Best Caliber for sheep hunting

[IvW]

Kipplauf 7x65R....

 

[Nevada Mike]

I have a mountain rifle being completed by Aaron Little right now. Sub 8 lb M70 with 23” Kreiger barrel in 280 AI… my ideal for most mountain hunting in western North America.

 

[Nkawu]

I have a mountain rifle being completed by Aaron Little right now. Sub 8 lb M70 with 23” Kreiger barrel in 280 AI… my ideal for most mountain hunting in western North America.

What barrel profile and stock are you going with? Have you decided on an optic?

 

[Nevada Mike]

What barrel profile and stock are you going with? Have you decided on an optic?

Sporter barrel profile - do not have measurements at hand. The stock is a custom job from English Walnut.

I'll put my S&B Summit 2.5-10X with No. 4 reticle on the rifle with Talley non QD mounts.

 

[Wishfulthinker580]

Anybody ever used or heard of the 270 Howell?

 

[Ray B]

If you ae willing to take a 500 yard shot that should mean that you aren't doing a lot of stalking. In that case a slightly heavier rifle would be used, however I prefer to be no more than 350 yards so I plan on doing a lot of walking/sneaking. as such I'm willing to trade the ballistics of 350 - 500 yards for a lighter handier rifle. For this I use an FN 98 commercial action, thinned to small ring diameter with a 21" CP Donnelly barrel chambered for 257 Ackley Improved. With a Leupold Alaskan 6x scope, Leupold bases/rings, leather sling and loaded it weighs 8 pounds. There are several 120 grain bullets that work well but my favorite is the North fork semi spitzer.

 

[WAB]

If you ae willing to take a 500 yard shot that should mean that you aren't doing a lot of stalking. In that case a slightly heavier rifle would be used, however I prefer to be no more than 350 yards so I plan on doing a lot of walking/sneaking. as such I'm willing to trade the ballistics of 350 - 500 yards for a lighter handier rifle. For this I use an FN 98 commercial action, thinned to small ring diameter with a 21" CP Donnelly barrel chambered for 257 Ackley Improved. With a Leupold Alaskan 6x scope, Leupold bases/rings, leather sling and loaded it weighs 8 pounds. There are several 120 grain bullets that work well but my favorite is the North fork semi spitzer.

No matter how much stalking you do, you may still be faced with a long shot on a sheep hunt.

 

[colorado]

You won't find me walking around where there is a good chance of taking a grizzly/brown bear with anything less than .270 with good bullets as a personal minimum. I know it's been done and I am sure there are people that do it all the time. But not me...

My pet handload for my BDL in 270 is a 150g Partition at just over 3000 fps. Been using that load forever. One shot kills at 600 yards (my longest shot) on elk. Many at 400 to 500 yards. Not saying it's the best caliber, but it just plain works.

 

[Happy Myles]

i have taken most of the worlds wild sheep in their native environment. Including, a couple North American slams, a Marco Polo, and Altai in Mongolia.Mostly open country and i truly enjoy strategizing how to get within confident shooting range. Most of my rams were shot from 80 out to two hundred yards. My Marco Polo was a shade over 300 yards as was one of my Mongolian rams. I am proud to write all were one shot kills. One was killed with my 257 Ackley Improved the rest were taken with 300 Win Mag. My 300 is extremely accurate and kills with great authority. Everything…

 

[fourfive8]

I was unaware that any shot at game has to taken. Hunters may choose to shoot or not, whether the range is reasonable or not

My choice would be Win M70 in 270 with good quality synthetic stock and basic 4x or 6x scope. Even though thin barrels weigh less, too thin or too light may compromise accuracy and/or steady hold. Accurate shooting, when the time comes, needs to be weighed against ease of carry. For me, for this type game and hunting, accuracy trumps most other considerations…. realizing everything is a compromise.

Of course if you are hunting where brown or grizzly bears have been habituated to equating gun shots to dinner bells, that is a different question. Example: I would think twice about choice of caliber/rifle to hunt little blacktails on Kodiak

 

[Velo Dog]

Fellow Rifle Grumps & Fellow Hunters,

I’m 100% in agreement with those who go the extra mile so to speak, in trying their very very best at stalking in as close as is humanly possible, to whatever critter they intend to put in their stew pot and on their wall, sheep or otherwise.

However, I am likewise in agreement with those who point out the fact that, now and then, due to brutally steep geography and lack of foliage, one must either be able to hit a dinner plate size vital zone target at several hundred meters / yards or, go home empty handed.

For this type of high mountain hunting conditions, as others have already said, one must work hard to be in excellent physical condition before arriving way up high in the steep, unforgiving mountains, “Where trees don’t grow and the air is thin”.

Equally as important is that we practice, practice, practice and then, practice some more, with our “light sheep rifle”, especially from prone position and from sitting position as well.

Form a brief time, CZ offered their excellent but now discontinued Model 550, in a lighter weight than normal version of their excellent Model 550 rifle, in caliber 7mm Remington Magnum.
Seems like it’d make a decent sheep rifle, mounted with a quality 6x scope (to save weight but still have enough magnification for longer shots).

