A Proper Sheep Rifle

[LuketheDog]

Maybe overkill to some but a 110 grain bullet will not do it.

I've got a .257 Weatherby that says otherwise...

 

[BAKPAKR]

Did the creedmoor bounce off?

I think the shot startled the ram, caused him to trip on the steep hillside, and then the subsequent roll down the mountain did him in. Kind of like “barking” a squirrel.

CAUTION — Don’t try my technique on flat ground unless you have enough gun (or cannon).

 

[Horseman]

Maybe owning a proper sheep rifle will pull me a tag next year?

That is a gorgeous rifle!

 

[MS 9x56]

There can be only one! That is the one. congratulations!!!

 

[EastTNHunter]

Jack O’Connor would approve

 

[buffybr]

Sheep are tough.
Wounding them is not advisable.
It can roll to the bottom of the mountain.
Also most are long shots,300-400 yards.
Long range shooters hold your horses. Lol
7mm and up. Good optics and not too heavy.
Something you comfortably shoot and carry.

Up until 1978 my only centerfire rifle was a .30-06, and I used that rifle for eveything from prairie dogs to elk. In '78 I had that rifle rechambered to .30 Gibbs, and I built myself a deer and antelope rifle, a .257 Ackley on a Mauser Mark
X action fitted in Fancy walnut from Fajen, and topped with Tasco 3-0x40 scope.

The 1980s were good to me and I was able to hunt Montana's Unlimited Bighorn sheep units every year with a $25 tag. At 10# my .257 AI is on the heavy side for a mountain rifle, but it worked very well for me. With 117 gr Sierra GameKing bullets, that rifle made literally DRT kills on 4 bighorn rams, a NWT Dall ram, and my 2nd best 6x6 bull elk on one of my Wilderness Unlimited bighorn hunts. One of those bighorn rams I passed on, then another hunter gut shot it, and I finished it for her.

My longest shot on any of my sheep was a lasered 206 yards.

 

[npaden]

I was going to say that you don't need a rifle for sheep, just go with Bambistew and borrow his. I seem to remember several of his posts in the past where they have killed two sheep with the same rifle on the same trip. He must not be hunting far enough up north to need a big gun.

 

[Steiny77]

Good choice of rifles !

I hunted Dall Sheep in AK in 1996. Being an avid Jack O'Conner reader, I found a pre 64 Winchester .270, put a Weaver K6 on it and used it to kill my sheep.
Two of us on the trip, both killed sheep one shot with .270's, never had any really difficult long shots, and didn't find them too hard to kill.

Probably should get that rifle out and kill a whitetail with it this fall.

 

[noharleyyet]

This thread could use a niche rifle treatise from Big Stick...