These two Kimber M8400s, shown with two Stone rams they accounted for, are examples of the ideal sheep rifle. Weight is less than 7 1/2 pounds with scope--just right--and chamberings are .270 and .300 WSM, both superb choices.

When I was a youngster it was pretty simple to figure out what a sheep rifle looked like, what cartridge it should be chambered to and even what bullet should be selected. All you had to do was read a bit of Jack O'Connor, and you knew everything you needed to know. O'Connor has been incorrectly labeled as "Mr. Sheep Hunter" and ".270 Jack." It is true that he loved his .270, but it's also true that he hunted wild sheep with a variety of other cartridges, including such an unlikely choice as the .348 Winchester. He loved sheep and sheep hunting above all else, but it's equally true that he hunted a tremendous variety of other game throughout the world, so he was properly qualified to make comparisons.

Today I am somewhat amused by the stories on sheep rifles and cartridges written by colleagues who have managed to make just a few (sometimes as few as one) sheep hunts in their entire careers. Their choice worked, so it was perfect, right? I suppose this follows the First Law of Gunwriting: If an editor will buy a story, then it should be written.

Come to think of it, I might well have succumbed to the temptation to write the definitive story on sheep rifles when I took my first ram back in 1973. But there were two problems. First, Jack O'Connor was still alive, still writing and still hunting sheep. No budding journalist--or editor--would have the temerity to step into that lion's den. Second, even if I could have talked an editor into running a "sheep-rifle story" by me (very unlikely), even back then I knew that the rifle I used, a .375 H&H, was wildly unsuitable. No story there.

Thirty-plus years have passed. Oddly, although I have written about most of my sheep hunts, and there are a couple of book chapters here and there, I do not believe I have ever written a feature-length magazine article on the subject of rifles and cartridges for sheep hunting. (Perhaps I still fear to tread in the shadow of Jack O'Connor.) But there should be no fear. I've tried this and that, and I believe O'Connor pretty much had it right, absent only some of today's innovations and trends. I think you will find I treat his legacy with heartfelt respect throughout.

IN O'CONNOR'S SHADOW
As to whether I have the right to address his favorite subject, only you can judge. O'Connor didn't like to bandy about numbers, so the actual number of sheep he took is unknown. His longtime friend Buck Buckner estimates that he may have taken close to 50 wild sheep--clearly a vast amount of experience. Hunting in a different time, he took many desert bighorns, and the majority of his total, whatever it might be, comprised North American sheep.

I will follow O'Connor's lead and not give a number, but at this stage of my career I have taken something over half as many sheep as he did. Given my age and income, it is unlikely I will ever approach his number (whatever it might actually be). I will certainly never equal his experience with desert bighorns; the ram that is probably my only desert sheep was strictly courtesy of Osama bin Laden, thanks to the year of combat pay he provided me. O'Connor also had the opportunity to hunt bighorns back in the '40s, before quotas and drawings. I have drawn two bighorn tags, so it's somewhat unlikely that I'll draw another.

Overall, however, I have hunted wild sheep in more places (all of his Dall sheep came from Yukon, all of his bighorns from Alberta, all of his Stone sheep from B.C., all of his Asian sheep from Iran). This is simply because in my time, the opportunities have been different. I have hunted Dall sheep in Alaska, Yukon and Northwest Territories; Stone sheep in both B.C. and Yukon. I would love to hunt in Alberta and in Iran, but I can't afford the former and am politically barred from the latter. So I hunted bighorns in Wyoming and Montana, and I have hunted Asian sheep in countries that in O'Connor's time were locked behind the Iron Curtain.

A nice Wyoming bighorn taken with the author's Rifles Inc. .300 Weatherby Magnum. He chose the .300 because he thought he might need both the added range and the extra confidence for a longer shot. Any fast cartridge from .270 up through the fast .30s works fine for sheep.

It should also be noted that while we are focusing on the more glamorous sheep, rifles and cartridges for wild goats are identical, excepting only that goats tend to be tougher physically and often live in tougher country. I have hunted several times for our Rocky Mountain goat and have also hunted Himalayan tahr and various races of chamois and ibex in several parts of the world.