I am about to take my first trip out west to hunt pronghorns. I was wondering if you experienced guys would not mind telling what rifles & ammunition you use when you you go hunting for antelope?

I've made that trip a few times with my .25-06 and a .264 mag and a .257 weatherby.....yes a .270 winchester too.

Far and away my favorite medicine for pronghorns is a 100 grain interlock in a M-70 featherweight chambered for the .257 Roberts. At 3,100'/sec it's as good as the others and is a delight to carry. Pronghorns are not cape buffalo.

I've taken 'lopes with 243, 308, 7 mag and 300 Mag. Mostly I just grab the newest play thing that I've worked up accurate long distance loads with. Goats don't take a lot of gun to put down and one of my favorite combinations is a 243 with the 85 grain Nosler partitions. Then when I get done hunting goats I can switch to varmint loads and pot prairie dogs.

One gun for about 15 lopes: Ancient Remington 700 ADL .270 w/52 grains of 414 behind a 130gr Corelokt bullet. Ancient weaver k4 steel tube scope. Haven't had to adjust the scope in 12 years! Always right on. Ancient = no worries about scratches, nicks, bumps, etc. The gun has dropped lopes from 50 to 500 yards.

As long as you can shoot it well at relatively long ranges almost any rifle will do. Bring some good binos as well.

Most of all I hope you have a ton of fun hunting in the prairie. IMHO nothing, but nothing, is funner than hunting antelope in the big wide open. They're pretty easy to spot, but a challenge to stalk. Let us know how your hunt goes.

Well, my experience last year was really overkill with my 300 RUM and 200 bullet. But when I left WY after my antelope/mulie hunt, I drove straight to CO for elk/mulie. That is why I had the 300 with me.

While in WY, I spotted a good buck and my 300 happened to be on top. Otherwise I would have used my 30.06.

So as a no brainer, the 300/accubond combo dumped the goat cleanly. In fact, my brother, a friend, and I will all be back there this weekend. We leave Friday and our hunt starts Sunday.

This time here is what is going on the trip:

My brother: 270 PacNor bbl, 110 Barnes TSX/IMR4350.

Me: 7mag, Shilen bbl, 150 Nos Btip/IMR4831.

Les: 243, PacNor bbl, 95 Nos Btip/VihtaVuori-N560.

PLUS, we're all taking our MLs. I have a very small spot where this rancher does NOT allow rifle hunters. Prefers archery, but she said MLs would be ok.

50 cal, 300 T/C shockwave, 150gr. Pioneer sticks

50 cal, 285 Knight/Barnes boat tail Ultra Slam sabot, 150 grains stick Pioneer

50 cal, 240 XTP Hornady bullet with BLACK sabot packaged by T/C, 150 Triple 7. THIS LOAD PRODUCED A 1/2" 3 SHOT CLOVERLEAF AT 100.

Just took one on Saturday with a .257 Roberts Improved shooting 100 grain TSXs. It was a pretty close shot for antelope (about 150 yards), but that cartridge and bullet performed quite well. As previously stated, antelope aren't known for their toughness. Any flat-shooting rifle from .243 on up should work well. FWIW, my first antelope fell to a 55 grain soft point from a .22-250 with little fuss...

LaRita and I leave in 46 hours for Wyoming, not that I'm counting

I'm taking a 270win loaded with 140gr Accubonds.
She'll be using a 270win loaded with 130gr Interbonds.

I am leaving for SDak a week from tomorrow for antelope my main rifle will be my 300h-h with a leu 6x 180 interlocks i know its more than i need butit shoots so well and i know it like the back of my hand--my backup will be another pre-64 mod-70 in 270--i know it should be the other way around but theres just somethin bout that 300.

How long you can expect your shots to be, and thus what kind a caliber may be needed, varies quite a bit. In places where the ground is broken, one can usually sneak up on the goats, but in more open places, sometimes the sky is the limit for shot distances...

A .30-06 normally works well, as does some of the more flat shooting numbers: .270 Win, .25-06 etc.

I have used the following calibers with success: .257 Wby, .270 Win, .300 Win Mag.
- mike

Take the longest flatest shooting rifle that you are able to comfortably carry. As mentioned even a 22-250 will work with goats.

