Good mountain goat caliber?

SuperCub said:
So a top of the leg, middle of the shoulder shot is much preferred over a lung shot?


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Yes, they tend to kick themselves off cliffs during their final hurrah. Even when you think they are down for good, a couple jiggles and away they go.lol It can be a long ways down too.....so spine them or take out the front wheels if there are any large cliffs around (usually is) I've had them run an amazing distance with a double lunger.
 
It all depends on how close you want to get, Any of the short mags will work good. If you shoot a little farther, then theres a little less climbing involved.
 
quarterman said:
It all depends on how close you want to get, Any of the short mags will work good. If you shoot a little farther, then theres a little less climbing involved.
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Can you explain how there will be less climbing? If you spot a goat at x distance away and shoot it from where you are standing you still have to hike up to retrieve the goat. If you stalk closer the goat will die in the same place and you will end up having walked the same distance as if you shot it from 100m down the slope. Unless you perfectly calculate your shots so that the goat is hit and then tumbles down the slope right to your feet :)
 
Kimber Montana chambered in .270Winchester.;)

5lbs 10 ounces......and Wow a Model 70 safety, Match chamber and a nice trigger to boot.
If you load Winchesters Supreme Xp3's in 130 or 150, you should be able to anchor that tough bugger with a well placed shot as described by experienced sheep hunters. If you zero at 250yds, it'll only drop 8.5" at 350yds , and arrive at 2327fps so lots of hydrostatic shock left and 1802 ft lbs of energy to drive the bullet home. I'm not sure how far you will shoot reliably in the field, so I took what I consider a good distance for myself.
I know you wanted a S/A but at these weights and a 24" barrel to boot, sounds like a nice combo in that .270W LA. Even so, the WSM's like the .270WSM if it has to be short action, can be had at 6lbs, 3 ounces in the same Montana Rifle, and adds a little more velocity still.
Lots of great choices these days in lwt Rifles.:cheers:
 
Any accurate rifle in a common big game caliber should do fine.

I know we all like to chit-chat about "what caliber for this game..." stuff, but there are very successful, very experienced hunters or guides who only ever use one load in one caliber to hunt everything. I know two professional guides who use .338 win mags for everything from wolves to goats to grizzlies, and done is done.

So, any accurate and reliable big game rifle you already own, loaded with your favorite big game killing load and you're done.

You may be much happier having paid extra attention to the kind of footwear you bring, or the kind of raingear you bring instead of fretting details of your rifle, as H4831 suggested.
 
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H4831 said:
Featherweight 30-06=near ideal mountain rifle.
You could load a 165 grain bullet to 2900+ fps. Mine registered 2912 average for five, over an Oehler chronograph, with 31 fps spread and absolutely no excessive pressure.
The difference in trajectory between this and a 130 in a 270, would likely never be seen in the field.
But, don't make the mistake of weighting that nice rifle down with a large, high power, variable scope.
If you are a trained shooter with high quality aperature rear sights and good post for a front sight, I could put up a good argument for using this in the mountains. I have shot quite a few mountain game animals with just such a rig, and never failed to kill every one I shot at. The rifle is just such a dream to carry, as compared to one with alarge scope. I have never cursed my aperature sights in the mountains, but I have sure as hell cursed a new "fogproof" scope, that got so fogged up I couldn't see through it!
Back in the days when shooting and hunting were words you proudly spoke in any company and scopes were coming in to their own, it was always the lower power ones used. Many a well heeled hunter, hiring a mountain outfitter with a huge string of horses for a month long hunt in the Rockies, would have a fixed power Weaver, usually a K4, on his rifle.
In my opinion, the best scope for your light mountain rifle, would be a high quality, fixed four power.
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you know, a few years ago, on this very topic (goats) i said that i didn't care for scopes on mountain rifles and it seemed that many took issue with that.

back in the day, this fellow didn't even need boots
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i've seen another old photo with a guy with a pump action rifle with 3 goats.
 
