What do ya'll think it would be? 7mm RUM? .30-378 Weatherby? I'm thinking something extremely flat shooting...

A friend of mine has killed some nice rams w/7mm Mauser, another a 6.5x55, another a .300Ultra......a .264 Win. Mag.......270 Winnie has accounted for more than its share......a couple of famous sheep hunters preferred .257 Roberts......Elgin Gates preferred a .300 Weatherby Mag for sheep and anything else that walked on this planet.

I believe it comes down to what you shoot best and believe(confidence factor) in the most...also how much gun you're willing to carry in the mountains.....one of the best sheep hunters I know shoots a plain jane '06 but can afford anything he
wants......he can really shoot.

Joe

Every time I see this question, I remember a Jack O'Connor line, "During a brief stretch early in my sheep-hunting career I went the route of the heavy long-barreled rifle. I was seeing quite a few rams that had seen me first at long range because at the time I had not learned to hunt sheep."

He hunted once with that rifle, then went to shorter, lighter models. He killed a lot of sheep (and everything else) with the 270, 7x57, 30-06, etc. His wife and sons did the same with the 257 Roberts and 7x57.


Okie John

The question I have is why would you shoot an ultra mag instead of a short mag? For lack of a better way of saying it - it's just a sheep.

I'm just asking a question


My sheep gun is my .280 rem

I think a lot of people worry more about the weight of the rifle than the cartridge. A 30-378 is a great round, but it is a heavy rifle. Sheep hunting is very physically demanding and a lighter rifle is what most people look for. I got my Dall with a .300 win mag. that weighs around 10-11 lbs. When I got back from that trip, I started looking for a lighter "mountain" rifle. I ended up with a .300 WSM that weighs 7 lbs. with a scope. It works just as well as my .300 win mag, but is easier to climb with.

quote:

Originally posted by okie john:
..........270, 7x57, 30-06, etc. His wife and sons did the same with the 257 Roberts and 7x57.

No reason for anything more than this. I carry a 7x57, but am thinking of using one of my Roberts next season.

quote:

Originally posted by akpls:

quote:

Originally posted by okie john:
..........270, 7x57, 30-06, etc. His wife and sons did the same with the 257 Roberts and 7x57.

No reason for anything more than this. I carry a 7x57, but am thinking of using one of my Roberts next season.

Which is why instead of saving up for a new sheep gun, saving for a SHEEP HUNT! In the mean time I'm practicing long shots with my .270. My new attitude is its more fun to hunt than own lots of guns.

For me it was a 7mmRSAUM in a lightweight Rem model 7. Flat shooting, lightweight hard hitting.

I've thought about this very thing quite a bit, while hoping I live long enough to draw a tag here in CO. I'm thinking a Kimber Montana in 7-08 rechambered to .284.

When I do a sheep hunt I would have to use my single shot Blaser K 95 Stutzen in 308.

Cobrad - I got my bighorn in your back yard in 1999. Just below Hunter peak at about 12,500'. Used a Winchester M-70 Featherweigh Classic in 270. Hornady 140 BTSP at 3100 fps. One shot kill at 235 yards. The "fun" started after the kill - took all day to get back down to the trail...

I have a Rem 700 Titanium in 7mm-08 with a Leupold 4.5-14x42 Talley Lightweight rings and 2 piece bases, Timney trigger glass bedded - that weighs 6.4lbs (2.910kg)

With the 162gn A-Max it shoots .5MOA and the B&C reticles gives you accurate holdover stadia out to 500 yards. I used it last weekend to shoot a chamois in the mountains here at 460 yard. 1 shot.

It may not be a very powerful or flat shooting round, but that has mean that I have been able to comfortable shoot so much practice with it and never got worried about the recoil.
I have lost interest in finding the flattest shooting cartridge. No matter what you shoot, if you stretch the range you will have to learn the drop.
Therefore it makes no practical difference if know what that drop is.

I put a lot of thought into setting this rifle up and feel it is a complete success.
Light recoil makes for good shootability and accurate placement.
With a bipod it is still lighter than most lightwieght.
Only complaint it that I can only put 1 round in the magazine due to the long COL and short box. Never needed it anyway.

Here is what I built for Sheep hunting up here for a Leftie. In my mind you you want a flat shooter with lo recoil and a LW. Extreme angle shots with an uncertain hold makes me want lo recoil.
$800 Shipped LH LW 284 Win.
https://forums.accuratereloading.com/eve/forums/a/tpc/f/2711043/m/347100967

I enjoy the Remington 7mm STW with 140 grain ballistic tip ammmo by Nosler custom ammo. Flat, fast, with lots of shocking power. This caliber was developed for just such hunting, long range, extreme conditions, delivering maximun stopping power.

