I took my Grand Slam with the following:
Dall--.30-06, 150 gr Nosler Solid Base.
Stone--7mm Rem Mag, 140 gr Nosler Partition.
Bighorn--.284 Winchester, 140 gr Nosler Ballistic Tip.
Desert Bighorn--.25-06, 120 gr Nosler Partition.

Sheep are exceedingly easy to kill, and almost any bullet/rifle combo will do the job. I think that if you have confidence in a gun that is light and accurate, well then, you have your sheep rifle!

Best Sheep rifle is one you can shoot well at extreme angles. Unguided or Guided? Local hunts here in AK I prefer a 30 caliber in Grizzly country without a backup hunter with a suitable caliber. Hunting with a another hunter prefer a LW light accurate rifle capable of shooting extreme angles without to much recoil.

Thats why the Winchester model 70 300 Remington Ultramag was made. A hard hitting, long range wind bucking cartridge if there ever was one. Really good cartridge if hunting sheep/goats in griz territory or if the hunt is a mixed bag. I have friends that hunt Alaska for sheep, billys and bears and they would not use anything else. The only downside is the ferocious recoil, so some measures must be taken to reduce it as much as possible.

I would have to say that the classic sheep cartridge is the 270 Win.

Anything that can be done with the 270 I can do with the 308.

However, considering the price on sheep hunts these days if I was hunting sheep I would use either a Blaser K 95 Stutzen in 308, or a Blaser R 93 in 300 Win Mag.


As a side note I have a friend that has hunted EVERY sheep type animal in ALL of the "Stan" countries. Some of them more than once.

I have helped him sight in his rifles and given him some long range pointers.

He tells me "IF I could shoot just 100 yards farther"... That Last 100 yards is a killer, the hardest part of the whole hunt....

He shoots a 300 Win Mag quite a bit.

An original Lawson Thumbhole stock gun.

It is scarry accurate.

He is a Mega Millionaire and has hunted everything all over the world.

He tells me that the "sheep" in the "Stan" countries are the toughest hunts on the Planet.

He has hunted them ALL.

Interesting, I have spent almost my entire life in B.C.s mountains and have lived alone among sheep, goats, bears and so forth on very isolated fire lookouts for months at a time. The sheep here do not live at very high altitudes and are not particularly difficult to locate, once you know the country....a BIG ram IS a very wary animal and they are not easy, tho'.

I would think that the high altitudes of the "stan" region very likely has much to do with the difficulty involved and with mild asthma, I find even BC alpine climbing pretty taxing...but, still do it, albeit slowly.

I DO wonder, tho', WHY you would choose the relatively limited K-95-.308Win. as your first choice when you are concerned about the cost of a sheep hunt? It seems to me, that there are more efficient choices available and the concern over cost seems to mandate using one.

There are so many good choices for mountain game, sheep included, that it is futile to pick just one. Sometimes, my .270s seem just right, other times my light custom Brno-22H-.280Rem. feels better and when solo in Grizzly country, which is ALL of "sheep country" here in BC, I almost never hunt without one of my .338WMs in hand and they are CRF with good auxiliary irons.

So, WHY the little singleshot in .308W.?

For mountain hunting I would take my WBY 257 shooting the 117gr bullet. For flater land I would use one of my 300's shooting the 180gr bullet

Gidday Guys,

Here a 243win is considered almost optimal for Chamois along with the moderate 6.5 - 7mm.

They are not a large or particularly tough animal when it comes to absorbing bullets and normally shots are well under 300m so while they faster rounds are adequate they are hardly necessary.

That is the experience for this animal in the Southern Alps.

Happy Hunting

Hamish

You gentlemen need to read this article in the April 2009 issue of G&A.

Peak Performer
O'Connor was right all along: The .270 is still the premier sheep caliber to be had.
By Craig Boddington Posted: 03-06-09 Categories: Gun Notes

http://www.gunsandammomag.com/...ory_C/Peak+Performer

The .270 is fine, I have three, yet I still prefer my 6.5/284 , I admit it is probably due to the rifle and not the calibre.
But, isn't that true for most of us?

Truth is with all the premium bullets available, better powders and to a large extent better cases and primers we now are awash in great choices.

Ballistic evaluation of many of today's premium factory loads to proper handloads is remarkably similar in many rifles, particularly the off-the-shelf variety.

So, if the rifle and shooter are consistent, the sub 500 yd sheep cartridge could by anyone of many.

So, in spite of the cries of "sniping" verses hunting and one calibre verses another similar one , its all great fun to choose sides and discuss the plus and minus of our favorites.

And even more fun to have the memories of the shot on the animal and all that led up to that point of the hunt.

