Hunting with a Remington Sendero FS: Any Feedback/Regrets

[nmbarta]

I've always found that my bow or my rifle are the last place I want to save weight. It's usually a lot cheaper to save a few pounds in other gear and i shoot heavy bows and heavy rifles better than light ones.
Not really relevant to what your doing, but the point is still valid.
There is a huge trend towards lightweight rifles right now, and that's just fine. There is a reason they aren't used in long range competition.
Most of us would benefit a lot more from shaving a few pounds of our mid section and couple pounds in gear, than we ever would from shaving weight off our rifle.
Maybe that's just me.
12-14 pounds is still easy to pack.

 

[Kodiak Special]

That is a great set-up. I use a heavy barrel M03 in 375 H&H, about 10-11 lbs, pack it in. When it's go time, the rifle is a lights out shooter. Don't mind the weight at all.

If I'm planning on long range, I use a 270 WSM rig with a heavy barrel, it gets it done.

 

[greatwhitehntr]

I'm going to have to agree with most others, most of my guns weigh 11 to 15 lb for hunting in Nevada and I've been to the top of a lot of 10,000 ft peaks that started at 6,000 ft. I cut weight other places If you're only shooting 5 or 600 yards at most you don't need that gun. You can go with something a little lighter It all depends on what you're into.

 

[Plinker147]

A rem Sendero 300WM was my main hunting gun for about 5-7 yrs. They are great rifles. I lugged it on everything from 10,000 ft peaks in Colorado to nasty desert mountains on Barbary sheep hunts. I was younger and tuffer then, but it didn't bother me too much. Its right on the edge of being too heavy IMO. I didn't like the overall length made it too cumbersome. I like my guns around 8-9 lbs and a little shorter barrel now. 4 lbs doesn't sound like much but it adds up as the days drag on.

 

[david g ranes]

I had a 7rm senders packed it up and down the hills in Montana came home and sold it because of weight my mistake because it was most accurate gun I've probably ever owned a penny at 200 yds was in trouble and it never missed a 4 inch plate at 7 and 800 bought another one just like the old one it is an average shooter but I won't sell it if it gets heavy I'll rest more. David

 

[6.5x300 WBY]

I have 7 RM sendero now that will most likely be sold soon. Is it heavy yes is it great for box blinds heck yeah. Did that hunt in SC last year with my sendero in a box blind. But I am changing things up as I get older now i just dont need a lot of guns, more of i want special guns. ie custom built with Truly top end glass.

And when I build my custom guns they will be lighter for sure than the sendero.

 

[Ninering62]

Have one in 300WM for 20+ years and love the weight. I bet it is too heavy for you and would consider taking it off your hands just out of the goodness of my heart.

I carry mine at 9-11K feet and never minded the weight. Its actually quite pleasant to shoot heavyweight bullets because of the weight.

I'm with ya, my 500yd deer rifle w/scope is 12lbs+. With what I'm shooting out of it, the recoil was brutal. I would not want it any lighter if it were a gun I was going to shoot repeatedly ( which I shoot a good bit ) so I put a good brake in it & can shoot all I like but its not fun to lug thru the woods & briars especially draggin a deer too. If I do my job, the gun & bullets I use, do their job, whatever I shoot at is dead before they hit the ground.

 

[sendero72]

I purchase my Sendero SS in '99 to shoot the bean and cornfields in the South Carolina. Started out as a 7 mag and I'm now on the 3rd barrel chambered in a 7x300. We have a very liberal limit on whitetails, so the rifle has seen a lot of action. The longest kill is just over 1100 yds with the 162 gr Amax. I've taken it to Canada on caribou and to Africa for plains game. Nothing walks away. I've heard that the new rifles can be hit or miss when it comes to accuracy. Mine shot .25 or less out of the box. Good luck.

 

[Muddyboots]

I always looked at the weight as something I would reduce somewhere else in my pack not my rifle. I upgraded my pack so it will carry rifle instead of on my shoulder. I bet 75% of time the rifle in the pack is perfectly fine. If I am in actual hunting mode, then of course its on shoulder. Heck, I know it comes out of pack pretty fast so even if I needed it somewhat quickly, I still could get to it. But really like carrying it now in pack. Add in trekking poles and the weight became a non issue anyway for me even at 70 years young. The weight of the rifle that is

 

[tndeputy]

Have a first gen sendero in 270 win and got a stainless fluted 7RUM this morning. Always love the senderos and weight doesn't bother me and I shoot heavy rifles better to

 

[Joefrazell]

I had one in 300 win mag. It shot decent but never good enough to deal with he weight. It was a .75 moa shooter consistently. Some times half inch or less. I shot a couple bears with it and took it on a few hunts. I personally wouldn't take it if I'm hiking Idaho steep more than 2-3 miles. It's just too heavy. Now if you have a rifle that weighs that much but will shoot .2-.3 and can be effective out to 1000 or so then it's worth it in my opinion. It's like anything else in life. You will put up with certain things in order to gain other things. A 11 lb. Rifle that's only effective to 600 or so is just not worth it when I can be effective to 600 with a 7-8 lb rifle.

 

[villagelightsmith]

It depends on the terrain you are hunting in. I hunted with a 300 Ultra Sendero fluted with a VX5-HD and by the end of the first 11 mile day I had it listed and sold! In the elk county of Eastern Oregon it was to heavy and not worth the energy to pack it. However I am only one man, and everyone is welcome to their own opinions and choices. For me I choose lightweight.

Except for a couple of minutes during all the days of The Hunt, The Rifle is just "in the way." People who could afford it once hired "gunbearers" to pack (and sometimes shoot) their heavy "elephant guns" and all the rest of their kit. My fantasy gun would weigh a "sweet nothing" until it came to the shot, at which point it would become attached to a large fluid dampened gimbal that is anchored to the center of the earth. And it would vanish shortly thereafter.
I have a heavy old pre-war M70 in '06, and a svelt little beat-up Higgins-Husqvarna HVA, stocked in "distressed birch" in the same caliber. I've never bothered to analyze that stock ... it simply doesn't kick. In my antiquity, I haven't fired the M70 in decades. But that little Husky has seen a lot of miles and a lot of vertical NE Oregon real estate. Because of it's light weight, it now wears a thick, soft trap-gun sissy pad. Since I put that pad on, I've never felt the recoil. I like it. It is just one gun ... that is not for sale.
The 300 Weatherby stays in the safe; the light J.C.Higgins-Husky goes hunting.
I once had nearly the same build in a .338 WM (less the pad, different stock) and yes, I still have the eyebrow to show for it.

 

[Revolting Peasant]

Sendero, varmint, police has been my go to blind gun for many years.

 

[joed]

I've never owned a Sendero but have owned a lot of heavy varmint rigs. My most used is a Remington VS in .25-06. Purchased that rifle when I was 27 years old, at 71 I still hunt with it. My hunting is mostly from a position, I don't go hiking for 20 miles.

At 71 I can't carry it as far but I'll give up hunting before I go to a light weight rifle.