Sheep Rifle

Been said quite a few times, run your .308. It’s beyond capable of the 4-500 yard shot. A different caliber won’t help you if you can’t practice with it. .308 is lots of gun out to 600 for sheep. Bullet selection is key. Shot placement is everything.
 
AR15meister said:
Update to this thread.

The fires in the Kooteneys this September closed down our hunting area. I had to make a last minute decision and ended up pushing off my hunt and booking a last minute trip to Kyrgyzstan to hunt mid Asian Ibex.

What an adventure. The .26 Nosler Christensen Arms rifle I ended up buying and the Swarovski Z5 BT worked well and I was able to shoot two nice old billy's.

Savage country, Kyrgyzstan. More wild than anything I have ever seen or encountered! Big mountains too!
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Now THAT'S a sheep rifle...........good choice.
Congrats on the Ibex, I took a couple next door in Tajikistan after my Marco Polo. How big did you get? Kyrgyzstan is supposed to have the best goats much bigger than Taj.
 
c-fbmi said:
Now THAT'S a sheep rifle...........good choice.
Congrats on the Ibex, I took a couple next door in Tajikistan after my Marco Polo. How big did you get? Kyrgyzstan is supposed to have the best goats much bigger than Taj.
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I shot 2 actually. My first one was 40 inches on the dot and shot at about 100 yards after a pretty intense stalk. Nothing too dramatic. Second one wasn't exactly planned but my buddy wounded it and we ended up splitting up to try and find it. I found it first and was able to kill it several hours later in diminishing light with a lucky 644 yard shot as it was heading over a mountain. I had been practicing at camp for a day at long range before heading into spike camp, So I got comfortable out to 400 yards and planned to stay within that range. The longer shot wasn't planned but was required to dispatch a wounded Ibex and I got lucky that the Swarovski and Christensen worked well. The .26 nosler is a very powerful round and only needed one shot on each Ibex. My friend was shooting .270WIN and his Ibex went for around 10-15 miles wounded in the guts.

One thing I can say (from experience now) is that if you do happen to go on an Asian mountain hunt, I would recommend a very hard hitting long range caliber and the best optics you can afford with some sort of bullet drop/wind reticle and or a ballistic turret. And a bipod! I wouldn't recommend a heavy rifle per say but definitely don't think the whole ultralight rifle thing is a good idea either. you want some heft and a good long range sniper type rifle. not too heavy but not light at the expense of excellent accuracy and optics. You might only get one chance and you need to be able to make things happen in bad conditions. I went in very good shape (personal trainer and boxing coach several times a week) and we camped at 12,000 ft approx. and went up as high as a tad over 16,000 feet. The slightly heftier rifle was nothing, in the grand scheme of what we were doing.

It was quite an adventure. 11 hour flight Toronto to Istanbul...3 days in Istanbul drinking, eating and sightseeing (coolest city I have been to) then a 6 hour flight to Kyrgyz...3 days in Biskek drinking eating due to government BS regarding permits..... 18 hour car ride from Bishkek to the camp through military checkpoints (and dudes with AK's constantly) then a 7-8 hour horseback ride into spike camp and then gaining elevation and glassing each day and extreme cold weather camping (-15 to -20) at night in my little 2 man North Face tent. then head home and whole thing in reverse again.

Thank you to all here who gave ideas to me. Much respect.
 
I was at a camp where a guy had a 300 rem ultra mag for sheep and caribou. It had a bipod. I weighed it with a fish scale one of the guides had. 13 lbs. I saw him shoot a B&C caribou at 400. Worked perfect.
 
AR15meister said:
I shot 2 actually. My first one was 40 inches on the dot and shot at about 100 yards after a pretty intense stalk. Nothing too dramatic. Second one wasn't exactly planned but my buddy wounded it and we ended up splitting up to try and find it. I found it first and was able to kill it several hours later in diminishing light with a lucky 644 yard shot as it was heading over a mountain. I had been practicing at camp for a day at long range before heading into spike camp, So I got comfortable out to 400 yards and planned to stay within that range. The longer shot wasn't planned but was required to dispatch a wounded Ibex and I got lucky that the Swarovski and Christensen worked well. The .26 nosler is a very powerful round and only needed one shot on each Ibex. My friend was shooting .270WIN and his Ibex went for around 10-15 miles wounded in the guts.

