July 17, 2024
By Layne Simpson
How much a mountain rifle should weigh has yet to be carved in stone, but eight pounds or less with scope is a goal to shoot for. In my mind, the Austrian-built Model 1903 Mannlicher-Schoenauer carbine in 6.5x54mm will always be the all-time classic, and mine weighs 6.6 pounds. The Model 1920 introduced during that year by Savage was America’s first mountain rifle, and the one in .250-3000 Savage given to me by my wife Phyllis on a long-ago birthday weighs 6.25 pounds. I’ve taken deer and feral hogs with both rifles. Most lightweight rifles built today have synthetic stocks, but back in 1984 good friend Jim Hill, owner of Alpha Arms, proved that a rifle with a nicely figured walnut stock could be built light, with the Custom grade in .284 Winchester I have used to take a variety of game tipping the postal scale at 6.8 pounds, including a lightweight 3-9X scope in a Conetrol mount. A gorgeous little rifle, it is a joy to carry up the steepest of mountains and quite accurate when it gets there. I also have the Grand Slam model in .25-284 with a laminated wood stock, and it weighs a half-pound more than the Custom. Quite accurate as well, it shoots flat and is one of my lucky mule deer and pronghorn antelope rifles. Here are brief looks at a few of the other great mountain rifles I have hunted with. Most are still with me, and the weights shown for each include a scope and mounts.
Weatherby Mark V VarmintMaster 7mm-.308 Improved, 7.1 Pounds There were no factory-built featherweight big-game rifles in 1975, so I decided to transform a Weatherby Mark V VarmintMaster. For those who are not familiar with that beautiful little rifle of yesteryear, its action is a drastically scaled-down version of the standard Mark V action , and it was available in .22-250 and .224 Weatherby Magnum. I had mine in .22-250 converted for a wildcat made by necking down the .308 Winchester case to 7mm and fire-forming to the improved shape. In addition to doing all of the required action work, gunsmith Wally Strutz of Eagle River, Wisconsin, ground the chamber reamer to my specifications and installed a Douglas 24-inch barrel that duplicated the contour of the factory barrel for a perfect fit in the trim Weatherby stock. Maximum velocities with bullets weighing 130, 140, and 160 grains were 3,180, 3,045, and 2,780 fps, respectively. This was five years prior to the introduction of the 7mm-08 cartridge by Remington.
Soon after the rifle was completed, many years of applying for a nonresident Shiras moose tag in Wyoming finally paid off, and I took a very good bull while hunting the Wind River area with outfitter Bud Callahan. During that same year Phyllis and I used the rifle to take excellent pronghorn antelopes on a Wyoming cattle ranch owned by longtime family friends. Months later, I headed to Rhodesia with a rifle in .375 H&H Magnum for buffalo and the little Weatherby for various antelopes up to the size of sables and greater kudus. A mature kudu bull can weigh as much as 600 pounds, and of all the antelopes of Africa, it is my favorite to hunt. A Nosler 140-grain Partition accounted for the moose, and the Wyoming antelopes were taken with the Speer 130-grain SPHC. In Africa, I mostly used the then-new Speer 160-grain Grand Slam. Most of the animals taken with the rifle through the years have given up the ghost with one shot.
Browning A-Bolt Mountain Ti .300 WSM, 7.5 Pounds The Browning A-Bolt was introduced by Browning in 1985 , with the Mountain Ti version added in 1999. It has a stainless-steel barrel, a titanium receiver, and a very nice synthetic stock. Mine weighs 5.4 pounds, with a lightweight nylon sling, three .300 WSM cartridges in the magazine, and a Zeiss 3-9X scope attached with a Talley lightweight mount increasing it to 7.5 pounds. Available cartridge options ranged from .243 Winchester to .325 WSM. I have used mine on two hunts (in Alaska for moose, caribou, and black bear and in New Mexico for elk). It’s a great rifle, but it was priced well over twice as much as other A-Bolt models, and that may be why it was offered for only a few years.