Furthermore, with that type of hunting, a MORE than **6x rifle scope would not be problematic, ok except for the added weight.

Generally speaking, I only like to use heavier, powerful magnification scopes on rifles for shooting tiny ground squirrels and such.

Last but it least, if I were a serious sheep and mountain goat hunter, I might try to have an accurate and yet light weight bolt action or single shot rifle, in caliber 7x64 as another good choice for my “Mountain Rifle”, again with no more than a light weight but high quality 6x scope.

Cheers,
El Velo Doggo.

 

[Drisabraham]

I live and work in extreme SW Texas in Desert Mountains and chase Aoudad Sheep and most shots are over 500yds. My rifle is 6.5/300 Weatherby Mag, 26 in bbl, Vortex Razor Gen II 5x25. I use Nosler bullets 140 gr. This gun has 19 inch drop at 500 yds. Hot, dry weather make long distance shooting easy on ballistics. It works for me.

 

[Velo Dog]

Hello fourfive8,

Although I have not seen any bear come to my rifle shots on Kodiak or any of the other places I’ve taken deer in Alaska.
Nonetheless, I totally agree with you about needing to always be ready for encountering hunger driven grizzlies while hunting hooved game everywhere in Alaska, Canada and soforth.

As such, I almost always hunt with a .375, just in case it happens ( as it has happened to me more than once or twice, while carrying fresh meat back to camp).
So far, I’ve been able to get by without having to shoot it out with an aggressive bear but, one never knows when it might.
Great minds think alike.

Best Regards,
Velo Dog.

 

[WyoBull]

7mm RUM shooting Barnes 145 LRX.

 

[fourfive8]

@Velo Dog
On Kodiak or anywhere I’ve noticed browns and grizzlies catch on pretty quickly. A pilot I know was hunting deer on Kodiak and had a brown come and claim two. Said it didn’t take 10 minutes for the bear to get there For a while I think it was really bad there but over time with enough DLP killings, justified or not, that trend may have partly reversed in the short term. I had browns, each a big single boar, come to shots on caribou hunts two years in a row.- about 50 miles E of Bethel. Contributed about 1/2 caribou on the first one and a hind quarter on the second. Closer to home another buddy had a stand off with a grizzly over an elk he killed above Afton Wyo. Lost all the elk- but not at all worth a fight or overt fisticuffs especially on horseback with the bear - most regs in most states favoring bears’ rights to game.

 

[WAB]

@Velo Dog
On Kodiak or anywhere I’ve noticed browns and grizzlies catch on pretty quickly. A pilot I know was hunting deer on Kodiak and had a brown come and claim two. Said it didn’t take 10 minutes for the bear to get there For a while I think it was really bad there but over time with enough DLP killings, justified or not, that trend may have partly reversed in the short term. I had browns, each a big single boar, come to shots on caribou hunts two years in a row.- about 50 miles E of Bethel. Contributed about 1/2 caribou on the first one and a hind quarter on the second. Closer to home another buddy had a stand off with a grizzly over an elk he killed above Afton Wyo. Lost all the elk- but not at all worth a fight or overt fisticuffs especially on horseback with the bear - most regs in most states favoring bears’ rights to game.

Much hinges on the berry crop. When the berries fail the bear are much more aggressive.

 

[Iclimb]

I have a custom rifle built by ts customs and it’s a shooter, my idea of a modern sheep rifle.
it’s chambered in 6.5x284 and throated long
the Highlights
lone peak razor ss
benchmark #4 stWright flute 1:8” @ 25.5”
manners elite eh6
hawkins bdl metal
wyatts mag box
hawkins hybrid rings

i need to get it posted but I’m going to be selling, if the caliber tickles your interest
while I like 280ai (in my mind) I think the 6.5x284 is a bit more appropriate for the weight range bullet I would pick.

 

[WAB]

Interesting. The 6.5 PRC I reference above was
put together by TS Customs. Travis builds some accurate weapons!

 

[Mtn_Infantry]

I’ve never hunted sheep, but it’s very high on my list. I have two rifles that come to mind for a sheep hunt. The first is a .280AI with a Proof Barrel and topped with a Swaro Z5 3.5-18x44, that weight in at under 7lbs loaded. The second is an older Rem700 in .257wby topped with a Leupold VX6 3-18x50. This gun is a good bit heavier, but an absolute tack driver with 100gr TTSX bullets and I’ve used it on game beyond 500yds.

As it stands right now, when it comes time to sheep hunt (because I got lucky in the draw or decided to bite the bullet and book a hunt in Alaska or Canada) these are the two rifles I’ll likely have to pick between. I’ll likely pick between one of these 2 rifles if I draw a Kodiak goat tag this coming year as well.

 

[Nevada Mike]

i'm not a sheep hunter. From what i have experienced in hunting in mountains where sheep and goats are hunted, and from what I understand from my reading, sheep hunters should have a rifle of moderate to light weight in a fairly flat shooting rifle.

I also beilieve that there are longer shots (on average) taken when hunting pronghorn and Coues whitetails than are typical of sheep hunting. Could be wrong on this.