Before you make a purchase, ask friends if they have some guns your wife could shoot. Then buy the largest caliber she is comfortable shooting. My wife is petite, so I bought her a .243. In four years she has killed twelve deer and my step-daughter has killed four with it. Of the sixteen deer, seven dropped in their tracks, seven went less than fifty yards, and two went close to 100 yards before dropping. She did shoot one deer this year that I think she hit, but we found no blood or hair. As we talked about it, she wants to go a little larger caliber. she has now tried a .308 (hardly any kick at all) and a 270 (more kick, but she likes it the best). Just let her shoot different ones to see what she is comfortable with and go from there.