Why not use a heavy rifle for typical deer hunting?

accuracy, no
recoil yes.

accuracy has little to do with the weight of the rifle and everything to do with quality of the barrel and harmonics. you can have a 14 pound rifle and it'll still shoot no better than 4 MOA if it's got a sewer pipe for a barrel and the barrel is being tweaked 3 different directions from the mounting hardware for the stock. now yes, heavier gun means lighter recoil however I've found that toting a heavy rifle does not personally bother me too much...until I'm stuck dragging an elk off a mountain side, then I find myself wondering why I didn't go with the lightest rifle I have.
 
My #2 Pet is a little Sako Forester .243. 19" barrel. Seven pounds, "fully dressed". Regularly and reliably, five-shot groups of 5/8 to 3/4 MOA.

I used it in a culling program, way back when, and through the years tagged a couple of dozen bucks.

I will say that after a walking hunt of three to five miles, it wasn't nearly as tiring as my #1 Pet, a 9.5-pound '06. :D

If all you do is sit in a stand, weight is pretty much irrelevant. Just realize that from a Bambi-need standpoint, there's no advantage to a heavy barrel over a light sporter: The key is the consistency for point of impact of the first shot. If you have that, a "buggy whip" barrel is plenty good.

Nowadays, though, since my legs went and got old, my preference is my 700 Ti in 7mm08. 6.5 pounds, fully dressed. :)
 
My deer gun weighs 9.5lbs. Considering that I'm often wearing 20lbs of clothes/gear, plus carrying a 25lb climbing stand and I'm only walking a few hundred yards at most, there's no difference to me between a 6.5lb gun and a 9.5lb gun, except recoil. No, we don't care about recoil when we're hunting but we default to our worst training. If you flinch in practice, you flinch by habit when you shoot deer.
 
I always get busted on about the heavy rifles I hunt with (bean field rifles?) My 7mm RM probably weighs 12 - 13 lbs. but it’s a laser beam! It's a pretty short walk to most of our stands (always in darkness) and it's not a problem carrying a heavy rifle. They laugh... but they still call me "One Shot Johnny"!

If I have to do any walking I just switch to my backup rifle - a Tikka T3 in .308 Winchester.

MikeBryant7mmRemingtonMagnum-1.jpg
 
Some tree stands accomodate heavy rifles quite well. My dad uses a tripod with a spinning seat. The retaining bar is about an arm-length in front of him and just below shoulder level. It holds his rifle to his shoulder; he doesn't need to use his hands to keep it all but ready to fire. I use a ladder stand and the retaining bar cannot be used as a rest for the rifle.



frankly it seems like most people don't want to walk 100 yards beyond their trucks. I see some guys parking their vehicles immediately below their stands even.
Click to expand...


I always speculated that the less distance I had to walk to the tree stand - the better. I'd park my truck right under my tree stand thinking that a deer won't be AS alarmed by the smell of a truck than the smell I'd leave by touching knee-high brush or tree branches as I walk 200 yards through thick woods. I feel this way because I've seen a deer change behavior as it walked up to a trail I had traversed several hours before. I think it could smell my trail.
 
As you get older you have to think about when it's time to quit and I decide I'll quit when I can hunt the way I want. I drive my wife crazy before current season ends I'm planning next year's hunt.

I tried light rifle few years ago and really didn't like it not enough that I want to make a change. I like to my hunting rifles 9 to 9.5 lbs.

At 72 my time coming and I'm not going to make any changes and I'm still able to walk in and pack out.
 
not just the rifle

If your 9 lb rifle isn't bothering you, you're not carrying it in your hands very far, or....just wait a few years. Heck, I can hump a rifle slung a long way, but put it in your hands and hunt...not so much.

Thing is, nobody still hunts much in the classic sense anyhow...me included. In my twenties, I'd hike to the highest, thickest spots on the SGL in my area, and not think much about it. Spend all day on top, on foot, and hike down at dark. Can't imagine hunting like that now, for a week or so at a clip.

'Round here, its the same deal...most guys walk no more than a 1/4 mile, some a whole lot less, to a ROW or shooting house, where they wait for deer to appear. And the advent of near everybody owning some type of ATV just makes it worse. The lease I'm in, most guys ride within 100 yds of all the established stands and shooting houses. Set ups like that, a big rifle and scope doesn't hinder.

Consider though that not everybody hunts that way. I don't cover ground like I used to, but I still pack a climbing stand, usually in and out, on all of my bow hunts, and not a few of my rifle hunts. The state WMA where I spend most of my hunt time, does not allow off road travel, though it does have a good two track net work. And my shots, for the most part, are all under 100 yds, for that I don't need big caliber, big scope, or wobble fighting weight that a heavy rifle offers.

In fact this year, I did not carry a rifle with a tube longer than 20". I found it lighter and easier to carry with a stand on my back, easy in and out of the Bronco, and if I was in a shoot house, easy out the window.

