Switched things up a few weeks ago when I had my son shooting a Howa Mini in 6mm Grendel I barreled awhile back. Even with the youth stock it was too long of LOP even though he’s a good sized 7 year old. I noticed a picture of a Howa Mini with a MDT chassis and figured why not, with an M4 receiver extension and adjustable stock I should be able to shorten that up a bit. Got it in a week ago, pulled a barreled action in 6.5 Grendel out of an inletted walnut blank I had started a few years ago and bolted in the chassis. Mounted a 2-8x36 Weaver Grand Slam in low rings and sighted it in. Several years ago I played with quite a few of these rifles and the Grendel. One of those things was chucking solid copper hunting bullets in a dialed in ER collet in the lathe and using a form tool I ground to part off part of the back end and cut a new boattail. I loaded some of these that started as 120gr Nosler E-tips and they ended up at 87gr +- 1 gr. With 8208 powder they were running 2930 FPS which is in a great velocity window. Tonight was the first trial and at 50 yards broadside on a 120ish lb (dressed) doe the bullet performance really well. A great blood trail and while gutting the offside lung had substantial damage, maybe 3” or better hole through the center along with damage to the top of the heart. Proud of my son for making a good shot and doing a great job on the 60 yard blood trail. So enough of that and here’s a picture of him doing some dry fire practice (done in addition to the live fire obviously) and a pic of the successful new hunter.
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