weight of your pack rifle?

[Longshotjames]

What weight do you look for when you choose a rifle for backpack hunting.

Lets look at scoped, stocked and unloaded(no ammo) for comparison sake.

I know everyone has opinions on accessories like bi-pod and slings but those can easily be attached so lets look at just the rifle weight.

Whats your ideal weight for carry?
James

 

[Weatherby Fan]

I have had a bunch of ultralight and lightweight rifles built and I find a scoped rifle of
6 to 6.5 lbs with a 22" barrel seems to be the most practical from a backpackers perspective.
What I want is an all Stainless rifle as Sheep hunting in Northern BC can be a very wet miserable outing.
I have had built and donate an UltraLight Rifle each year to the Wild Sheep Society of BC and usually use a Kimber Montana 84M or 84L donor rifle and add a #1 Benchmark Contour barrel, this years(2019) rifle will be a 6.5-284 built on a Kimber Montana 84L.

I use a Leupold VX3i 4.5-14x40 CDS 30mm and Talley lightweights for my examples as this adds 1lb to your build and is a great compromise in a Lightweight/Longrange scope.

this is how I breakdown my goal weights when building UL rifles

Ultra Lightweight 5-6lbs scoped
Lightweight. 6-7.5lbs scoped
Standard. 7.5-9.5 scoped

here's a Cpl pictures of my own hunting rifle, Kimber Montana 84M 6.5-284 5Lbs with no scope and 6.5lbs with the Zeiss on it, this is my everyday sheep and deer hunting rifle




here's the 6.5 Creedmoor we donated last year at 6 Lbs scoped

 

[hunter67wa]

Mine is a Kimber 84m 6.5 creed. Vortex Razor HD LH 3-15, Talley one piece, and loaded with ammo 7.5lbs

 

[lancetkenyon]

I guess my pack rifle is a pig compared to these. But very easy to shoot. More for deer/elk hunting.
8lbs 13oz all in.

 

[hunter67wa]

I use mine for whatever I'm hunting in the hills and it shoots lights out.

 

[Longshotjames]

Mine is a Kimber 84m 6.5 creed. Vortex Razor HD LH 3-15, Talley one piece, and loaded with ammo 7.5lbs

I just bought that same scope. I zeroed it at the range yesterday and I really like it for my initial impression. What are your thoughts on the Razor RD LH?
James

 

[hunter67wa]

I will buy one again. So far I like it very much its been repeatable and pretty good glass through one hunting season so far.

 

[Weatherby Fan]

Both my Nephews have 280AI built on Remington 700 actions with 26" #1 contour Benchmarks, one has a bit more metal work and a Wildcat stock and is 6lbs the other has a McMillan Hunter Edge stock and it weighs 6lbs 6.5oz, bare rifle weight.

Myself I don't like backpacking with a 26" barrel but its all personal preference.

 

[hunter67wa]

I won't probably ever have anything new over 22 as I am running cans now.

 

[Guy M]

Never weighed it. Just use my normal hunting rifles. Figure I'm better off losing 10 pounds before the hunt, than trying to whittle away a couple of pounds from a rifle.

In the photo, I'm carrying my 25-06 700 CDL with a 6x Leupold. That and the near twin 30-06 version are the rifles I hunt with mostly. Good general-purpose rifles. Not ultra-lights, not porky either.

Regards, Guy

 

[Rifleman513]

I like to keep it 7lbs or less. Most of my long range guns are 11+ and I still carry them plenty of miles each season. Grabbing one that is sub 7lbs makes it seems even that much lighter. My preferred is a Montana in 280ai w/ a NF 2.5-10 that weighs in at 6.8 lbs.

 

[eklarsen]

18 lbs 2 oz, she is a little wide through the hips

 

[Yotekiller]

14 lbs. I am far more accurate with my heavy guns than my light ones. No where is accuracy more important to me than when hunting. I confidently make shots with my heavier guns that I would not take with a sub 8 lb gun. Some of these internet heroes make it sound like shooting 6 lb guns 1 moa to 1000 yards is easy. I have not met anyone yet who has been able to show me that ability. I'm sure they exist but they are not common.

 

[Deleted member 103481]

Carried a BAR @ 9lb 6 ounces for years. New build is 10lb 4 ounces. Had a Ruger that was about 7 for a year and didn't really see what all the fuss was about. It's yet to be a real burden for me, I'd rather cut weight in other places.
Might change once I get old!