Whats your sheep hunting rifle?

Make?

Caliber?

Scope?

Stainless or blued?



Do you carry a spotting scope?

Make?

Power?



Range finder?



What about rain gear? Froggtoggs?

I use one rifle for all of my bighorn,deer and pronghorn hunting.It is a custom rifle built on a stainless 700 action,mcmillan stock and kreiger barrel.It is chambered in 7mmstw and a swarovski 3x10x42 scope is mounted on leupold bases and rings.The total weight is about 9 pounds with scope mounted ,but I do not find this to be a problem for me.

I use a leupold 12x40 spotting scope and a leica 1200 rangefinder and ziess 10x40 classic binoculars..

Mark,

I shot my bighorn and stone with my old factory W M70 in 30/06 using 168gr BarnesXLC at ~ 270 & 300y.

My dall was shot at 70y with my new "sheep rifle" designed to shoot to 500y.a custom SS 300RUM

A decent rangefinder is very valuable to have,high power scope helpful,I use Leupold VX III 6-14 I think.

get familiar with trajectories in extreme uphill+downhill shooting.

SS and synthetic stock is more trustworthy than wood and blued but I personally never had a problem with the latter.



Spotting scope I think a must though most outfitters have one though not necessarily a good one.I have a 60mm variable to 60X from Cabelas.Not a Leica but will do.Basically its good to have in case.They are heavy to carry.Decent binocs are a must, around X10,Zeiss seems to be the "cheap" standard.I have old Leitz to 7.5

Thanks guys.

I've been giving the rifle some thought. I've only got two rifles, a Browning Stainless Stalker 30-06 with a 2.5-8x36 Leupod on it, ready to hunt it weighs 8.25 pounds and a Browning .338win with the same scope it weights 9 pounds. I've been doing some reading on sheep hunting and some of these guys are taking shoots at 300 to 400 yards. Thats a looooong poke for a Alabama boy whos use to shooting at bayonet range to MAYBE a 175 yards. Hey the only shooting range within an hour drive is only a 100 yard range. Anyway I've been thinking of setting up a light weight sheep rifle, 7 pounds or so, in a little flatter shooting caliber, along the lines of .270 wby, 270wsm, 7mm wsm or 7mm rem., topping it off with Talley rings and one of the new Leupod 2.5-8x36 scopes with the Boone and Crockett reticle.

I guess on the other hand I could just put the Talleys and scope on my 06, not that it'll change the weight much, and just shoot the Federal High Energy 165gr TBBC in it. That leaves me more to spend on a good spotting scope and range finder. It just wouldn't be as much fun as playing with a new toy.

How important is a light weight rifle?

Don't have an ideal sheep rifle actually - my long-range, scoped sporting rifles jump from an M700 6mm Rem w/3x9 Redfield (a tad light but would do it with 100gr Partitions) right up to the .375 H&H (a tad stout but would do it - especialy with something like a 260gr Nosler Accubond BTSP)...



If I were to set up an "ultimate sheep rifle" I'd probably get a stainless/synthetic Ruger M77/MkII in .280 Rem with a Vari-X III 3x9 and use 165gr Boat-tails... Super flat-shooting yet pleasant to shoot and carry while mtn climbing.

mark
re "light mountain rifle".Unquestionably every pound saved makes for a more pleasant climb-but once you need to shhot what you carried it has to do the trick.
The advice I got,a lot from sheep outfitters- is that the new lightweight rifles are not that pleasant to shoot or that accurate.For that reason I chose to rather carry the additional pound and have a flatter trajectory thats accurate.You will never know what distance you can close in.
When I took my stone sheep,all we could do was 400y,the guide almost abandoned me when I refused to take a 400y shot with my then 30/06.We managed to get to within 300y but that was all we could do.Often you are forced to take long distance shots as there is nothing between you and the sheep,and they have excellent sight.I carry a Harris bipod and do recommend it,it helps for the long distance stuff.

My sheep rifle has been a Model 70 in .300 Win. Mag., custom-built by Glen Pearce of Casa Grand, AZ. McMillan stock, 24" Hart Barrel, Leupold 2.5-8X scope, Lawrence Model 88 sling. Action finished with Robar's NP-3, barrel blackened, brown painted McMillan stock, Decelerator pad, electroless-nickle sling swivel studs and detachable swivels. Ammo: Handloaded 180 gr. Nosler Partitions @3100 fps. and zeroed for 250 yds. Same rifle used for everything from mule deer, whitetails and elk to African lion.