One thing I can say (from experience now) is that if you do happen to go on an Asian mountain hunt, I would recommend a very hard hitting long range caliber and the best optics you can afford with some sort of bullet drop/wind reticle and or a ballistic turret. And a bipod! I wouldn't recommend a heavy rifle per say but definitely don't think the whole ultralight rifle thing is a good idea either. you want some heft and a good long range sniper type rifle. not too heavy but not light at the expense of excellent accuracy and optics. You might only get one chance and you need to be able to make things happen in bad conditions. I went in very good shape (personal trainer and boxing coach several times a week) and we camped at 12,000 ft approx. and went up as high as a tad over 16,000 feet. The slightly heftier rifle was nothing, in the grand scheme of what we were doing.

It was quite an adventure. 11 hour flight Toronto to Istanbul...3 days in Istanbul drinking, eating and sightseeing (coolest city I have been to) then a 6 hour flight to Kyrgyz...3 days in Biskek drinking eating due to government BS regarding permits..... 18 hour car ride from Bishkek to the camp through military checkpoints (and dudes with AK's constantly) then a 7-8 hour horseback ride into spike camp and then gaining elevation and glassing each day and extreme cold weather camping (-15 to -20) at night in my little 2 man North Face tent. then head home and whole thing in reverse again.

Thank you to all here who gave ideas to me. Much respect.
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Try that with your 308..........of course it can be done, but not by many............much higher chance of success with a flat shooting hard hitting cartridge like what the OP was using. In Taj I took my Marco Polo and 2 Ibex all of which were over 500 mtrs, with my 300 Wby.........OP did you notice how much flatter your rifle shot at 15,000 ft......I was astounded at the difference when I did some shooting around camp in Taj.
 
Hi guys I know I'm a bit late in this thread but still a newer member. I was wondering about the Christensen Arms guns for sheep hunting I love there carbon barrels and have my eye on one at Italian Sporting goods in Van. For the price I find it hard to beat do the sheep hunters of CGN have any real world feedback.
 
c-fbmi said:
Try that with your 308..........of course it can be done, but not by many............much higher chance of success with a flat shooting hard hitting cartridge like what the OP was using. In Taj I took my Marco Polo and 2 Ibex all of which were over 500 mtrs, with my 300 Wby.........OP did you notice how much flatter your rifle shot at 15,000 ft......I was astounded at the difference when I did some shooting around camp in Taj.
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I agree 10000% on "flat shooting and hard hitting". Nice thing with that .26 Nosler is the recoil isn't bad with the muzzle brake in my Christensen Arms. It shoots lighter than my .308 and hits like a cannon ball.

If you don't put a good first shot it does enough damage to make sure you can get a second one off, hopefully, and finish the job before the Ibex/Sheep is gone over the mountains into the next country like China...where you cannot follow.

And I agree- factor in being tired, cold and mountain sick (potentially) and you aren't shooting in range conditions. Until you have been there, you don't know. Its always good to have tools that aloow for a margin of error in crappy conditions when everything is against you (like the mountains of Tajik/Kyrgyz/Pakistan).

I really appreciated all of the sage advice I got on here. I look forward to booking another high adventure mountain hunt for 2018 to a remote and exotic place (hopefully!).
 
AR15............if you want the ultimate in high country adventure and a truly magnificent animal to chase you might look into Markhor in Pakistan. It is a high risk hunt though and you must sign a waiver against being shot, injured or captured by bad guys........a true adventure to be sure in some of the wildest country left on the planet........politically as well as geographically. The other upside is that you can of course shoot back when it comes to the bad guys.......their AKs might look a little light for the job when you are picking them off at 600 mtrs............
I didn't have the money when I was younger and now I'm just too old for that much excitement and climbing............but man I would have loved it in my 30s.........one of the most magnificent mountain trophies on the planet IMHO.
 
AR15meister said:
I shot 2 actually. My first one was 40 inches on the dot and shot at about 100 yards after a pretty intense stalk. Nothing too dramatic. Second one wasn't exactly planned but my buddy wounded it and we ended up splitting up to try and find it. I found it first and was able to kill it several hours later in diminishing light with a lucky 644 yard shot as it was heading over a mountain. I had been practicing at camp for a day at long range before heading into spike camp, So I got comfortable out to 400 yards and planned to stay within that range. The longer shot wasn't planned but was required to dispatch a wounded Ibex and I got lucky that the Swarovski and Christensen worked well. The .26 nosler is a very powerful round and only needed one shot on each Ibex. My friend was shooting .270WIN and his Ibex went for around 10-15 miles wounded in the guts.

