I found a great deal on two 700Ti's in 270 earlier this year. They are 2001 guns manufactured as dealer samples, and both were originally chambered in 270. 270 is cool, but these are consecutive serial numbered and should have me covered on the rifle front for a looong time.

Great deal is $1250 out the door for both.

So with $625 invested in each and scratching my itch to always be a little different, I reached out to Diablo Rifles (Ryan advertises on here) to see what could be done.

I wanted a 2 rifle set for anything I would reasonably come across. 280ai was interesting, but I got stuck on 25-06 and couldn't get it out of my head. The other had to be .35 whelen.

I wanted to keep the rifles light, but at the same time I always thought a slightly heavier barrel on the light action would lead to a naturally steady feel (more on this in a minute).

25-06 has a 24" Deeply fluted, Shilen 1-9"
It's kind of between sporter and lightweight, but the flutes cut out a lot of weight and surprising cool on the range

.35 Whelen has 22" Sporter contour deeply fluted 1-14"

Here's how they look (I just got them back and quickly scoped them up for the range so I apologize for the quality)

[img:left][/img]


.35 is 5lbs 9 oz w/o scope
25-06 is 5lbs 12oz w/o scope

with scopes...




.35 6lbs 6oz
.25-05 6lbs 12oz

I fired 7 shots each this afternoon in gross Seattle weather.
The 25-06 preferred the 115gr VLDs over the accubonds



I really hoped the whelen would like 180gr Barnes, but alas it likes plain old 250gr corelokt.




The .35 got a vx2 3-9 and the 25-06 has a vx3 4.5-14 CDS


Thanks for looking

One more in a varmint caliber would make quite the trifecta.....

I saw a 300saum the other day at a store in MT. Would be very tempting to build a 6.5 Gap on it... but alas, my fun money runneth low after these.

It the 300saum was $1200 in decent shape if anyone wants the name of the shop.

Very Nice Rigs.

Can't beat that for a Pair of sub 6lb rifles

Is that factory ammo or hand loads??

Very nice! My pair is two 700 CDL's, in .25-06 and .30-06, and they've been great.

Nice shooting with that .25-06, I used the 115 Berger VLD over Retumbo for three years I think. Killed very well, and was very accurate!

Regards, Guy

These were just some factory loads I picked up. Handloading and a better shooter could probably stack them tighter

Way to go bud! Those turned out great!

Nice pair for sure. Ryan has one of mine (Not a Ti) that will one day be a 250AI. I'm sure you'll enjoy those.

Really like both of those rigs. A .25 and a .35 really covers a lot of hunting anywhere and is cool sounding too.

You got two Ti's for $1250!!?!?!?!??! DEAL OF THE CENTURY.

Very very nice rifles.

Very nice rifles. Great combo for all of North America.

Turned out great - congrats!

I used to vaporize woodchucks with 75 grain Sierra HP's out of my .25-06. Hell, Elmer used to consider anything under thirty caliber a "pest cartridge."

Thanks for the kind words everyone. I'll hopefully be flexing the 25-06 on some Central WA coyotes in the next couple of weeks.

Done and done. That 25/06 should cut coyotes in half.

Love those 2 Ti's, really well done. GaryU

Good lord I'm envious.......


Casey

The sister twins are beautiful! Great job!

Very nice coulple rifles you have. Those two should cover you pretty good!

Nicely done

I like them a lot. Wow what a pair

Great looking pair of rifles, I built two pre'64 M/70's recently on in .257 Roberts and the other in .35 Whelen. The Whelen is very accurate with almost anything up to and including 225gr. Nosler and Sierra. I only hunt whitetail deer anymore and don't feel the need for 250gr. bullets. My .257 Roberts shoots 87gr. bullets really well but my preference is for 100gr. Nosler and Sierra. I have not done much load development with bullets heavier than 100gr. but I have a pretty good selection and will eventually develop loads for 115,117 & 120gr. bullets. Have fun with your rifles, I sure enjoy mine and have no regrets having built them.

You sir, are a visionary.

The only regret I have is that at least for the moment my rifle lust has slowed down.

Awesome pair of rifles. You are covered for everything.