Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Custom Rifles & Wildcats Ultimate light weight hunting rifle

How fast could you push the .260, .260 AI, and a 6.5-.284 Win from a 22" barrel?

I've been tempted to build a light 7SAUM for a long time, but then I found the Kimber 280, and the shine wore off of a build.

If I were sitting on a TI action with .473 bolt face I'd build a 7-08/AI or 260/AI. Most likely dupe the TI/MR barrel profile, and edge mountain rifle McMillan for the stock.

Building a midweight on a TI action just seems wrong, but I guess it depends on what you are planning to do with it.

I recently had a 23" Lilja #1 6x47 installed on an ADL and dropped it in a Ti first gen stock, seemed about right. But compared to the recently re-barreled 84M 6.5x47 I knew what direction I was headed.

If I had a 700 Ti I would definitely build it and take advantage of the light weight and use no heavier than a Lilja #1 or similar contour and Edge stock.

Huntingfool, check out these threads.

https://www.24hourcampfire.com/ubbth..._your_everyday_long_range_r#Post10996512


https://www.24hourcampfire.com/ubbth..._your_everyday_long_rang_ri#Post11128343

No matter what you build there will be something on the left and the right that looks good. If flying a number 2 tube would may consider flipping the ti action and paying for the rest of the build and be very happy.

Factory considerations are nominal. Flyweights are fun. Anything on the 308 case down would be a hoot.

The creed is getting lots of love and is perfectly capable of whatever you may choose to kill out to 1/4 mile plus with factory fodder.

The 308 is money.

708 always a favorite and about the best in the middle category for big to little and in a pinch factory offerings.

Wont matter what you build as there will be something to scratch shortly after completion.


My 10 pennies would offer opening bolt to mag. Chambering up a #2 to 350 Mag at 22" and relish in the fact you have the most bitchin 35 cal on the planet.

But thats me. And I have no problem hammering things inside of 300 with a hammer above reproach...

Cheers...

W

Ctsmith, those are some badass little rifles

I specifically recall a 4lb 9 oz(bare)Rifles Inc. SA Ti700 6.5/284 pushing 140gn Barnes at 2945(hunting load)
but ones needs to take into account its longer barrel(24") and any vel. variation one encounters from rifle to rifle.

I've done the whole AI thing and to me it just ins't worth it, maybe a varmint round that gets shot a lot the trimming might factor in but not in a hunting rifle, the velocity gains are not big enough to me to make me want to go that route again, there are so many good cartridges out now , for your action and you being a gunsmith the 6.5 284 would be perfect......good luck with your project!!

I am more than pleased with my slightly tweaked 270 Montana.

Agreed.

Colt 6920

No joke, the more I shoot, the less custom i need

60 Grain Hornady soft points kill deer squirrels etc

Basic 2-7 scope on top

Geissele trigger

ok........

The present trend seems to be centered around short-action rifle and cartridges, and I've had my share of light rifles based on that theme. But the one I've had the longest, and killed the most big game with, is a NULA .30-06 that's now 20 years old--and would be one of the last I'd part with. Despite having a 24-inch #2 Douglas barrel it weighs six pounds on the nose with scope.

One of the great virtues of NULA's is they shoot a LOT of ammo well, and often to the same point of impact, one reason I've never permanently settled on one load. (The other is new bullets and powders over the last 20 years.) Another is that unless the scope goes bad, or somebody falls on it, they retain zero year after year, even when traveling from continent to continent. My wife's first NULA was a .270 Winchester with a #1 22" barrel, and for a decade she'd go to the range early each fall and shoot one round. It would land two inches high at 100 yards, never varying more than about a 1/4", and she'd go hunting. The scope finally died (the sometimes do on real lightweights) but that wasn't the fault of the rifle, and in that period it had not only hunted all over Montana but went on two caribou hunts involving several plane rides, plus bouncing around in boats, one on the Arctic Ocean.

Some people make a big deal about the lighter weight and shorter bolt throw of short action, but the .30-06 is a Model 24, which means the action weighs 24 ounces. The bolt throw is less than half an inch longer than that of a Model 20 NULA action.

I acquired this rifle back when I was traveling a lot more than today, one reason it's a .30-06: If anything happened to my ammo, some could be easily found, anywhere ammo is available on earth. If making the same choice today I might opt for a .308 Winchester, but maybe not One thing I've noticed is the .30-06 also works fine with what are essentially .308 loads, whether factory ammo or slightly reduced handloads.

All in all, however, the virtue of my NULA isn't the chambering but the overall consistency of NULA rifles. Eileen eventually replaced her .270 with another NULA, a Model 20 in .257 Roberts, not for lighter weight but due to less recoil. We went to the range the other day to check the zero before pronghorn season, and it put one shot in exactly the same place it has for several years.

4lbs 9oz would be without a scope and stock.

Yes, but .260.

Crazy talk and off-kilter from the OP's question!