Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Ask The Gunwriters Arthritic shoulders and recoil.

Age old dilemma.
We want a flat shooting, super accurate, non-kicking, heavy hitter that weights as much as a plastic stocked red rider and fires ammo that is cheap and available at every five and dime,

But I believe we all have to make compromises on the ideal rifle.
Give up some lightness or some power, or submit to more noise, or some combo of these.

Nothing can get around the laws of physics.

I also dislike muzzle breaks, but if I wanted an elk rifle that I felt 100% confident in, that only weighed around 6.75 pounds of less, I would go with a good break and carry ear plugs around my neck on a string when I hunted. In some cases you'll have time to put them in your ears, and in the cases where the elk is close you can fire quickly before it gets away and one shot at a large close target is not likely to bother you all that much.

Or give up on the feather weight idea and go with an auto loader in a 6.5 or 7-08 caliber, based on a short action. Such a rifle can be field ready, loaded and scoped at about 8.5 to 9 pounds and doesn't kick bad at all.

Or go with a very light caliber with solid expanding bullets (Barnes or Hornady GMX) and be willing to pass on many shots that you can't place perfectly.

I feel for ya, but I believe that all we do in our selections of guns and ammo is a compromise at one level or another. I am 64 now and I still carry 9 to 10 pound rifles in the mountains and do not feel burdened by them, but I can't say I'll feel that way in the coming 10-20 years.