The perfect Mountain Goat Gun ??

Cole

Cole

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It would seem that my luck has finally run out and somehow managed to find myself in an awful spot. I drew a LEH Mountain Goat tag.
Now, I have several rifles that would do the job, but you know how it goes with this gun affliction that we all have, right?
What would be the "perfect" goat gun??
I have 2 .30-06's, a .300 WinMag, and a .243 Win.
Would a .243 have the jam to take a White Ghost ??
What say you all ???
 
The real question should be:

Are you willing to risk losing a wounded and highly sought out big game animal, with too light a caliber?

IMO, the 30-06 should be your minimum, and the 300 Win Mag will be superior under less than ideal conditions.
 
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I don't know much about them but I'm betting a 25-06 would be nice in the mountains. I'm surprised we don't see more people mention them on here, they seem to have nice ballistics. Anyway, I'm sure your 06 will be just great.
 
You should be talking less about the cartridge and more about the platform. With goats it may also be less about whether you can kill them or not, and more about if you can kill them "right frickin' NOW" If it is standing on a ledge or krag you want to have enough gun and a heavy enough bullet to take its legs out from underneath it... a fataly wounded goat with a little zip left in it can put itself in an unrecoverable spot pretty quickly. I sure wouldn't bring a .243... but yes, sure, it will "kill" it.
 
Given the difficult nature of typical goat habitat, an ultralight platform would seem appropriate. I agree with Hoyt, I don't think the cartridge in the chamber matters as much as the platform provided a decent game bullet is chosen. A quick perusal of the bullets on my loading bench, suggests I'd chose a 100 gr Partition for the .243, and a 180 gr Partition for either the '06 or the .300.

If I was going, I have a new for me .25-06 ultralight, equipped with a 1.75-6X Leupold, and I'd probably look at ABs, or Scirrocos. Your .243 is certainly capable, provided its not chambered in a HB varmint gun, but IMHO, a high velocity small bore demands a premium bullet if its chosen for big game.
 
Same as a sheep rifle I would think. Stainless, weather resistant stock, as light as possible and chambered in any of the standard big game cartridges with a premium bullet.
 
I shot my mountain goat with a 257wby, and it provided a quick , clean kill. If I was to buy or build a rifle for hunting mountain goat, it would be a lighter rifle chambered in 260rem, or 6.5x55.
 
Goats are very narrow animals through the front shoulder area and their bones are not hard. I think the best goat cartridge is either the 257 Wby or 264 WM and do not go with homogenous bullets. The best bullets for goats, assuming a front shoulder shot, is one that opens very rapidly. The toughest bullet I would use would be an Accubond at the highest possible velocity, from either cartridge I mentioned. From a lower velocity cartridge like the 30-06, I would use 150 gn Sierra or Speer or possibly Berger. The biggest reason a lot of people have problems with goats is that they use too much gun and too stout a bullet.
If you take a real good look at a goat you will realize that they are about 1/2 as deep shoulder blade to shoulder blade through the chest as a decent WT buck. This area is very large top to bottom, but very shallow through, and you want your bullet to do as much damage as possible within 9-12", this is not an application for homogenous bullets. Goats are also not prone to shock so one must damage as many internal organs or as much lung and heart tissue as possible, this necessitates the use of a fragile bullet that expands fully or even fragments within the first 9" of penetration. Some may disagree, but I have taken several goats and this is what my observations and experience has shown to me.
I tend to be overgunned for the simple reason that where I have hunted goats the grizzlies are numerous and one never knows which one may need to kill first, so I like my 300s with ABs. However if I was able to hunt goats in area relatively free of grizzlies I would most certainly use my 257 Wby with 110 gn ABs or my 264 with 130 gn ABs.
Another point of note OP, goats are not built internally like one might think, so I recommend you study their internal make up before going. The spine sits much lower between the withers of the goat than you might imagine and their heart and lungs are also much lower than you might think. Seriously this knowledge is of much greater importance than which bullet you try to stuff through him. Forget the high withers and all that pretty white hair and keep your bullet no more than 9" up from the brisket.......6" is better, this is where he lives and this is where you want to hit in order to kill him fast and clean.
 
I'd go with -06 or 300WM. Goat country usually means griz country but not in all locations. I'd lean toward the 300 but wouldn't rule out the -06. A light gun is a better option and one that is dead-on accurate and consistent is a must, as you may need to make a long shot. So in order of priority: accurate, light, and down range punch/griz medicine.
 
Good information from BMI. And as he says, the goats lack of shock from the bullet is so pronounced it makes you feel weird!
I have never wounded, or had a goat get to an area where he was unretrievable. I have shot four goats with a 30-06, one with a 270 and sat by a young son as he killed a nice billie with one shot from his 243. All my goats have been billie goats and a goat hunter, in the name of goat conservation, should learn how to distinguish between male and female and shoot only the males.
For a first time goat hunter, the excitement of seeing goats within shootable distance is over whelming. But slow down and think things over. Most important is can you get to where the goats are, if one drops in his tracks? Goats enjoy going into places where no hunter can follow them.
For a rifle, weight is all important, but stainless steel is just hype and not needed. Also, I wouldn't want the rifle barrel to be shorter than 20 inches and I prefer 22 inches.
 
I have a .308 Ruger Scout and 375 Ruger Alaskan in my safe and a goat draw to fill. I plan to take the 375 with something along the lines of a 250gr or 300gr SGK or a 270gr Interlock. I'm sure the .308 with 150gr SST's would dump it quite easily but I just like shooting the 375 more and I have a 2.5-8x36 scope for the 375 vs a fixed 4x28 for the .308. I'm not too concerned either way, just more looking forward to the adventure, so far goat hunting is my favorite hunt, regardless of getting an animal or not you are going to see some rugged and beautiful country.
 
A better question is what you want beside your sleeping bag at night.

IMO, the whole knock them down thing is moot... if they start rolling.

Use your head! It's a lot easier going up than it is coming down. Remember that.

I've got a picture somewhere of a guy with a Remington pump and 3 goats.
 
It would be nice if the OP would tell us the area of his goat draw.
Prime areas for goats to live is not too much higher than timberline. And timberline varies in BC from about 7,000, or 7,500 feet above sea level, in parts of the Kootenay's and coast range, to more like 4,500 in the Atlin area in the north, while prime goat habitat in the good areas south and west of Burns Lake, or the southern Peace, timberline is more like 6,000 to 6,500 fasl.
Bruce
 
The Bugaboos are not a place to run around with a small gun, this I know from experience. Lots of Grizz in there and they all seem to be a bad tempered bunch. This is home ground for me as I was raised in Edgewater, so I know the area quite well. I just have never gone after a goat before, and was curious to see what everybody else has used or is using. I have a Ruger 77 mark 1 .300 Win that shoots good with 165 Speer Grand Slams and a Win model 70 .30-06 that is in development stage as to loads. The Ruger weighs in fully loaded at 11 lbs.
 
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