock I cut down, and a custom barrel on a ARC Nucleus.

I don't recommend building anything. Just buy the lightest 243 or 6.5 cm she can manage. In a stock that is adjustable like the savage.

The reason I say don't go hog wild building something, is that mine lost interest very quickly. So we had this oddball gun that I ended up parting out to sell.

 

[elkhunter505]

I know some people are not in on Christensen, but I bought a 6.5 PRC Mesa FFT left hand version this year to have as a mountain gun. The thing flat shoots. I would not even hesitate to buy another; however, I wish they made the regular Mesa with a 20” barrel because the weight difference is negligible and I am going to put it in a different stock eventually anyway. I was going to get a 6.5 CM but the PRC was on sale more so I went with that and have 0 regrets. Reason for getting the rifle in the first place was I am a small guy, 5’4 and 170 lbs, and the 7mm mag that I have just kicks me around a lot. Love that gun to death but it’s heavy to carry and it kicks hard. With all the new research and anecdotes on the smaller calibers, my 7MM is either going to be sold or rebarreled to a standard cartridge like a 280 AI. I don’t shoot far enough to justify the magnum recoil. I used to be super recoil shy and I have grown out of that but still the 7MM is not a gun I go to the range expecting to have a good time, the 6.5 PRC on the other hand absolutely is and I have only had it a month and a half. Lastly the thing is just stupid light with the FFT stock and it still is very mild recoiling.