Western Montana Elk Rifle Weight

I think you could carry just about anything for two or three miles a day.

If your backpack has a decent hip belt, look into the kifaru gun bearer. It beats the hell out of a sling.
 
My kids elk rifle is a Sig Cross 16.5" 22 creed (Montana legal)
6-24 Arken epl4 with UM rings
Just under 10lb

My gun is a 22" UM tikka with a maven rs1.2 that's just under 10lb.

That 9-10lb is a good weight. Can still shoot it easily and isn't too heavy.

Kids gun might get heavy for her but that's because she has a bunch of cool rocks and books in her pack
 
I think hunting as you are is the call.
Don’t change anything until after the season.
Take stock of what worked, what was heavy, what you liked, and what could have been better.

I am personally a fan of slings on rifles. My current backpack is an initial ascent. The carbon fiber frame has a neat hook at the level of my shoulder that grabs the sling if I choose to use it.

On a 13 mile 4k elevation change day last week, being able to off load the weight of my rifle onto my pack on the fly was very welcome.

Otherwise, looking over your rig, I think a shorter barrel would be the only place I would recommend cutting weight. 16-18” with suppressor is a nice place to be.
 
Back
Top