Thread: Super light thinking

Originally Posted by Tentman

Considerations for an optimun cartridge for a super light hunting rifle that would suit most NZ hunting scenarios:

Low recoil to enable one to spot ones own shots, and to keep the rifle pleasant to shoot

Have an extensive range of suitable projectiles available to give choice if the first options don't shoot

Have enough energy to ensure projectile performance/expansion up to 500M

Economical to feed

And what else?

22cm

Balance accounts for a lot. On the 6.5grendal in the Elude chassis and 12.5” barrel, I used the suppressor as a balance weight, removing and adding baffles till I was happy with it slightly weighted forward which made a massive difference in point ability while not sacrificing much in weight gain. It’s a bit noisy but not overly so and there’s no recoil to speak off. The other factor was my age, as I don’t hold the rifle as steady as I used to. Noticed it first with my 270 Mountain Rifle but had a spare barrelled action so just swapped out the pencil for the standard weight, chopped to 22” and made all the difference. Back to shooting offhand with confidence. Probably could have done the same thing by just adding a suppressor but I preferred this rifle uncluttered.
You’ve got lots of caliber options in the 22’s up to the 6-6.5 range but I second the 22cred choice. There’s a lot of talk about barrel life but realistically, it’s going to be a hunting rifle so can’t see you blowing through several thousand rounds.
Hope you go through with it, you’re no amateur and it’ll be a cool wee build.

Yup balance is a critical factor alright, and I suppose harder to adjust in a super light weight as the margins are very small.

I'll let you know how my kimber 6cm goes. I put it together for exactly what your thinking of, but i needed it short barrreled as i bush hunt alot as well as tops bush edge shooting to 500m (usually both in the same day).

My rifles data chart with 103gr eldx. It also shoots 108 eldm good, but they too explody in the bush.

Haha @Roarless20 My two current 6CMs both run 103s, I ve sucessfully shot the Eric Cortina "Ethical Hunter challenge" with the Bighorn/criterion combo and the $750 Ruger Predator shoots just as well, but they are both a bit heavy, they have only accounted for two deer as I havent been hunting much in the last year but cripes all the 6CM is is a "modern" 243 so it doesnt need to do anything more to qualify its pedigree. Between your recent build posts and a comment by @Gkp you guys are costing me money but it's great fun . . . as was this thread, I've learn quite a bit from it which I'll put into the build I have planned, the Criterion barrel will get a close shave and go into a Howa superlite action.

I'll incorporate several of the ideas this thread raised into the build details.

Originally Posted by whanahuia

Ive been thinking and dreaming recently about something along these lines. If I had some play money I would build.

Calibre 25 Creedmore, Id buy a new Howa superlite and replace the barrel with a 20-21 inch and suitable for the newer heavy projectiles and the 103gr hammer hunter etc. The stock looks straight and high enough for good recoil management. Supressor on front will help too. Though that's not really where my concern lies. Im more building a rifle because I do a hell of a lot more carrying and walking than I do shot firing nowadays. I'll tolerate not seeing the hit.

Be a waste of money with that action that has no aftermarket support.

The American Rifle Company Lightweight/Hunter CDG is very agressive in weight saving without losing any features (in fact it has only the desirable ones!)

Very nice, But what aftermarket support do I need? Remember my byline.

I could do what I wish with a Howa and have a finished rifle at not much more than the cost of that action by the time I got it here.

The only thing that sucks about the superlite is the difficulty getting an alloy floorplate to replace the internal mag setup. There is one made now available in the states from a company called Oregon Smithing LLC but I haven't looked into the logistics of getting one here. Surely there's enough of them around now for some aftermarket parts to start becoming more obtainable

Originally Posted by caberslash

Be a waste of money with that action that has no aftermarket support.

The American Rifle Company Lightweight/Hunter CDG is very agressive in weight saving without losing any features (in fact it has only the desirable ones!)

Attachment 266371

That’s a thing of beauty!!

Originally Posted by caberslash

Be a waste of money with that action that has no aftermarket support.

The American Rifle Company Lightweight/Hunter CDG is very agressive in weight saving without losing any features (in fact it has only the desirable ones!)

Attachment 266371

Sorry but that has everything WRONG with it, it's a "cut away" rather than a scaled action. The action diameter and large barrel shank mean the stock has to be full size through the area where your hand goes when you carry it and the barrel shank is the same great hunk of steel that every normal action has.

I have two of the old time versions of super lights, a 2.6 kg Mauser Kurz "original sporting rifle" from 1921 in 6.5x47 (it was rebuilt), and a 1970s version, a Weatherby Varmintmaster at 2.7 kgs in 22-250. Both have what I think is an essential element for a super light rifle - a scaled down reciever with a reduced barrel tennon size - both of these are built very slim rather than being a full size action with bits hacked off here and there.

Originally Posted by Tentman

Considerations for an optimun cartridge for a super light hunting rifle that would suit most NZ hunting scenarios:

Low recoil to enable one to spot ones own shots, and to keep the rifle pleasant to shoot

Have an extensive range of suitable projectiles available to give choice if the first options don't shoot

Have enough velocityto ensure projectile performance/expansion up to 500M

Economical to feed

And what else?

Fixed


You had the dies for it already https://www.nzhuntingandshooting.co.nz/f15/6gt-110425/


Sufficiently low recoil to actually spot impacts precisely in a lightweight action is quite low recoil.


To be fair I 50% wish I'd built the 6GT as another .223

With those conditions you stated id say a 6.5 creed with decent brake shooting 147 eldm.the main reason is the killing at 500.the 147 will come up trumps over anything else at that range.a lightweight 308 might have to much recoil when loaded with killing power for 500.

Originally Posted by caberslash

Be a waste of money with that action that has no aftermarket support.

The American Rifle Company Lightweight/Hunter CDG is very agressive in weight saving without losing any features (in fact it has only the desirable ones!)

Attachment 266371

It's about the same as an unmodified factory Remington 700 SA?


700 SA with recoil lug but no bases is 774gm - 27.3OZ - this action might be about 1oz lighter once you include bases on the 700.



Of course it's a different beast, but ultralight it is not

Originally Posted by gimp

It's about the same as an unmodified factory Remington 700 SA?


700 SA with recoil lug but no bases is 774gm - 27.3OZ - this action might be about 1oz lighter once you include bases on the 700.



Of course it's a different beast, but ultralight it is not

No it's not light weight. The bergara action fluted is about that weight too.
Peirce skele-ti action is 16 onces