[killzone]

I was at a gun shop today - picking up my metal targets, ammo and such...I couldn't help myself but over hear the conversation between a customer and the gun counter guy. The guy at the counter was demonstrating two different bolt action rifles. One was a Browning A-bolt Madalion ( Looked like a long Action - I love that rifle) and the other one was a Remmington 700 PSS in 308. The customer seemed to be interested in the Remmy but the Dude kept saying that " Ya don’t wanna carry the 700 in the woods and you sure will not like to carry that thing around looking for deer tracks.......By the end of the day, ya'r gonna regret having that big fat barrel hanging down your shoulder!!!"

At first I didn't wanna say anything and I was just hanging out there. But then the guy ended up saying " heavy barrel rifles are made for varmint hunting and target shooting only" Then I just had to say something.... I kind a cut in the middle of the conversation and said _" Ugh,, sorry guy but I have to say - Most of my rifles are heavy barrel and I hunt with most of them. I took my heavy barrel Win Lorado to my last elk hunt and I did not complain a bit. Its not like I'm this big guy who can carry a ton while climbing- but the difference between a 8 pound rifle and a 14 pound rifle is not that bad. My 700P is about 16 and a half pounds and I will not hesitate to carry it this winter on Minnesota deer."

I ended up saying "The A-bolt is a fine rifle but with that PSS there are a lot more you can do during the Off season unless you can affort'em both. Don't worry about weight, you would get used to it in just a matter of days" and I walked away to pay for my stuff at the check out....

What do you guys think? What do you prefer? Heavy or normal barrels?

KZ

[Clipper]

I'm the opposite...The lighter, the better. Just bought a Win M-70 featherweight in WSSM and find it to be as accurate as any of my heavier-barreled rifles, but much more pleasurable to carry. I have about an 8# cut-off limit...

[Lennyjoe]

I prefer a lighter gun for big game. Lot of walking ridges here and the extra pounds you save on your rifle pays off. Trust me, I know. Carrying a heavy barrel 22-250 up and down ridges hunting coyotes gets to be a chore after a bit. :)

[swampdog]

I'm the opposite, too. Ultralight all the way. I tote enough gear in the woods. A 16.5 LB rifle isn't going to happen.
Don't get me wrong, I think the heavy barrels are great at the range or for varmint hunting or even for hunting from permanent stands but in a situation where I'm going to tote a rifle all day and make one shot, they just don't fit.
My current favorite is 39 1/2" long and weighs around 7lbs, loaded with a scope. It's sub-moa, too, from a cool barrel.
I really like it when I'm dragging one out, btw.:D

[elkhunter]

Another vote for light barrels here. I have a Remington 700 Mountain Rifle in 30-06 that I love. A 16 lb rifle is entirely too heavy to be carying all day dogging elk sunup to sunset hunting 8-12 miles a day.

[Smoke]

http://www.thehighroad.org/showthread.php?t=14306

Smoke

[Stinger]

You won't catch me toting a 14lb rifle around the field. Now from the truck or stand, that is a different story.

I will have to agree with the salesman on this one.

['Card]

Could I carry a 16lbs. rifle around in the field? Sure - but that doesn't mean I'm going to. The marginal performance improvement I'd get while shooting with the heavy barrel would be offset by added fatigue from carrying it around.

[nico]

As someone whose only bolt action has a sporter weight barrel, I kinda agree with the OP. I've had plenty of times where I've wished for a rifle that could be fired more than every couple minutes at the range, but I've never felt close to overburdened while hunting. Most of my hunting is still, so weight isn't as much of an issue for me as others, but I'll still end up walking a mile or two on occasion.

IMO, if a person with the budget for one rifle is going to do a lot of recreational shooting, and also use the gun for hunting, the heavy barrel is worthwhile. If the only range time the gun sees is to have a few rounds fired for sight-in at the beginning of hunting season, they're better off with a sporter-weight barrel. A heavier weight fluted barrel might be a good compromise too.

[knoxx45]

How old are you? if you are young, you may not care about a couple of extra pounds, but at my age, (after knee surgery), you start thinking "light makes right". I hunt with a Weatherby Ultra light in 30-06, which I thought was really light (and it is at just over 7 lbs loaded with a scope, rings, and a sling), untill I went on a big horn hunt. After all that climbing at altitude, that 7Lbs felt like a sack of potatoes on my shoulder.
That said, i say shoot what you shoot best, but IMHO, you don't need to hunt with a 14Lb .308. Now if you are shooting a match, or one of the super sized jumbo magnums, then 14Lbs is a welcome thing to have.

