Thread: Single Shot Rifles - Blaser & Merkel

Originally Posted by ebf

Mohawk, yup the Rugers are fantastic. I've lusted after a Farquharson style action for most of my adult life...

In the context of this thread though, they are very heavy rifles, and known to be finicky to work on, couple of gunsmiths I know are not keen to work on their internals.

Originally Posted by Mohawk .308

Yeah, probably not a very practical hunting rifle, but would still love to have one in the safe. I had a fully wooded ruger bolt action carbine .308 once.
Sold it and still kicking myself, was a lovely little rifle.

I would politely disagree with you there. The 303brit one I used was very good as a hunting rifle. It was far more accurate than I will ever be, and was given the name "the hammer" by my hunting companions. Everything I pointed it at went down. Right there, right then. Good old BOOM Flop. ( This probably had more to do with my/its preferred hunting load of a 215gr Woodleigh RN doing 2100fps......)

I had a mate look at some of my rifles at the time and he said it 'felt heavy' so I weighed a few of them. The BLR 30/06 was 4.1kg, the Ruger was 4.0 and his 308 M77 that he had lightened ' was 3.9.....I told him he had very sensitive hands to tell the difference of 5% (Bear in mind the full magazines weighed more than the difference....)

I also enjoyed shooting the 375 H&H Magnum in another Ruger #1 that I owned, but at $180 for 20 rounds it was not really what I wanted to spend on Ammo.

If you are really chasing lightweight Try finding an SSR (Scott Trail made) single shot. Rarer than hens teeth but worth it. I know of just one and it is 2.3kg / 4 pounds and take down...Or perhaps get one made....The real advantage is takedowns can be put in the pack for the carry out. And while it is nice if they are lighter, 4kg in the pack is easier than 4kg in the hands...Remember though, you cant hit anything with it in the pack.