mountain rifle caliber?
- Thread starter beav906
- Start date
Musket Man
Veteran member
Lots of good info and ideas here. This debate will go on forever and no one will be right or wrong. True some will out preform others but much of it comes down to personal preference in the end. I shoot a .270 Winchester in a model 70 Winchester made in the mid 1950's with a Leupold VX2 3-9x40 scope. I modified a post 64 ramline synthetic stock for it to lighten it up a bit. Its very accurate and always gets the job done so what more could I want. True its not a long range setup but I dont care to shoot game over 400 yards either. This fall I went to Wy antelope hunting with a model 1894 Winchester 30-30 made in 1896 and killed an antelope at 155 yards with 1 shot with peep sights. Whatever caliber and gun you choose if you practice with it and are confident in it you can get the job done!
skeeterdriftwood
New Member
- Jan 10, 2014
- 9
- 0
Thats the 64000 dollar question. You know, I have killed a mule deer doe with the 75gr. speer flat point in a 25-35. Now that's a bit light for a big buck in full rut, but it can be done. Light bullets or heavey, fast or slow, shot placement and the animals demeanor are probably the most determaning factors. The favored caliber for me has always been the 25, A hundred grain bullet from the 25-06 at-3100 fps will stop in a deer's chest and do a lot of damage, the 117 under the same conditions would probably go clear through. I like the 270 with a 150gr. bullet for elk and have taken two cows and a bull with that combination. Not having worked seriosly with the 6.5's (I have killed one buck with a .264 Win mag) I can't say for sure, but it sounds like a good accurate choise. I would stick with the milder cartridges like the Creedmoore to avoid spending the rest of my time scrubbing the barrel. In a light rifle you can get great performance from the .270 or the 25-06 and not pay the recoil toll. For an all arround one gun caliber in the mountains the .270 is not a bad round,wide range of bullet weights and plenty of horse power. The optics you choose will give you the edge at long range, and you usually get what you pay for.
Last edited:
Musket Man
Veteran member
25-35 would be great for antelope at moderate ranges! Almost bought one once but came home with the model 94 SRC 30-30 next to it instead. Looking back I should have bought both!
Just had a thought... why not just stalk in closer? My wife could have easily killed the bull from our story this fall from 400 yards but we stalked in to 200, got our hearts pounding, and made the hunt even sweeter. As a bowhunter who also hunts with a rifle I just don't get the whole "longrange hunting" craze. I know there are times when getting in closer than 500 yards is very difficult but isn't that the point. Pretty soon we'll be figuring out how to zap bull elk from an orbiting satellite with a "frickin' lazer beam." I have no problem sniping prairie dogs or other vermin from "long range" but c'mon guys and gals, I thought we were hunting? Just because we can doesn't mean we should.
My new mountain rifle did great on it's first hunt. I got lucky and it likes the same 58gr H4831SC 140grAB load my American likes. It gets 2950fps with it's 24" barrel. I did lots of practice shooting, shot some yotes with it, and was ready for the mountains. Took a great 6x6 bull that net scored 334" and grossed 338".
