Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Backpack Hunting Preferred total rifle weight..

But I'm pretty sure Tiny Elvis is the brains of that outfit. That dawg has it made.

oh yeah, for sure!

Yes sgt slaughter (black sheep) was good.

(And it was an inside joke for all you "backcountry" guys)

Forum rules: Not forbidden, however all joking around must first be cleared with Smokepole. Failure to do so will result in not being allowed to post in the workout thread. Which is why I can seldom post my monster routines.

Joking around doesn't need to be approved by me.

Case in point, you post in the optics forum all the time without asking.

Well, you shoot lightweight rifles, and have been told they can’t be shot accurately. What do you know about optics?

I know the most popular binoculars for the neighbor women who watch me mow the lawn with my shirt off. And those gals know quality when they see it.

Jeez, no wonder nobody got it.

Lay off those the old Paul Newman movies. I bet you also have on real small shorts and wear those old school knee high white tube socks. Doesn’t surprise me, girls have a sense of humor also. Well some....

Paul Newman?

OK OK, for once let's get at least a little serious....You didn't deny it, so you were wearing those old school tube socks...Some of my friends have shown me pics of their Dads back in the day wearing them. Kinda cool, for the times....

Last time I wore tube socks was the high school freshman basketball team. Sheesh, even by JV we'd moved on. We did have the short shorts though, everyone did. Chicks loved 'em.

But seriously, Paul Newman? The 70's called, they want their movies back.

Most of my big game hunting happens here in the Northeast, where rifle weight isn't much of an issue. I'm in a stand or blind. I have hunted Colorado three times, twice when I was in my early to mid 40s, and in 2018, at age 72, as a cardiac bypass survivor. Back when I was young, I carried four different rifles. The lightest was a Remington 700 in 300 Winchester Magnum at 8 lbs, and the others were heavier - around 10 lbs on my shoulder. I didn't find that to be much of a hindrance at the time, including twice hiking to above treeline with a 10 lb 300 Weatherby rifle.

In 2018 I carried a post-64 Winchester Model 70 30-06 which weighed 8-1/2 lbs along with a large backpack. I walked a lot slower than I did in the 1990s!

I'm not a fan of superlight rifles. I have shot a New Ultralight Arms 30-06 some, and it kicked too much for me at 7 lbs all up. If I had to pick a light mountain rifle from my safe today, I would pick a beater Savage Axis 308 which shoots 175 grain Barnes LRX bullets under MOA. With its current scope, a 4x Leupold, it weighs 7 lbs 1 ounce. Recoil is tolerable.

For here in the Northeast, I choose my Remington Model Seven in 7mm-08, which weighs about the same as the Axis, but it about 5" shorter with its 18-1/2" barrel.

Age and infirmity do change things.....

74?? Are you one of the original Jersey Boys?? Frankie??

You, my friend, are my hero. That's anywhere from 35 to 40 pounds of rifles. I'm too much of a wimp and only carry one rifle.

^^^^^^^

Yep, me too!

No schit.

One time when we were 18-20 a bud and I each packed a Browning BPS 10 gauge and a centerfire rifle of some sort calling.

We walked down into the creek bottoms about a mile from his house in 6-8" of snow. Once we made a few set ups and had to head back to the house we said never again.

We then decided one would have a shotgun and the other a rifle, no need for 4 guns. I can honestly say we stuck to that even when just hunting a couple hundred yards from the truck.

Too much like work lugging 20# of guns.

I can top these stories about lugging unnecessary weight. Before I got into backpacking a friend and I went on a backpack trip in the Pecos wilderness in NM. We had no equipment, so we borrowed a couple of packs and went to Walmart to outfit ourselves.

Bought a couple of 8-lb. sleeping bags and a big old heavy tarp. Packed in (I sh*t you not) an iron skillet and canned food. I can't remember the other stuff (this was 1983), the iron skillet was memorable but I know the rest of our stuff weighed a metric ton.

We hiked up the mountain to around 10k and it just kicked our asses. On the way up, an older couple in their 60's passed us, they looked thoroughly squared away and that was humbling.

We did have fun though, caught some trout on dry flies in Stewart Lake IIRC.

To keep this interesting topic going....

The heavier rifle crowd says they can't shoot a Light Weight accurately enough.....So for those who can and do use the LW's.... at what ranges do you think LW rifles become a liability in cleanly killing big game....?????

Personally I've gone out to the 350yard range with a Nula a couple times and 200 plus a couple more....and for the most part for myself that is far enough.....

For a lot of years the only rifle I used was a heavily skeletized Remington model 7 action with a 22” fluted barrel and wildcat composite stock. The total weight with talleys and 6x36 Leupold was 5.6 lbs. It was plenty accurate enough to kill stuff with and I shot lots of animals including deer, stone sheep, goats, caribou, elk.
My son has the rifle now, but it has a different barrel (6.5CM) and a 6x42 Leupold on it. I think the total weight is 6lbs now.

I still prefer lightweight rifles but I’ve grown to really like heavy scopes. I have a couple Kimber Montana’s and one Model seven that isn’t as machined as the original. Now the total weights are in the 7lb range and it still feels like a nice packable rifle package.