Mountain rifles

[Green Chile]

Excellent photos. That’s not a typical scope for a sheep hunt but many are shot at closer ranges. How far were the shots on sheep, chamois, etc?

 

[Andrew62]

How does it handle and shoot? Any photos?

View attachment IMG_4428.jpeg

 

[Green Chile]

Krish's comments on shorter length remind me that one of the benefits of a single shot is greatly reduced length...it's probably 4" shorter just by virtue of being a break open single shot.

 

[C.W. Richter]

Here is a 7prc mountain rifle he made View attachment 613168

I'd personally go w/ a #3 bbl and have it fluted (6 or 8-your choice.) It'll shoot better, like the Bansner. Looks like a factory 700 action in the bottom pic. We've taken Aoudad with the 6.5 WSM Ultimate Ovis out to 760 yds (in a 5 lb, undressed gun.) Sub-MOA @ 300 yds. 400-600 yd shots are literally chipshots if you do your shooting/handloading job correctly. 23" Lilja SS bbl, custom lightweight action (not factory), Jewell trigger, slim-line muzzle brake, Talley rings/bases, High Tech Specialties sheep hunter synth. stock fully pillar bedded. These are like lightweight benchrest guns (and on some models, he uses Borden's match actions.)

 

[Safari Dave]

My "Mountain Rifle" is currently a Kimber Hunter in 6.5CM wearing a Leupold VX3I - 3.5-10x40.

It weight less than 6 1/2 pounds.

It's not an expensive rig, but shoots extremely well.

Accurate as a laser beam.

With Nosler Trophy Grade ammo with 140g Partitions, it shoots 0.5 MOA.



It doesn't like cheap ammo, however. (for that kind of hunting, one doesn't need to be using cheap ammo.)

 

[Green Chile]

I just weighed my Gunwerks Nexus 300 PRC...took the heavy scope/rings off...24" barrel...full Arca rail...weighs 7 lbs flat. I was surprised as I thought it was at least 8 lbs. I'm getting one of the Vortex Razor HD LHT 4.5-22x50mm and they are lightweight @ 22 oz. FFP also. I could probably get this full sized rifle kitted out at 8.5 lbs. Personally I shoot the full size guns better than the lightweights. I will have to take a hard look at this option...but I do want another barrel for the Blaser K95 also.

 

[Ruraldoc]

I took my British Columbia Mountain goat with my M70 Extreme Weather in 300 wsm.

Using 180 grain accubonds. Same rifle and load worked on a big bull elk as well.

A 300 Magnum is never a bad idea in Grizzly country. The goat went down right there. The elk, shot quartering away in thick timber went less than 100 yards. I left my Nula in 30-06 at home because I wanted the stainless gun in the constant rain in that part of British Columbia.

 

[CBH Australia]

 

[R eight]

Excellent photos. That’s not a typical scope for a sheep hunt but many are shot at closer ranges. How far were the shots on sheep, chamois, etc?

Yep, I walk a different path to most on scopes.

My Dall was taken at 270 yards with a hell of a cross wind blowing.

I’ve shot most of my chamois around the 200 yard mark. The closest was a bit over 100 yards and the furthest almost 400 yards.

Thar have varied from about 150 yards to 300 yards and a solitary ridiculously long 499 yards (lasered) . I was with a mate when he shot a bull thar at around 20 yards. I guess we can all get lucky occasionally.

The last chamois I shot with the 308 and the 4x was at 200 yards, give or take.

 

[Sideshow]

325 wsm in BLR. Lighter, fast, 8mm bullets. Also you can have couple of magazines loaded for as need for the game to be shot .
KRISH

Have they improved their triggers? Never seen one in that round though. Mind you mines a 73 in .243 if I was ever to rebarrel it then 308 or 358 not that it’s what I’d call long range…..great bush gun though.

 

[Sideshow]

Here is BLR INS 300 WIN MAG . Same as 325 wsm.
View attachment 613278View attachment 613279View attachment 613280

Well that answers that

 

[Wyfox]

I just weighed my Gunwerks Nexus 300 PRC...took the heavy scope/rings off...24" barrel...full Arca rail...weighs 7 lbs flat. I was surprised as I thought it was at least 8 lbs. I'm getting one of the Vortex Razor HD LHT 4.5-22x50mm and they are lightweight @ 22 oz. FFP also. I could probably get this full sized rifle kitted out at 8.5 lbs. Personally I shoot the full size guns better than the lightweights. I will have to take a hard look at this option...but I do want another barrel for the Blaser K95 also.

Now you're on the right track, put a 20-25oz optic on it and you're ready to rock. Super ultra lite guns are over rated when you need to make "THE SHOT" of a lifetime, especially at the rate sheep hunts are going for. My mountain rifle wears a Schmidt and Bender PM2 fixed 10x42 with mil dot reticle and single turn turrets, it weighs 20oz.

Altus Shooting Solutions
300 norma mag
26" Proof Sendero
Manners carbon MCS-T
Defiance Deviant Hunter
Sunny Hill aluminum bottom metal
If I went with the Anti-X action I could drop another 7oz if I wanted.

