Hunting Rifle's Weight a big deal?

Marlin 336 and Winchester Model 94 made their bones in the deer woods long before most of us were born and the hunters that carried them walked - no ATVs back then. If you like your Marlin, carry it, and if you want to shave some weight, look at the Model 94.

The CZ 527 seemed very light.

Stalking deer is a waste of time without good visibility /cover combination and good wind. And unless you're hoofing it up and down miles of mountains then a few pounds shouldn't matter, especially when it's over the shoulder. The rifle should only be in hand when on final approach or for maneuvering in brush. All this said, maybe that's what you have.

Model 70 featherweight with a 3x9. Love that type of hunting in wv. Please enjoy

You can go too far in the search for light weight and an effective caliber for the desired purpose. I used to have a Model 70 Lightweight Carbine in .30-06. Suffice it to say it was not fun to shoot.

The POS Revolution addresses the varying opinions.

danb said:

First, my 0.02 is run and gun does not work the way people think it does. Animals run faster than humans, have better smell and eyesight. So you are most likely to be chasing them around, they can see/smell you but you cannot see them. Get high and let them come to you whenever possible. It takes a lot of practice to actually stalk a deer. People say that they do it, but they also say they get 2 10 point bucks a year and catch 50 lbs fish. And old people have selective memories of hunts that may or may not have happened the way they say it did.

Weight reduces felt recoil, and potential flinch, when pulling the trigger. Keep the 30-30 or 270 and learn to shoot it well. I would say if you are huffing and puffing over 2-3 lbs of weight, you are out of shape. Spend some quality time at the gym lifting weights and doing cardio, spend the money there not on a rifle. Shed 3 lbs from your waist instead. You gear weighs a lot more than the rifle. 3 lbs will not make a ** bit of difference if you are out of shape and cant shoot a 30-30 well.

I kill a lot of deer every year, in suburbia, so take my advice with a grain of salt.



^^Also, this, lol. Yeah, thats it, you go chase the deer to me, lol.

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Thank you for saving me a ton of typing regarding physical fitness. A few years I carried a Rem 700 with 26” target barrel all over the hills of WV. Why? Because I could. I have hunted with lighter weight lever and bolt guns as well. Being in decent shape allows me more choices of what I can carry.

For some old school historical perspective , for an all around bolt action hunting rifle, with scope and sling, v" average" was considered 8.0-8.5lb . Back when typically a hunter had one hunting rifle ( or one bolt action hunting rifle ) , they had one of these, in a .30-06 class ctg , used it for everything , and thought nothing of it .

Starting in the '70s was a fad for " Mountain Rifles " . The context was things like sheep hunting in Alaska or Rocky Mtns that involved leaving camp , with a steep climb of several thousand feet elevation to reach prime hunting areas . The holy grail was an all up weight of 7.0lb , but 7.5lb was a lot easier to achieve in the day .



Does weight matter ? Yes , albeit in several different contexts . One is weight to carry . Somthing you carry is more meaningful than weight spread equally over the body .

Below a certain weight/ balance , offhand shooting isn't as steady. At really thing bbl contours , they are more heat sensitive , and sometimes trickier to dail in a load, and more variable between different loads . And weight becomes a factor with recoil , hence with the fad for very light Mountain Rifles came an interest in medium bore mild ctgs , for example 7mm-08 .

My 20” HBAR AR-15 in .223 is 9lbs 2oz with scope and mag. My 18” 6.5 Grendel fluted HBAR AR-15 is 8lbs even with scope and mag. My Sako Forester .308 is 8lbs 4oz. My Garand is 9lb 12oz with sling, unloaded.

I’ve hunted with all of them. The 20” AR and Garand you absolutely feel halfway through the day and are sore the next if you still hunt around about. I tend to cover a lot of miles. I go real slow and careful when I need to. Might take me 2hrs to cover 3/4 or a mile sometimes. Other times I am effectively hiking 2.5mph. Depends on the terrain, cover, etc.

Still hunting takes a ton of patients. I’ve whacked 10 deer in 5 seasons. 4 this year alone at my new place. One of those I “still hunted” if you want to call it that. Snuck up on it through my backyard to a tree to use as a rest while it was laying in some cover and shot it in the next at 19yds.

The rest were from “blinds” (one actual blind, 2 out my garage window).

On public land I’ve shot 2 of the other 6 from stands. 3 just sitting still on a hillside for awhile. 1 still hunting. That said, I’ve passed a couple opportunities when still hunting that I just wasn’t entirely comfortable with at the time that now I would have taken (different equipment. One was a neck shot at 30yds with my unscoped ML that is now scoped. I’d be very confident in that having a positive outcome versus then when I figured 50/50 it would be lethal and not graze it).

