Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunting Rifles Wanted: Flat shooter, light weight

I enjoy my Finnlight in 260. I think it is a good balance of weight, recoil, and performance.
I just bought a Kimber Montana in 308, and I think it kicks too much. I'll probably sell it for another Sako in 308.

@deernut..that's why I draw the line at 500,

@bwinters..you're a sicko. Yeah, I've found the same as you and both of those bullets have impressive numbers. I had 129's to 3,100 in my 6.8-06, can't see that as anything but bad ass, regardless of the stigma. In all my looking through this stuff, most loads are not as far apart as people really want to believe. The Internet give'th and the numbers take'th away.

The hottest factory 6.8-06 load I've come up with is Hornady Superperformance 130 GMX. Oof...

I like to look at this stuff from a practical perspective as well. Here is an example.

15" vs 20" wind drift at 500 yards. (good performance vs decent)

That is 1.5" and 2.0" of drift per 1mph respectibly.
So assuming a 10" kill zone, one could miss judge the wind 3.3mph with the 15" drift and 2.5mph with the 20" and still be on target.

So that would give you 0.8mph more leeway in calling the wind.

Another way to look at it is if you miss the wind by 3mph the 15" would be 4.5" off and the 20" 6". so only 1.5" of difference in this scenario. But at that range. The little things do matter.

You are absolutely correct...IF you have time to use them.


Jerry

Hey maybe too light for ya needs !! but this is my 600 yd lightweight. 5lbs bare rifle, 5lbs 11oz with the Loopy onboard. 130gr VLD Hunting proj doing the job.

I see the 25-06 as a cartidge thats had its day and the 270 cant be had in an ultralight outfit, well atleast not in my books !!!

What kind of books are you reading? Doc Suess?

Okay. We reload and make any load up or down the scale as needed? Get the Kimber 280AI and down load for practice and redline for the hunt. I load my 7 RM this way. A 120 NBT3100 is nothing to sneeze at performance wise, but provides less recoil than the same bullet @ 3450fps and less than a 150 @ 3050fps.

Always thought a 7-08 would be nice but my 7RM in a Ti stock is fairly light compared to the standard version and I already have 5 260s in various trim.

Forget the down load, up load, sideways load. One solid load per rig and shoot the hell out of it. My light 270 load is called a 260, my heavy load is a 7RM. Learn it, love it....

Easy peasy...

Remmy 700 MR, Win 70 Classic FW or a Montana in .270 and don't look back. Worry more about comfy boots and other light weight gear...
Life is simple, don't over think it....

Never thought a person could get a rem 700 assembled at 5#, is that a Titanium action?

I decided to get a Kimber Montana vs trying to get where you are. But I do have a few 700's I could try a light build on, if you'll give up your secret to getting a 2 1/2# action, 2+ pound barrel and a 2# stock to add up to less than it's sum, LOL.

Allen

This is the direction I'm headed. I do tend to agree with 16 bore on up/download thing but have done it. A 145 LRX cruising at 3000 ft/sec shoots flat, bucks wind reasonably well, and doesn't recoil into next week. Its a bit more recoil than I wanted with a pure flat shooter but it recoils less than my current 300 WSM elk rifle. I had a dual duty rifle in the back of my head when I posted this (see my thread on 7lb 30-06), this thread helped sort that out. At the end of the day, I can get double duty from the 280 AI - flat shooter for things that need it (what doesn't?) and a capable elk rifle. All in a quality 7lb all up package. This gun is going to see considerable use.

I'm going to get flamed for this but it won't be the first time.....

280 AI shooters are an optimistic lot. I was looking at 280 AI internet loads and hope the guys posting aren't really running them at the velocities and powder charges they claim. I've had a plain jane 280 Rem since 1982, several 7RM, a 7 SAUM, and a 7 WSM, plus a couple 270's thrown in for good measure. My uncle and buddy shoot 284 Win. Suffice to say I have 7mm experience of that case capacity. The 280 AI can't run with the WSM/RM/Wea versions unless 26"-28" barrels are involved - or, more likely, they are run at high pressures.

I think the 280 AI can do 3100 with 140's, 3000 with 150's, 2900 with 160's in a 24" barrel at SAAMI specs which I think is 65k psi. At least thats what I'm going to run mine at if it shoots good groups. I promise not to make it a 7 RM/WSM/Wea...............

The other thing I was pondering is I have a 22" barrel 243. Its a SS Ruger 77. I also have a SS Ruger 77 UL in 30-06 with 20" barrel. I'm going to play with the Kimber 280 AI and then decide what direction to go with a smaller rifle. A 243 would make a good little brother to the 280 AI. Wish Kimber made a 260 - I've always been intrigued by the 6.5s.

Another funny thing happened. I recalled John B did a 280 AI article in Handloader when it was approved by SAAMI (Feb 2008). I dug through my stack of Wolfe publications and found it in less than 5 minutes.

BTW: his data/velocities seem to match my thoughts.

A quick sidetrack if I may. I just bought a Hawkeye 30-06 UL. Is yours an older M77 or a Hawkeye? What kind of accuracy are you getting? Have you found a pet load?

To your question. Treat yourself to a custom rifle in 6.5 Creedmoor!

I have the Hawkeye version. Mine is quite accurate given that I haven't bedded it. I only tweaked the trigger.

My gun likes Re 17 and H4350 and Hornady bullets. My best load is 58 gr H4350 under a 165 Horn SP with WLR primers seated 0.020" off L&G. It shoots MOA. It will shoot MOA-ish with both 150 and 180 Horn SP. It was really easy to do load development for.

I have 2 other Hawkeye and have done nothing with the stock. Only tweaked the trigger on all of them. I have loads that are MOA-ish. Accurate enough for the intended purpose.

I have an old pair of Browning Safatis in .243 And .308 that were built on small ring FN actions in '63. Wearing the pencil barrels. They fulfill my lightweight needs. Edge stocks would finish them off.

I had not shot the .243 in some twenty plus years. 80-85 Barnes or 95-100 Partitions put the .243 on steroids. I have aged and like light recoiling rifles. The .243 is it this year, It is sighted in with new glass and ready to go.

If I were shopping for a new rig, I would seriously consider the Montana in 7-08. I never owned one, but a friend does. It will do and cover everything you ask for.

Best,

Jack

bwinters, you're going to come full circle and be right back at the start.

You'll see........

B,

A drawback to the Kimber is the magazine constraints. Many of the advantages to some of these high BC/SD bullets are lost to this, 280AI's better bullet options will be limited because of the mag size.

Hadn't thought about mag box constraints. What is the mag box length? SAAMI length is 3.33 - the mag box shorter than that?

If that happens - a 7mm-08/308 will fix that.

Off the top of my skull I think mine is around 3.33. Forgive me for not giving a precise measurement, the game is starting and I just cracked a cold one!