A mountain rifle is a rifle intended to be carried up into the mountains for hunting deer, goats and sheep. While, in theory, any rifle can be a mountain rifle -- climbing a mountain with a 12 pound rifle is something most people cannot do. The one main feature of any mountain rifle is its light weight. Rifles in the 6 pound range are typical of this category. The most common type of mountain rifle is based upon the bolt action design. However, some people choose single-shot rifles like the Ruger No. 1. Although the Ruger No. 1 is heavier than some of the ultra light weight bolt actions, it does have some advantages. In order to make a bolt action rifle light weight, manufacturers chamber them for short action cartridges. The lighter action results in a lighter rifle. This excludes the belted magnum cartridges, though that is not a great loss to the mountain hunter because the game they are after do not require this level of power. The other thing a rifle designer does to reduce weight is to make the barrel shorter. From a standard of 22 inches, barrels are reduced down to as little as 16.6 inches. But reducing the barrel length has a negative impact on the performance of rifle cartridges. Since the action and barrel of a single shot rifle are the same, a single shot rifle of the same length as a bolt action will have a longer barrel. If you compare a bolt action rifle and a single shot of approximately 38 inch length, the single shot barrel will be approximately 4 inches longer. This results in better performance of the rifle cartridge. In addition, the single shot can be chambered for longer more powerful cartridges without making it longer or heavier. Length also plays a factor in a good mountain rifle. When climbing, the rifle will often be carried slung across the body. A long rifle will stick out further making it easier to get bumped and catch on objects. Each hunter has to weigh out these factors and decide which compromise he is willing to accept. While hunting in the mountains may require the occasional long shot, most rifle hunting is done at relatively close range. Shots in excess of 250 yards are not common. This is fortunate since the short actions and barrels of most of these rifles greatly limits their power . Common cartridges used in these rifles include the 7x57, 7mm-08 and 308 Winchester and many others that are similar. In order to give an idea what manufacturers are offering in this area we will compare 4 current production mountain type rifles from 3 manufacturers. Other manufacturers also offer similar products and the links at the right will take you to their web sites for additional information. We have chosen the Classic Ruger No. 1 in the light sporter configuration, Remington LSS, Kimber 84M Montana and finally the Ruger M77 MK II compact. The specifications are listed in the chart below: | Rifle | Available Calibers* | Barrel Length | Overall Length | Weight | | Ruger No. 1 Light Sporter | 7x57
.270 Winchester
30-06 Springfield | 22" | 38.5" | 7.25 lbs | | Remington LSS | 7mm-08
.280 Remington
.270 Winchester
30-06 Springfield | 22" | 42.5" | 6.625 lbs | | Kimber 84M Montana | .257 Roberts
.260 Remington
7mm-08
.308 Winchester
.338 Federal | 22" | 41.25" | 5.25 lbs | | Ruger M77 MK II Compact | .260 Remington
7mm-08
.308 Winchester | 16.5" | 35.5" | 5.75 lbs |
* .243 Winchester is available in some of these rifles however we do not consider it a suitable caliber for this application. As can be seen, each manufacturer has taken a slightly different perspective on the design of their offerings. Some have tried to keep the longer barrel to maintain good performance at the expense of length. To reduce weight they have made the barrels as thin as possible. Kimber has managed to create a very light rifle by designing their action around the short .308 family of cartridges. By offering this short light action and light weight barrel, they have been able to provide a 22 inch barrel at a weight of only 5 1/4 pounds. However, the tradeoff is a rifle over 41 inches long. On the other end of the spectrum Ruger has created a rifle that is only 35 1/2 inches long with a very light weight. The tradeoff here is the very short barrel and the reduced ballistics that comes with it. Right in the middle of this spread sits the Ruger No.1 firing a powerful cartridge like the 30-06 which easily exceeds the ballistics of the .308 Winchester family. As indicated earlier, there is no right or perfect choice in a mountain rifle. Each hunter needs to look at their needs and abilities and choose the performance that best suits them. |
