Thanks for further replies.

JohnE: I'll take a look at the link for the air guns. I was just looking at pellet guns - mostly out of curiosity. They have come a long way since the old days when I was a kid and people used to shoot plain old BB guns. A .22 pellet moving at 1100-1300 fps is getting pretty lethal for small game. I could have really used one of those things just a few years ago. At that time I had a house with a bit of property - but located in a rural town in CA. The ground squirels got to be a real problem, and tore up the yard. My dog wasn't fast enough to catch them. A nice pellet gun might have really evened the score.

Other responders: I'm leaning towards a lever gun in .30-30 or 44 magnum. Probably about the right muzzle energy and range for the sorts of forested hills we have in CA. And enough stopping power to deal with a rogue animal or a cougar.

About my women folk - yes you guys are right on this forum. They need more trigger time. A Ruger 10/22 is probably a good solution.

Here's a link that I go to when looking at recoil forces / energies for weapons. But some folks here may disagree ... the numbers never tell the whole story.

http://www.chuckhawks.com/recoil_table.htm

thanks,
other Pete