Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunting Rifles Mountain rifle thread ?

Since we have one Tikka posted I guess I'll put another up. And I will agree, the Tikka Superlite is a fine rifle. I dropped my 7MM-08 into a Hunters Edge and sure like it a lot. In fact I hunted with it more this year than all my other rifles combined.

Living and hunting in BC, mountain hunting is pretty much it. Adding in the possibility of deer to big bear, moose and elk has pretty much kept me using 27 caliber or larger, mostly on an 06 case.
I have settled on model 70 fwts or a clone as "best" for me. Currently on the lookout for a decent pre 64 fwt in 270, might be the final rifle I will buy, unless I run into 2 of them!

Mtwarden: I hate to break your heart...... but the term and concept "mountain rifle" predates your M70 FW,either the 1980 PF version or the Classic(I can't tell which yours is),and maybe you as well.


Likely it was Jack O'Connor who railed for lighter rifles and had them built by a few custom makers dating back to the 1940's(?). The M70 FW came on the scene in the early 1950's and was about right in those days for a mountain rifle.

They were not easy to find as factory items and many custom makers like Al Biesen, Dale Goens,, Tom Shelhammer, and many others built them custom for clients who hunted high country back then. JOC popularized such rifles.

As a concept it goes back to Europe in the form of light weight Mausers and Mannlicher Schoenhauers.


hell hanging around gun stores in the late 60's as a college student I knew traveling hunters who used FW 270's to kill moose, caribou,grizzly, Dall and Stone and Bighorn sheep,elk and who knows what else with their "mountain rifles".

So you and your rifle likely came a long time after JOC and other writers,and I can promise you that the term and concept of "mountain rifle" were around a long time before you arrived on the scene with that rifle in 1980 or thereabouts. If you got on board in 1980 you were late to the game.

nice rifles all , Bob is right about them really being do all rifles although stand hunting may be a little less weight sensitive. A battery of one light 06 could cover all. BSA I wish the MPI were a bit lighter on the pre 64 but it is one of my all time favorites and will never be sold. The TI's maybe the best factory mountain rifles as far as factory out of the box, Here is another factory option Tikka SL , in 06 of-course.

Ok, at the risk of boring everyone with photo's of my rifles.
Rifles I have posted several times here before. Here goes.

Old school mountain rifles, similar to Jack O'Connors original concept.
First is a pre-64 M70 fwt in 270 of course. 7.75lbs



Next is a Mauser in 270 , 8.25lbs kinda heavy but traditional.




Old school but not in the O'Connor tradition

Mauser 6mm, 7.25lbs




Mauser G33/40 30-06, 7lbs




Now for a couple of more modern mountain rifles.

Remington Ti 270. 6.25lbs




And a Savage in 260. 7.25lbs

7mm-08 M7 in in a McMillan Edge

Nope not the original grey finish anymore. The finish had some scuffs/rubs from years of use. Nothing major but wanted it to look new again so I had darrenK here on the fire redo the paint. He uses the same stuff McMillan uses so I had him to olive with black speckle which I do like for a hunting rifle. He also did the Ti for me. I also had Karl Feldkamp @ Kampfeld Customs Cerakote all the metal for me in a mix of graphite black & titanium. It looks black in the picture but has a grey tone to it in the right light. I like it:)

I like that superlite too. You have good taste in rifles...

Nice rifle bud, it sure compliments that Suburban of yours.

luckyguy;
Good morning to you sir, congratulations on the nice mulie and what looks to be an effective rifle too.

So I've been fooling with your photo for a bit and will hazard a guess that perhaps the information copied from your photo hosting site wasn't complete?

I'm nowhere near an expert on this, but with photobucket - and when I copied the info here in your post - it had .jpg at the end before the (img) brackets at the back and then would work.

Hope that helped and was at least somewhat useful sir.




Dwayne

If Big Green had made the Ti in lefty, my rifle buying might have ended quite a few years ago ...