Mountain Hunting Rifle Setup: Why I Use My Wife’s Rifle
- Dan
- Mar 27
- 4 min read
This title is only half a joke.
The truth is, I built this rifle for mountain hunting, and somewhere along the way it turned into my wife’s rifle. She claimed it, it fits her well, and honestly I get it. It shoots, it carries well, and it flat out works.
Before this build, I had what I thought was my dream rifle. It was a Blaser R8 in a GRS stock and it weighed north of 10 pounds. Back in Eastern Ontario, that was not a big deal. Most of my hunting was close to a truck, road, or canoe. Then we moved to Alberta and I started dragging rifles into the mountains, and that changed my thinking in a hurry. Now my thinking is, every 2 pounds I could cut is another day of food in the pack, so weight became a priority pretty fast.
See the full video here:
Rifle Specs
Here is the basic layout of this setup from tip to butt:
PVA Ultralight Jet Blast muzzle brake: 1.5 oz
24 inch Paradigm carbon fibre barrel in 6.5 PRC: 2.8 lb
Paradigm carbon stock with bottom metal: 1 lb 5 oz
Hawkins Hunter mag: 2.6 oz
Defiance anTi short action: 1 lb 4 oz
Outdoorsmans SRS rail: 1.1 oz
Hawkins Hunter hybrid rings with bubble level
Nightforce F1 3.5-15x scope: 31 oz
Hunt-ready weight with sling, ammo, and mag: 8 lb 1 oz
That is not the lightest rifle on the planet, but it is very packable, very huntable, and it still shoots the way I want it to.
That is what matters in the end, isn't it?
What I Like
The biggest thing I like about this rifle is simple: it works.
The barrel was not originally what I planned. My first intent was a shorter setup, somewhere in that 18 to 20 inch range, but I came across this used Paradigm carbon barrel for a price that made too much sense to ignore. It kind of chose the route for me, and once I spun it on, headspaced it, and shot it, that was pretty much that. It worked and it still landed me in the weight range I wanted.
I also really like the stock. It is a little short for me at 6'2", but that is one of those trade offs I am willing to make to save weight. It fits Justine well, I like the palm swell, and for what it is, it has been a really solid stock.
Then there is the Nightforce. It is heavy, no question, but I keep coming back to it because it is stupid rugged and reliable. It is built like a tank and just keeps proving itself. When something keeps working in the mountains, I tend to leave it alone. In fact the whole rifle was based solely around making the weight using this scope.
What I Don’t Like
This rifle is not perfect.
The first issue is the front sling setup. I have had way too many sling swivels fail on me, and this rifle is no different. At one point I ended up running 550 cord just to keep things together after one let go in the mountains. So that still needs a better long-term fix. Maybe that is a different front setup, maybe that is a QD solution, but whatever it is, I want something more dependable.
The second thing is the scope cover setup. Right now I am still using whatever works, whether that is a bikini cover or a neoprene cover, and I would rather get to a proper flip-up cap system that stays attached. I am rough on my gear, I use my gear, and I need stuff that stays put.
The other downside is the hollow carbon stock can be a little noisy. That is one of those sacrifices that comes with cutting weight, but it is worth mentioning.
The Barrel Debate
This is probably the biggest thing I still go back and forth on.
This rifle wears a 24 inch barrel, and when it is strapped to my pack it sticks up high enough that it is always there. When I am bush bashing through trees, that extra length gets old in a hurry. I keep thinking I should send it off and have it cut back to 18 or 20 inches just to make it more packable and easier to live with in the mountains.
The problem is this rifle shoots.
That is the whole debate. On paper, shortening the barrel makes sense. It would carry better, move through the trees better, and probably make the whole setup feel handier on the pack. But once a rifle proves itself, it is really hard to start messing with it.
Is it still going to shoot the same? Is it still going to hold the same? Is it still going to point the same?
That is the part that keeps stopping me. It is easy to talk about changing gear. It is a different thing to cut up a rifle that already works.
Honestly, that probably means I need to build another rifle.
Final Thoughts
So why do I use my wife’s rifle?
Because it is light enough to carry, reliable enough to trust, and accurate enough that I do not want to mess with it too much. It might not be perfect, but it has become a rifle that just makes sense for the kind of mountain hunting I do now.
Like what you read
If you want to read more about the rest of the gear I take into the hills, check out my Sheep Hunting Gear List, Backcountry Hunting Camp Setup, and Outdoor Gear Reviews.
If you are into the broader truck and hunting build side of things, you can also have a look at my Ford F350 Overland Hunting Build.
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