New Alpine Rifle Criteria

In my opinion, a rifle caliber 270 Winchester or any modern equivalent cartridge caliber 6,5mm/.264 would be sufficient for the specified game species on #1. Rifles in larger calibers and with a Magnum designation need longer barrels to develop their ballistic potential and are therefore heavier.

I have a friend who’s building his own mountain rifle. My suggestion to him was to go with a Proof Research Glacier Ti. 5.5-6.5 lbs depending on cartridge choice and comes with 1/2 MOA guarantee. Not cheap, but the good kit rarely is.

My friend prefers to go the full custom route to forge a relationship with his weapon of choice. I see both sides, but his way is no less expensive. Especially considering the investment in time.

Barrett made the Fieldcraft rifle for a few years and it was a huge success. Not sure why they discontinued it. Only available in a few chamberings with 6.5CM being the most popular. I think they were close to 5.5 lbs.

Found this one on GB.
GB Barrett Fieldcraft 6.5CM

Had David Lloyd in the past fitted his rifles designed for deer hunting in the highlands with scopes with a higher magnification than 4x32, they would have been perfect classic Alpine rifles. I own one caliber 7mm Rem Mag and it shoots ( sometime ) within 1/2 MOA at 100 meters.

For the little history, David Lloyd is the designer of the cartridge 244 H&H Magnum, which is only called H&H because he gave the right of the cartridge to this company. His first stalking rifles, like the one I have pictured, were delivered in this caliber and were in the practice supposedly sufficient for hunting Scottish deers. That is perhaps debatable, but it is sure that this cartridge would have been well-suited for hunting mountain game like Chamois or Ibex.

I’ve got three lightweight mountain rifles.
1. Custom Winchester M70 stainless in 300 WSM with a Krieger barrel and composite stock. Crazy light at 5 pounds plus scope and incredibly accurate if you can hold it still. Shot my Grand Slam of NA wild sheep with it.
2. Tuebor titanium action and CF barrel in 6.5 GAP SAUM. Crazy accurate like a laser. NF scope. Shot my Marco Polo sheep with it in 2018 and wife used it for mountain goat.
3. Gunwerks ClymR in 7PRC with Leupold Mark 5 scope that they just sent me last fall to use with clients. Love it so far. Haven’t used it in the mountains yet but will this year. I did get a big deer with it in December at 460 yards. No way to get closer in a flat picked cornfield. Seems like a great mountain rifle.

Some might wonder what Scotland has to do with Alpine terrain, but the topic is about a rifle that habe to been used in a terrain described as Alpine. Such terrain can be found in many very different countries and also are the different concepts regarding rifles and cartridges.

I had this put together as a lightweight rifle but I’m no mountain hunter but I was shooting a lot at the time and got everything at discount rates.


If I wanted to get a full custom I would consider the following
Kelbly Nanook action
Trigger tech Diamond trigger
Grayboe Trekker stock
Hinged floorplate
A Hunter profile CF wrapped barrel or suitable Fluted stainless barrel

For long range use a
Schmidt and Bender FFP TR2ID Reticle lighter than Nightforce and others.

Or

A Swarovski scope in alloy ultralight rings

Personalising a factory rifle will probably shoot as well as a custom but it’s nice to have what you want if you really enjoy the rifles as much as the hunts.

I think my dream mountain rifle for what you describe would be a:

Blaser K95 Ultimate Carbon
7x65R
Scope: Reticle allowing for wind-hold (Leupold TMOA, Swarovski 4W, etc), but still reasonable weight, with a dial-up elevation turret with zero stop and lock

Gun is just over 5 pounds plus scope and mount.
23.6" barrel, but the single shot design will be shorter than a bolt gun that has a 20"
Electronic ear plugs, much lighter than any suppressor

I see a lot of people repeating the "don't put a magnum in a short barrel". A lot of us tend to pick a cartridge we like that's in the neighborhood of appropriate for game we are hunting in general terms, then get to working out barrel length and the other details, but this isn't the optimal approach. Of course a 7mm Rem Mag in a 20" barrel vs 26" will have less performance, but a 7mm-08 in a 20" barrel will always be worse! For this application, efficiency is irrelevant IMO. I don't envision anyone shooting matches with this rifle. Barrel life, extra powder, ammo cost...why care? You aren't going to do enough mountain hunts in your lifetime to wear it out.

Decide on the largest target game. What caliber/bullet weight would be appropriate for that game. What's the longest reasonable shot distance, assuming optimal conditions. What minimum impact velocity does your bullet need (e.g. 2000 fps copper or 1800 fps lead-core). Work backwards using the b.c. of your bullet to determine required muzzle velocity. You could get to the same place with either a 16" 28 Nosler or a 28" 7mm-08 for an extreme example. If you have a desired barrel length, then you need to determine how much case capacity gets your bullet to the desired velocity out of that barrel (using GRT or Quickload)