New Alpine Rifle Criteria

For a true alpine rifle, weight is the first consideration. I spend a lot of time and effort keeping my pack weight and rifle weight low on sheep hunts, and cant even fathom considering a suppressor for sheep hunts. I literally cut the handle of my toothbrush short to save weight. My alpine rifle I built expressly for sheep hunting weighs 6 pounds even with a Leupold 3-9 compact mounted in Talley lightweight rings. It is a 280AI with a 23 inch PacNor barrel. It has a Brown Precision Kevlar stock that weighs right at a pound. It doesn't matter what your physical fitness level is, the lighter your pack weight, the further and faster you can go.

Accuracy is the second most important consideration. In the alpine, terrain features can make it very difficult to close the distance. It is easy to say close the distance, it is quite another thing to actually do so when you may have a brief weather window and there is a chasm with no cover between you and the game.

The third consideration is a potent enough chambering for what you will be hunting and the distances you may be shooting. At least that's my take.

NIGHTHAWK said:

Been thinking about a new alpine rifle build for a while to hunt sheep, Ibex, goats, tahr, chamois...

Thought I would ask how you decide. What do you feel is the most important thing in buying or building a rifle?

Beyond caliber, what do you consider next?

In my case, I’ve been considering a custom a 7MM REM Mag. 22” threaded Barrel. To use a suppressor.

Some considerations:
Left Hand (For me)
1/2 MOA
Action
Length
Weight
Stock type/style
Barrel (Carbon or Steel)

What does your dream Alpine rifle look like?

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Consider a Howa 1500 or Weatherby Vanguard in 6.5 PRC with a carbon fiber 24 inch rapped bbl & carbon fiber stock both are light rifles , a 7mm rem mag with a 22 inch bbl is not going to give you its full potential, a 270 WIN would be better in a 22 inch bbl the other option is a Nosler 21 factory rifle in 7mm PRC or 6.5 PRC my son has one in 6.5 PRC 3 shots in to .75 moa any day with factory Hornady 140 grain ammo, beautiful rifle but not cheap comes with a Shillen bbl & carbon fiber stock as standard.

I would prioritize good glass with a mil type reticle over and accuracy over any other attribute.

I like ranging reticles for a variety of reasons such as consistant hold overs and angle fire.

roklok said:

For a true alpine rifle, weight is the first consideration. I spend a lot of time and effort keeping my pack weight and rifle weight low on sheep hunts, and cant even fathom considering a suppressor for sheep hunts. I literally cut the handle of my toothbrush short to save weight. My alpine rifle I built expressly for sheep hunting weighs 6 pounds even with a Leupold 3-9 compact mounted in Talley lightweight rings. It is a 280AI with a 23 inch PacNor barrel. It has a Brown Precision Kevlar stock that weighs right at a pound. It doesn't matter what your physical fitness level is, the lighter your pack weight, the further and faster you can go.

Accuracy is the second most important consideration. In the alpine, terrain features can make it very difficult to close the distance. It is easy to say close the distance, it is quite another thing to actually do so when you may have a brief weather window and there is a chasm with no cover between you and the game.

The third consideration is a potent enough chambering for what you will be hunting and the distances you may be shooting. At least that's my take.View attachment 749105

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Thats a beauty

I packed this 7 REM MAG around NZ for 9 days hunting and it got tough towards the end for Tahr and the 2 days it took to get my Chamois. I did appreciate the recoil reduction the can provided. And the fact that I had a young guide that was more than willing to spell me off carrying it when I needed it!

Even with the carbon barrel, this big can and long barrel made for a heavier and more awkward rig to carry.



9 out of the 10 animals I took were shot from prone on the bipod. So that helped.

MOA Rifies likes this smaller compact suppressor. I may consider one.





I’ll try one at their upcoming shooting school in April…

So I would say there is no reason not to have an option to run a suppressor. I don't on my mountain hunts as im shooting usually once and done. Not worth the hassle with extra length and such. For my daughter's hunts, we bring one of hers. For her, especially her first dall ram at 10yrs old, it was more for recoil reduction that was also safe on my ears. In that kind of scenario, a suppressor makes sense.

