Left to right: .270 WSM, 7mm WSM, .300 WSM, 7mm RSAUM, .300 RSAUM. The new short magnums are wonderful mountain cartridges. Not only are they flat-shooting, the short actions they're housed in reduce gun weight.

If a fast .30 gives you the confidence you need to make a difficult shot that might be your one and only chance, then that's what you should carry. On the other hand, lighter calibers kick less, can be built into lighter rifles, have plenty of power for any sheep or goat and (if the right choice is made in cartridge, bullet and load) shoot flat enough for any sensible shot.

In other words, again, O'Connor had it right: The good old .270 Winchester is just fine if it gives you the confidence you need. It is also far from the only choice and may not be the very best choice. Although some hunters (including, on occasion, both O'Connor and me) prefer .25s, I think the caliber is a bit light for the larger sheep and goats. A fast, accurate .25 probably is ideal for small sheep like mouflon, and just last week I used a borrowed .257 Weatherby to take a chamois in Spain's Pyrenees. But for the full run of mountain game, I think the right choices start with fast 6.5mms.

All are rare in North America today, but I'm thinking of cartridges like the .264 Winchester Magnum, the wildcat 6.5-06 and the European 6.5x68. Then come the .270s: .270 Winchester, .270 Weatherby, .270 WSM. Then come the fast 7s. I love the 7x57 and 7mm-08 in proper applications, but here I'm thinking about the .280 Remington as the baseline and then all the 7mm magnums--short, long, belted or unbelted. Then come the .30s. Although the .30-06 is probably my all-time-favorite cartridge, I'd leave that out and start with the short magnums and go all the way up.

Within this range all of these cartridges will do the job, and all aerodynamic bullets of at least medium weight for caliber will buck the wind well enough. Many shots at both sheep and goats are surprisingly close and easy; it's really a stalking game, which is why it's so much fun. On the other hand, some mountain ranges are very open, and often good trophies are very hard to locate. It can come down to just one chance, and it won't always be easy. So it's really a matter of what gives you the most confidence.

I have gone through phases with a number of .270s, 7mms and .30s and probably will go through some more. So if the knees and lungs hold for another 20 years, please don't hold me to this, but right now I think the .270 WSM may just be the most ideal mountain cartridge to come down the pike. Maybe O'Connor would approve; maybe he wouldn't. The difference in trajectory between it and his beloved .270 Winchester really isn't dramatic. What I like about it is that it delivers considerably more energy--which you don't necessarily need on sheep or goats but you might need on larger game encountered in the same mountains--and I like very much the short actions it can be packaged in. I used the .270 WSM on my second Marco Polo sheep hunt in 2003, and I have also used it for Himalayan tahr in New Zealand and Stone sheep in Yukon. These experiences have given me tremendous confidence in the cartridge, and I expect I will use it on future mountain hunts.

BULLETS
I've harped on this before, but an unintended consequence of the great bullets we have today is that many hunters are using bullets that are too tough for the game at hand. Sheep are generally built blockier than goats, but most are not all that large in the body, and even the big-bodied Asian argalis are very slab-sided. Optimally, you want a bullet that will open up fairly quickly.

The kind of hunt you're going on should have some influence on your choice. On a tough backpack hunt you simply must carry a fairly light rifle, and since you can't always get out of the elements, you want a synthetic stock and rustproof metal finish.

Accuracy, of course, is critical, so it depends on what shoots best in your rifle. I like Hornady Interlocks and SSTs, Nosler Ballistic Tips, Sierra Pro Hunters and Game Kings, and I have no problem with tipped, bonded bullets like Hornady's InterBond, Nosler's AccuBond and Swift's Scirocco.

Ideally, this last group should be the toughest bullet considered for use on sheep and goats. However, this depends somewhat on what else might be on the menu. In August 2004 I carried a sweet little Kimber M8400 in .270 WSM on a Stone sheep hunt in the Yukon's Pelly Mountains. The cartridge was perfect for the ram, the main object of the trip. I also carried a grizzly tag, for which any .277-caliber cartridge is less than ideal.