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Help me understand this!

std7mag

So i've been seeing posts on another forum about people building ultra light weight hunting rifles (5.5lb).
Then having barrel cut to 16-17 inches, and threaded for suppressor.
And chamber in 300PRC.
Total end weight of the rifle being over 8lb.

I don't get it!!

I had a Forbes 24B in 280 Rem.
24" barrel & bare rifle weighed 5.5lb. With sightron scope & sling just under 7lb.
Was a joy to carry vs my Ruger 77 MKII in 280 Rem.
Plus could keep the velocities up.

I carried & shot a friends suppressed rifle.
While quieter, still loud. And i didn't like the added length or feel. The balance was all off to me.
 
I don't get it either...My old boss and friend has a nice Win in 300 mag. He goes out west and down to Texas a few times a year. He says the Win is too heavy for walking/packing in, so he buys a Christensen Arms in 300 mag carbon fiber barrel and brake with a Leup VX 6. That combo now weighs a little over a pound more than his Win., but he says "it feels lighter".....I think it's because the new gun has a wide soft padded sling VS the 1913 on his Win.
 
Balance is important to me, but weight isn't so much. I for one do not like light hunting rifles though. They are often more difficult for me to shoot precisely in field conditions. I backpack hunt with 70 to 90 lb packs and still carry a 11 lb rifle. All my match rifles weigh between 14 and 20 lbs, so when its hunting season the 11 feels like a feather!
 
To me it makes no sense to have a short barrel on a magnum cartridge like the 300 Win Mag because in order to take advantage of the magnum loading with large charges of slow burning powder, you need a long barrel, 26" being ideal.

So, if you cut the barrel down to 20 or 22", you are getting the same performance as a 308 or at best a 30 06. With the correct powder and bullet selection, you can design a light weight 308 that will be highly portable and still have adequate terminal performance. The Tikka T3 Lite 308 is a good example. It's not pleasant to shoot off the bench at least not for me, but it's highly accurate and very portable and quite effective on deer size type game.

Your physical condition, type of hunting you do, and the terrain where you hunt should dictate the portability of the rifle you select.

In my younger days, I could tote a 10 lbs. varmint rifle all day roaming the hay field without any difficulty at all.
 
Ken, get a Contender Carbine set up in 7/30 Waters. Good to 250 yards, accurate, good trigger, about 7 lbs with straight 6x. You like out of the main stream guns, here ya go. I still have my dies, I will give them to you if you go this direction.
 
JEFFPPC said:
Ken, get a Contender Carbine set up in 7/30 Waters. Good to 250 yards, accurate, good trigger, about 7 lbs with straight 6x. You like out of the main stream guns, here ya go. I still have my dies, I will give them to you if you go this direction.
Click to expand...
I would love a Contender pistol in 7-30 Waters!
Maybe even a Savage Striker.

But the point was i don't understand building something like a 5.5lb 300PRC with a 16" barrel, then adding a supressor, bipod, and other stuff to bring it to over 8lb of unbalanced rifle.
 
std7mag said:
I would love a Contender pistol in 7-30 Waters!
Maybe even a Savage Striker.

But the point was i don't understand building something like a 5.5lb 300PRC with a 16" barrel, then adding a supressor, bipod, and other stuff to bring it to over 8lb of unbalanced rifle.
Click to expand...
Well Ken, the only way to explain what some people do is....You can't fix stupid. Same folks probably use a .243 or bigger to clear out backyard chipmunk. Just read some of the questions that get asked.
 
In my opinion it is a big vicious circle. Big cartridge long barrel high velocity, want a can so shorten barrel lose velocity not happy. Start over, this time small cartridge short barrel to loud and not enough velocity. Some of us will never be happy.
 
std7mag said:
So i've been seeing posts on another forum about people building ultra light weight hunting rifles (5.5lb).
Then having barrel cut to 16-17 inches, and threaded for suppressor.
And chamber in 300PRC.
Total end weight of the rifle being over 8lb.

I don't get it!!

I had a Forbes 24B in 280 Rem.
24" barrel & bare rifle weighed 5.5lb. With sightron scope & sling just under 7lb.
Was a joy to carry vs my Ruger 77 MKII in 280 Rem.
Plus could keep the velocities up.

