What rifle weight is considered ideal for hunting?
Opinions on this matter vary. Here’s something to consider.
Firstly, a hunting rifle must be heavy enough to absorb some recoil, especially hard recoiling magnum calibers. Too much weight helps reduce felt recoil, but becomes a burden on your shoulders while hunting, slowing down your mobility. A 6.5-7 pound rifle is considered lightweight. That’s about as light as you’d want to go with calibers above .270 Winchester.
Secondly, a hunting rifle should be heavy enough to hold steady in the wind and resist the bounce of your pulse. Too less weight and it becomes much harder to hold steady.
Also, shortening the barrel by a few inches to reduce weight will rob you, on average, around 80fps. Accuracy may suffer as a result.
A classic example of a well designed but lightweight hunting rifle is the Kimber Montana. Cooper firearms and Lazzeroni also make lightweight rifles that are ideal for sheep or mountain hunting.
As you can see there is a lot more to choosing a hunting rifle than just the caliber.