I’ve also missed 3 times when still hunting. 1 was with the same unscoped ML where I shot a branch 10yds in front of the deer and it deflected with a clean miss. I put the scope on the ML after that as I would have seen the branch in the scope, but couldn’t with irons (deer was about 60yds away and it was a skinny branch). Two I was intentionally shooting low and forward (right in this case for both). Didn’t realize when shooting off hand with zero bracing I was pulling it a little low and right with every shot. On the bench or with good support off hand it was dead on. Then next range trip I suit some unsupported standing off hand (what both those shits had been) and at 50yds I was 2” low and 1.5” right. At the distance the deer were, about 75yrs and aiming intentionally low and right, that absolutely would have generated a missing. If I had aimed center of vitals it probably would have heart shot both of them (a new trigger with a lighter pull reduced this to about 1.5” low and dead center unsupported off hand at 50yds).

Anyway, still hunting can work. You’ve gotta he patient as heck. And in some cases it is still hunting in to a likely position and just wait with very little movement for awhile (or the 3 I shot sitting still 1 was after laying on the hill for 3hrs for an evening “sit”, one was sitting in a different hill for about an hour and the last was that same last hill after sitting for about 2 minutes.

Physical fitness is important. I used to be 200-205lbs the last couple of years and before that mid 190s. Decent fitness otherwise. I lost 20lbs since the summer (203 down to 183) and I am maybe slightly more fit, but I do a ton of construction, wood splitting, hauling things, hiking, etc. anyway, I notice a huge difference with losing that weight (I am 6’1”).

Me personally, anything in the mid 8s or lighter is fine. Might be a little sore at the end of the day, but I’ve got no concerns about being a little sore after a hard day of work.

Huuman said:

Hi all,



I usually hunt with a Marlin 336 30-30 lever action. But that thing is SOLID.

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I hate to break it to ya but that's a light rifle, LOL. I know this because I have the same one.

Going from a 7lb rifle to a 8.5lb rifle makes little difference while carrying it, around here at least. It's when you shoulder it for an off hand shot at 250 yards that the lighter weight rifle shines.

The higher recoil of a lightweight rifle will definitely make you flinch more. But recoil is felt on the bench, not in the heat of the moment. I promise recoil is the last thing you're gonna feel when you're taking the kill shot.

But, if you want a lightweight, mild recoiling deer rifle that shoots lights out to 300 yards, than the 243, 25-06 and 7mm-08 are tough to beat. Some people are on the 6.5 creedmoor bandwagon for deer hunting but the 25-06 recoils less and decks the 6.5 creedmoor ballistics out to 500 yards.Happy hunting.

Light rifles Rule!✊
Consider a synthetic stock
Rem 600 morphed into XP-100
Consider a specialty handgun
Practice will be required, tho.
You can do it!

Lighter rifles

My go to is an old Remington 600 in 308. The 660 is slightly heavier. I have taken lots of deer with it under 80 yards and a few out to about 250. It will out shoot you or me. I just picked up a Savage 16 in 260 in stainless that shows some promise. Had a Ruger predator and sold it, but it was actually a pretty good gun and has produced elk since which also speaks to its carry ability. Have my eye on a Kimber Ascent but do not want to have to sell a car to buy one. For around here I mostly use the Leupold 1x4 or 1 3/4x 4 or maybe 2x7 in as nice a grade I can justify. I like the whole thing to come in close to 7 pounds max and 18 in barrel is great for slipping through the junk. Another great gun is the Chinese SKS with a peep site installed. Also may need to put a more visible front site on it. Drug one through the sawbriers on eastern shore for years with a folder until MD got more stupid with the laws. You can still get those for under $300 and all I have used will outshoot a mini 30 and are easier to clean...and you really don’t have to clean them, at least not my $89 dollar ones.

My favorite rifle to carry long distances is my Marlin 1895G. It's not the lightest but the ergonomics are great!

I can carry it muzzle straight down or on a sling without it getting hung up on branches etc.

Short barrels good for schlepping long distance.

I had a Mossberg Patriot NightTrain in .308 that had a pencil barrel and full, lightweight polymer stock. It kicked so hard with 168gn HPBTs that it actually one scope and was unable to hold zero because the second scope was creeping forward in the mounts. They were tightened to a little past recommended specs to prevent exactly this.

My long-range competition 300WM is a heavy beast, and has almost no recoil at all between the 20+ pounds of gun and the Little Bastard brake it has. I took it hog hunting and it sucked. Even just manipulating it in a stand was tiring after a few hours.

I'd definitely prefer err on the side of lighter versus recoil management, all other things being equal. I'm still in my 30's and pretty fit, I ruck march for fun on weekends but I'd still go with ease of carry and handling.