I carried & shot a friends suppressed rifle.
While quieter, still loud. And i didn't like the added length or feel. The balance was all off to me.
Click to expand...
Seems to me you do have a firm grasp on the issue.
 
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What don't you understand? You'd be surprised at how little velocity most big cartridges give up when shot through shorter barrels. Even most slow burning magnum powders have 100% burn within the first 15" or so. They have not reached peak velocity yet, but they are moving right along. Handgun specialists like Ernie Bishop prove this every day. I have a 16" 338 Lapua I use all the time, paired with a 10" Thunderbeast can. Recoil is nothing, suppression is excellent, and it handles like a normal rifle. Big bodied MN whitetails and 500+# black bears don't notice the 100 fps difference when shot out of the shorter barrel verses a 26".

I'm currently building a 20" barreled 284 Shehane as I have a lifetime of brass. It too will be suppressed. With a 7" Thunderbeast can, it will handle like a normal length rifle. My grandkids and girlfriend can easily use the rifle, without fear of recoil or hearing damage.

Scott
 
Lite rifles. Anyone can make a lite rifle by chopping the barrel. Making a lite accurate 24-26” barrels rifle is a different animal. Most folks don’t get it. I hear so much about they recoil to much, I can’t shoot it as well as I can a heavy rifle.
They are purpose built, to carry long distances on a daily basis on a hunt, be accurate day in and day out, take that one shot and make it count, then pack out with a bunch of other gear. When I speak of carry it is miles, not yards.

We have an advantage today of several cartridge and load combos that work as well at 18-20” as they did at 24-26” not giving up a ton of performance.

They are NOT bench or varmint guns! Most will shoot with any other sporter, usually better, but at a substantial weight loss.

I hear guys blabber about they won’t group when shooting groups. Come on now, I will give a good marksman 2 shots on a critter that doesn’t have sharp teeth and claws. More than that, you need help or learn your limits.

I am down to one light rifle. For group I shoot fouled bore, one shot and let it set for a half hour or more and shoot another shot, for three shot groups. It will place them all with my load and a store bought load under MOA@100 and not much worse at 200, on demand day in and day out.

Rant off.
 
My buddy built as pack gun with a 20" barrel 30 Nosler that will push a 215 at ~3,000 fps, because that's what he wanted.

My perfect Wyoming Mountain rifle build thread

After going through a few different rifles, trying to figure out my wants and needs for what I consider the perfect rifle for the way I hunt, I think this will finally be the one, so I'm starting another build thread. Some people won't like this rifle, and I don't care, not even a little...
www.longrangehunting.com
 
I'm in the "don't get it" camp when it comes to rifle weight.

People spend a lot of money to save a few pounds on rifle weight, because "it's easier to carry".

Here's an exercise :

Dress up in your hunting clothes, boots, etc. Add the backpack, water bladder and all accessories that you will carry on the hunt, to yourself, except for the rifle. Fully kitted out, stand on a scale. Record the weight.

Strip to your underwear, and weight yourself again.

Subtract the two weights.

Then estimate how overweight you are. Add that to the equipment weight.

Compare that number to the few pounds of rifle weight considered to be a problem.
 
std7mag said:
So i've been seeing posts on another forum about people building ultra light weight hunting rifles (5.5lb).
Then having barrel cut to 16-17 inches, and threaded for suppressor.
And chamber in 300PRC.
Total end weight of the rifle being over 8lb.

I don't get it!!

I had a Forbes 24B in 280 Rem.
24" barrel & bare rifle weighed 5.5lb. With sightron scope & sling just under 7lb.
Was a joy to carry vs my Ruger 77 MKII in 280 Rem.
Plus could keep the velocities up.

I carried & shot a friends suppressed rifle.
While quieter, still loud. And i didn't like the added length or feel. The balance was all off to me.
Click to expand...
Too much influence from the movies. Shoot it, kill it, carry it home. Done. Noise? What noise?
 
“Men and their hobbies” says my wifey as she rolls her eyes.o_O
Why would a guy spend $200K for a car that goes 150 MPH when all the speed limits are under 75 MPH?
 
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