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Prairie Gun Works Model 15Ti .243 Winchester, 6.5 Pounds Ross Spagrud, who founded Prairie Gun Works in 1992 (now known as PGW Defense Technologies), built the very first rifle in 6.5 Shooting Times Westerner (STW) in 1999. While that rifle has taken a variety of game ranging in size from mule deer to elk, another PGW rifle in .243 Winchester built by Ross has traveled to more distant places. It has a Jewell trigger and a 22-inch Gaillard barrel. Like the Model 18Ti in 6.5 STW, the Model 15Ti in .243 Winchester has a titanium receiver and a Kevlar stock. Despite a skinny barrel measuring only 0.625 inch at the muzzle, it consistently shoots three bullets inside a half-inch at 100 yards with various handloads, and it does as well with Hornady Precision Hunter factory-loaded ammo with the 90-grain ELD-X and Federal Premium ammo loaded with the Swift 90-grain Scirocco II. And the barrel does not have to be cooled between groups! As hunts go, its crowning achievement thus far was for chamois and Himalayan thar in the beautiful yet extremely rugged Southern Alps of New Zealand. We were at 8,000 feet when I shot the chamois buck at 265 long paces, and it dropped where it stood. At a bit lower elevation on the final day, we spotted a good bull thar standing on a ledge at 327 yards. When the .243 rifle spoke, the thar dropped and tumbled a good distance down the mountain. Fortunately, there was no significant damage to its horns and magnificent mane.
Brown Precision 600 Super Light 7mm-.308 Improved, 5.8 Pounds Chet Brown of Brown Precision is often credited with pioneering the development of fiberglass stocks during the early 1960s, and he eventually offered hunting rifles built around lightened Remington Model 600 and Model 700 actions. The 600 Super Light Chet put together for me in 1978 has one of the first Kevlar stocks he made, and the stock weighs 20 ounces. Among other modifications to the action, the dog-leg bolt handle was replaced by a Model 700 handle, and an external bolt release was installed. Gunsmith Wally Strutz had chamber reamers for the 7mm-.308 Improved, so he installed an extremely thin 19-inch barrel with a muzzle diameter of 0.494 inch. Despite the soda straw-thin tube, the rifle consistently shoots three bullets inside an inch at 100 yards but only if the barrel is allowed to cool completely between groups. Its favorite handload, the Speer 130-grain SPHC pushed to 2,950 fps by a maximum charge of IMR 4350 accounted for one of my all-time best whitetails.
Winchester Model 70 Sporting Sharpshooter 7mm STW, 7.9 Pounds Thirty years ago I was asked to meet with a couple of U.S. Repeating Arms Co. officials to discuss several projects under development in the company’s custom shop. One was a heavy-barrel target rifle called the Winchester Model 70 Sharpshooter . When asked for my opinion, I stated that it sounded like a good idea and went on to suggest adding an equally accurate hunting-weight version called the Sporting Sharpshooter. High on my list of suggestions were half-MOA accuracy and a weight not exceeding eight pounds with a scope mounted. Several months later, I received the very first Sporting Sharpshooter built, and its thin Schneider barrel is in 7mm STW. That made U.S. Repeating Arms the first major company to offer the 7mm STW chambering. I am not sure who made the Kevlar stock, but it is quite light. Also available was a heavier version weighing about 8.5 pounds. While hunting with outfitter Ron Dube, I used the rifle to take a good mule deer, and we were surprised to see it feeding with a herd of bighorn sheep. That rifle has always been fond of Bill Steigers’s 160-grain Bitterroot Bonded Core bullet, and I keep a few stowed away in his memory.
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Rifles Inc. Strata Stainless 7mm STW, 6 Pounds The idea of building super-light hunting rifles around highly modified Remington 700 actions did not originate with Lex Webernick of Rifles Inc., but he may be best known for doing so, and his work leaves nothing to be desired. I have a trio of rifles built by him in .257 STW, 6.5 STW, and 7mm STW. Lex makes his own Kevlar stocks, and while writing this I placed the one from my 7mm STW on a postal scale, and it weighs 15.8 ounces. That includes a thick recoil pad custom-made for him by Pachmayr, aluminum bedding pillars, and sling swivel posts. Due to the larger hole through its barrel, the 7mm STW is lighter than its two mates but not by enough to matter. My rifles have hinged magazine floorplates, and those made by Lex with blind magazines weigh a bit less. With their favorite loads, the three rifles average close to half-MOA when their barrels are cooled between each three-shot group. Among other achievements, the rifle in 7mm STW has accounted for a very good black bear while hunting on Vancouver Island with Jim Shockey. Crowning achievements for the other two are a Coues deer in Old Mexico for the .257 STW and my second-best mountain caribou for the 6.5 STW.
Remington Model 700 Titanium .280 Remington, 6.8 Pounds The Remington Model 700 Titanium was introduced by Remington in 2001 with weight ratings of 5.25 pounds for the short action and 5.5 pounds for the long action. In addition to the titanium receiver, it has a deeply fluted bolt, a hollowed bolt handle, an extremely thin 22-inch barrel, and a Kevlar stock with a jet-black finish. Soon after the announcement, I received rifles in .260 Remington and .280 Remington, and while accuracy of the .260 was not bad, the .280 drove tiny tacks. And it was almost as accurate with Remington factory ammo as with my handloads. I have carried the rifle on several successful hunts, with the most memorable being with Eddie Stevenson for whitetails in Wyoming. The first version was replaced in 2007 by the Model 700 Alaskan Ti, which weighed about a half-pound more.
