Since my buddies are only talking .338 , moose and riverboat, which I is fine. But…
I’m looking for a light weight setup, intended purpose:
Goat and sheep hunting Canada BC/Yukon - alaska coastal mountains. Occasionally elk and woodland caribou.
Everything probably out to 300m - maybe 400.
After some browsing I ended up with:
Howa 1500 superlite
7mm-08 or .308
Leupold hd5 2-10, hd3 3.5-10 or hd3 4.5-14
I’m not reloading yet but it’s definitely going to happen. Whats you guys thought on
calibre, go with the 7mm / less recoil and flatter trajectory or just go with the 308 and deal with factory ammo for now and do the magic with right load later.
Any other rifle, cartridges and scopes that come to mind?
For that distance either will do just fine. That being said you will be able to find many more factory offerings in 308 than 7mm 08. I worked thru this same issue a couple of years ago and went the 308 route just because of the wider availability of factory ammo and the wider range of reloading components. For a rifle I chose the Christenson Arms Ridgeline scout because of the fact that I shoot suppressed and wanted a shorter barrel. For a scope I went with the Vortex Razor HD LHT because of the short over all length and weight. I can’t say enough good things about this gun and scope. I haven’t even reloaded for it yet and I’m shooting under 1 moa with multiple factory options. With the better of the factory ammo I shoot one ragged hole five shoot groups. The scope is clear bright and tracks well. This is my lite weight mountain rifle set up and probably will be for the rest of my life.
Thank you @backfire and @Ken7STW .
Looking at availability here in Canada, you can’t even get the Howa in 7mm yet.
And yeah the choices of ammunition are limited the local hardware store has no 7mm08 but tons of .308 and some .270’s.
The tikka and the Christiansen are both available, as well as the hawke scope.
Suppressors are prohibited, so at max I’d put a break on the rifle.
I’d probably stick to the Howa, because of price and weight.
.308 it’s then regarding availability.
I still have to decide on a scope.
Looks like the hawke frontier 4-20 is only available with the Mil pro reticle - isn’t that a bit much for a sfp?
Do you guys use shooting sticks and bipods for the mountains or rather improvise?
I have a few 270’s A Rem 700 mountain, a barrel/scope for TC Encore and a Ruger M77 that my wonderful wife bought me for our first Christmas in 1981. Such a butter smooth action and the blueing is deep and awesome.
PS not for sale!
With your ammo options- hard to go wrong. Find some good 130 gr coppers and it will punch a hole in everything and almost as flat as it gets.
I think the scopes you mentioned are good choices, and the Leupolds are super lightweight since that seems to be a driving factor–I would probably stick with hd3 4.5-14 at those ranges. Beware of that Howa Superlite though–it may be the lightest weight option out there today but eesh, I had a chance to pick one up recently, and can confirm it feels like a toy gun–pencil thin barrel contour, almost too light, crap butt pad, and I can’t imagine it is comfortable to shoot in a cartridge like .308. Plus, it didn’t feel “well balanced” to me–like a bit unnatural in the hand. For just a bit more weight I would look toward other options like the tried and true Tikka T3x (would be my first pick); otherwise I did handle a Kimber M84 the same day which was also very light and I thought it had a much better quality/feel to it compared to the Howa. Or, if you want to try something a bit different, maybe one of the scout rifles in .308 might be worth a look. They tend to be lightweight, shorter barrels, handier, etc. I recently picked up a used Ruger Gunsite Scout rifle and so far it’s awesome–though I haven’t been hunting with it yet, just playing with it at the range. With a laminate wood stock it is 7 lbs. w/o a scope–I think the synthetic stock version is closer to 6 lbs. Yet it feels very well balanced and more comfortable in the hands. It is basically just an M77 with AICS magazines instead of a floorplate. Mine came w/ 2x 10 round polymer mags (they also have 5 and 3 round available which I like because they don’t stick out so much below the gun–I picked up one of each and I like the 5 round fit the best). The integral scope rings are included too (also has iron sights as backup and a forward mounted pic rail if you want to use a scout-style extended eye relief scope). So just some other ideas to kick around. Good luck with finding and getting together your new setup.
The Howa rifles I have owned have all been real shooters. I personally own three at this time. I have no experience with the super lite version. I have the mini action in 223. which is very lite on its own. I never carried a shooting stick while hunting as a younger man. Now I do take one that can double as a walking stick as my knees are not what they use to be. I use to just use my backpack frame to shoot off of it it served me very well at the time, though I remember one large black bear that got away because I couldn’t find anything high enough to put my back pack onto shooting up hill at a distance. Shooting stick in hand and that bear would have been dead.
I haven’t shot it that much yet and so far I’ve only put 130 gn TTSX’s through it. I’m probably going to develop a hand load around that bullet. However, if it shoots lights out with another particular Factory ammo I may be tempted to go the factory route.
I’ve got a Seekins Element which loves that particular Berger load.
That’s not a bad idea going with a 130grn Barnes triple shock. Would negate the lower velocity we lose from our shorter barrel shooting heavier bullets and get back some of that bullet drop. And I have some good experience with Barnes bullets in the past. They have shot lights out in my 7mm STW for bear in Alaska when I lived there.
Yeah, I actually got the idea from watching Gavin and the crew on the ultimate reloader YouTube channel and their build of a “shorty” 308. It did better with the lighter weight bullets.
And I’ve also had great success with the Barnes TTSX on game.
Yes I also found Federal Premium at 168 grain to be the best so far in the Ruger GSR–I have my best groups so far with it. I was hopeful to try a copper bullet for hunting but so far results have been terrible, albeit I have only tried two factory loads (and one was Winchester–so you know). Maybe just haven’t found the right one yet.
@alexfields
I did look into scout rifles and I’m looking forward to get one - probably for next season.
There also is the problem with the availability here in Canada. The only ones left in my general rifle budget are the savage 110 scout, a BCL bronco scout and the Ruger gun site in the 16” version.
I’d prefer an 18”+ barrel in lack of surpressors😑
Regarding the Howa superlite or equivalent it would be a purpose built rifle, with as little weight as possible in mind.
Rumours say the Howa will be available in .243 and 7mm-07 later this year in Canada.
I’d like to handle one before I make a decision…
I currently babysit my buddies tikka T3x lite 300WSM - man I like that one
but a none threaded barrel 24”long that might be my pick for elk and up…
Not yet, I’m in Europe right now - they never heard of’em here
I’ll be back in Canada next month.
Probably get the chance between Vancouver and Whitehorse somewhere…
Re: the Howa Superlite… I like your description: light, but not cheap–that is a good point. For being so crazy light it is a good quality piece of manufacturing. I decided I had to try one of these as well; I have been seeing it more often and this thread was in the back of my mind whenever I would come across it. I also like that it is threaded and therefore suppressor-ready.
So, I just picked up one in .243 today, with a walnut stock instead of the carbon version (adds 1 more pound). Still, I put a lightweight Leupold scope on this thing and the total weight is just under 6 and 1/2 lbs. Excellent. I will shoot some groups over the holiday weekend, and post some pics later. I might remove the pic rail and just use a one-piece mount (DNZ Game Reaper). Certainly the lightest weight (centerfire) rifle I own. I think my next lightest is the Tikka T3x Lite which is still another pound or so heavier.
that might be my pick for elk and up…
