Sheep rifle attributes?

[FURMAN]

What are your top 5 attributes to a sheep rifle?

 

[stevevan]

What are your top 5 attributes to a sheep rifle?

accurate, accurate, accurate, accurate, and finally accurate.

 

[Decker9]

Besides the obvious 3, accurate, compact, reliable, it also has to be dull in colour (no stainless) and must be a 6.5 Swede .

 

[USMC-40]

Accurate
Light
Shortish (18-21” barrel)
I must be able to shoot it to 500 yards
Be able to accomplish the above in cold, wet, miserable weather

 

[RnnHntr]

I will tell you after the sheep season!

 

[Yellowknife]

1. Light to Moderate weight, 6.5 - 7.5 lbs scoped.

2. No more than moderate recoil for more forgiving shooting from awkward positions. ~ 60 gr of powder or less.

3. Trim form factor for ease to strapping to a pack. (i.e small to moderate scopes, no long magazines, extended bolt handles, adjustable cheekpeice, etc

4. Highly reliable. Blind mag or a reliable detachable with spare. No fragile triggers. Not a big fan of improved or aggressively short/fat rounds either when it comes to feeding. Scope mounts that stay put when dropped. Rifle should be well tested.... and weak points fixed. (looking at you Kimber).

5. Scope with a hold over or dial capability to increase 400 yd precision for those rare longer shots.

If this thread goes like most, you will have quite a few opinions from people with little or no sheep hunting experience. Always interesting.

Somebody needs to start a thread on what experienced sheep hunters DON'T want it a sheep rifle. That might be more instructive!

 

[FURMAN]

1. Light to Moderate weight, 6.5 - 7.5 lbs scoped.

2. No more than moderate recoil for more forgiving shooting from awkward positions. ~ 60 gr of powder or less.

3. Trim form factor for ease to strapping to a pack. (i.e small to moderate scopes, no long magazines, extended bolt handles, adjustable cheekpeice, etc

4. Highly reliable. Blind mag or a reliable detachable with spare. No fragile triggers. Not a big fan of improved or aggressively short/fat rounds either when it comes to feeding. Scope mounts that stay put when dropped. Rifle should be well tested.... and weak points fixed. (looking at you Kimber).

5. Scope with a hold over or dial capability to increase 400 yd precision for those rare longer shots.

If this thread goes like most, you will have quite a few opinions from people with little or no sheep hunting experience. Always interesting.

Somebody needs to start a thread on what experienced sheep hunters DON'T want it a sheep rifle. That might be more instructive!

I’ll do that. Lol! I do need to know what “sheep rifle” buyers are looking for when them decide to spend cash.

 

[oenanthe]

This has been working for me for ten years now. An unmodified Kimber 84m in 7mm-08, VX2 3-9 UL (LR reticle), delivers TSX 140 at 2850 fps.

Criteria? 1) reasonably accurate to 400+; 2) rugged and reliable; 3) good handling; 4) light weight; 5) some minimal level of confidence that it can stop a grizzly if needed.

I wouldn't change a thing, except maybe get an alu trigger guard and a titanium bolt handle.

 

[MtGomer]

“The sheep rifle should above all be portable, handy, and relatively light, as the sheep hunter carries a rifle a lot more than he shoots it.”
— Jack O’Connor in “Notes on the Sheep Rifle,” December 1971

 

[FURMAN]

To be more clear I know what I demand in a rifle and I would say it won’t align with most sheep hunters. When you guys say light what means light to you? When you say accurate what does that mean to you? I know guys that believe 1moa is accurate(not me). When you list accurate as the only thing are you willing to carry a twelve pound rifle? Keep the responses coming.

 

[Yellowknife]

Accuracy to me is all about "FIELD" accuracy. i.e the gun may be mechanically capable of 0.5 MOA, but what am I capable of shooting at 30 degrees uphill off my elbow? Or wrapped around a boulder and braced with one leg down a scree slope?

With the squirrelly winds on the sheep mountains, mechanical precision <1 MOA is good... but irrelevant at normal sheep ranges and very likely to be lost in the wind on those rare longer shots. So if the gun is consistently capable of that, I'm good and worry more about the other factors.

Getting good field accuracy to me that means a stock that fits me well from a variety of positions (not just prone or off hand), a rifle that is light but not featherweight (featherweight defined by me as <6.5 lbs scoped) and relatively mild shooting.

The mild shooting is something I should expand on. From my limited sheep hunting experience thus far, I have seen 0 out of 6 instances where a proper well braced prone position was available. Throw mt goat in there and it's 0 out of 10. For a amateur like me, a light recoiling rifle is MUCH more forgiving of form errors than a hard kicker. A .223 for instance is extremely easy to shoot well from even the strangest of rests. A light .300 WM... not so much.

