Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Custom Rifles & Wildcats At what point is a rifle too light?

With some exceptions I have found this thread to be helpful. I am going to try different loads in my NULA, am going to tighten the front action screw, try a sandbag front rest, and am going to bring the trigger down to the Timney safe minimum.

You wont be disappointed. I've use three Douglass Air Gauged.

Tanner,



You're being foolish. I based the bet on observation at the range. When I shoot from prone or with a rest I do as well as I ever did. Once when I fireformed a box of cases for my .220 Extremest I fired offhand at 400 yards. The target was a 15" sorta round gong. There were a couple guys at a bench next to me who were using a .270 and a .30-06. Occasionally they hit the gong and were quite pleased. I hit it twenty times out of twenty shots. My wife called me a showoff. I was not showing off. It was more fun to fire at something than fire into the ground. Over the years I have noticed there is no improvement in the general population of shooters at the range. I had the scope set on 20X.

I hope as you age you do not develop any deterioration of your body or abilities.



Upon what do you base this silly assertion?

Wow, the stuff you learn on the internet!

I don't need to carry a light rifle, I just need to lose weight!

Wait... I weighed myself last night. I'm 5'10" and 156.2 lbs.

I thought a light rifle was better than a heavy one for this years 98lb pack out, but now I realize I was completely wrong.

Thanks all. I can really see how a heavier rifle would be a good thing.

Get on a diet lard-azz!

Brad, you frequently just crack me up with that wicked satirical wit!

Lucky b*gger, can prolly guzzle a dozen Moose Drools and not gain a single pound.....I so much as LOOK at most foods I like, "Cherry Garcia", etc. and gain 5 lbs overnight, it seems!

Old age IS H*ll!

Yes, do this once you confirm a reliably zeroed scope. The Forbes and the Montana will expose any shooting inconsistencies - which isn't all that bad. Don't despair, keep at it.

I am a beginning reloader. Will try to have fun working up loads for the 260. muzzle velocity is not much of a concern to me in this rifle. If find something slow that shoots straight I will be cool. Really the first cold barrel shot is all I care about. Just was disappointed in my ability to get the rifle to group well.

Why?

Brad...you could shoot smaller elk and carry a heavier stick...for all you younger guys, enjoy life to the fullest....cause Father Time always wins....

Why what?

True on all counts.

At almost 54 years old I am not taking my youth for granted.

We are all different in several ways, age, physical condition, and mental makeup. You can do as I have done, build a bunch of rifles and hunt with them. You may listen to others, but make your own decisions. Sell the ones that you are not happy with.

99# woulda required 2 trips?

I went through a stage where I liked lighter rifles and have had montana's, several faux TI's, a ks, mtn rifles and t3 super lights. I've noticed that a good trigger is a must and so is good load development. The accuracy node with some of my whippy barrels was usually pretty specific. A 1/2 grain of powder change sometimes turned a 2.5 moa load into a sub moa. Form in shooting is critical too and biPods are more likely to cause problems. Consistant forend grip is a must I think because the barrel rise can be quicker.

Still have my 7wsm montana, 270 WSM montana, 1st gen ti 30-06, a faux Ti 223 ai and 7-08, and a few t3's and all shoot sub moa with the right load.

Lately my builds have been leaning towards 22" rem standard sporter contours. I just like the way they balance and I shoot well with them from field positions. My first rifle as a kid was a 700 bdl 6mm. I always shot well with that rifle and killed at least 10 deer with it 1 shot each. Sent a lot of rabbits and rock chucks to the other side with it too. Running rabbits were great off hand practice. Made deer seem too easy.

Maybe I've come full circle because rock is making me some more 8 twist 24 cal rem sporters this week and I'm researching 6 creedmoor reamers. I still have my old BDL 6mm but I'm trying to save what little barrel life I have left on it and keep it original for my boys first deer hunts. A stainless 6 creedmoor the same size should keep more miles off my old bdl.

Bb

I've tried a few lightweights - 8400 300wsm, wby ULW 3006 & 33806, ULA 7RM, & a T3 SL 3006. Shooting a lightweight from a bench does take a learned technique. I agree with others on a firmer hold on the stock is necessary. Also, with some rifles you can only take two shots before having to let it cool to really see what the rifle can do and what it likes.

I think balance and fit are more important that a few ounces. I couldn't shoot the 2 Wby's offhand as well due to that thin fluted barrel - it just seemed too muzzle-light/"whippy". The ULA was just about perfect, and the T3SL is close. The 8400 just didn't fit me well.

When I take my hunting rifles to the range, I'm mostly shooting offhand at the gong at 200 yards - max length at that shooting range. I feel its great practice for elk season. But I first do load workup with a scope of at least 18/20+ power. No sense in not finding what load the rifle likes best. Handloading to cut group size is simply adding precision. And I know that I can shoot better groups at 200 with a fixed 36x than a fixed 6x. I then mount the selected "hunting" scope and mostly practice offhand/hunting position shooting.

A rifle is too light when the sights wander all aver the target and when the sight picture is right and you sqeeze the trigger I kicks the crap out of you. A rifle that weighs 7.5-8# is my preference, I like a medium barrel profile that feels a little toward the muzzle heavy side.

Probably fifteen years ago I was sitting in Dave Gentry's shop, talking guns like I often did with him. He was one of a handful of early progenitors of the "sheep rifle" concept. He turned out quite a few light rifles in the 80's and 90's.

However, after using one of his own sub 7lb rifles on a sheep hunt he told me he'd decided, for him, an all-up weight of 7.75lbs felt the best.

Of course a lot of this stuff is subjective, and a light rifle like a NULA with a no.2 contour is going to feel "heavier" and more steady than an equal weighted Kimber Montana with its no.1 barrel contour. Weight out front is the best thing a "light" rifle can carry IME/O.

Weight out front is the best thing a "light" rifle can carry IME/O.

So then, a heavy muzzle brake would benefit such a rifle.

I agree with Gentry. I've been though sub 7lbs up to post 9 lbs hunting elk. I shoot the rifles best that weigh between 7.5 and 8 lbs. My current 'active' stable all weigh between 7.5 and 8 lbs. I keep my 375 at 9lbs because I'll never take it elk hunting plus I shot an 8 lb 375 loaded to max with 300 gr boolits and found it sucked more than a bit. I also tried a few 7lb Montanas in 300 WSM and found them a bit light for my tastes with full 180-200 gr loads.

Looking at your M70 thread and considering my own aged body (52 in May), I'm becoming more of a 7.5 lb M70 30-06 kind of guy. I hated the 30-06 for years, mainly because it didn't do anything really well. I always defaulted to various fast 7's. The older I get, the more I see that the 30-06 does a bunch of things good. I'm not much of a long range shooter on animals so the ultra flat shooting, turret twisting phenom is kind of lost on me even though I have a few turreted rifles and have experimented with the concept. I've never had an issue with getting close to animals, a result of years of archery hunting and knowing how to hunt. For 99% of my mountain hunting a 7.5 lb scoped 30-06 works well.