I am looking for suggestions for a bugout bag for my girlfriend. She's small, merely 5' tall, so weight is a big issue. I don't exactly have a gun I can assign to her as a MBR, when money comes around it might be a lightened up AK(I think removing the wood furniture would make a good difference in her ability to handle one.) She can't shoot my Enfield, or my .35 lever action, the recoil is too much. Anyhow, I'm trying to put together a BOB for her, now that mine's at 90% completion. Any suggestions to lighten things up? Keep in mind, I want to set her up with a good LBV when I find another, as well. Should anything happen to me when shtf, I want the best possible protection for my daughter, ya know?

First if you have an REI or EMS around you take her there, they have packs designed specifically for women and they will fit them to her size. As to the MBR, have you thought about a Cricket? Sorry, couldn't resist.

a normal backpack such as a jansport is what I use, it fits my needed things, mainly .308 ammo, and medical stuff. clothes in another bag.
as far as an MBR goes, a saiga .223 would do her well, also the keltec SU-16.
or maybe a lever action 45 colt or .357 mag.
mainly worry about ammo availability, .308 will be second most available. after .223
so a good BLR lever uses .308 take her to pick her gun out.

Here is a small one i carry when i am on the road in my other work truck (room limited)
blog/Johnny/a_small_b.o.b._i_carry_whenthere_is_no_room_for_the_big_one_b-20.html

You could make some adjustments to that one.

i set my wife up with .22, heres why first shes going to avoid people, not look for fights. good round for servival light and wount kick the crap out of her. id rather her carry a weaopon she is not going to hesitate with or be scared to use it. shes a hell of a shot with the ruger mk 3, and 10/22. and you can find .22 ammo a everywhere. as far as a pack i picked up a used new style militaer day pack. i use and alice so i carry more of the bulk but shes got 3 days worth of food a change of cloths means to make a fire, means to make shelter, a bladder and 1 qt canteen along with water tablets and a mess kit incase she needs to boil water. theres tons of little handy things in there for her but im not going to write out the list id have to go get the pack. anyways the point is i kept it simple light and functional.

22 has already been sudgested but what about an M-1 Carbine?

Not to beat a dead horse, but my wife is assigned a 10-22 as well. For the same reasons as well as the lightweight ammo and the 25 round mags.

My wife's and my BOB's are almost complete opposites. They're both purpose built. She would need to travel from TX to CO so she has things like an AK bayonet, water purification tablets, her .38spcl, extra ammo, a simple Trioxane stove I made, sleeping bag, tent, NATO matches, etc. Mine has a Kershaw skinner, PUR filter, misc ammo for both handgun and long gun, Whisper stove & fuel, sleeping bag, tarp, magnesium fire starter, crampons, ice ax, snow shoes, etc. We decided against a fire starter for her because she's not skilled with one so we got her lots of the NATO matches, she would have difficulty building a tarp shelter so she got a tent, food would be what she could carry, I would hunt. There are many things listed here (shtfmilitia) that I don't carry and many things that I'm sure no one here would carry like the crampons and ice ax that due to my bugout route being over some 12,000'+ mtns I wouldn't leave without. It took us a good month to get a list of what she needed, I would just grab my hunting pack and add my trekking/mountaineering stuff that are right next to it. When I hunt I carry enough for a 2 week very spartan stay if something happens and would rely 100% on my survival and hunting skills whereas she doesn't have many survival skills and doesn't hunt so we had to make sure things were in it that would make travel easier and quicker for her without needing her to learn things on the fly which could possibly endanger her life. Take your bugout route, her physical abilities and survival knowledge into consideration, you may add or delete things other may feel are either required or unnecessary depending upon what she is capable of.

Good job.

Unless she's had a LOT of training with guns, survival, etc, I suggest a 4 lb, out of production Marlin Papoose .22 takedown autorifle for her, and a 13 oz Keltec 9mm pocket gun.It's all she'll have any real use for, so why burden her with more? The AR-7 Henry is a pc of junk, but it is about 1.5 lbs lighter, and will it float for quite a while, if stored in its buttstock. It sinks pretty quickly if assembled, tho. Few women can "run and gun" for more than a mile with more than 20 lbs. So that leaves little capacity after her water, a day's rations, water filter, pack, sleeping gear, longjohns,coat, hat gloves. thje water, for instance, is 6 lbs. The pack is at least 4 lbs. Gotta have a padded harness and a frame, or it's near worthless for carrying more than about 10 lbs.