Heavy sporting rifles

conor_90 said:
I am 6'9 and 350 lbs; the one time I went sheep hunting I carried a small cannon that weighed 90 lbs. Anyone with a lighter gun is a twink and should buy a micro midas
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Carry the whole sheep out with ya alternating arms/bicep curls with it?
 
elKrusto said:
A hunting book I have from 1974, recommends a hunters rifle should weigh 1/20th of the hunters own weight.
Interesting concept. 160 pound hunter = 8 pound rifle. 200 pound hunter = 10 pound rifle.
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I wonder if it was the same esteemed group of scientists who studied the flow rate of Ketchup?
 
The weights I give are all in, sling ,scope and magazine if applicable

Kimber select --7.6 lbs
Sako AV---------9.4 lbs
Tikka T3 laminate---8 lbs
Sauer -------------8.3 lbs
I can shoot the the lightest rifle at 7.6 lbs just a well as 9.4 sako . Takes some practice
Depending on the terrain as which weight goes with me , steep hills and valleys a light rifle is it .. You carry more than shoot and I understand that heavy to some may feel better when shooting .
Crazy thing is the 9.4 sako might actually carry nicer than the 8.3 Sauer , but the 7.6 is the best for me
age maybe creeps into this ...lol
go figure
 
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Shooting lightweight rifles off a bench into tiny groups or at longer range practice targets gives me a false sense of field shootability. When things happen fast, my heart is pumping, the cold has got my fingers hard, they have let me down. Almost everything I’ve missed or wounded in the past 15 years has been with my lightest rifles. Heavier guns allow for more shooter error. I have learned this the hard way.
 
Whats a bench?

Can't say I ever hunted off one.

Know what you mean about cold hands/being cold/being tired and short of breath making a light rifle move more but...shoot the rifle a lot as you're gonna hunt the thing. If small game with a 22lr that weighs 5-6lbs is doable, then a 7.5-8lb scoped rifles quite a bit heavier :)
 
Buckmastr said:
Shooting lightweight rifles off a bench into tiny groups or at longer range practice targets gives me a false sense of field shootability. When things happen fast, my heart is pumping, the cold has got my fingers hard, they have let me down. Almost everything I’ve missed or wounded in the past 15 years has been with my lightest rifles. Heavier guns allow for more shooter error. I have learned this the hard way.
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true for you
forsure ... after carrying a heavy rifle the heart rate is already up ..
I do like a heavy for field sitting , not for walking
again , age , i'm guessing me 25-30 yrs on ya
 
Buckmastr said:
I don’t get buck fever shooting gophers. That’s probably why I don’t.
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I hear ya.

Man if someone who's hunted as much as you do still feels it/deals with it, I don't feel so bad haha

Still, unless its checking a scope zero, I try to always shoot as I will in the field. The bench ain't my friend as a marksman. Not even a frenemy lol.
 
Speaking of weight in a hunting rig, I've noticed these days that scopes seem to be getting heavier and heavier. I think this is true all the way through the quality levels, but certainly in the top-tier scopes--Swarovski, Zeiss, Schmidt & Bender, Kahles, Leica, Nightforce, March. It's now almost impossible to find a good hunting scope in the 12 oz. range (the Swarovski Z3 series is there, and some Leupolds); instead the current trend with top-ticket scopes is to huge objective bells, illumination, 30 mm. tubes, and other add-ons, and weight goes up into the 22+ ounce range. So if you burden that 7.5 lb. rifle with a new Leica Amplus 6 scope, for example, the rig now weighs 9 lbs. Whenever I'm contemplating a new hunting rig, I pay as much attention to the scope weight as to the rifle weight.
 
South Pender said:
Speaking of weight in a hunting rig, I've noticed these days that scopes seem to be getting heavier and heavier. I think this is true all the way through the quality levels, but certainly in the top-tier scopes--Swarovski, Zeiss, Schmidt & Bender, Kahles, Leica, Nightforce, March. It's now almost impossible to find a good hunting scope in the 12 oz. range (the Swarovski Z3 series is there, and some Leupolds); instead the current trend with top-ticket scopes is to huge objective bells, illumination, 30 mm. tubes, and other add-ons, and weight goes up into the 22+ ounce range. So if you burden that 7.5 lb. rifle with a new Leica Amplus 6 scope, for example, the rig now weighs 9 lbs. Whenever I'm contemplating a new hunting rig, I pay as much attention to the scope weight as to the rifle weight.
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Noticed the same. Part of the "Long range" boom/craze?

The Accupoints are about 13 oz if you like Trijicon glass. I do. Bit of a cheap scope schlep otherwise. Leupold FX-3 6x, Burris Fullfield II, etc. Don't much like the newer ones tho.
 
South Pender said:
Speaking of weight in a hunting rig, I've noticed these days that scopes seem to be getting heavier and heavier. I think this is true all the way through the quality levels, but certainly in the top-tier scopes--Swarovski, Zeiss, Schmidt & Bender, Kahles, Leica, Nightforce, March. It's now almost impossible to find a good hunting scope in the 12 oz. range (the Swarovski Z3 series is there, and some Leupolds); instead the current trend with top-ticket scopes is to huge objective bells, illumination, 30 mm. tubes, and other add-ons, and weight goes up into the 22+ ounce range. So if you burden that 7.5 lb. rifle with a new Leica Amplus 6 scope, for example, the rig now weighs 9 lbs. Whenever I'm contemplating a new hunting rig, I pay as much attention to the scope weight as to the rifle weight.
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bang on Pender
any scope i check weight first .
I have a few swaro Z3 for a reason . But if you like heavy guns it's not important
A rifle sling going from leather to synthetic is -3 oz
 
My Montana .308 is a joy to pack up the mountains but its not the easiest rifle to shoot well. 7.5-8.5lbs scoped it about ideal for a general purpose rifle, depending on the balance.
 
chasseur said:
The hunters of the 1800s all carried heavy rifles when hunting for the most part.It all comes down to conditioning and staying fit and a lot of today’s hunters are far from fit that’s why some guys backsides rarely leaves the seat of their ATV.Another thing to consider is the rifles balance,a rifle that balances nice in the hand even if heavy is a joy to carry
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Yeah and if you went back in time with a Kimber and some goretex do you think those guys would think twice?
 
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