[Art Eatman]

At the end of ten or twelve miles of walking-hunting, I can gayrawndangtee you that a 9.5-pound rifle weighs at least 30 or 40 pounds. Gives you a serious case of droop-shoulder. That's at only around 4,000 feet. I found out one time that only a couple of miles at 10,000+ is different; not so hard on the shoulder, but rough on the legs.

My old legs got tired, so I went to a Rem700 Ti. 6.5 pounds. Luvvit! :)

Now, if you're under 60 or so, and only have to walk maybe a mile to a sit-and-watch place, weight doesn't really matter all that much.

But, like shotguns, balance is important. I'd hate to try to swing on a running buck with a heavy-barrelled target rifle.

Art

[JohnKSa]

I took a rifle to a gun show one time to sell and carried it around slung over one shoulder for awhile. Always thought it was a handy little rifle until that day--my shoulder was sore before someone finally decided they wanted it.

[Low-Sci]

Well, bear in mind that advancements in carbon fiber technology can make it so that a big barrel is not necessarily a heavy barrel. There aren't many places that do it right, and the ones that do charge a premium, but I will say this.

At SHOT in february I met a guy who built a rifle with a McMillan stock and an ABS Inc. carbon fiber barrel in an M-24 contour. With the US optics scope on it, it weighed in at just over 7.5 lbs. The guys at GA precision made one even lighter with a carbon fiber stock as well, I think that one was just this side of 6 lbs.

So if you've got the money, some of the next-level stuff can get you the best of both worlds.

And in fairness to the salesman in the first post, he's probably right that the PSS would get heavy pretty quick. You can use a heavy barrel for whatever you want if you're willing to hump it along, but for most a lighter barrel will be a better deal. Most folks aren't good enough shots to know the difference.

[halvey]

My 700P is about 16 and a half pounds and I will not hesitate to carry it this winter on Minnesota deer." I'm not saying you are, but if you are like most Minnesota deer hunters, you will walk less than 1/2 mile to your stand. Yeah, then a big rifle isn't a big deal. Besides, swinging a big rifle like that around is tough for a lot of guys. One of the reasons lever guns are so popular is because they are fast handling without the cost of a typical mountain gun.

[rbernie]

But, like shotguns, balance is important. I'd hate to try to swing on a running buck with a heavy-barrelled target rifle.That's what I was thinkin' - I'm less concerned about the two pound difference between an eight pound rifle and a ten pound rifle than I am about the balance of either. I like my rifles to balance right at the front receiver ring; they carry better and point better for me this way. I find that the heavy barrel rifles in general don't balance as well for me.

Also - I notice that I mind the weight of a rifle more if I carry it via a strap than in my hands. I've covered six or eight miles in a day with an 11lb rifle in my hands and hated that less than trying to do the same hunt with an 8lb rifle on my shoulder.

[Harley Quinn]

If you have to haul it, travel light. If you have a gun bearer, and pack animal's you can have it both ways.

Heck you can have, two or three guns in case you are shooting everything that moves, or flys.

HQ;)

[Thin Black Line]

At the end of ten or twelve miles of walking-hunting, I can gayrawndangtee you that a 9.5-pound rifle weighs at least 30 or 40 pounds. Gives you a serious case of droop-shoulder. That's at only around 4,000 feet.

+1. However, then there's the people who 4-wheel in for the 10 miles and
then walk a couple hundred yards to their deer stand. The most extertion
they have is climbing the 15' ladder.

[dfaugh]

I used to have a carbine length, lightweight Win Model 70, in .270...About 7 lbs. with the scope...And after several hours of trekking through the woods, I would swear that the force of gravity had increased, several times over. That thing felt like it weighed 40 lbs. And this was when i was young and in good shape. I shoot heavy guns/barells at the range, but I'd never take one hnuting, if I was moving around alot.

[Geno]

In the area that I used to hunt, I was as likely to be in the woods as the edge of the woods over-looking a 3/4 mile bean field. So, I had a Remington 700V, with handloads of 6MM Rem (95 Gn Nosler Partitions).

For woods-only hunting, few rifles can out perform nice lever action, especially if chambered in something like .444 Marlin, .375 Win or the all-time big daddies, .45-70 Gov't and .450 Marlin. But per the weight, it depends on one's physical condition first and foremost, and one personal preference as a close second.

Doc2005

[Metapotent]

I find that heavy-barreled and just all around heavy guns don't bother me when I am hunting.

