The first week of December I will field test a Pendleton Classic C stock made for the Howa Mini 6.5 Grendel. I will be hunting bears in the "Switzerland of Virginia" Highland County, VA. Elevation in that area of the Allegeny Mountains ranges from ground level at 1500ft to 4500ft and I could be romping around on any or all of it while in hot pursuit of bears with dogs. My goal is to determine how much less fatigued I am carrying a lighter rifle. The stock itself is expected to weigh nearly a pound less than the B&C. I'll be sure to keep a daily journal and take plenty of pics. For those of you who have plowed this row before, what other data points should I take in account?

http://www.oregunsmithingllc.com/Pendleton-Composite-Stocks.html

Thanks, Dinny

First data points. Heading to the range to confirm zero soon. Will post my results.

Thanks, Dinny

Wow it looks good. Buddy out one on a M70 7 Mashburn and it looks like a real nice stock.

I’m mainly interested in how the Grendel works on bears. What load are you shooting?

My Fieldcraft with a VX-5HD 2-10 weighs just a bit more than that, 6lbs 7oz.

120gr Corelokt over 29.5gr CFE 223. Headshots on bears in the trees are the norm. No real challenge unless I miss the brain.

Thanks, Dinny

Did you replace the trigger, or is that safety button something you made? I like the HACT trigger just fine, but that chintzy button looks out of place on an otherwise nice rifle.

So 18oz for a finished and bedded stock?

What type of pad? What LOP?

Timney Trigger. Made by Timney, modified by Oregunsmithing to fit the Mini Action.

I started with the Jard trigger and my experience was horrible. The Timney is perfect.

Thanks, Dinny

Yes, that's correct. The pad is a Pachmayr and it's LOP is 13.5".

Wayne offers a youth stock deal. Buy it now as short as 12" and later he will lengthen it and repaint for $50.

Thanks, Dinny

Stock won’t matter two schits when it comes to “fatigue”

Howa Mini 6.5 Grendel 22" factory barrel
Timney Trigger
Oregunsmithing hinged floorplate
Pendleton Custom Stock
Talley Lightweights
Leupold VX3i 3.5-10x40

Good luck on the hunt. Highland county is beautiful and I always try to make it over for a couple days each season.

No bears this time around. I'll post pics and talk about the miles of hiking I did up and down the mountains. I will say this as a teaser, I was sure glad that rifle didn't weigh another ounce.

Thanks, Dinny

https://www.24hourcampfire.com/ubbthreads/ubbthreads.php/galleries/15483782/custom-howa
https://www.24hourcampfire.com/ubbthreads/ubbthreads.php/galleries/15483762/pendleton-stock

I hunted with a Howa Mini 6.5 Grendel equipped with Pendleton Composite Stock (PCS) for 3 days this week in Highland County while chasing bears with dogs. I'll do my best to list the details of each day and plug in pictures where they fit into the scheme of things.

30 NOV (Day 1): Rainy and average temp of 50deg. Two guys drove the "high road" with the dogs in the truck boxes hoping to strike a hot trail. After a slow 12 mile ride and a few short hikes they didn't strike anything and they headed back to camp for the day. During that time my job was to stay on the "low road" and watch to see if the dogs chased a bear across from down off the mountain. I walked only about 2 miles that day and most of that was just walking the gravel roads to stay active and awake. Carrying the Howa rifle equipped with the PCS was a breeze.

1 DEC (Day 2): Snow flurries and an average temp of 34deg. The rain had stopped overnight but the damage was done. The creeks and small river had swelled and made several areas inaccessible for the type of hunting. No one (not even some of the dogs) enjoy crossing frigid, fast-moving waters several times a day. Two sets of other hunters took dogs in on the opposite mountain ridge from the day before. Again, my job was to watch for dogs crossing the road and running bears off that mountain. After a 3-4 hours hours everyone packed it in for the day and headed back to camp. That afternoon I drove to Monterey to check out the bustling metropolis. Anyone who knows Monterey, VA knows it's anything but a metropolis.

Ninny,

This is the most "comprehensive" "Field Test" I've EVER read!

Guys in trucks miles away,a FULL 16-degree temp "swing",water actually in a creek,no shots fired,a ride to a city,dogs not "liking" things and your "road watch" duties are simply staggering in their comprehensive "testing" of a Rifle's "attributes" and especially it's stock,as coupled with your version of "photography".

You AMAZINGLY STUPID Fhuqk.

Hint.

Best Thread Evah!