While I currently use a 30-06, but that is my general purpose backcountry rifle and not a dedicated "sheep rifle". If I have a dedicated sheep gun someday, it will shoot high BC bullets 7mm or smaller from a non-magnum case. It will have a sporter stock with a slightly more vertical grip and higher comb for shooting prone or rested as is more common in the mountains, but will NOT be a dedicated prone stock. It will be short and trim enough not to be an awkward load on the pack (<24" barrel) And it largely be will be selected around MY ability to shoot it well rather than a specific precision standard or target weight.

As far as rifle weight.... Lots of people tend to point out that it's easier / better to just "lose 5 lbs off the middle" or "get in shape". That is only sorta true IMO. A long 9.5 lb gun strapped to the side of the pack is harder to balance and more wearing than short 6.5 lb gun, regardless of how good of shape you are in. The trade offs are real. I've met a number of first time sheep hunters (usually guided) carrying heavy guns, but only a bare handful of long time resident sheep hunters doing it. And to confirm the Jack O'Conner quote... the State of Alaska shows almost 13,000 hunter days for 800 sheep. You really do carry a lot more than you shoot.

Lots of things will work out there, but that's my current take on things. Might change again after a few more hunts.

 

[Alaskanopolis]

460 Weatherby. Case closed.

 

[AK Troutbum]

Light and accurate, but not necessarily in that order, weather resistant (stainless/synthetic), somewhat compact, and lastly, if at all possible, sexy, because really, who wants to go sheep hunting with a rifle that looks like a POS.


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[Reburn]

Light and accurate, but not necessarily in that order, weather resistant (stainless/synthetic), somewhat compact, and lastly, if at all possible, sexy, because really, who wants to go sheep hunting with a rifle that looks like a POS.


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I'm glad someone said pretty so I didn't have to be the vain one. Pretty guns can shoot just as good as ugly ones.

 

[Kotaman]

1. Accurate in field situations
2. Moderate Recoil
3. Light for me is 7 to 8 lbs.
4. Maneuverable/Short 23” or less.
5. Why not “Purdy”...

My favorite is my Gunwerks ClymR 6.5 PRC

 

[idaho-shooter]

Gone on 8 sheep hunts, 5 my own, 1 with wife, 2 with friends. Of them 2 guided. 7 were successful. 30-06 my favorite sheep caliber, powerful and accurate, moderate recoil.
1) Accurate with precision under field conditions.
2) Light 6.5 to 7.5 pounds.
3) Compact.
4) Stainless and synthetic.
5) Tested, then tested = trusted.

 

[thinhorn_AK]

It’s all been said already but I’ll as my 2c, I’ve been on Several sheep hunts, about, all otc unguided (AK resident).

-less than 8lbs
-am aiming system that lets me shoot confidently out to 4-500
-fairly compact if possible
-something I feel confident with.

This year it will be a kimber Montana 308 with an SWFA 3-9x42.

 

[roadrunner]

While I currently use a 30-06, but that is my general purpose backcountry rifle and not a dedicated "sheep rifle". If I have a dedicated sheep gun someday, it will shoot high BC bullets 7mm or smaller from a non-magnum case. It will have a sporter stock with a slightly more vertical grip and higher comb for shooting prone or rested as is more common in the mountains, but will NOT be a dedicated prone stock. It will be short and trim enough not to be an awkward load on the pack (<24" barrel) And it largely be will be selected around MY ability to shoot it well rather than a specific precision standard or target weight.

This paragraph describes a .270 or .25-06 as good sheep gun.

 

[Alaskanopolis]

This year I'm going to run a custom built 338 rcm, with a 20" barrel pushing 230gr eld-x to 2760. With the nightforce 2.5-10X42 it weighs in right at 7.5lbs. Yes, it's a lot of firepower but I plan on using it for everything in Alaska.
Link to the build thread: https://www.rokslide.com/forums/threads/my-1-ak-big-game-rifle-to-end-them-all.125438/

 

[FURMAN]

This paragraph describes a .270 or .25-06 as good sheep gun.

Neither 270 or 25 calibers have high bc bullets available. What he’s describing is a 264 or 284 but I’m not interested I discussing caliber as an attribute to a sheep rifle. If we want to say minimal recoil with good velocity energy and ballistics that’s fine but any caliber is capable of providing that within reason. The focus of the question is on the rifle. Caliber itself has little effect on the rifle.