MiG25 said:
you know, a few years ago, on this very topic (goats) i said that i didn't care for scopes on mountain rifles and it seemed that many took issue with that.

Well, as you can see, I certainly would not have taken issue with it.
Virtually all high quality rifles were at one time drilled and tapped for aperature sights. After WW One, Remington made up their left over Model of 1917 30-06s into sporting rifles, calling (some of) them the Model 30 Express. These were drilled and tapped to take a Lyman 48 sight.
This continued with virtually every maker of high quality rifles drilling them for aperatures, more often than not, for the Lyman 48. The Husqvarna I purchased a few years after WW2 was so drilled and tapped and that was the outfit that worked so well for me.
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H4831 said:
This continued with virtually every maker of high quality rifles drilling them for aperatures, more often than not, for the Lyman 48. The Husqvarna I purchased a few years after WW2 was so drilled and tapped and that was the outfit that worked so well for me.
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:eek: Man you are a dinosaur!

The old man only ever used a "SEARS Special" churchill sportered Lee Enfield #4 mk1 in .303 brit. Funny thing, it killed everything he ever shot with it. Deer, moose, even Yukon mtn goats! I have that rifle now, and it still shoots bullets. I plan to kill something with it next time i go hunting. ;)
 
Northman999 said:
Any accurate rifle in a common big game caliber should do fine.

I know we all like to chit-chat about "what caliber for this game..." stuff, but there are very successful, very experienced hunters or guides who only ever use one load in one caliber to hunt everything. I know two professional guides who use .338 win mags for everything from wolves to goats to grizzlies, and done is done.

So, any accurate and reliable big game rifle you already own, loaded with your favorite big game killing load and you're done.

You may be much happier having paid extra attention to the kind of footwear you bring, or the kind of raingear you bring instead of fretting details of your rifle, as H4831 suggested.
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So my 338 win mag loaded with 225 gr nosler accubonds isnt too much rifle?
 
1899 said:
No. Why would it be too much? The .338 WM is fine in my books. In fact, I think I am going to load some up tonight!
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ive seen what it does to moose bear and deer. But ill take your word for it, solves this dilemma pretty easy.
 
I built a sheep rifle for myself on a Rem 600, chambered in 284 Win, extended the mag box to allow 3.2" col, put it in a Bansner stock. Put a Leupold 2-7x33 on it to help keep the weight down. That was a while back, never got to try it out on the goats and sheep, but knocked down a few whitetails with it. Might still get back to the high country yet. - dan
 
Interesting read the 6 pages of advice, experience, etc. I'd love to hunt, shoot and bring home a mountain goat.

Otokiak
Rankin Inlet, NU
CANADA
 
scollins said:
ive seen what it does to moose bear and deer. But ill take your word for it, solves this dilemma pretty easy.
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I've not used the Accubond in my .338 WM so I don't know how it is on game. The 250gr Partitions are great, but I am moving to 185gr TTSX boat-tails. You should be able to quite easily hit 3000fps, which will keep you on fur until 350 yards or so with a 250 yard zero.
 
For me the 300Wby is the only mountain rifle. Break bones and stop them on the spot
or else the they run and fall over a cliff. A heavy bullet that penetrates from any angle
is what is best out to 400yrds. Retrieving mountain game can be very dangerous if allowed to run even only 50yrds.
 
have never harvested a Mountain Goat but friends I respect have and I have been informed that you need to anchor them with your shot or they have a sucide wish and will fall (jump) to places that you are unable to retreive them. I have hunted Dall Sheep and my caliber of choice is an 8mm Remington Magnum. Any of the calibers mentioned will do the job with a properly placed bullet. My resoning for the 8mm is the bear I encounter when sheep hunting in Alaska. I would consider the 257 Weatherby Mag, 7mm Remingtom Mag, the 7mm Short Mags, 30-06, 300WSM, 300 Win Mag, 300 Weatherby and even the 338 with a 180 or 200 grain bullet.
 
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