Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunting Rifles What rings and bases are on your sheep rifle?

I do not believe so sir. I don't think we have ever horse traded.... Not only that, you've lost me with your terminology...

My apologies, I took you for another Albertan, whom I have sent one of the quite rare little Redfield "peep" sights, used by many active hunters in my younger days. He is also a "lefty" and has had a number of Classic 70s, in various Edge stocks, I was in a hurry to go to my ill wife and my elderly mind malfunctioned.

Again, I am very sorry to have disturbed you.

I have several P-64 Mod. 70s and two Classics, very much like your rifle, except I prefer adding irons to mine.....it's a "geezer" thing, I guess. Anyway, VERY nice piece, I am sure it will do you proud on "The Eastern Slopes".

No apologies necessary sir!

Thank you for the positive comments on my rifle. Mr. Leeper put it together for me 3 or 4 years ago and it has been my go to ever since. It's easy to like, especially given that it is confused and shoots like it's a varmint rig!

I'm very sure I know the S AB southpaw you're referring to; he and I have horse traded many times!

A lot of us wished greydog lived on this side of the border...

That S AB southpaw is a fine young man, he shows the kind of basic decency that is evermore rare in today's society.

I think GD IS an American, can he not build something here and just take it into the US?

Indeed. Good people. Actually, and in an attempt to get the thread back on topic , the Hunter's Edge on my rifle came from one of his old 'sheep rifles'...

We like him right where he is...

This thread seems to have fixated into my mind and I awoke early this morning, thinking about the entire issue of what Brad, correctly describes as ...ungulate rifles..., as I doubt that many here actually HAVE specific rifles purpose-built and used only for wild sheep.

So, with the spare scope-no spare scope question and the issue of functional irons on such a rifle(s) and also the, I would have thought, obvious undertanding that a spare scope taken on a backpack hunt is left at your "spike" camp, NOT taken on a "stalk" of a ram or a billy, WHAT are the parameters of weight and design that those here consider correct for the entire rifle?

In Sept. 2012, on my last actual mountain backpack hunt, in the area of BC's sheep, etc. mountains where I was born and raised I carried a customized Dakota 76-.338WM, in a synthetic stock all work by Martini Gunmakers of Cranbrook, BC. This rifle, with it's irons and Leupold 1.75x6 scope weighs just a hair less than 8.5 lbs and would this be TOO heavy for the various sheep experts, which I am not and have never claimed to be, on this thread.

If so, WHAT do these guys carry AND is it perhaps doable to have a spare Leupy in TQDs, at an acceptable rifle weight, by cutting weight elsewhere, on the actual rifle, or, perhaps, leaving one's camera, whiskey or maybe Ipad, at home?

I am almost certainly now at the end of MY mountain hunting, but, remain as fascinated by all things concerned with the wilderness and high country I have spent so much of my 67+ years in that I find ALL the honest opinions here very interesting and fun to discuss.

have you had to press your spare into service? I've had several scopes crap out at the range recreational plinking, but I've not had one fail on a hunt. I've gone back and forth on this. for now, it's Talley LWs

I've done two sheep hunts. The first I had QR's and a spare rolled in foam, stuffed in a paper towel tube wrapped in duct tape. We were dropped at spike camp in a Cub, so the weight was not a concern. I didn't pack it daily, but was in the tent just in case.

The 2nd, I had QR's again, but this time I never took a back up, deciding to roll the dice, feeling the R&B's were up to the task.

One Leupy in a bad fall, one NEW Bushnell, just totally fogged on one brutally cold, late hunt in the rugged and still quite isolated "Lardeau" area of BC's West Kootenays, this in Dec. 1966 and that is it for hunting scopes. Some older Weavers, on rifles belonging to companions, again, back in the mid-'60s and so I became quite a believer in a spare scope and/or good irons.

I know, perhaps more than most, due to conditions of my longterm employment and this was some time ago as well as a very serious and surgically mismanaged teenage injury, just HOW important the "weight" issue IS in backpacking. However, I sometimes just wonder, why, some are so adamant about certain aspects of this and yet these same guys hunt with rifles of 8,5 lbs and then "worry" over a spare scope?

