Which Sheep Caliber

[ColeyG]

Whichever one you can build up the lightest!

 

[idig4au]

Whichever one you can build up the lightest!

This!

 

[ColeyG]

This!

My sheep rifle is averaging 350-ish miles carried per shot fired. Or, rather, I’m averaging that with my sheep rifle.

For whatever that is worth.

I’m probably a bad sheep hunter. That having been said, most average sheep hunters carry their gun a lot, lot more than they shoot it. Get a gun that is easy to carry and that you feel good about a putting your first round in the kill zone with.

That good feeling comes with practice.

 

[TMac96]

280 AI

 

[buffybr]

I've lived, worked, and hunted in grizzly country in Montana since 1975. In all of those years, I've only encountered 2 grizzlies while I was afoot in the woods.

The first was a problem bear that FWP had trapped and relocated to the area where our hunting camp was at the end of a Forest Service road. We had a moose and 2 elk in the back of my pickup at camp. Before going to bed one night I went out to check my horses, and the griz woofed and clicked his teeth at me from about 10 yds from our tent. I fired one shot with my .44 mag Ruger over his head and another into a tree next to him. He showed no reaction, so I picked up a golf ball size rock that I threw and hit him, and he ran off.

The second griz was one that had been feeding on a dead horse near a FS trail in the Absaroka Wilderness just north of Yellowstone NP. The FS District Ranger sent me in to blow up the horse. The bear was feeding on the horse when we got there and he ran off when he saw us. We never saw him again.

For about 10 years I hunted Bighorn rams in several of the Montana Unlimited ram tag units on DIY and DIY solo hunts, and managed to make one shot kills on 3 rams with my 10 lb .257 Ackley shooting 117 gr Sierra GameKing bullets.

I also used that same rifle for a hunt in Canada's MacKenzie Mountains in the Northwest Territory for a backpack hunt where I again made one shot kills on a Dall ram and a Mountain caribou. My guide didn't carry a rifle.

All of the cartridges the OP listed will easily kill a ram, if shot in the right place. Take the one that you are most confident with. If you're worried about bears, take a can of bear spray.

 

[S-3 ranch]

My sheep rifle is averaging 350-ish miles carried per shot fired. Or, rather, I’m averaging that with my sheep rifle.

For whatever that is worth.

I’m probably a bad sheep hunter. That having been said, most average sheep hunters carry their gun a lot, lot more than they shoot it. Get a gun that is easy to carry and that you feel good about a putting your first round in the kill zone with.

That good feeling comes with practice.

I don’t think you’re a bad sheep hunter!
I helped my uncle on a stone sheep hunt, and in 14 days we did about 10-14 miles per day ( not counting the jet boat rides) , every day was a challenge to find a trophy ( not a barely legal ram ) we scoped out about every single drainage the outfitter had !
The sheep just aren’t there anymore IMO unless you settle for a 7/8th curl ram
B.C probably should close down sheep for about 5-6 years to get some more age on the hunting stock of rams.
The rifle was a 280 rem , shooters inc. 7 lbs scoped and loaded ( Hank never fired a shot except when he tested it)

 

[Spiral Horn]

My sheep rifle is averaging 350-ish miles carried per shot fired. Or, rather, I’m averaging that with my sheep rifle.

For whatever that is worth.

I’m probably a bad sheep hunter. That having been said, most average sheep hunters carry their gun a lot, lot more than they shoot it. Get a gun that is easy to carry and that you feel good about a putting your first round in the kill zone with.

That good feeling comes with practice.

Great points! On sheep hunts we carry our rifles everywhere; so weight, balance and ease of handling will certainly have an impact over a week or two in the mountains. A few additional points:
1. Handling and balance - if I were to hand anyone two of my rifles that are less than a pound apart most would call one of them a featherweight and the other a boat anchor. In this case the lighter gun is also extremely well balanced and handles even lighter than it actually is. After handling both, most would have a tough time believing they were less than a pound apart without actually weighing them.
2. Attachment to Backpack - often overlooked, but it makes a big difference. I like mine as close to the pack frame as possible.
3. Accuracy/shootability - most guides/outfitters I know have stories of the guy bragging about ringing steel at 1k yards at the long range school but has no idea how to set up and take a shot in broken and uneven ground. There is just no substitute for practice and in-depth familiarity with the actual rifle I’ll actually be taking. Although I have one lighter, this one is consistently accurate across varied ranges in varying conditions, both clean and dirty. Practice, practice, practice.
4. “Just-In-case” choices - to me, it is not a wise choice to compromise on a rifle for a sheep hunt because of fear of bears, especially on a guided hunt. Sheep hunts are very expensive, so I’d recommend taking a rifle that will carry well and that I’m confident in and comfortable shooting in awkward field positions.

My 2 cents