My daughter is turning 11 in a couple days. She started hunting when she was 8 and has killed 3 deer so far, 2 bucks and a doe, along with probably 30-40 racoons. She's always used her brothers rifle for deer or my .22 mag for the racoons, so I set out about a year ago to build her a bolt action rifle. When I say build, I mean collect the parts and pieces and have a professional assemble .
I had Alamo build me a 28 Nosler on the Manners long range hunter stock and I really liked the stock, so we started there, got with Manners and ordered a long-range hunter with a short length of pull, in all her favorite colors, purple and blue with pink web. From there I added the new all titanium Ti X Defiance short action, weighs in at 16.8oz., the bottom metal is the Hawkins hunter BDM where the mag is flush with the bottom of the rifle. The barrel is a 22" Proof carbon, and the bang switch is a Triggertech 2-stage Diamond flat bow with the second stage breaking at about 1.6lbs. We topped it off with a Leupold Mark 4HD 4.5-18. Almost forgot the caliber, it’s a 7mm-08, she's working on a name for her now. We make it quiet with an AB Raptor 8 stack.

We took it out to friend’s house, and I did the break in process recommended by Blue Mountain Precision who made the Proof a prefit for the Defiance action, zeroed the gun and let her go to town shooting paper, steel and a couple bags of fruit we grabbed on the way to the range. She took one shot at the paper, one shot at the 12" steel target, hit dead center on both, then shot an apple about 4" in diameter, then went straight for the little mandarin orange about the size of a silver dollar. She had a blast she probably shot 20 rounds total, and we lost track of those little oranges she exploded.

I was very proud of her, on about her third shot she didn't have the gun shouldered very well and the scope gave her a little kiss above the eye, didn't break the skin, but she never missed a beat she wanted to get right back on the gun.

I think Bobo wishes he was your daughter.

Those must be his favorite colors too!!!

You are a generous dad, very awesome rifle. She can use that for the rest of her life.

That's so great! You are an amazing dad who is creating lifetime memories!

Impressive rifle and shooter!

That’s a great first gun , could be a lifetime gun if she wanted it to be

It better me....

Congrats...I absolutely love putting guns together for the kids. The guys at the deer lease have trusted me with several of their kids builds and it tickles me to get to be a part of it.

That's the future of our hobby and I love playing a small part in that. Enjoy it and I hope she piles up stuff with her new rifle.

What a sweet set up for that little lady. I hope she puts it to good use for many, many years. Talk about a keepsake, that is one for sure.

Glorious!

Happy for both of you, that's what dad's are for.
This fall she'll be stacking up the deer.

LOVE IT!

Nice! What kind of rifle does her brother have?

Well....his first rifle was a Savage Model 11 .243 which he's killed 6 bucks and several does with. He goes to the DU banquet with me every year and he's won a shotgun, 3 rifles, and a pistol so he's got a small arsenal. I asked him after I gave it to her if he wanted me to put one together for him and he said yeah he would like to pick out the stock.

Good job not buying her a giant piece of crap for a first rifle like most do. She will enjoy that rifle and caliber for a lifetime!

Thats awesome, great job dad Happy hunting for the mighty huntress with her new rifle!

Good job!

This a awesome. Congrats