I dunno, but, I just wonder why a spare scope is such a big deal to those who carry a number of non-essentials in the packs they haul all over sheep country.

Since, one is going to have his sheep "trophy" mounted, WHY bother with a video cam and does one HAVE to have a celebratory drink when one finally shoots a ram?

I don't care, one way or another, but, it just seems a bit contradictory to me.

understood.

What bases do you use? Just the �cheap� standard aluminum bases? 1 or 2 piece?

http://www.weaveroptics.com/rings_bases/bases/top_aluminum_bases/

Talley LW's on everything- not much sheep hunting in the future for me, but probably another Ibex hunt in the future, with either the .280 or the .270 WSM.

If they were't heaver, everything would wear Warne QD rings.

Most of my lightweight and ultra-lightweight rifles have Talley lt-weights on them. A couple from the early days have Weavers, but they have not seen the mountain in a while. I have wasted space and weight a few times with a spare scope and won't go there again.

Just realized a favorite 7x57, built on a '32 Mex Mauser, is also wearing Weavers because the Talleys were not available. I have never had a Weaver fail and their repeatability is remarkable when swapping scopes, but I like the Talleys best.

I can only speak for myself and, perhaps to a lesser extent, my friends and the areas of the backcountry that we hunt...

In my personal circle of hunting friends, the few who are truly 'mountain hunters', whether for sheep, elk or mule deer, are absolutely ruthless 'gram weenies'. Nothing that isn't absolutely necessary goes in the pack. Shelters are well under 2 pounds, Ti cookwear, minimalist knives, etc... I am probably the least extreme about weight and do take some abuse for my 'overweight' M7o, Mystery Ranch pack and 'real' knife. But still, all gizmos, etc stay home; GPS included, the majority of the time.

No one has ever packed an extra scope, or really even considered it, that I know of. Not a open sighted rifle in the bunch either, save for levers and 'fun guns'...

Our stuff is cared for, but not babied. We've had some fairly good mountainside wipeouts and rodeos over the years and only had that one scope I mentioned earlier lose zero by 1". One friend had a set of Talley LWs crack, but that was caught before the hunt. Honestly, I hunt solo more than anybody else in our group and the scope failing or losing zero is way down the list of things I worry about. Use good stuff, double check it and don't worry about it... Optics have come a long, long ways IMO.

Perhaps I'll end up paying the piper for it one day? It might be a bigger concern if it were a once in a lifetime type of hunt?

Leupold, but my sheep rifle is not a light wt.. I do keep an extra scope in my duffel.. Fitted with rings.. This outfit has been on two sheep hunts, and hopefully before I cash in I will make one more.. Have all the points for this fall's draw..

What little sheep hunting I did, my rifle had Redfield rings and bases. And the rifle was a stock Remington 700 BDL no less press checking and all. It was a 7mm RM took a Stone Dall and Big horn with it, Could not afford a Desert even back then. Now well not in this life time. Oh well I should have gone for a way better paying type of work than flying light aircraft around but that kind of flying got me to those sheep or I should say the opportunity to hunt those sheep. Its al in my past were it belongs along with the house fire too.

I have to admit, I go back and forth on this subject.

The pragmatic inner Norwegian/Yankee says go with detachable rings and a light backup.

The realist says it's statistically a waste of time.

I actually DO backpack/mountain hunt every year, so it's not an academic question for me.

HOWEVER, I'm not on an expensive guided hunt 1,000 miles away from home either... this could make a difference in my thinking.

Right now I'm going to run Talley Lwt's and a fixed Leupold.

Were I heading to Northern BC on a $20K Stone Sheep hunt I might put Weavers on top and have a 2.5X Leupold backup zeroed and on hand.

I've backpacked thousands of miles since the age of 14 and will be the first one to preach, take care of the ounces and the pounds will take care of themselves.

But I'd likely take a light backup on an out-of-state, expensive, guided hunt...

My old man the pilot loved flying the 747 over the whale pasture... when the FAA started allowing twin engine flights, his only comment was "redundancy is a marvelous thing."

He's a Yankee and a Norwegian...