Kimber Model 84M .308 Winchester, 7 Pounds Some of the lightest and most accurate mountain rifles have been built by Kimber, and that started prior to the company’s use of synthetic stocks. The Kimber Model 84M introduced in 2002 had a trim walnut stock with excellent lines and good checkering coverage. The one I had on hand for a few weeks was in .308 Winchester, and it weighed an ounce over 7 pounds with scope. In March 2001, I used it on a hunt for free-ranging red stag, fallow deer, and sika deer while hunting with New Zealand outfitter Adrian Moody. One of only two experimental rifles in existence at the time, its serial number was XKA02428. The hunt for stag was not easy, so I was glad my rifle was light. Three cartridges were used to bag three very nice trophies, so the Model 84M was obviously accurate enough as well.
Remington Model Seven FS 7mm-08 Remington, 6.2 Pounds When longtime friend Dick Dietz at Remington learned that I would soon be hunting Sitka blacktail deer on the Queen Charlotte Islands, he called to inform me that he was sending the perfect rifle for that adventure. Conditions there are best described as wet, brushy, and a bit steep, intermingled with open clearcuts due to decades of commercial logging operations. A fairly short, lightweight, weather-resistant rifle chambered for a flat-shooting cartridge was just the ticket, and the Model Seven FS in 7mm-08 Dick sent my way in mid-1986 proved to be perfect. It was also available in .243 Winchester and .308 Winchester, all with 18.5-inch barrels. At the time, Remington was just getting into the synthetic stock business and had yet to begin stocking rifles in-house, so the barreled action of my rifle was sent by Remington to Chet Brown of Brown Precision for fitting one of his Kevlar stocks. The stock weighs 20 ounces, and it has a gray camo finish. The little rifle proved to be quite accurate with hand-loads and Remington ammo loaded with a 140-grain PSP bullet. It rained hard for most of the week, but at noon on the final day, a 140-grain bullet zipped about 275 yards across a muddy logging slash and dropped the best blacktail buck taken during my hunting career. Remington ceased production of the Model Seven FS in 1989.
Weatherby Mark V Ultra Lightweight .280 Remington, 7.4 Pounds Hunting Dall sheep in the Wrangell Mountains of Alaska is not for the faint-hearted, or for those who are in less than good physical condition. Traversing extremely steep mountainsides with loose shale slides always makes me nervous, and glacier crossings can be equally exciting. For many years I have averaged pedaling 5,000 to 6,000 miles annually on my mountain and road bikes, but I knew that alone would not be enough. Prior to my first hunt in the Wrangells, I spent six hard months jogging, climbing high while wearing a heavy backpack, increased-intensity strength training at the gym, and equally important, eating right and shedding as much unneeded body weight as possible. Our home is only 952 feet above sea level, but Mt. Mitchell is not far away, and weekends of huffing and puffing at over 6,000 feet surely helped.
Each ounce of gear at the bottom of a tall sheep mountain weighs a pound or more during long climbs, so everything—including the rifle—should be lightweight but also durable. The Weatherby Mark V Ultra Lightweight in .280 Remington I used weighed 6 pounds, and I managed to keep it at 7.4 pounds with a scope, a sling, and a magazine full of cartridges. During those 10 days in the high country, I glassed more grizzlies than I have ever seen on a hunt, and while I had no tag, just seeing them was one of the highlights I will never forget. The ram I took at 245 yards on the seventh day was not a record-book specimen, but it was mature, and it had a beautiful head. It was also the best we had glassed. Coming off the mountain, the guide packed most of the meat, while I had the horns, the cape, and the rest of the steaks and chops. As I sit working at my desk each day, that majestic animal reminds me of an unforgettable hunt in some of the most difficult terrain on the planet.
There continues to be a big demand among hunters for lightweight big-game rifles, and several companies offer at least one model. Those that spring to mind are Kimber, H-S Precision, Ruger, Springfield Armory, Wilson Combat, Savage, Howa, Brown Precision, Browning, Sako, Tikka, Nosler, and Weatherby. Most mountain rifles have turnbolt actions, but some single shots are quite suitable for carrying to great heights. I have taken quite a bit of game with a pair of Ruger No. 1A rifles in .30-06 and 7mm Mauser, and both weigh an ounce over 8 pounds. A Dakota Arms Model 10 in .270 Winchester I hunted with weighed a pound less. There you have it, a quick look at 10 of my all-time favorite mountain rifles that have been my companions on some very memorable hunts.
