Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunting Rifles Your favorite lightweight short barreled deer rifle???

My go-to short barrel walking deer rifle the last few years has been a Kimber Montana in .308 that has been chopped and threaded to 18". Makes for one sweet lightweight deer slayer.

Honerable mentions that I also throw into the mix...
M77 Compact in 7mm-08...16.5" barrel has lots of muzzle blast
Marlin 30TK in 30-30.... awesome lil lever carbine with irons
Ruger American stainless compact in .308....bought for my kids...pulls double duty when the weather is especially nasty. Accuracy is way above it's weight class.

Hard to say… 20” R700 in 308, 18” 243 R700? Maybe win 94 30-30 with a peep. It’s been on a number of elk and deer hunts.

My favorite short-barreled deer rifle is my Ruger No. 1 RSI chambered in .275 Rigby (bottom). With a 20" barrel & a slender forearm, it has a nice compact feel:

1903a3 cut the barrel 19 inches stock was already short put a weaver k3 shoots really tight groups for me anyway bubba had already done a lot so didn’t matter if I put more bubba in

I really like the 50’s F model Savage 99’s. They are light and quick pointing.

My Merkel K3 in 7x57 with a 50 cm (19.7") barrel is my favorite to carry. I killed a nice buck with it this year at 37 yards.

I have a 1.75-6x32 on it and it carries and shoots like a dream.

They went to 4 screws several years ago. The original model 7's did only have 3 holes and required one piece bases.

The biggest advantage the model7 has is the longer loading/ejection port even though the action is a little shorter. Makes it a lot easier to load/unload the rifle. I'm sure the 700 is the stiffer action and the better basis for a target rifle. I think the 7 makes for a better hunting rifle.

Remington 700 Titanium 7mm-08
McMillan Edge bedded
Jewel Trigger
Barrel cut and crowed to 20”
Bolt skeletilized and cerekoted
Lightweight trigger guard
Setup with scope 5 lbs 15 oz

Remington Model 7 FS 7mm-08 18.5” barrel
McMillan Stock
Timney Trigger
Bolt and shroud fluted
4th hole drilled for scope base
Whole gun cerakoted including stock

Tikka T3X compact .308 or a Kimber Hunter .308

You're certainly on to some things here: I very much enjoy my 18" barreled Adirondack, especially when it's wearing its woods load scope, a VX II 1-4. It's almost too light for effective snap shooting, but sure carries nice. Another one to cover some miles with and come out shooting is the Marlin TK converted to .444.

The middle one. 450 Bushmaster. Ruger American ranch. 2x7x32 Nikon slug gun BDC which matches my load's trajectory. Got a nice whitetail buck last year at 160 yards

I haven't hunted much with short barrels. I usually use 22-24 inch barrels but in saying that i have used short rifles. I like the Ruger #1, mine was a 1970's 7x57. Shot 175gr SP at 2600 fps out of the 22 inch barrel.

I did buy a new Sauer 101 with a 20 inch barrel, that i look forward on using in the field.

Yup, I've always been a carbine kind of guy because I climbed a lot of trees and those 18.5" Remington 760 and 742's and 19" barrel Winchester 88 or 100's seemed perfect. Then a mint condition '57 .300 Savage 99F showed up and with a 1.5-5x20 Heavy Duplex Leupold, that 99F points like my index finger. That barrel at 22" isn't "short", but the whole package is so perfectly balanced and comfortable to carry that a better walking around rifle I've never owned. Now if I was only 20# lighter and 20 years younger, I might actually walk around more using it.

I have to tell you. I am loving that ceracote job on the stock of your model 7. Who did the work?

The Marlin 30TK is such a sweet rifle to carry and shoot. I find myself packing it almost exclusively when wanting a lever 30-30 in the woods thus leaving my beautiful 336 at home in envy of its smaller cousin.

I’m really liking this Bergara Carbon Ridge with 20” barrel dropped in a McMillan Hunter’s Edge. Be mo better once my Harvester Evo gets out of jail.

Ruger RSI in 243.

Always been fond of carbines for the type hunting I prefer; climbing stand and slowwww stalking. Down to 3 now:

Ruger M-77 RSI tanger in .308 with Browning 2-7X scope made by Burris.

Winchester M-70 Carbine (1984push feed with 20” barrel)
In 30/06 with older Redfield compact 2-7X a cousin sold to me for $25

Marlin Glenfield model 30 in 30/30 with 3/4 tube and iron sights. Bought from my Dad’s younger brother Lt Col Bobby Joe for $150. He didn’t like it because it didn’t have a safety. Probably had been fired 6X. 10 year old granddaughter is using it now.

Others I have owned: Remington 742 Carbine in 308, Remington Mohawk 600 ? In 243; Winchester 94 Trapper in 30/30, Spanish Mauser 93 in 308 NATO with a 7.62 X 39 adapter epoxied in breech. Had to sell off some while awaiting disability from a stroke that caused short term memory loss. Wish I had em back.

I just bought this rifle last month from the local Sportsmans Warehouse. It's a Ruger American compact in 7-08. (18 inch barrel and 12.5" length of pull) I can't hunt deer with it in Iowa, but if I get some ammo loaded I might take it with me to Texas and go pig hunting next week.
kwg

Love my model 7 7mm08 and 300 saum for deer and elk. Both weigh in just under 7lb scoped and drive nails