Noise, not so much recoil, was the issue with my kids when they were younger. AR's are loud guns even with hearing protection.

They both shot a 243 better than my AR and although not a hard kicker it is more than a 223.

^
This. Got a sneakin hunch it's the noise factor affecting your wife. AR's are loud.

Keep us posted.

If you want a 17 caliber center fire there is the 17 Remington and it's about 30 dollars a box for shells 4000 fps it might be hard to find ammo for or even the gun for that matter. If you can find one it's a pretty cool round.

I agree with the .22 LR. With my kids, that's what I did. I tried to get them to focus more on the shot placement, concentrating on their accuracy vs just hitting the target. We would play games and get rewards for closest to the bullseye, etc. Then I moved them up to their .243 and did the same. Their first shots with the gun were bad. After that, they began concetrating harder on the shot placement and trying to ignore the gun recoil or noise. I just practiced with them on controlled breathing, relaxing and focusing the crosshairs, then gently squeeze the trigger and the gun would go off. Nothing worse than anticipating the recoil then jerking the trigger. It should be a smooth motion. Anyway, it worked for me and it worked for the kids. Son dropped his 1st 2 deer this year. He was so focused on the shot placement, he said he never really felt the gun go off. lol

This. If a .223 bothers her, she's never gunna warm up to bigger calibers. Proper technique will solve a lot of problems.

My only advice is give her fun reactive targets to shoot. At least a spinner or something. She will look for the spin, and not the recoil.

Well the wife blasted a lot of ammo this weekend, she fell in love with the 460XVR again. Got her behind my dads rockriver operator 2, and she has now placed an order for me to build her one. Not sure what change from the last time she shot an AR, but she was quickly dumping rounds down range without flinching. Only problem was we couldn't get her on a coon, but killed the heck out of the cardboard box

Problem solved. Did it all be herself.