Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Ask The Gunwriters Stalking Rifles ?

Exactly what makes a rifle a stalking rifle? , and why?
Under what conditions would a stalking rifle be used that any other rifle would be a disadvantage ? What action types are used for stalking rifles ? I'm just full of questions ain't I ?

Mike

Stalking, last time I checked that's illegal isn't it...

Seriously, what kind of game and what type of country are you talking about?

Thx
Dober

I guess you could consider it a still-hunting rifle where you need something short,light, and handy. I have a Remington Model 7 in 260 with the 18 1/2" barrel that works good for that type of hunting. You loose some velocity with the short barrel but it's not getting hung up in the timber all the time either. The 260 tends to kill game quite well to I might add.

I don't really know what game or type of country.
The stalking rifle concept is a British/European thing , I think.

Mike

The perfect stalking rifle for deer: 30/30.

BMT

Most 'classic' stalking rifles have trim wooden stocks and shorter but notr necesarily light weight barrels. They give you for easy carry, qick handling capabiliites, and the best of them also are slightly muzzle heavy for smooth tracking and steady holds. Some of them by European makers also have single or double set triggers.

Modern ultra LTW, sythethetic stocked, short rifles also fill the bill functionally but not aesthetically. And as pointed out earlier, 94s, Marlins and other such handy rifles are fine still-hunting tools too. You can of course use any of these in a treestand or ground blind w/o violating any codes.

1B

The stalking rifle is a term from Europe and is basically a German Guild rifle, a half round half oct. barrel, slim design with lots of drop stock, and a big old scope that is mounted too high, but works fine on a stalk and a perfectly placed shot on a standing broadside animal, then you get a bloody branch stuck in your hat and back to the lodge and switch into your tux for a formal meal..:)

The term is nothing sugnificant much like a "saddle gun" or brush carbine, or any manufactured term of designation..

Mike-
Classic stalking is done in the Scotting Highlands for red stag. Usually this involves a lot of hiking, hill climbing, and belly crawling through heather. Shots at stag are usually taken from a rest, most often from 100-200 yards, and frequently in poor light and in miserable weather.

Stalkers are almost always accompanied by a gamekeeper who will select the stag to be shot. Typically the game keeper carries the rifle until the beginning of the final stalk. About any rifle of adequate caliber (legally defined as 6mm on up, with a legal minimum energy) can be a stalking rifle.

A large, heavy rifle would be a problem on a 200-yard squirm through snowy, wet heather. A caliber much heavier than a 30-06 or .300 H&H is not necessary, because the animals are about 300 lbs maximum weight, and the first shot is almost always taken from a rest at a standing animal, usually not more than 250 yards away. A rifle with a scope that wasn't waterproof would be a poor choice.

Of Americans who participate in the sport, Bob Robel has probably written the most about it with several articles in Gun Digest and American Rifleman. His write-up in the 1986 Gun Digest Hunting Annual is excellent and worth tracking down if you're really interested in the subject. He has used several rifles for stalking, including a short-barreled H&H on a Mauser action in .270, and an H&H bolt rifle in .244 H&H Magnum. Some Europeans stalk with single shots or double rifles.

Ross made a wonderful stalking/sporting rifle in the early 1900s on his straight-pull action chambered in .280 Ross. Because he owned an enormous chunk of the Highlands and was fond of hunting in them, he presumably knew what he was doing.

In sum, the definition of a European "stalking rifle" is probably as nebulous as that of the American "sheep rifle". There would likely be considerable overlap in these two types.

There are a couple of UK citizens that hang around the campfire, and will be welcome to correct any of the above.

