Thinking about building a light hunting rifle

[COBrad]

That's double with as light as you can make it.
You will notice the difference around 600 but still easy enough. My lightweight 30 Sherman I ran to 1300 and it was tough but with a bit of practice I could hunt with it for sure

That has been my experience with ultralight rifles as well, get out to 600 and it's a lot tougher to keep good accuracy. My NULA at 7 lbs scoped gives me half moa at 500 with my best accuracy load, but my technique and follow through have to be correct and consistent. I got half moa at 800 but haven't shot that distance again so it's certainly not proven.

 

[mnoland30]

I just got back from a NM ibex hunt. I'm 68, and that mountain kicked my butt. I used to hunt with a Rem 700 LA with 27 inch barrel. With scope and sling it weighed 10 lbs. A few years ago, I bought a Browning Mountain Ti in 7mm WSM that weighs in at 5.5 lbs. naked, and 6.5 with sling and scope. I can't imagine carrying that heavy rifle up 1600 vertical feet for ibex.

Why get an ultralight rifle and put a heavy scope on it? I shot an elk at 340 yards with a Leupold Compact 2x7 (8 oz.). At longer ranges a little more magnification would help, but I would never put a heavy scope on a light rifle. I like Leupolds because they have better eye relief, and lighter weight. The SWFA recommended above has less eye relief on low power than a Leupold has on high power.

 

[Mark37082]

Mnoland30 - That hunt sounds like a great adventure. I'm nowhere near in shape enough right now for that. I agree that Leupold has the greatest selection of light weight scopes. I keep buying Leupolds, but I want to change it up this time around. The good thing is it's easy to mount a lightweight scope for specific hunts where ultra lightweight is required. Even better, it gives you an excuse to buy another rig for that particular purpose. I'm always looking for another excuse…