Also, if you are always doing guided hunt, then also who really cares. Your guide and/or packers will carry a lot of your shit anyway. You most likely will not be carrying all your food like on DIY sheep hunts. When you are going way back, for 8-11 days, weight is crucial and savings/costs ad up quickly. And it is not that, oh I can carry a 8.5lb scoped rifle just as well as a 6.5lb one, its that you can only carry so much so far. At some point every ounce of unnecessary glass or suppressor or really anything, well, that's an ounce less of food. All of my sheep hunts other than the one desert bighorn was DIY. The one photo of the skull with my tie tie crocs, that was a solo hunt, which weight becomes even more crucial. When we hunt with partners, it in part helps split weight on items that can be shared, such as spotting scope and tripod. Real DIY mountain hunts are different. While I dont cut my toothbrush, you don't have extra pants or duplicative layers. I don't pack a saw. I don't pack a multitool or big belt knife. I bring a lightweight benchmade folder and lightweight scalpel system. So on guided scenario, check with the guide, what of yours are they willing to carry. Who is carrying your tent and food. knowing those things will allow you to have a better informed plan of how real of sheep rifle you really need.

If you are doing one or maybe two sheep hunts, same for carbon barrels. Get whatever makes you feel best about the experience. Carbon barrels are so much cooler currently, so nothing wrong with wanting to be in the cool kid crowd whatsoever. If really concerned about rugged, repeated use in harsh conditions, stainless steel is the only real way to go. Ask any of the top makers that spin up light rifles, and even the ones using lots of carbon wrapped will tell you they are because its the current cool thing, its not because of the weight, steal still lighter option when fluted, and way more rugged.

Lastly, make sure to buy rifle or components that will stand behind you for repairs as it relates to carbon. You start belly crawling around in sheep country in sharp shale, that stuff will cut your carbon wrap on the barrel almost as quickly as your backpack. I know first hand. Gunwerks had to repair a barrel cut by shale. Manners has repaired two different stocks for the same reasons. All where no questions asked. Manners was free, Gunwerks was very insignificant, less than the hassle of shipping to/from Alaska. But again, if its just one special hunt for sheep in steep rugged mountains, get what makes you smile.

the easy button and over the counter available:

tikka t-3. i believe they are around 6.25-6.5# lots of caliber choices a light, low profile scope and you are ready to go. they might even sell them threaded now, but easy to do. caliber choice for mountain game; 270 win is a classic, 30-06 is kind of surprising, i get 2950 fps out of a 165gr bullet from sig or hornady factory loads out of mine. a 7mm mag is a great choice as well.

putting a can/suppressor on the gun kinda gets away from the whole light weight rifle idea tho.

good luck with your search.

Parkway/Dakota Alpine is about as fine a mountain rifle made IMO. NF scopes are heavy but near bulletproof! I’d put a lighter scope myself. I used to pack a Sendero with a NF everywhere until I realized I wasn’t as young as I remembered I was.

Not that will ever go sheep hunting, being just a poor share cropper from East Tennessee, but in my make believe world I'd take a Tikka T3x lite in .270 win with a 22" barrel. I would have it "tuned up" as the benefit usually outweighs the cost. I'd take the advice given above and put a Trijicon scope on it to deterr me from destroying it. On this rig, I don't see a need for me to suppress it, but maybe.

As much as I love the 7 rem mag it wouldn't be my first choice for a light weight mountain rifle. If you intend to run it short and suppressed the rem mag has significantly more efficient cousins to fill this role. 280 AI would be my #1 choice, it is all the good things about the rem mag with less recoil and better capacity is the majority of rifles. It will also hang on to velocity better in short barrels. 284 winchester and 7-08 would also be on my list for your application. If you're dead set on a big magnum then the 7prc would beat out the rem mag for me. Sure you can achieve everything the prc does with the old rem mag but it takes a custom barrel, custom cut chamber, and specialized hand loads to get in the same ball park.

Another option I would consider is looking at some of the newer cartridges on the market. Weatherby is doing some pretty impressive things with their RPM line of cartridges. A 6.5 or 25 RPM would handle most of the sheep and goat species a guy would chase. Couple that with their backcountry Capra at 4.4lbs or their backcountry guide at 5.4lbs and you've a lighter weight rifle than most guys can learn to shoot accurately!

‘If’ the new Weatherby Capra is going to be offered in LH, I see they weigh either 4lbs or 4lbs 4oz, depending on caliber. My local gun shop quoted me 3120.00 for the .308 caliber.

