Thread: How heavy should a hunting rifle be?

I have found a very cool old wood and blued rifle that I want to buy for my first centrefire. It's a 30-06 and weighs about 3.6kg bare.
Every one of my mates that I've sent it to has the opinion of "too big calibre and rifle too heavy"
Do I need new mates, or are they right? I have decent legs and thought I'd be alright with a heavier older rifle? This post is not about the calibre, it's about rifle weight.

My first hunting rifle was a 308 zastava spec says 3.6kg bare. Was choppped and suppressed. So maybe ~3.4kg bare with shorter barrel.
Was soft on recoil and nice to shoot offhand. Not to heavy at all but definitely heavier than modern guns

went to a tikka 308. Nicer to carry but noticeable increase in recoil.
Had a carbon 260 and actually going back to wood stock as its stupid light and while its nice to carry a heavier gun isn't the end of the world.

My only comment would be what are you hunting and have you shot larger center fires? 3006 can be too much for people, especially beginners.

308 or 7mm08, 6.5cm would be better for ammo availability.

Have a look at different recoil energy as the weight reduces the recoil.
Plug in some numbers:

https://shooterscalculator.com/recoil-calculator.php

Originally Posted by Brad S

I have found a very cool old wood and blued rifle that I want to buy for my first centrefire. It's a 30-06 and weighs about 3.6kg bare.
Every one of my mates that I've sent it to has the opinion of "too big calibre and rifle too heavy"
Do I need new mates, or are they right? I have decent legs and thought I'd be alright with a heavier older rifle? This post is not about the calibre, it's about rifle weight.

You haven't given enough information for anyone to give you much advice.

What sort of hunting are you planning to do?
Bush bashing? Long walks up & down mountains?
Short trips in and out?
What are you planning to hunt? At what range?

Basically it will be you carrying the rifle.
How far can you reasonable carry it?
Is it to unwieldy for the hunting you're going to do?

You answer those questions and then you've answered your original question.

Opinions from mates are their views not yours and are like rectums - everyone has one but you don't have to listen to it.

Good luck and good hunting.

Light is nice but by no means essential.
My 223rem weighs 4.2kgs ready to shoot and I've carried that all over the place and I am by no means a Sherpa. A bit of heft in a more powerful cartridge can be a good thing too, when it comes to shooting it.

Yeah, I have been a bit vague. A bit of a silly post probably. I'm going to buy it anyway and find out.
I'm not doing multi-day hikes with this rifle, probably mostly day trips. I'm not experienced so max range 100-200m, probably less.
I will hunt anything that has tasty meat.
Super light stuff seems to be trendy, I'm not a trendy person though haha

Pretty open ended question as it really depends what you want to do with it. Easy short walks, farm hunts etc or long carry’s and big trips in the hills. Then it comes down to how much that bothers you. Personally for me it would be a touch heavy for any of my more serious hunting trips. But you might not mind.

I should've searched this before posting. This subject has been beaten to death on here many times it seems. Apologies

nah, it's always good to go over. same as pack weight.

for myself, i used to carry a bergara b14hmr which, by the time i had a scope, bipod and sling, was damn near 7kg all up. I loved that damn rifle, between it's sheer mass and a muzzle brake it kicked like a .22, you could use it to hold a tarp down in the wind, and it was so solid that it was basically unbreakable.

nowdays I carry an extreme hunter, which clocks in at about 4kg carry weight. less pleasant to shoot prone or seated but way nicer to carry up hills or shoot offhand.

Search function can be spotty so don't worry about it mate.

I was in a similar boat to you not long ago and everybody on here steered me right.

The best advice I got was not to stress about it! If you love to hunt and shoot it won't be the last rifle you buy. And until you try a few you won't know any better.

Motivation is different for everyone but it does help if you love your tools. If it shoots and handles as good as it looks then you'll forgive a bit of weight.

shit 7kg!
I am thinking specifically of a finnbear L61R. I have a z3 3-10 (360grams) for it, and it won't have a suppressor because i'd feel bad chopping those open sights, even if it is a 24" barrel. A bit of bailing twine for a sling weighs bugger all, and I think I will use a pack instead of a bipod. It should be about 4kg all up I think, if the google specs are correct for rifle and scope weight.
Actually a better question to ask is has someone thought of a way to protect hearing while hunting with an unsuppressed rifle??

The only thing you can do better with a light rifle is carry it.

The important part is always better with a heavier than light gun.

I disagree.

You carry a hunting rifle the whole day, to give off one shot.

A hunting rifle needs to be as light as possible while still being capable of delivering that one shot with enough accuracy.

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.

@Brad S use this link if you want to search the forum. Way better then the search function on the website.

https://cse.google.com/cse?cx=006821...05:v1c9rbw9yqe

Heavy rifle = lighter recoil force and if the stock is designed and fits correctly very comfortable to shoot. All things being equal, stiffer stock and barrel, better contact with the stock and more stable off the bipod or a rest and probably offhand...

Lighter rifle, physics means more recoil and more punishment requiring muzzle devices to assist with recoil etc etc.

If it's being carried and properly slung an extra kilo or so isn't here nor there but it does depend a lot on what you are doing with the rifle, mountain climbing vs quad shooting etc etc.

As far as calibre, probably the top calibers for animals taken in this country in the past would have been .303Br, .308Win/7.62, and some where in the top group would be the .30-06. It's not as common a calibre now but still as capable as the shooter and possibly has a slight benefit over the .308 in that a lot of makers barreled their .30-06's in a faster twist than the .308W often 1-10" twist. Dunno why that was when the .308 often got 1-12 or 1-13".