I think if the weight of your mass produced rifle -- whatever that weight may be -- is too heavy for you, maybe you need to work out more. And before you throw mountain hunting at me, I'm headin' out to the mountains in about a week for 8 days of backpacking -- average elevation probably around 10,500', two passes over 12,500' will be crossed -- and carrying a heavy pack. I have done this before and know what this is like. You just do it. +/- a couple of pounds isn't that big of a deal, or so I think. Just my opinion.
You can use whatever you personally like. I use whatever cartridge is necessary and then get the best handling best pointing rifle made for the purpose and shoot ita lot . Most of the times it ends up being the mid-range weight rifle but not always,.. I don't know what correlation there is between backpacking at High Altitudes and Whitetail hunting at low altitudes in the woods behind ones home but somehow you seem to think there is . Why would I throw Mountain Hunting at you , its no contest your surely the expert on the subject.