Hint.

Laughing!

+P+++!.....................

2 DEC (Day 3): Clear, windy and am average temp of 34 deg. This was the big day! We had fair weather and the waters were down. I drove with another hunter to the top of Shenandoah Mountain. We ascended down the mountain from an elevation of 3800ft to US Hwy 250. Our dog ran off about half way through our 5 mile hike and was heard barking almost a mile ahead of us. The GPS collars helped locate and keep the dog safe while he crossed US Hwy 250 in hot pursuit of a bear. About an hour later the dog showed treed and a couple of other dogs were turned loose to accompany it. We arrived a little while later to a ~90lb yearling in the tree. After a few pictures we walked off and let it to meander off on it's own.



Shortly thereafter I was driven back up the mountain and took off on another hike with a different hunter. What I thought would be a repeat of the morning hike (mostly a downhill hike) turned into much more than I bargained for. We walked down a high ridge and walked around in the bottom of a hollow for almost two hours looking for signs of bear or good food sources still available. Two of the dogs had struck a scent trail and took off. They left us in the dust and were a good 2 miles ahead of us running another bear. From there we had to walk back up the ridge to get back to the mountain road. My legs felt like jello around 1500 and I was dragging my behind. We got to the truck and started heading down the mountain when a call came through the CB radio that the dogs had circled back towards us and were showing treed only about 1.5 miles behind us (further up the mountain road). We were driving down the mountain in search of a place to turn around when someone ahead called saying there was a bear cub next to the trail past where we were parked. We drove up and got out looking over this tiny cub. It probably didn't weigh anymore than 25lbs. We suspect it was either sick or it's mother had been killed and it was dying of hunger. Someone called a family member who works at a nearby animal rehab clinic and the cub was later picked up.








While this was happening, the dogs had treed and we got the trucks moved into a closer position. We hiked a mile down the side of the mountain and found the dogs actually had two bears treed in the same tree. The sow could have tipped over 200lbs but her yearling cub was maybe 75lbs. We left them both to wander off after we left. The exit from this location was another half mile down the ridge to an old logging trail. Once there, we walked another 1.5 miles back to the trucks and called it a day.

I estimate that I walked somewhere between 9 and 12 miles from elevations as low as 1800ft to as high as 3800ft. This all happening from 0730 until 1800. The rifle was slung sideways across my back nearly the entire time I was hiking. The only times it came off my back were when I had to fight my way through the thick laurels that were growing in the areas that had been previously clear cut.



Last year I hunted the same basic locations. The first day I carried a 7.5lb Rem Model 7 in 35 Rem. At the end of the day I felt as though that rifle weighed a ton and was glad to get it off my back. The second and third days I carried a 7lb Tradition G2 Outfitter and it felt noticeably lighter. Earlier this year I carried a Ruger 44 Carbine. I'm not sure how much it weighs but I can say it was no fun to carry around the mountains. The Pendleton Stock weighs only 1lb 1.6oz and I feel that made a huge difference in my ability to continue longer. I definitely felt less fatigued that night than I had other nights after walking less miles and less incline. At no time had the stock ever felt like it had flexed any. I watched the barrel gap at the end of the fore stock several times throughout the 3 days to see of the gap space changed. It hadn't.

I enjoyed the hunt even if we didn't kill any bears. Anytime I can get away from the hustle and bustle of Hampton Roads and enjoy the beauty of the mountains is a good time. I have no doubt the 6.5 Grendel would have done it's job had I been given a bear to shoot.

Tomorrow I'm heading to the range and will zero the rifle at 100yds. I'll post my range report results later this weekend.

Thanks, Dinny

Ninny,

Oh how the "excitement" and "Field Testing" continues,with a dog that barked,a walk through the "Swiss Alps",a Bear that was gonna be nearly mature in a few more years,a good laurel fight for your "abilities",the HILARIOUS reading on your "feelings" and gross inability to garner a FIRST Fhuqking Clue about ANYTHING Outdoors!

Not to slight your "gap watching",or the sense to factor a Ruger 44 Carbines "weight" in extrapolation to your surging Estrogen Levels...you UNRIVALED Quivering Pussy Of The "Alps".

Post a video of you putting tapwater in a drinking glass on the first try and I'll send you $20,which don't weigh much,but is greater than anything you've "seen" in the first hand.

You AMAZINGLY STUPID Fhuqk.

Hint.

Best Thread Evah!

Hint.

Laughing!

+P+++!...............

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