One thing I can say (from experience now) is that if you do happen to go on an Asian mountain hunt, I would recommend a very hard hitting long range caliber and the best optics you can afford with some sort of bullet drop/wind reticle and or a ballistic turret. And a bipod! I wouldn't recommend a heavy rifle per say but definitely don't think the whole ultralight rifle thing is a good idea either. you want some heft and a good long range sniper type rifle. not too heavy but not light at the expense of excellent accuracy and optics. You might only get one chance and you need to be able to make things happen in bad conditions. I went in very good shape (personal trainer and boxing coach several times a week) and we camped at 12,000 ft approx. and went up as high as a tad over 16,000 feet. The slightly heftier rifle was nothing, in the grand scheme of what we were doing.

It was quite an adventure. 11 hour flight Toronto to Istanbul...3 days in Istanbul drinking, eating and sightseeing (coolest city I have been to) then a 6 hour flight to Kyrgyz...3 days in Biskek drinking eating due to government BS regarding permits..... 18 hour car ride from Bishkek to the camp through military checkpoints (and dudes with AK's constantly) then a 7-8 hour horseback ride into spike camp and then gaining elevation and glassing each day and extreme cold weather camping (-15 to -20) at night in my little 2 man North Face tent. then head home and whole thing in reverse again.

Thank you to all here who gave ideas to me. Much respect.
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Sounds like an epic adventure and I'm jealous!

You said last minute so I assume a cancellation hunt? If you don't mind can I ask what the all in cost was? Feel free to PM me if you don't want to say it in the thread.
 
cam1936 said:
Sounds like an epic adventure and I'm jealous!

You said last minute so I assume a cancellation hunt? If you don't mind can I ask what the all in cost was? Feel free to PM me if you don't want to say it in the thread.
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I don't mind sharing. Others should know so they go into these things with real $$$$ expectations.

All in I spent about 20 grand give or take Canadian including outfitter, hotels, flights, tips, massages, Turkish baths, dinners, fees (aka bribes) to government guys in Kyrgyzstan, etc. Outfitter was about 7k USD. I also shot a second Ibex.

Caveat- I stayed at 5 star hotels and flew business class though. And drank and ate at nice restaurants and bought rugs and weird mementos and had a personal driver and a full time English speaking minder in Turkey touring us around for 2 days. That added about 5 grand to 7 grand to the trip that could have been avoided. I don't travel fancily most of the year when travelling for business so when I do these "personal growth" trips I like a bit of luxury mixed in and I love to get out in the night life spots and enjoy myself.

you could likely do a single Ibex hunt in Kyrgyzstan for 10-12 Canadian all included. That would be flying coach, basic hotel in Istanbul or no stay over there at all, basic hotel in Bishkek.

Personally; I would never advise you to fly through Istanbul and not experience the city for at least 2 nights. Party of these Asian hunting expeditions is the culture and the "expedition" part of it. We stayed at Soho House in Istanbul. It was nice. We did all the sight seeing and ate like locals. Did the traditional Turkish baths where the big hairy dudes wash you and massage you (weird at first but pretty cool) and then you chill out and drink tea and pomegranate juice. We went out drinking on the bosphorous and in the nightclubs. We missed the Sultan's hunting lodge; but I will be going there this spring if all goes according to plan and will check that out for sure.

If you decide to consider Kyrgysz message me on here and I can link you up with the outfitter. I would do Azerbaijan first though if I did it over again. I hear Baku is awesome (comparatively speaking to Bishkek or Dushanbe). Kyrgyzstan is a crappy ex soviet bandit country full of sketchy corrupt Russians. Nice mountains and nice trees though. Lots of Beautiful women too! You may want a hunt in a more civilized Asian place first to acclimatize!
 
If i was looking again. I would buy a Christnson arms ridgeline in 28 nosler. Light accurate and be a good all around rifle as well
Current sheep rig is a kimber adronidak in 308. Crazy light shoots exellent
Butif i was doing it again it would be a ridgeline
 
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