Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Long Range Hunting RAR Predator at the SRM.....

Not saying it's a hunting rifle, but I have carried it a few miles and hunted with it... guess it can be called one if you do so...

Bet the pack-in and out was a hell bitch on that one....

You in to shoot a light rifle..... or you just bumping gums at those who are?

Read the thread Grasshoppah!!

So then..... how much does your "hunting rig" weigh.... as that what we're trying to figure out.

A 10lb gun ain't a hunting gun..... period.

A 9lb gun is seriously pushing it.... but I've packed a lot of them a lot of miles too. in the field, you pay that penalty for the extra weight with ever step you take.... but at the SRM you're not punished by the terrain for packing extra weight. Punished by the night before.... that is another story entirely. There needs to be a punishment for that extra weight.... do it with points. 1 plate for every quarter pound over 8 lbs doesn't seem exorbinent.

An 8lb gun is more than reasonable for all hunting applications.... Sheep to whitetails to Elk to coyotes. If you can shoot one of those, sans bipod, inside the perimeters of SRM ranges.... then you better carry a good knife on your big game hunts.

I consider an 8# gun to be a light weight rifle. My custom Lightweight Packer by Score High in 6.5 Creedmoor weighs a bit over 7#'s without ammo, and it has just about everything within reason done to it to lighten it...

24 oz High Tech stock
Bartlein 2B custom contour 3 step
Hollow bolt handle
Fluted bolt
Lightened shroud
Weight taken off of the receiver...etc..

All of my other hunting rifles are in the 10 to 11 pound range and they ARE hunting rifles whether you think they are or not.

There's another one of these shoots coming up? Or are you guys talking about next year?




Travis

First Sunday of every month. Last one is September...


http://sportingriflematch.com/schedule.php

Just curious, but what sort of hunting do you do with 10 and 11 pound rifles? Do you spend much time still-hunting or spot and stalk or ???

He shoots animals behind a high fence under a corn feeder from a blind,
don't ya Rick..

I don't know anybody who hunts with a rifle over 8 1/2 pounds and most are lighter..

Gamers will always game looking for any advantage they can get..

You see that in every competitive shooting sport out there..

My rifles are set up for long range whether they're super light or not. I'd like to see some pics like the following of some of the guys rifles posting here. I think most THINK they have sub 8# rifles but really don't.

Cartridge choice sometimes necessitates a bit more weight if you do any shooting at all. Since this is the Long Range forum and I set my rifles up for that capability, scope choices that I like sometimes increase weight. I also have my rifles set up to fit me with a 14 1/2" LOP

I don't live in Texas, so I actually hunt.



.264 WM
McMillan Remington varmint
26" light Palma with a brake
6.5-20 Mark 4 TMR


.

.300 WM
Manners EH-1
26" barrel plus a brake
VX3 6.5-20 TMR





Coyote rifle
Factory .243 wssm Varmint Stalker
24" med varmint barrel
VX2 LRVD 6-18





Lightweight Packer in 6.5 Creedmoor
24" super skinny 24" barrel plus a brake
High Tech (Bansner) stock
VX3 4.5-14 CDS TMR

When I hunt, I frequently do so from a self-propelled blind, a 4x4 SUV or pickup, so the weight of my rifle is pretty much a non-issue/low priority. As I get older, I find myself adopting my FIL's policy of never shooting a deer than you can't drive to unless it is a buck worthy of hanging on a wall.

Nice!

rcamuglia,

This thread has not got my attention until today. I opened the next to last page. The idea a hunting rifle doesn't weight more than eight pounds is ludicrous. Just today I verified the sight setting on my Klienguenther K14 for elk season. It weighs 11 1/2 pounds without ammo.

The other rifle I will pack along weighs an even 8 pounds. I paid a chunk of change to get one that light. It has a Pierce lightened titanium action, a Christensen Arms 26" carbon wrapped barrel and an MPI custom light stock. It carries a reasonable scope for its job: A Leupold VX-6 4-24X52. Like I posted. It weighs 8 pounds without ammo. Like you posted, I bet those 8 pound rifles weigh more than 8 pounds with a scope mounted.

Yep.

Fhugking RAR Predator weighs 7.8lbs with the 3-9 Leupold... paid like $650 to get it that light.... for the entire set-up... Laffin...

CTR goes 8.2lbs with similar Leupold in Talleys...

Ric.... of all the rifle pics you've ever posted....the light Creed is the only one that I'd like to own. Shooting that one in Raton?

I think that's a good idea. It'll be quite the step up ballistically from the factory coyote rig and duplex reticle.

I cut my teeth guiding high end Coues deer clients in MX in the early 2000s. AZ coues hunters seemed to be ahead of the curve in the long range game. Our camps consistently had a bunch of Miller marksman, Echols legends and Lazzeroni rifles as well as the men who make them. Substantial rifles, wearing 6.5-20 leupold with Premier reticles usually shooting belted 300 magnums. These were the long range guns of the day. I don't remember anyone ever having trouble packing one in Coues country. Now, the trends have changed. Lighter calibers shooting long, high BC bullets with turrets on top of the scopes. Now a days, I see more Gunwerks rifles in camps than most other "long range" specialty builders. The LR 1000 is right at 10lbs I believe. A little lighter than the old long range guns. Again, I haven't had anyone have trouble packing one in Aoudad country. I see probly 4 to 1 Gunwerks rifles versus NULAs.
For me, I think the best compromise of shootability of and packability lies at 9-10 lbs all up. I absolutely hate the term long range hunter. I think you should be a hunter and be prepared for any kind of shot. Too me a long range shot is the last option. The idea that a ten pound rifle is not a hunting rifle is crazy! The big backup doubles that PHs carry in Africa are way north of ten pounds! Can you shoot far with a light rifle? Of course!!! Can you pack a 10+ pound rifle up a sheep mountain? I see it all the time! Shoot what works best for you! Flung what you brung! What the hell was I talking about?? Hhaha

I agree there are a lot of guys that hunt with 9lb + rifles.





Travis

There's a reason this 8lb rifle is here....



because I hauled this 9.5lb rifle up here.....

PS.... a 10lb rifle isn't so bad when it's in the pack.... but it can be a real bitch when you have it in your hands for a couple miles....

That rifle in the top pic didn't leave my hands for about a week straight..... at elevations from a beach-side Puget Sound to over 11,000' up above Vail getting gut-checked by Kid Billygoat. There's no way I'd have been able to have the rifle at hand, all the times, if it weighed 10lbs.... no f'n way.

Here it is right near the beach.... boi...