Hiking Rifle cartridges

[Nyati]

My stalking rifle is a Remington 700 Mountain Rifle in .243, with a Leupold LPS 2-10x45

 

[375 Ruger Fan]

I bought a used Titanium Remington 700 in 270 Win to be my sheep rifle. It weighs about 5-1/2 lbs without a scope. Maybe 7 lbs with the scope and loaded. I used it on my Yukon Dall Sheep hunt a few years ago and hope to take it to NZ next year for Red Stag and Tahr. I topped it with a Leupold 3x10x40 VX3 scope.

 

[Dr Ray]

The one that fills the bill for me is a Husqvarna 4100 in .30'06. Light and accurate, there's nothing in my hunting area it can't handle. BTW, this is probably the ugliest coyote ever taken!

Coyote! I would never have known if you hadn’t told us.

 

[Pinesi]

I carry the flavor of the day and depends on if it is a day hike or over night. It will vary between my carry 38spl (Smith), a 4" double action 22 revolver (Colt or Smith), 357 mag revolver (Ruger or Colt), or 4" 41 mag revolver (Smith)... or just a camera. There are bears in the mountains in my area and you do have to pay attention. There have been a couple deaths in the Blue Ridge portion of East TN. But I feel pretty comfortable carrying my 22 revolver for the most part. I am not particularly worried about 2-legged predators and in most cases I feel I can make do with the 22.

For fishing, I'd want a very light firearm that is seldom shot. It would be there mostly for the off chance of a rabid raccoon or skunk mostly.

 

[rookhawk]

I acquired a dandy stalking/alpine rifle awhile back that I had to snatch up because it was just so damned strange.

Its an Abercrombie & Fitch of Beverly Hills Mauser in .270 Winchester. It has best quality finish. Ultra high-gloss barrel and action. Jeweled bolt, follower and bolt release. (nothing strange there). Straight, plain, oil finished stock in a traditional geometry instead of as the "roy weatherby" dimensions and finish. (that's weird). DUAL cross bolts. (really weird). Modern era gun by Dumoulin but on a military mauser to commercial action transition action circa 1947. (but made in 1980...really weird). 14-3/4" LOP. (Really weird) No sights, just scope. The stock is the slightest, most dainty of any type I've ever seen. (really weird)

You put all the weird together and here is what it actually is/was: Someone ordered a best quality gun that was built for a tall American person. They wanted best quality, but ultra lightweight, and accurate. So it is so diminutive in dimensions they had to use straight grain wood and dual crossbolts to manage the recoil. Yet the metal work is all best quality. They even had it made on a vintage action instead of a contemporary dumoulin action to shave the additional weight via the thumb cut out, no hump on the rear ring, and removal of the stripper slot. Ultra thin pencil barrel to shave weight some more, but still 23" barrel and still 14-3/4" stock. No iron sights to shave more weight. The gun weighs around 6lbs.

That in my mind is a stalking / alpine / hiking gun for elk, antelope. or any of the creatures of Europe out to 400 yards. It is uncommon to find a gun that was built with old world craftsmanship for this particular use case in the modern era.

*Abercrombie & Fitch had a presence in Beverly Hills for only about 1.5 years. They then liquidated their traditional goods and started selling the clothing we all loathe today.

 

[Ray B]

Yes, the Abercrombie Finch was a well respected store for those of us that loved the out-of-doors in the more traditional ways. When I was going to school in Chicago in the mid 70s the second floor of A&F was a great place, although if you didn't have an approved to own a firearm resident's card (which as a non-resident student, I didn't have) you were not allowed to touch the guns, particularly the handguns. The first gun that I owned that I considered premium quality was a Browning Superposed Magnum Lightning 20 that has "Made for Abercrombie & Fitch" engraved on the barrel. It and Eddie Bauer were great places. such the pity that they are mere shells of what once was.