 

[CBH Australia]

Have they improved their triggers? Never seen one in that round though. Mind you mines a 73 in .243 if I was ever to rebarrel it then 308 or 358 not that it’s what I’d call long range…..great bush gun though.

.358win I know they exist but I haven’t seen one although I have researched them once as a brush gun option.
Probably hard to come by .358 win stuff in Australia but .308 is common

 

[krish]

Have they improved their triggers? Never seen one in that round though. Mind you mines a 73 in .243 if I was ever to rebarrel it then 308 or 358 not that it’s what I’d call long range…..great bush gun though.

No. They did not improve on the Trigger. I have heard lot of people talk about it. For me it does not make a big difference. That is me.
Krish

 

[Sideshow]

No. They did not improve on the Trigger. I have heard lot of people talk about it. For me it does not make a big difference. That is me.
Krish

Had mine worked on. Came up really nice made a huge difference. Sorry not sure what exactly my gun maker did. But it went from horrible to now that’s what it should be like.

 

[Nevada Mike]

I shoot several rifles that qualify as "mountain rifles"...

Custom Win LH M70 in 280AI with Krieger barrel and Schmidt & Bender 2.5-10X Summit.

Custom LH Mathieu in 7mm Rem Mag with Pacnor barrel and Swarovski V3- 3-9X scope.

Custom Ruger No. 1 in 25-06 with Brux barrel and Leupold VX3HD 2.8-10X scope.

Currently building another on a LH M70 action and Brux barrel in .308 Norma Magnum.

These are rifles that weigh between 7-1/4 to 8 lbs. with scope. I do not care for super light rifles (or really heavy ones either).

 

[roklok]

My sheep rifle is a Remington 700 stainless action, Brown kevlar stock, Pacnor .280AI 23 inch barrel turned to factory 700 mountain rifle contour. It is topped with a Leupold 3-9 compact with TMR reticle (custom shop) in Talley lightweight rings. It weighs 6 pounds even with scope. I shoot it very well even though it is a lightweight

, it has accounted for a pile of other game as well as a few sheep it was purpose built for. This ram was 440 horizontal yards, probably around 500 actual yardage as I was shooting very steeply downhill.

 

[Scott CWO]

If you do much hunting in higher elevation for goats, sheep, etc, what is your rifle setup like? I've done a little bit of this hunting but want to do more before the mountains get too steep! I've owned Gunwerks and various carbon barreled guns but have never built one purposely for mountain hunts.

It all depends on your definition on mountain hunting. For me, it could be a mixed species hunt in BC where you might have a big black bear or moose opportunity while glassing for goats. That's a wide range of target weights and sizes and goats are notoriously tough to begin with. For that reason, I'm thinking bigger than my lightweight 6.5 PRC. That's a little lighter bullet than I would prefer for moose. Yes, you can kill moose with little bullets but you might only get an angle that needs as much bullet as you can put on it.

So I have a Christensen Arms 6.5 PRC that is light and accurate but again, the bullet weight is a little marginal for larger animals. I have a Gunwerks 300 PRC Nexus but the weight is 9.5# scoped. That's a little heavy for busting through nasty alders, etc. I'm thinking of something lighter in that 7mm to .300 caliber range and in a 20-22" barrel.

What are you using or what would you build for this application?

I had a custom extremely lightweight rifle built for this exact application. I wanted 30 caliber for hunting sheep, grizzly, moose and caribou. I shot my sheep Grand Slam with it and lots of other game. It’s based on a stainless Winchester M70 CRF short action in 300 WSM. It’s got a thin Krieger stainless barrel and a lightweight stock. Believe it or not it weights just 5.5 pounds without scope. I once shot a 2.5” group with it at 400 yards with 165 grain Accubond bullets. This load is readily available from Choice Ammunition. It’s a dream to carry and I never feel the recoil when hunting. It has a muzzle brake that I can remove and cap. I used it last year in the Yukon for caribou but didn’t get a grizzly. For some reason, the caribou picture won’t load but here’s pictures of some other game I’ve shot with it.

 

[WAB]

I had a custom extremely lightweight rifle built for this exact application. I wanted 30 caliber for hunting sheep, grizzly, moose and caribou. I shot my sheep Grand Slam with it and lots of other game. It’s based on a stainless Winchester M70 CRF short action in 300 WSM. It’s got a thin Krieger stainless barrel and a lightweight stock. Believe it or not it weights just 5.5 pounds without scope. I once shot a 2.5” group with it at 400 yards with 165 grain Accubond bullets. This load is readily available from Choice Ammunition. It’s a dream to carry and I never feel the recoil when hunting. It has a muzzle brake that I can remove and cap. I used it last year in the Yukon for caribou but didn’t get a grizzly. For some reason, the caribou picture won’t load but here’s pictures of some other game I’ve shot with it.View attachment 613793

View attachment 613795
View attachment 613796View attachment 613797

Who built that rifle for you Scott?

 

[Green Chile]

Excellent Scott. All those rams are great but that bighorn is a tank. Very cool...reminds me of the saying you should see the other guy! He beat the crap out of some rams.