I have even used my AR-10 in .308 when I went deer-hunting and I probably walked 5 miles or more that day, and the terrain was very rough and walking up hill through sticker-bushes was needed. Fully loaded with the 5-round clip my gun weighed about 16 lbs and It didn't bother me at all when I had it strapped to my back. Stalking while carrying the rifle in my hand might have been bothersome after a while though.

[huntershooter]

My heavy barrel Remingtons are pretty much "fixed position" guns-calling coyotes, stand hunting deer and such. My still hunting rifle is a Kimber Montana-if I'm humping up and down hills, loaded down with binocs, range finder, day pack, etc.-my rifle will be as light as possible.

[rock jock]

If you are on a true stalk-type hunt, then you are carrying more than just a rifle - binos, rain gear, water, maybe even a daypack. A lightweight rifle goes a long ways towards comfort.

OTOH, if you are hunting from a stand, load up a rail gun.

[Bwana John]

:what: 16 lbs!!!!?!:what:

Much of my deer hunting has been in the Sierra Nevada, around treeline. I do it by backpacking in, walking ~5 miles in on the trail and another ~2 miles off the trail. My last deer was shot at ~11,000 ft of elevation. I am carrying a lite pack with my sleeping bag, some warm clothes, and a couple days of cold food, PLUS my hunting kit (rifle, binos, knife, small saw, ect...). Many times I have had to leave my camp gear and come back for it later to be able to pack out the boned out deer.
I double dog dare you to lug in a 16 lb rifle on this type of hunt.

I have been hunting with a 7.5 lb Rem 700 Mnt rifle in 7mm X 57mm, and it sure gets heavy. I have been thinking about getting the smaller Rem Mod 7.

[Art Eatman]

Circumstance. Always circumstance. As usual, "There ain't no one size fits all."

:), Art

[Dr.Rob]

Don't think my synthetic stocked heavy barreled Stanless Savage 116 weighs any more than my old pencil barrel savage 110B... they are both plenty sub moa rifles... can't say what they weigh off hand but I'd swear the 116 is lighter.

Depends on the steel, the stock, everything.

Now I HAVE toted a Ruger M77V in 25-06 with a 4x16 Burris and a bipod on an antelope hunt and can tell you... that got old in a hurry. I'd much rather have a lighter rifle for most hunting.

[usmccpl]

Now maybe something is wrong with me but there aint benn but one gun that got really heavy after packing it for more than 4 er 5 miles. And that was an M240G.Witghout the flex mount,T&E,and tripod it weighs a shade under 20 lbs then you add all that gear and the ammo plus what ever else I was wearing/carring at that time. Now pack that 20 or more milestghen you wont care what your hunting rifle weighs.






one shot one kill

[GooseGestapo]

killzone was "close" on the difference in carrying a 9lb rifle vs a 11lb rifle isn't a great deal, and carrying it just one day is "do-able, if you live where most deer are shot, at elevations on the low side of 1,000'msl (for you non-aviation types, that "above mean sea level.

However, after carrying my 10lb Interarms MkX in Colorado in '03. I concluded for the type of hunting I was doing a MUCH lighter rife would be much desireable.

Mind you I'm in superior condition for a person my age (50yrs, young) and ran 6.5mi this afternoon. But, after 3 days of carrying the rifle, and ~15lbs of gear at 7,000 to 10,000ft, my shoulders were like lead, in the morning before I "loaded up" for the 10-12mi walk.

Not to mention at dusk 12hrs later !!!

It took me 2yrs to warm up to just the "Idea" of taking my .338/06 back out even to just deer hunt from a stand 1/2mi from the vehicle.

Lighter IS better !!

[1911 guy]

I have a heavy barreled varmint rifle and enjoy it. However, my .308 is a "pencil" barrel. Standard taper. Shoots just fine for about four shots, then I've got to let it cool for a few if I'm shooting beyond 150 yards. More minutes and less yardage if there's a cool one wagered afterwards.

[jeepmor]

I have a standard sporter Ruger in 300WSM for big game. I appreciate that it's light when hiking a lot. But it's a bit much for coyotes and groundhogs, for this, I have a HB model of Ruger that weighs in about 12 lbs, maybe more.

I don't like lugging it around, but if you end up in a big ground hog shooting spree, you don't want to be using the 300WSM, it hurts your wallet and shoulder considerably more than the .223 rem HB model.

Squeaks, they don't really seem to notice the difference though, so I'm doing it for me. ;)

jeepmor