--Bob

The stalking rifle was, in the first instance, to be suitable for stalking, that is for hunting up close to the intended game, terrain and wind permiting. To this end it had the design characteristics that allow quick target aquisition for those times that an animal may be 'junmpd' from his bed, or the intended animal that may be on the move when it is spoted. It must also have the capability to take longer range shots if the animal can not be stalked up close, and by longer range I mean 300 yards where the most sensible calibers are about 8 inches low from a 200 yard zero. It was understood that a stalking rifle would be carried far more than it was shot and some of the terrain envisioned for it to be used in would, initially, have been the hard walking hill country of Britan and later the Veldts in Africa. This was the teritory of the stalking rifle and this in turn had a deciding factor in the "typical" dimensions, weight and design that the English gunmakers of the 1920's and 30's came to as being apropriate. With increasing travel to, and hunting in, Africa and India it was also able to be, and usually was, used as the "light" rifle for Plains Game on safari where many of the custom built rifles of the time were taken for an outing. Calibers were typicaly 7x57 or as the English knew it, the 275 Rigby, up through the 303 Enfield to the 318 Westly Richards, which was a true transition caliber as with a 180gn bullet it was very efective as a light rifle but with a 250gn bullet became a light medium and was highly thought of in this roll. This was where the light rifle designation ended and the medium calibers started. These custom built Stalking Rifles as typified by those made by the firms of W J Jeffery, Rigby, Westly Richard and their contempories, had barrels of 24 to 30 inches, Short forearms, barrel band sling studs, open sights and the very best of workmanship. Anyone who has had a "best" English rifle in hand and thrown it to his shoulder knows instantly that there never was, nor ever will be, a factory rifle that can approach the quality or handling ability of a one off, hand built rifle.

So goes the opening paragraph of an artical I wrote to be published in our national guns and hunting magazine , where I take a 1908 DWM (it had already been 'sporterised')and turn it into my version of the "typical"stalking rifle. As somneone else has said Life is too short to hunt with an ugly rifle.

Von Gruff.

As one who has hunted Scotland, I'd say this is a fair and accurate statement!

Why can't a man carry his own rifle in Scotland?

I always liked to stalk rifles, particularly at small-town gun shows or pawn shops.

I was under the impression that stalking is just the term used by folks in UK for hunting

Me too!


Mike

In these situations; "poker-face" comes into play far more than stalking skills IMHO.


Travis

Merkel sells a K1 single shot Stalking Rifle with scope for $4,000 and up! Ask Mule Deer about it. He's got one.

As G.B.Shaw noted, England and America are two countries separated by a common language.

Hunting is done for foxes, on horseback, using hounds, in red coats (on the humans, not the dogs), with hunting horns, cries of "Tally-Ho", and following 2-3 centuries of tradition. (Or as Wilde put it, "The Unspeakable in Pursuit of the Inedible.")

Shotguns are used in "shooting", especially driven birds. Chasing through the gorse after birds is "rough shooting".

Deer stalking is akin to the American "spot and stalk" routine. I think it has about 150 years of tradition behind it. (Remember Sherlock Holmes' deerstalker cap?) Stalking didn't really get rolling as a sport until the Scottish hills were pretty well logged clear. The hills, bare of trees, are still termed the "deer forest".

(I've probably messed this up, so some of the fire's UK residents can usefully correct me.)

--Bob

This is one of my favorite types of rifles. Even though some have excessive drop or thin combs they are still very practical rifles and were part of the inspiration of the American Classic Rifle style.

Anyone have photos?

Very true !

Stalking in Scotland is really wonderful, particularly so in the Highlands. Late season stalking for does can be done in miserable weather and crawling in wet snow is a very possible part of the excitement.

A light rifle in 270 Winchester is the most you need; the professional stalkers who accompany the clients also use calibers like the 243 Winchester, 275 Rigby (7x57 Mauser), possibly the 30-06. Bigger or more powerful calibers are frowned upon as entirely unnecessary, but they are used to guide foreign hunters with a 300 Winchester Magnum or a 8x68 S for example.

The stalker will not normally carry your gun, but he usually is accompanied by a ghillie who will offer to do so. A classic ghillie will have a pony handy to bring back the carcass; during the stalk, the pony is left in a lower valley.

Traditional hunting estates have their own weave of tweed colors and their stalkers hunt in tweed suits with jacket, waistcoat, "plus-fours" (trousers that extend 4 inches below the knee)and a matching deerstalker cap, they also have a tie. They will happily crawl through the vegetation with their suits which are of very durable quality. The estate owner pays for the suits of the stalkers and the regular ghillies.

The stalkers are very experienced hunters and great shots, going for the neck when they cull ; other shots mean that the venison buyer will apply a discount depending on the part damaged and in Scotland you do not want that to happen.

Stalking in Scotland is a very British experience and a lot of fun really.

Dang! I saw the title of this thread and that popped RIGHT into my head, but you beat me to it!

+1 on BMT's pick. Not a "classic Brittish" anything, but just what I think of when I see "stalking rifle".