I've already responded to this post but I thought I should add that my Billy Goat was killed at 21 paces after I practiced for 6 months at 300 to 400 yards all summer, my Bighorn Sheep was killed at 285 yards.
Passed on lesser Rams (3/4 curl) in the earlier part of the season at 35 to 75 yards and on the 24th day of my season I took the one I was looking for.
I could have filled both tags with a variety of rifles but the 30/06 I used was not glamorous however it was very effective. If I were to draw a Desert Sheep tag I would probably use the 30/06 again. I shoot that rifle very well and have taken an elk at 425 yards and would not consider shooting a Sheep at any distance much further no matter what rifle I had in my hands. Others of course would feel different about this but I'm sure they are better shots than I am so I don't begrudge them for it.

quote:

Originally posted by Steffen:
other sheep species would probably be fun, but not if costs 15000$

Amen.

My mule deer cost me $19.62 and $45.00 worth of diesel. My whitetail cost me $38.00 and about $10.00 worth of diesel.

$15,000 for 50 pounds of meat is ludicrous. Millions of people are starving in this world.

If you compare the non magnums, the 308 does as well as any of the others.

Due to its accuracy, and the fact that I have used it for over 30 years, makes it a top choice for me. I have taken antelope at @550 yards and javillina at 412 yards.

Anything I can do with a 270, 280 etc. I can do with a 308. The K 95 single shot is a classic, and would look good in the Photo next to a Sheep or a Goat.

The 300 Win Mag gives about a 100 yard cushion in trajectory over the 308 in drop ie range estimate error, and in wind deflection.

IF I hunted a "stan" country sheep I would most likely use the 300 Win Mag.

PS I have a friend that has hunted every "stan" country there is.

quote:

$15,000 for 50 pounds of meat is ludicrous. Millions of people are starving in this world.

Puullleeeeasseee!!!!

I realize this is April fool's , but come on now.

My favorite sheep rifle is my .257 AI. It's a Mauser Mark X on Fajen walnut and topped with a 6x Leupold. It likes 117 gr Sierras and 120 gr Hornadys. I've used it to to make one shot kills on 4 Montana bighorn rams and one Dall ram.

As to the discussion about the .30-06, within 400 yds how much real difference is there between the .30-06, .270, .280, or 7mm RM?

I shot a 250+ pound MT bighorn at 340 yards with a 30-06 and 180 tsx. It worked for me and I am taking a 30-06 to the north west territories for dall, Moose, and caribou.
30-06 will do the job any animal in NA. DRT every time.

I have carried my 7mmstw on all of my bighorn hunts in the past,but from now on,I will be carrying a 280AI.

+ 257 AI, that's what I used on my Dall Sheep

Plus took a couple of caribou,

only problem here into Alaska is you often run in bears so I switched to a 270 WIN

I also read Craig Boddingtons article on Sheep Rifles and he actually used an 8mm Remington Magnum on one hunt.

quote:

In 1982 when I first moved to Alaska and started sheep hunting I bought a Brown Precsion 300WM for all my mountain hunting. Even though I own 60 guns, this is still the one I ALWAYS grab for any mountain hunting. It's powerful enough to handle the bears I always run into in the mountains, can buck the wind, shoot at extreme distance, heart shot a chamois this summer at 436 yard as it was running and most important gives me the confidence I need to take that shot. It was not a lucky shot, I knew I could make that shot with that rifle because I had many times before.

There is an old saying: 'Beware the man with one rifle, he may know how to use it'

I would go with the classic .270 Win and good premium bullet...

I wonder if Vapodog would get mad if I said I'd killed sheep with an 06 and MUCH less cash than 11K?

quote:

Originally posted by Steffen:
i found this article on Rifleshooter, where Boddington claims that the .260 Rem, 6.5x55, 7mm-08, 7x57, .30-06 etc. are too slow for a sheep rifle.

quote:

A fast, accurate .25 probably is ideal for small sheep like mouflon, and just last week I used a borrowed .257 Weatherby to take a chamois in Spain's Pyrenees. But for the full run of mountain game, I think the right choices start with fast 6.5mms.

All are rare in North America today, but I'm thinking of cartridges like the .264 Winchester Magnum, the wildcat 6.5-06 and the European 6.5x68. Then come the .270s: .270 Winchester, .270 Weatherby, .270 WSM. Then come the fast 7s. I love the 7x57 and 7mm-08 in proper applications, but here I'm thinking about the .280 Remington as the baseline and then all the 7mm magnums--short, long, belted or unbelted. Then come the .30s. Although the .30-06 is probably my all-time-favorite cartridge, I'd leave that out and start with the short magnums and go all the way up.

any sheep hunters here that disagree?


the full article:
http://www.rifleshootermag.com...ep_061305/index.html

In a recent article, Boddington was shooting a .300 Weatherby but with only a 150gr hornady bullet! Clearly addicted to speed and not BC...

For what its worth, my pick would be a .280AI with 160gr or 7mm Rem Mag with 160 or even a 175 Sierra Gameking... Maybe a 6.5mm with 140gr... I want all the help I can get in that crosswind...

quote:

Originally posted by DMB:
I guess that explains why I never read any of his stuff..

Don

Ditto. When I think sheep catrridge the first one that comes to mind is a 25-06, he also says that my beloved 57mm Mauser cases are obsolete. Screw Craig Boddington, he is nothing but a whizbang magnum whore with a steroid enhanced sense of reality.