Hunting rifle weight

[Ds J]

The latest "must have" craze after silencers and 6.5Crd seems to be bubble levels and hitech chassis. Yes, they are more accurate, but also heavy!

Is this sensible for a hunting rifle?

Given that many / most folks shoot from a bakkie, they only carry the rifle from the house to the vehicle, and the farm bakkie does the rest.

I enjoy my light rifles; easier to wield and carry. I do prefer hunting on foot though.

[DaavG]

Hunting on foot and light-ish weight guns my preference.

[oafpatroll]

I think of those things as culling rifles when I see them afield and can't help but wonder if their users are cosplaying as Seal Team 6 snipers.

[Ds J]

All the extras are about better accuracy. Are they worth it? Do they make such a big difference?

For culling and long range hunting, yes. For regular hunting out to 300 meters?

[jager]

IMHO, a bubble level is certainly worth it.  It weighs next to nothing and your point of impact can shift dramatically if you tilt the rifle.  That shift might not make you miss, but combined with an unsteady rest, gusty winds, beating heart,  and an animal that moves it all adds up.

Maybe not worth it in the bushveld, but for Karoo springbok hunting I won't go without it.

A chassis on the other hand makes no sense to me for hunting. Super heavy, lots of things to snag on bushes and trees when moving, and uncomfortable edges that dig into you when carrying it. 

A modern stock with an adjustable comb makes sense though. Much easier to shoot accurately if you can get a proper cheek weld.  (now guess my rifle setup   A bubble level, and an adjustable comb)

[Ds J]

IMHO, a bubble level is certainly worth it.  It weighs next to nothing and your point of impact can shift dramatically if you tilt the rifle.  That shift might not make you miss, but combined with an unsteady rest, gusty winds, beating heart,  and an animal that moves it all adds up.

Maybe not worth it in the bushveld, but for Karoo springbok hunting I won't go without it.

A chassis on the other hand makes no sense to me for hunting. Super heavy, lots of things to snag on bushes and trees when moving, and uncomfortable edges that dig into you when carrying it. 

A modern stock with an adjustable comb makes sense though. Much easier to shoot accurately if you can get a proper cheek weld.  (now guess my rifle setup   A bubble level, and an adjustable comb)

Out in the Molopo/Kalahari, we hunt mostly kudu. There is simply no time for a bubble level etc. Point, shoot, and over.

For the Karoo and longer shots, the heavier goodies make sense. I would also not be shooting a 308

[Treeman]

A Lynx 3-9 scope on a Ruger M77 synthetic stock launching cup and core bullets.It just works, things die.
 The rest is about 3 % of a successful hunt.
 

[Treeman]

Everytime questions like this come up, I recall ol Messor from another site.
He stalks so well that he usually has to back track to reduce meat damage.
Still a pub joke of mine, I think that's a sharp chirp.
Another was that Messor can shoot so far that in summer the meat spoils before he can get to it on foot.

All in good humour, our own Chuck Norris and no disrespect to Messor - who actually Can do it, do it very well.

[Againstthegrains]

And Messor believes that all a hunting shop needs to stock is a 270win standard Howa, with some Barnes 130gr TTSX and you can kill everything properly with that.

I like the way he thinks!

[Treeman]

And Messor believes that all a hunting shop needs to stock is a 270win standard Howa, with some Barnes 130gr TTSX and you can kill everything properly with that.

I like the way he thinks!

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