Thread: How heavy should a hunting rifle be?

My first rifle was a Tikka M695 in 270win. With a can, 3-15 Burris Signature HD scope, medium height optilocks with bases, and bipod it weighed just shy of 5kg loaded. Full wood stock, flat-bottomed receiver (t3 are round on the bottom) and the only plastic on it was the base of the mag and the trigger guard. It is just absolutely beautiful. I must admit, for multi-day alpine mission though, it was just a bit too much. Carrying it off-hand when sidling steep slopes or moving through awkward terrain gets pretty tiring on the arm and shoulders. Since getting a 7mm rem mag T3, she has been relegated to more easy going deer missions now where terrain is forgiving and shots are 300m or less. I also put a smaller scope on which helps cut weight. Nowadays I take a 7mm rem mag tikka when in harsh or excessively steep terrain because its lighter and just more weather resistant with the stainless. Chances are I will be taking longer shots in that terrain as well so no reason to lug a heavy 270 around when you can take a light plastic fantastic really.

I know you said this post wasn't about calibre, but you could be on to something with the 30-06. It wouldn't be too bad of a starter calibre if you can handle the recoil (your build/stature will be relevant here) as it would allow you to drop pretty much every animal in NZ. It also performs pretty well ballistically for on older cartridge and it has plenty of killing power to give you a bit of margin. It could mean you don't need to buy two different rifles if you want to hunt tahr or chamois later on alongside deer and pigs etc.