I personally hunt with a Kimber Mountain Ascent in .308 caliber. The gun itself weighs 4lbs 13oz, it has a 22” barrel.

Andrew62 said:

‘If’ the new Weatherby Capra is going to be offered in LH, I see they weigh either 4lbs or 4lbs 4oz, depending on caliber. My local gun shop quoted me 3120.00 for the .308 caliber.

I personally hunt with a Kimber Mountain Ascent in .308 caliber. The gun itself weighs 4lbs 13oz, it has a 22” barrel.

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If you don't mind me asking, what is the price difference between the two?

Hedge774 said:

If you don't mind me asking, what is the price difference between the two?

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First off, I owe you an apology, I see Kimber no longer makes the 4lb 13oz version of the Mountain Ascent, I really thought I saw them on their site in the past couple of months. I absolutely love mine! I paid 1650.00 for mine many years ago.

List price for the Weatherby Capra is 3500, my local gun shop quoted me 3120 for the .308 caliber. 19” barrel for short action models, 23” barrel for the longer action models.

Again, I apologize for not knowing Kimber banged their Mountain Ascent rifles.

No worries at all, my friend! I just had the sneaky suspension that the new Weatherby was going to be substantially more. Maybe it's worth it. I've never seen one in person. It's just my experience with similar products with a large difference in sales price has made me skeptical. Thanks Man!

The new Weatherby has an internal box magazine, holds just 2 shells while the Kimber holds 4, big difference.

NIGHTHAWK said:

Nightforce ATACR is what I have. Little heavy. Likely a NF NX8

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The NX8 is my go to. The eyebox on the 2.5-20 isn’t great but they're a wonderful scope despite that. After building a 20 inch carbon 300wm a few years ago and loving it but wanting something a little lighter, I built a 7PRC on a Ti action, 20 inch proof CF, manners LRH, UM bottom metal, UM pic/arca rail, and SRS titanium thunderbeast CB break. Have really enjoyed it for ibex/tahr/chamois. Will be bringing it to Turkey this December for ibex, BC for mtn goat next September, and Kyrgyzstan for sheep/ibex next November.

Tip Burns @TBurns is starting to churn out a few of these on Zermatt/Rem 700 clone actions - I’ve got one in 7PRC on order, if you’re looking to build something to your specs I and others on the forum can attest to the build quality and accuracy of his rifles

The heaviest game I had to shot in alpine terrain has always determined my choice of rifle and cartridge. Since the heaviest game in the mountain was the Elk, I have only used larger caliber rifles and therefore not very light and short rifles. I have always placed the priority on external and terminal ballistics for shots at longer distances, and less on an easier handling of the rifle. Therefore I used very different rifles for this type of hunting and no dream rifle for this purpose arise. Those who only want to hunt chamois or maximal game the size of a sheep or an Ibex, have it much easier to build a typical mountain rifle and that in calibers that are much better to handle, like the 7mm Rem Mag, or even a smaller cartridge, what I would rather do for shooting this kind of mountain game.

NIGHTHAWK said:

Been thinking about a new alpine rifle build for a while to hunt sheep, Ibex, goats, tahr, chamois...

Thought I would ask how you decide. What do you feel is the most important thing in buying or building a rifle?

Beyond caliber, what do you consider next?

In my case, I’ve been considering a custom a 7MM REM Mag. 22” threaded Barrel. To use a suppressor.

Some considerations:
Left Hand (For me)
1/2 MOA
Action
Length
Weight
Stock type/style
Barrel (Carbon or Steel)

What does your dream Alpine rifle look like?

Click to expand...

Well, I’d personally opt for a .300 Winchester Magnum built on a BRNO ZKK602 action with a Douglas Premium 26” blued steel barrel and a Grade Five Turkish walnut stock. Around 8 LB weight. Wearing a Weaver K5 telescopic sight on quick release detachable scope mounts.

Were I limited to commercially produced rifles only, I would be extremely happy with a Ruger Hawkeye Hunter chambered in .300 Winchester Magnum.

A Holy Grail Alpine rifle for me, would have to be a pre ‘64 Winchester Model 70 Super Grade chambered in .300 Holland & Holland Magnum.

Remember that for mountain hunting, the rifle should meet two basic requirements:
- It should be chambered in a caliber which retains a high trajectory out to relatively long range.
- It should be light enough for you to carry yourself through miles of hilly terrain without being weighed down.