I'd rather have a .300 in-hand in sheep country than something like a .270, simply because sheep country is often grizzly country, and I wouldn't think of hunting sheep in a place like the Yukon, Alaska, or northern B.C. without a grizzly tag in my pocket.

The next time I hunt sheep, I'll carry a set of Leica 8X42 Ultravid binoculars, my Zeiss spotting scope, Leica rangefinder, and my Echols-built custom Model 70 in .300 Win. Mag. with a Leica 3.5-10X scope. Ammo: Once again, 180 gr. Nosler Partitions @ just under 3100 fps., and zeroed for 250 yds. I have no reason to change the cartridge or the bullet. As before, I'll also carry an ice-ax. This last tool is incredibly handy on sheep mountains....

If you want the best sheep hunting gear available under one roof, check out Barney's Sports Chalet in Anchorage, AK. The man who owns Barney's is a very dedicated and experienced sheep hunter who obtains and sells exactly the right stuff:

www.barneyssports.com

AD

Mark,

Being that I shot a couple of sheep on my own I have some idea of what works. I've used a Mod 7 FS in 308 with a compact 2x7 Leupold. It weighed a shade over 6 lb. and was the only rifle I ever carried that never seemed heavy even at the end of the day. A 150gr.BT seemed to be a good match for this rifle and the game hunted. Through no talent of my own that rifle would shoot 200gr. NP's to the same POA as the 150gr.BT So when we where in the brush I shoved one of those up the spout. I've also used a Brown Precision custom 338 Win. Mag. with a 2.5x8 or 4x Leupold. This rig was a shade over 7lb. The 210 NP shot really well in that rifle. Once again its light weight was very nice to carry.

I just don't think an ultra zapper is necessary and you really don't need a big scope. Sheep usually can be approached to within a reasonable rifle range of 200-300 yd. or so if you use some care. If I was putting together a new rifle for sheep hunting it would be a very light 300 mag of some sort with a muzzle break. It would be as weather proof as possible and wear a 2.5x8 Leupold with Weaver rings and bases.

I like spotting scopes but they need to be of good quality and light weight. I like range finders too but not for sheep hunting. If you have to use the range finder I feel the sheep is too far away. Get closer!

I don't care what kind of an animal a guy is you want the best and the lightest for sheep huntng here in AK.

Allen's recommendation of Barney's in Anchorage maybe the best advise on this thread.

Regards,

Mark

Mark,



I have never hunted sheep so please treat this for what its worth..Before you go out and buy that .270whaterever, see what it will give you out at 400 yards over the 30-06 with say 150grn Barnes X...



Looking at the Barnes reloading manual comparisson charts for example gives just under 18" drop for a 140grn .270 Wby Magnum compared to just under 21" drop from a 150grn Barnes X in 30-06. I would tweak the zero on the 30-06 to say 2.5" high at 100yards and stick with that. By far the biggest factor is going to be acurate range estimation coupled with correct hold over on the scope. Might be a case where Mil Dot reticule would come in handy?



With regards spotting scopes, another couple of things to think about is whether to get a straight or angled eye piece and what sort of tripod to use... A crap tripod will make even the most expensive scope useless.



If I were sharing a spotting scope with a buddy to save weight, I would seriously consider an angled eye piece, the reason being is that its easier for you to trade places with yopur buddy with one of these as you don't have to adjust the scope/tripod height to accomadate different hunters. An angled eye piece also allows you to comfortably use a spotting scope which is lower to the ground which means its more stable.



With regards Lazer Ranger finders, I have a Leica 1200 and its very good. I wish it had a screw mount for setting up on a tripod though, as I think that would be a really handy feature and increase accuracy significantly. I don't know if any other brand has this facility?





Regards,



Pete

i use a leica 1200 l.m.f. and a swarovski spotter st 20-60x80mm.

i think a lt. wt rifle or anything for that matter when mtn. hunting is important.

i use a custom rem 700 a.d.l. skeletonized action on a 1 lb. kevlar stock with pacmeyer decelerator. lothar walther 24" barrel with muzzle brake in .300 w.m. stainless steel with teflon coating. impervious to rust, so far and needs no oil. with handloaded 180 n.p. i get .6 m.o.a for 3 shoots at 100 yds. zeiss 3.5-10x44mm. delrin hush puppy swivels, sling, scope caps, eagle cheek rest/ammo holder 6 lbs. 10 oz. fully loaded blind magazine. rem stock triger worked to a crisp 3 1/2 lbs no over travel. recoil is quite comfortable.

cold zero