They are a very light-boned animal, and very curious. Because of that curiosity you will get many chances at straight-on shots. I've shot a dozen or so with a .30-06 (though my uncle has taken 100 or so with a .270 Win). I like using Remington bronze-points for a couple reasons: their shape helps for long-range accuracy (although even in very flat open country you should be able to get within 200 yards if you really try, and trying to sneak up on them is half the fun of an antelope hunt to my mind) and their very fast expansion means that the bullet blows up inside the chest cavity, resulting in a very quick kill and minimal meat loss. (You don't want to lose meat. Provided you skin them out quickly and carefully, antelope is the best-tasting meat you can find in North America. That's not only my opinion, but that of every non-hunter I've fed game to.)

I've used .45-100 but find a .38-55 to be more than adequate for antelope.

Brent

Speed goats are not hard to kill. A good bullet in the lungs and they pile up quick. Just about any rifle will do. The more range you have the better. I've taken em with 223s up to 416s but lately I just grab my 257 wby or 7 stw and go hunt. In my mind they are the perfect lope rigs. Fast, flat and accurate. I use BT only and they usually just drop where shot. If they do run it's not more than 20 yds or so.

Best advice I can give you is take the rifle you are most comfortable with and have fun. There is nothing like shooting lope.

John

My last goat was taken w/ my 7mm Dakota & 160grNPs @ 3250fps. The shot was 120yds or so, not needed but that load was very accurate out to 400yds. This year I drew in Montana again & will take my .280 w/ 145gr Speer @ 2950fps. I think rounds in the 25-06, .260, .270 & .280 class are about perfect for lopes. If you have bigger though, shoot it. My backup on this trip is a .338x74K w/ 225grNABs @ 2750fps.

Damn fred, hit one with that cannon and there may not be enough left for lunch.

Fred338,

Is the .338x74K a 9.3x74 necked down? If so, what type of rifle is that beast built on? Sounds like an interesting round.

Used my Win. M70 Coyote in .25 WSSM shooting hand loaded 100 gr. Barnes TSX's to take a nice 14" Pronghorn last week. I have used everything from a .243 Win. to 7mm Weatherby to take Pronghorns. It doesn’t take to much to kill one of these little critters. My cousin used to use nothing but his single shot .25-35 for years. Now he is using a .240 Weatherby. Lawdog

I'm using a 30-06 with a 130 Gr. Barnes TSX

I've shot a fair number of antelope over the years using both a 50 caliber Hawken, a 270 with 150 grain Sierra Game Kings and a 30-06 using 165 grain Nosler Partitions.

You can expect shots between 50 and 400 yards with 200 being an average. But, practice from field positions using a bipod or sticks. Bipods however, are usually too low for the sage brush you'll most likely encounter.

You should have lots of opportunities. Don't get discouraged, just perfect your stalking and shooting. It is one of the most enjoyable and unique hunts available.

Anything from a 223 with a 53gr barnes x-bullet through a 460 Weatherby should get the job done. Personally, I like the 243 with the 85 gr triple shock.

Montmike, I would expect a .25c piece entry & exit. My buddy up in Polson hunts them w/ his .338wm & 200grNBTs. The one I took w/ the 7mm Dakota had a nice .50c piece size exit & almost no meat damage even though it smashed through both shoulders.
mt AI, this is it. I have it built on a #1, it's a rimmed cart. so it works perfectly, OAL is 4.00"!!

Ditto what SBT said, it's about as much fun as you can have hunting.

Thanks for all of the opinions. I think that I am going to take the 7mm08 that I have been working with all summer.

Well, in my experience of one goat hunt with my dad and father-in-law...

I used my 7mm-08 at 324 yds

My FIL, used a 30-06 at 146 yds

Any my dad used a .270 at 110 yds.

YMMV.

Antelope aren't to hard to kill from what I have read and my experience of 3 dead antelope on one hunt. Your shooting skills matter more than your caliber. Take whatever you have and shoot well.

Yeah, just about anything will punch through an antelope. Not really a question of what to take so much as what not to take - I'd leave short-barreled rifles at home. Keep the velocity up and that 7mm-08 will drop any antelope out there to reasonable ranges. It's an excellent deer/antelope combo cartridge with the same load and should shoot plenty flat for longer shots. Good luck!