truck driver
Ammo Smith
- Mar 11, 2013
- 7,346
- 934
There has been a lot of discussion here about rifle weight and how the trend is for synthetic stocks that are lighter weight then wood except laminated wood which we know is heavier than walnut.
Being bored I weighed my M77 338win and it's mounted in a synthetic stock with a 1" 3.5-10X40 Leupold scope, empty gross weight is 9.6lbs. I carried it on my hunting trip in the mountains of Montana last fall and my arms didn't feel as tired as if I had been carrying my 8.5lb Rem M1100 loaded.
Not use to carrying a 15lb pack all day was probably more noticeable then the rifle and that 15lb pack probably kept me from going farther and deeper into the area I was hunting.
I was wearing a blaze orange hunting vest with a game pocket and it had several other pockets I could have carried my possibles in but choose to carry a back pack which I wasn't use to using.
All my rifles weigh over 8lbs and I have never found them too heavy for long range hunting meaning going miles into the mountains as compared to staying close to the access roads.
Most of us seek to lighten our carry load by trying to cut ounces from our rifles when we could cut pounds from our packs or cut the pack all together and carry what we need in our blaze orange hunting vest which is required by law in all states.
I have never been able to shoot a light weight rifle as well as a standard weight or one considered heavy for hunting and I'm not talking about a bull barrel target rifle.
I will say that the pack acted like a back brace and my back didn't get as tired as it has with out wearing one but believe the extra movement taking the pack on and off while resting could have caused me a chance at animals I only got a glimpse of as it was leaving the area.
So I'm asking for thoughts and opinions on the subject so others don't make the mistakes I may have made.
Being bored I weighed my M77 338win and it's mounted in a synthetic stock with a 1" 3.5-10X40 Leupold scope, empty gross weight is 9.6lbs. I carried it on my hunting trip in the mountains of Montana last fall and my arms didn't feel as tired as if I had been carrying my 8.5lb Rem M1100 loaded.
Not use to carrying a 15lb pack all day was probably more noticeable then the rifle and that 15lb pack probably kept me from going farther and deeper into the area I was hunting.
I was wearing a blaze orange hunting vest with a game pocket and it had several other pockets I could have carried my possibles in but choose to carry a back pack which I wasn't use to using.
All my rifles weigh over 8lbs and I have never found them too heavy for long range hunting meaning going miles into the mountains as compared to staying close to the access roads.
Most of us seek to lighten our carry load by trying to cut ounces from our rifles when we could cut pounds from our packs or cut the pack all together and carry what we need in our blaze orange hunting vest which is required by law in all states.
I have never been able to shoot a light weight rifle as well as a standard weight or one considered heavy for hunting and I'm not talking about a bull barrel target rifle.
I will say that the pack acted like a back brace and my back didn't get as tired as it has with out wearing one but believe the extra movement taking the pack on and off while resting could have caused me a chance at animals I only got a glimpse of as it was leaving the area.
So I'm asking for thoughts and opinions on the subject so others don't make the mistakes I may have made.