The main element for me is it needs to be light and able to shoot MOA. Sheep aren't especially hard to kill and if a person will take the effort to get sensible range anything from a 243 and up will do the trick. One of the greatest sheephunters in Alaska used a 222 with a skeletal stock to take a 47" ram during the Wrangells heydays.

What do ya'll think it would be? 7mm RUM? .30-378 Weatherby? I'm thinking something extremely flat shooting...

I'm thinkin' that ya don't need no .300 Eargensplittenloudenboomer for sheep and is a sure sign of a nimrod. I'll take my 'ole .270 Win any day.
Bear in Fairbanks

Sheep die very easily...I think you might be able to kill one with a stern look!

For me, a sheep rifle is light, relatively flat shooting and accurate. Magnum power and/or 338 Lapua-type exterior ballistics are not required.

I had my "ultimate" sheep rifle built in '98. A 7lb 6.5 Gibbs on a turned and skeletonized M700 action.

If I did it over today, I'd probably pick a 270 WSM. But there are so many options that are just as good.

I definitely do NOT subscribe to the theory that you need to pack a grizzly bear rifle on a sheep hunt, just because you may run into one.

Cheers,
Canuck

O'Connor used a .348 winchester on one sheep hunt which we never hear about...we should all switch over to that.

I am looking into this myself and will probably end up with either a 270 WSM or 300 WSM in a Kimber Montana. I thought seriously about the 257 Weatherby as well. What I would really like to have is a rifle built by Borden but I doubt that I will go that route.

I built a .300 Ultra Mag on a composite stock just for this situation.

Jeff

7# 358 win or 376 steyr, lightest barnes tsx for caliber, as fast as they will reasonably go

bear, sheep, pig, whatever...

quote:

Originally posted by Marabou Slasher:
I enjoy the Remington 7mm STW with 140 grain ballistic tip ammmo by Nosler custom ammo. Flat, fast, with lots of shocking power. This caliber was developed for just such hunting, long range, extreme conditions, delivering maximun stopping power.

If I ever hunt sheep I'll take one of my 270s and a 130 grain bullet.

I suppose I could talk myself into taking my 28" barreled 300 RUM and work up a 150 grain bullet.

If there is such a thing as the "ultimate sheep rifle" it would be impossible to confine it to one caliber. There are just so many that would do the job well.

270 win or 280 rem would be my first choices.

quote:

Originally posted by yukon delta:
What I would really like to have is a rifle built by Borden but I doubt that I will go that route.

Why not? He builds a heck of a rifle. I've been chewing on this same thing for 4 years now. I may have to order one next year with one of his actions.

The only thing stopping me is money. I sold 2 of my guns this week that would pay for one but I'm getting to the point where I want to have less tied up in guns and spend more on my hunting trips.

......9.3x64 bren..... that will be mine anyway........... i think express has a great dedicated sheep rifle ...But sheep and goats hang out up high and so do some huge brown bear ,., So I,ll just stick with my medium bore favorite ......I mean , I shoot little deer with a 458 so its not like being over gunned is a problem for me.....JMHO

My sheep rifle is a .257 AI. It's a Mauser Mark X barreled action that I stocked with fancy walnut about 30 yrs ago. Before I took it to the Mackenzie Mtns in Canada's NW Territories for Dall sheep, I fitted a Ram Line stock on it. Both stocks are Accu glass bedded with free floating barrels. It's topped with a 6x Leupold. I have several loads with non-premium 115-120 gr bullets (Sierra, Hornady) that shoot MOA for 3 shots right at 3000 fps.

It's made one shot kills on 4 sheep, and several dozen antelope, mule and whitetail deer, elk, and caribou. Good accuracy and very little recoil.

All my sheep hunting was done in the 80's and 90's before digital cameras, but here's my deer this year taken with my .257 AI:

Bugelimin,

What do you use on Aoudad in West Texas, I am sure it would work fine for any other sheep or goat anyplace else.

25-06, 280, 7mm of any flavor, 300, 8mm Remington, 264, in a very accurate rifle, with a combined rifle, scope, sling, weight not over 11 pounds. And for every year you are over 40 drop 2 oz. If your taller you can carry a heavier rifle a little more comfortably.

A combined rifle weight of 7-11 pounds, in a very accurate rifle is ideal. The less weight the better.

