Need help/ Light vs heavy...

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Foxer2373

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Jasper ON Zone 66A
Hey guys, alright this is more of a heads to heads question but open to other options.

Situation, 90% of all hunting done on my property, 10% Mountain terrain trips(in decent shape and good lungs at altitude) and potential to try and get out to some PRS(for fun).

Hunting mainly Deer and Yotes, would love to take a sheep hunt one day.

The contenders:

Light weight: Springfield Waypoint(carbon stock carbon barrel), understand they aren’t released in Canada yet but seen all the reviews and other then the mags not feeding great in the cold and no LOP adjustments, it’s getting great responses for a lite rifle 7.3lbs empty. Would go with 6.5CM

Heavy weight: Bergara Premier Ridgeback, Have had good reviews from owners on this forum and others. Hard to find good info on these as they are very popular in the UK less so up here. It stands at 10.2Lbs and being heavier I’d go with 6.5PRC in this.

Both are identical in price (the way I want them).

I know like everyone else I’m trying to fill holes with a squat peg but I’m going top end of my budget for one awesome long range setup and one nice piece of glass. I do have a NR semi .223, 9mm and Pellet gun I can take for varmint hunts depending on what I’m after have my 45-70 for bear season so least I’m not
Trying to do all with this thing. But do want versatile.

Comments, Questions, Flame away, Thanks for all feedback.
 
Your descriptions are different than I usually see - your "lightweight" rifle at 7.3 pounds empty gets closer to 9 pounds once you mount scope, add sling and fill that magazine. So far as I know, "lightweight" often refers to something sort of 7 pounds or less, all ready to go - sometimes a lot lighter than that. I see a Kimber Ascent, for example, is less than 5 pounds. All depends how strong and motivated you are, I guess. You are the one who will be carrying it.

If 90% of your hunting is deer and coyotes on your property, and you have a sheep hunt in mind in the distant future, maybe, need not get too estoretic about the cartridge - marketing aside, pretty much anything from 243 Win on up will handle your scenarios. The Big Horn Sheeps that my brother and his buddy took were very much within big white tail / mule deer buck for weight - stockier body, shorter legs, so I would think "normal" deer cartridges would be fine. They chose to haul up their 300 Win Mags - my brother's was a standard push feed Winchester Model 70 rifle, so likely in that 8 1/2 to 9 pound range with scope, sling and ammo. Not a traditional "lightweight sheep rifle" at all, but was the only centerfire rifle that he owned at the time, except for a 303 British Lee Enfield.
 
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I wouldn’t consider 7lb 13 oz as a lite gun for sheep as it will more than likely top 9.5-10lbs loaded with glass. Anyways I would go light. Light guns can be as accurate heavy guns can’t be light.

SCG
 
Potashminer said:
Your descriptions are different than I usually see - your "lightweight" rifle at 7.3 pounds empty gets closer to 9 pounds once you mount scope, add sling and fill that magazine. So far as I know, "lightweight" often refers to something sort of 7 pounds or less, all ready to go - sometimes a lot lighter than that. I see a Kimber Ascent, for example, is less than 5 pounds. All depends how strong and motivated you are, I guess. You are the one who will be carrying it.
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Lol fair point on the weight, for what I want and “primarily” what I’m using it for this is light and the 10.3 is considered heavy... not if I was looking for solely a mountain gun sure 5-6lbs would be a conversation and if I was looking for a PRS only we would be talking 12-15 as a starting point. However in my box I’m trying to fit this in these are the ranges and options.

As for buying both, I’d go more specialty if I could, however I’d end up sacrificing too much quality on rifle and glass even over time. As these rifles are both 3k with tax(ish) and another 2K for glass and rings(ish) I’m gonna be in that 5-6k range and no matter what else I might have in my safe I can personally justify having two similar rifles anywhere near that price bracket. But I’m ready to treat myself over another 1K—2K full setup.
 
Mystic Precision said:
Start with a Tikka T3.... run it for a while, then add another rifle to suit the game you want to play.

trying to make 1 rifle do many things leads to nothing getting done well.

Jerry
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Jerry why must you always kill my fun with your logic!!!

Next your gonna tell me to buy a 783 action and put a sightron scope on it and save myself a pile of money!!!
 
What does a Tikka in a KRG or MDT XRS weigh? My Stealth with a Athlon BTR gen 2, Heathen brake, usually a Harris bipod, and MDT Elite rings is not light and I would say starting to show it's weight. It is still good to hike with however, and great to post up on a hill with because of its stability. I feel when I place the Stealth down it feels solid, my lightweight A-bolt is fun to carry but is not planted.
 
Mystic Precision said:
trying to make 1 rifle do many things leads to nothing getting done well.

Jerry
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I was trying to do the same thing with a custom build, trying to many things. Many respected pro’s told me there is no such thing as a cross over gun. Buy/build it for what you will primarily use it for. So many, including myself now, would agree. So I have decided to go light. I can still pluck Yotes off, plink 1000 yard targets and be really happy walking around. YMMV

Let us know what you decide.

SCG
 
Foxer2373 said:
Jerry why must you always kill my fun with your logic!!!

Next your gonna tell me to buy a 783 action and put a sightron scope on it and save myself a pile of money!!!
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In this case, put on an Athlon and save yourself a ton of money.

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A different direction and similar in costs.... and in 10 mins, I can have it back with a sporter barrel, light factory stock and go hunting.

Jerry
 

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Southcountryguy said:
I was trying to do the same thing with a custom build, trying to many things. Many respected pro’s told me there is no such thing as a cross over gun. Buy/build it for what you will primarily use it for. So many, including myself now, would agree. So I have decided to go light. I can still pluck Yotes off, plink 1000 yard targets and be really happy walking around. YMMV

Let us know what you decide.

SCG
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1 rifle to do it all...doesn't really work.. BUT 1 action with the right features and a bunch of parts CAN allow you to do pretty much anything you can dream up.

Jerry
 
Never even looked at athlon in the past... didn’t even know they had a 1-10 tax scope and at a low cost. Even the top end stuff is affordable... how does the glass compare to spending on the higher end stuff?

Are the durable as a field optic?
 
Mystic Precision said:
1 rifle to do it all...doesn't really work.. BUT 1 action with the right features and a bunch of parts CAN allow you to do pretty much anything you can dream up.

Jerry
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HAHA YES! That’s the plan I am leaning to now, custom action and a few prefit barrels and stock/chassis to suit. Play around on a whim! If the OP can swing it it might be the best option.

SCG
 
Like others have said, crossover setups really just end up being less than ideal for both tasks. My suggestion would be the 700 footprint action of your choice (even a Defiance An-ti or a ti action if you really wanna drop weight), drop it in an MDT XRS so you can run it slick for hunting or add weights for PRS-type matches and add a barrel for match duty and a carbon barrel for lightweight hunter duty. You'll have a hard time finding a scope that will have the features you want for matches and be light enough but something like a Leupold Mk5 3.6-18 or NF NX8 2.5-20 come close being sub 30oz. That way you can swap things around to suit your application. You could also hold off on the carbon barrel until you were closer to actually going on a mountain hunt. At the end of the day, having a specific setup tailored to your task is always going to be ideal but you can get pretty close and save a bunch of cash, by having a modular setup you can change to suit the day's task.
 
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