Thread: How heavy should a hunting rifle be?

@Brad S

Lighter rifles, to me, are like European binoculars; once you used them it’s hard to go back to lower grade gear.
Like Ryan alluded to in his great use of sarcasm, above, my personal bench mark is a factory Tikka T3. I prefer something even lighter, so most of my rifles have carbon fibre stocks.
I guess it comes down to how young and strong you are, all of us have most probably carried old wooden stocked heavy rifles around the hills, I just prefer light ones now.
For reference, I’m in my 50’s and have finishing paying for everything my kids do. So I’m happy to spend a bit more on a hunting rifle, I also hunt at least once a week so find it easy to justify the extra cost 😀

If you like the rifle and are happy to carry it around its fine for you. Every one likes something different. Some of the older hunters used to carry some pretty heavy rifles around and it never killed them...

@Nick-D “Personally I love lighter rifles, and especially for a bush rifle as it is in you hand all day. The lighter gun is less likely to.get slung,”

Take your sling off, problem solved. They’re only good for snagging shit in bush.

Originally Posted by woods223

@Nick-D “Personally I love lighter rifles, and especially for a bush rifle as it is in you hand all day. The lighter gun is less likely to.get slung,”

Take your sling off, problem solved. They’re only good for snagging shit in bush.

A sling can be handy in steep shit, but yeah, they often come off.
I started hunting with a close to 5kg setup, tbh it was shit to have in hand all day. My 2.8kg setup is way way nicer to carry. It's more often in the proper position because it doesn't bug me in hand.

There are times when a bit of heft is a good trade off but tbh, for a bush gun where it's carried 99% of the time and shot 1% of the time having the lighter gun is objectively better.

But whatever it's not a competition, use what puts food on your table.

It depends. If you are starting out and doing day trips, just about any rifle will do. People worry too much, or get excited too much about some cannon they have read about on the internet. Just go and shoot some deer.
If you are doing a lot of walking, light is nicer. But heavier rifles are easier to shoot. So there is a trade-off.
Personally I prefer light, short rifles in the bush.

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.

Hmmm....never bothered to weight my favorite and most used rifle so thought I would. 5-6kg with ammo, bolt, sling etc... Can be more if I've got other stuff hanging off it.

I think a more relevant question is are you built like a Uru-khai or like a string bean? Strength and carrying capacity is relative and also not necessarily linked to the build or weight of the nut behind the butt.

Lighter rifles kick more depending on caliber, being heavier aids in recoil reduction. Horses for courses and frankly, carry what your comfortable doing so.

There's trade offs whichever way you look at it, just depends what your happy with, what your aim in a given trip is and what you want from the tool (aka rifle) your using for the job.

My contentious 0.02c is that while carrying a light firearm is 'nice', I don't see the merit in debating a half kilo here or there for a rifle, when body weight, muscle endurance, cardiovascular fitness, pack weight and terrain are much greater considerations. Especially when the weight difference between various rifle setups is about my body weight difference depending on weather I've taken a dump that morning or not.
When I think about my arms getting tired, the remedy is more push ups and more protein, rather than lighter rifles.

I weigh 60KG in wet boots... Pack and rifle weight is everything to me when balance and exertion come into it, especially with potentially more than half my bodyweight in meat added into it if successful. I hand carry the rifle all day because my shoulders aren't wide enough to comfortably accommodate a rifle sling as well as a pack strap At the moment it's a tad over 4k with a few in the mag but I reckon a bit of fiddling will get that down to 3.7kg, nice sweet spot for a .308 I think. Wouldn't dream of trying a whole animal carry out unless it was a pig small enough to roast whole haha. My heaviest walk out so far has been 45kg for about 4 hours and it was all aboard the pain train from the first step to the last.

Originally Posted by Jt89

I weigh 60KG in wet boots... Pack and rifle weight is everything to me when balance and exertion come into it, especially with potentially more than half my bodyweight in meat added into it if successful. I hand carry the rifle all day because my shoulders aren't wide enough to comfortably accommodate a rifle sling as well as a pack strap At the moment it's a tad over 4k with a few in the mag but I reckon a bit of fiddling will get that down to 3.7kg, nice sweet spot for a .308 I think. Wouldn't dream of trying a whole animal carry out unless it was a pig small enough to roast whole haha. My heaviest walk out so far has been 45kg for about 4 hours and it was all aboard the pain train from the first step to the last.

You need mates.

Big, fit, strong, dumb mates.

Originally Posted by Ross Nolan

You need mates.

Big, fit, strong, dumb mates.

Hahaha classic. Love it

Originally Posted by Jt89

I weigh 60KG in wet boots... Pack and rifle weight is everything to me when balance and exertion come into it, especially with potentially more than half my bodyweight in meat added into it if successful. I hand carry the rifle all day because my shoulders aren't wide enough to comfortably accommodate a rifle sling as well as a pack strap At the moment it's a tad over 4k with a few in the mag but I reckon a bit of fiddling will get that down to 3.7kg, nice sweet spot for a .308 I think. Wouldn't dream of trying a whole animal carry out unless it was a pig small enough to roast whole haha. My heaviest walk out so far has been 45kg for about 4 hours and it was all aboard the pain train from the first step to the last.

Sounds about right for me too although I have a couple of extra KG on my frame to make up for the light clothing I wear.

Originally Posted by Jt89

I weigh 60KG in wet boots... Pack and rifle weight is everything to me when balance and exertion come into it, especially with potentially more than half my bodyweight in meat added into it if successful. I hand carry the rifle all day because my shoulders aren't wide enough to comfortably accommodate a rifle sling as well as a pack strap At the moment it's a tad over 4k with a few in the mag but I reckon a bit of fiddling will get that down to 3.7kg, nice sweet spot for a .308 I think. Wouldn't dream of trying a whole animal carry out unless it was a pig small enough to roast whole haha. My heaviest walk out so far has been 45kg for about 4 hours and it was all aboard the pain train from the first step to the last.

try slinging rifle diagonally across your front....left hand will sit on pistolgrip naturally and suppressor will be up out past right shoulder... if you can make sure strap is flat across back of neck it will help......I dont have this issue as have old school frame pack and easy to hook sling over top of frame on right side and carry as normal,or sling as discribed.

Originally Posted by Micky Duck

try slinging rifle diagonally across your front....left hand will sit on pistolgrip naturally and suppressor will be up out past right shoulder... if you can make sure strap is flat across back of neck it will help......I dont have this issue as have old school frame pack and easy to hook sling over top of frame on right side and carry as normal,or sling as discribed.

Yep that's pretty much the only way for me if I'm walking a long way in easy country, going to be plugging some QD cups into the sided of the plastic fantastic tikka stock to help it ride a little better this way.

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.

Look Brad I have hunted for 55 years now -this argument on weight is new - I dont remember ever arguing about rifle weights for years except for the last 10 or so - now have hunters gone soft dick or what - most want lite synthetic - get what is accurate and bugger the yuppys thats what I think - spend on petrol getting out there

Originally Posted by Barry the hunter

Look Brad I have hunted for 55 years now -this argument on weight is new - I dont remember ever arguing about rifle weights for years except for the last 10 or so - now have hunters gone soft dick or what - most want lite synthetic - get what is accurate and bugger the yuppys thats what I think - spend on petrol getting out there

I seem to remember the Remington Mowhawk and BSA Majestic beign pretty popular "back in the day" because they were (relatively) light weight?