The problem with getting to light is you have these sheep and goat hunts costing from $4000 for an Chamois in Austria to $85,000 for an Markhor in Pakistan. You need an accurate rifle, that you have a lot of faith in.

I think pulling the trigger on a $50,000 bill for a Desert Bighorn or Altai Argali has to be the scariest moment in a hunters life. An accurate rifle you have faith in will help ease that a bit.

quote:

Originally posted by D99:
Bugelimin,

What do you use on Aoudad in West Texas, I am sure it would work fine for any other sheep or goat anyplace else.

25-06, 280, 7mm of any flavor, 300, 8mm Remington, 264, in a very accurate rifle, with a combined rifle, scope, sling, weight not over 11 pounds. And for every year you are over 40 drop 2 oz. If your taller you can carry a heavier rifle a little more comfortably.

A combined rifle weight of 7-11 pounds, in a very accurate rifle is ideal. The less weight the better.

The problem with getting to light is you have these sheep and goat hunts costing from $4000 for an Chamois in Austria to $85,000 for an Markhor in Pakistan. You need an accurate rifle, that you have a lot of faith in.

I think pulling the trigger on a $50,000 bill for a Desert Bighorn or Altai Argali has to be the scariest moment in a hunters life. An accurate rifle you have faith in will help ease that a bit.

Hell the thought of dropping $12 K on a Dall hunt keeps me up as it is.

quote:

Originally posted by D99:
Bugelimin,

What do you use on Aoudad in West Texas?

Whenever I make it, I will be packing my 280

Bugle
7 Rem.Mag..Hams up...

AK

I had the pleasure of spending some time recently with two fellows from Michigan who are dedicated sheep hunters. They have the means and time to hunt all over the world and have taken animals I didn't know even existed. I asked what they used and one uses a 7STW lightweight built by Bansner with a Leupold scope. The other uses a 257 Weatherby lightweight built by Lex Webernick. He has a one inch Swarovski on his gun.

Getting older and not nearly as spry, my winter project is to come up with the lightest tool,with adequate power, to do the job. The fly in the ointment is that where I hunt, the possibility always exists, that I may have to deal with a grizzly. Right now, I'm thinking .270 bolt action, synthetic stock, with a blind magazine
Grizz

quote:

Originally posted by okie john:
Every time I see this question, I remember a Jack O'Connor line, "During a brief stretch early in my sheep-hunting career I went the route of the heavy long-barreled rifle. I was seeing quite a few rams that had seen me first at long range because at the time I had not learned to hunt sheep."

He hunted once with that rifle, then went to shorter, lighter models. He killed a lot of sheep (and everything else) with the 270, 7x57, 30-06, etc. His wife and sons did the same with the 257 Roberts and 7x57.


Okie John

Jack said it well....hunting vs shooting sheep

......Realistically the Ruger frontier in 300 WSM may be the top ,, but a Ruger Compact in 260 Rem 7/08 or 308 ...would be just right ....I know young guys [ I remember before they were born ] in Sitka who use a 260 , and a 308 as their deer and goat rifles .... A friend of mine there made a great shot on a nice billy in very high wind with his old pre 64 model 70 06 boat gun ..up on Bear Mountain in Silver Bay ....True , nasty old billy goats may not be quite as pinky finger raising as sheep .,.,Really a 30/30 will do fine in a pinch ..Ya don,t need a 2,000.00$ rifle to shoot something the size of a sheep ...

My mountain rifle is a Stainless Model 70 in 300 WSM. It is light and shoots extremely well.
A 270 or 7MM WSM would do just fine also.

Hawkeye47

My sheep and goat rifle is a Winchester M70 Classic Stainless with a PACNOR featherweight profile barrel in a McMillan Edge Featherweight stock with Williams 1 pc bottom metal. Weighs about 7 1/2 lbs. 30.06

Kimber Montana or similar rifle in 260, 7-08, 25-06 or 270. A friend of mine uses a Sako 375 Handi rifle (20" bbl). His last ram was taken at 400+ yards. You're going to be carrying it more than shooting it. Any light rifle with a cartridge that gives you confidence will serve you well. Lou

i keep thinking this thread will come to an end but since it hasn't i'll feed the machine. I have a R700 Ti, with Lilja #2 chambered for 7mm-08AI. It sits in a McMillan Edge and wears a Leupold 6x(German #4) in Talley lightweights. Doesn't wear me out and shoots well. Paid for with an enlisted soldier's salary not a doctor's.

Super.. Freak it's about time You showed.. Who's next !
AK