Lot depends on your age and condition. My Dad's deer rifles tended to get short and light as he aged, and I find mine do to. My knee and hip remind me I do not own an ATV, and I actually am beginning to ponder one. Biggest asset to get game in and out. Bamaboy and I have rolled my last two out together on my deer cart, and I was glad I had the help.
 
If I were hunting those 50lb Alabama do... uh.. deer from under 100 yards, I'd probably be using a 5.5lb Kimber 84M Montana chambered in .223Rem:D
 
If I were still actively hunting locally, Mule deer and Elk, I would desire that Kimber in the 84L in 280AI, at 6.2lb still light and a local industry to boot.
 
it seems like most people don't want to walk 100 yards beyond their trucks. I see some guys parking their vehicles immediately below their stands even.
Click to expand...
Most, perhaps. But, not all.

I have been known to paddle a canoe many miles a day, hike up beyond tree line, and also miles away from the take out, with the longest resulting in four days to pack out one moose with two guys. This is Alaska. And for me, this is another outing in the backyard; I have a really big backyard!

Yes, I have grown to like lighter hunting rifles as the years continue rolling along.
 
Wow ah! Somebody call the Marine Corp!:p This thread proves light rifles are just as accurate as heavy ones!

C'mon. YMMV, but IIRC, a heavy 12-15lb rig in my hands shoots much better prone, from an improvised rest or even standing... The weight dampens vibrations, heartbeats and instabilities. In general, all accuracy sports have a max weight rule because weight IS such a huge advantage.

Wait...don't they prove this at Camp Perry annually??
 
I had a Kimber Mountain Ascent .308 that weight 4lbs with a 8oz Leupold VX-3 on it..... Best hunting rifle ever. I don't see the point using a heavier gun when light ones can shoot sub MOA these days.

As far as barrel length.. your not gaining a whole lot in that extra 2''
 
I don't hunt deer any more,but do log some miles for yotes. I carry a heavy barrel 223 all the time. Never a issue and I am a old fart. I have even seen post's were some people say the scope adds to much weight?. Umm, Ahh. Ok to that.
 
I weighed my rifle by standing on weihh scale and deducting my weight and found it weighs 8 lbs.... I must have carried (and got used to) heavier rifles during deer season. I could have sworn my Savage in synthetic stock weighed less than 8 lbs..
 
Kinda the same reason track stars don't wear Timberlands in the 500 meter.:D We are all human and looking for a edge. Lighter rifles make it easier to go farther and harder with less lower back pain at the end of the day.

Accuracy is equal between a mid weight and fly weight gun providing you are using a high quality rifles.. Its the shooter that makes the difference. As mentioned, you only are going to shoot 1 or 2 shots so even a ultra lightweight barrel doesn't matter with heat. I have carried ALOT of rifles over the rough stuff but setting up a fly weight mountain gun that shoots accurate is about as good as it gets. Engineering and better build materials has given us light weight rifles that can do it all. That wasn't the case even 20 years ago.

This is my "no compromise" fly weight rig. Serious glass included and still at the 6lbs weight. Shoots 1/4" moa with factory 308 ammo.
Combonet.jpg
 
Last edited:
I'm a tree stand hunter and all my rifles are considered heavy. Some have bull barrels and some don't. All have flat bottom actions which are heavier than round. A fully alum bedded aftermarket stock will add a good bit of weight to a rifle, and I've swapped out factory stocks many times. I do feel the weight in handling the gun to the stand, but all my rifles are excellent shooters (far better than me) at the bench and none have detrimental recoil. I would think this creates less stress on the optics as well.
 
Now, Nathan. :) It's common that light barrels are very much adequately accurate to hit within an inch of the intended Bit of Bambi. How much more is needed?

In some forty years of messing with Bambi, I had one occasion to be where I could have gone prone. I didn't. Grass burrs and stickers and such. :)

The vast majority of all deer are killed within 200 yards. Anything which groups tighter than two MOA is adequate. (Like most of us, I don't settle for "adequate". :D) So, in the immortal words of Hillary Clinton, "What difference does it make?"
 
Wow ah! Somebody call the Marine Corp! This thread proves light rifles are just as accurate as heavy ones!

C'mon. YMMV, but IIRC, a heavy 12-15lb rig in my hands shoots much better prone, from an improvised rest or even standing... The weight dampens vibrations, heartbeats and instabilities. In general, all accuracy sports have a max weight rule because weight IS such a huge advantage.

Wait...don't they prove this at Camp Perry annually??
Click to expand...

When you are in a target shooting situation, or military sniper taking 1,000 yard shots the difference between a .2 MOA 15 lb rifle, and a .3 MOA 6 lb rifle makes a difference. For a deer hunter @ under 500 yards the extra .1 MOA is not worth the weight. In fact from typical hunting shooting positions you can't really take advantage of anything much less than 1 MOA.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top