I am hopeing to build a new rifle in the next year. I already have the donor rifle and think the caliber choice will be .260 Rem. I weighed it last night and it is 10 pounds. I always thought it was light till I weighd it. It is an intermediate comercial action and chambered in .308. When I bought it I was looking for a rifle that was easy to carry and shoot off hand if needed. I would have guessed it was about 7-8 pounds. Now knowing the rifle is 10 pounds I don't know if I really want a light weight rifle. This barrel seems as thin as I would want to go. As a matter of fact I was thinking of going with a heavier profile but getting it fluted. I am at a loss so I thought I would see what works for others.
The use for the rifle will be shooting out to 300 or so yards at the club and when hunting. It will be my secondary deer/bear rifle mainly for when hunting in rough terrain and used for non serious chuck hunting on the farm.

I made some of the same tradeoffs a couple of yr.s ago and my experience might help. I'm really conservative about hunting accuracy and I've decided to shoot often and seriously beyond 200 yrd.s a 6.5 lb. rifle is too light for me. The limitation is not in the gun but in how well you can point it. I bought a Rem. 700 Ti in 7mm 08 and by careful choice of scope, mounts and even sling kept it very light, a little over 6 lb.s with scope, sling and loaded. I could see my pulse in the scope and found it hard to shoot well. I ended up having the trigger lightened to about 2 lb.s and a muzzle brake added. Now the gun and I consistantly shoot under 1" at 100 yrd.s OTB. That's fine for the steep wooked places I bought the gun for, but I figure we're only good for deer to about 250 yrd.s even with a shooting stick or improvised rest. If I think I'll probably shoot beyond 150 my 9.5 lb. .270 is better, and if beyond 250 my 13 lb. 7mm mag is the best choice. The heavier guns just dampen out excited breathing, racing pulse etc. better that the ultra-lights. Aother thing to think about is that a really light gun usually has a very thin barrel which will heat up so fast that you'll spend a lot of range time waiting for it to cool enough to shoot. I find the wait more annoying than I would have thought. A heavier fluted barrel sounds like a better choice 300 at the range. That's my experience and they're my opinions. They're free and worth every penny of it.

I also find light weight rifles harder to shoot well, especially if the rifle is light in the front end. A rifle with a weight forward balance is easier to shoot with compared to one with the weight towrard the stock given the same overall weight of the rifles.

In a bolt rifle, where the weight tends to be concentrated in the action on most lighter rifles, about seven pounds is a light as I want to go and seven and a half are fine. You may find that you actually shoot better at the range - but not off properly set up bags - and in the feild with a light rifle with less magnification from your scope. I think I get hung up on the wiggles and wobbles that come with a light rifle and that this is more of the proplem than the actual wiggles and wobbles.

My thoughts - and they are also worth exactly what you paid for them!

JPK

What JPK said about the magnification of the scope. I mounted a 2.4-8 and could have easily gone with a 1.5-6x.

I am wondering if a Semi-light weight full stocked gun like the Ruger RSI in .243 might be more "shootable" in the field. It's weight without scope is 6.5 pounds and with the right scope you are probably just below 7.5. I had a model 7 in .308 with a compact Leupold on it and found it very difficult to shoot off hand, the weight as has been stated was in the middle.

I wonder about the RSI too. The barrels are 20", right?

The 1.5x5x20mm Leupold Vari X III in Talley QD rinds weighs in at 3/4lbs. I just happened to weigh mine the other day. I don't know what the bases weigh. I wouldn't be putting Talley QD's, or the 1.5x5 on a rifle like were talking about anyway, and I know there are lighter bases and rings, but this is just an example.

I have a 257 Roberts being finished at my gunsmith's as I'm writing this. It should be ready for a try next week. Its on a Montana rifleman short action, which isn't that short or light either. The butt has been hollowed and the action will propably be lightened too to get the balance out front as much as possible. It will have a Leopold 2x7 compact mounted. The goal is 7 to 7 1/4lbs.

JPK

JPK

I bought a Blaser K95 in 6.5x57R for use in the alps and for stalking in the wilds where I regularly cover a few miles in the summer heat. It weighs 7lbs and is well balanced with a great stock design.

From a good rest I can shoot it well but in field conditions I am significantly a worse shooter with it. My chamois and mouflon were shot at 250 and 200yards respectively and took every ounce of skill I possessed. I was not out of breath and had great rests but my pulse affected the sight picture more than I wanted on $1500 trophies. The trigger pull is about 2.25lbs.

I then came across a hell of buck at home. I made the shot but I knew I had been lucky.

The lightest I will now go is 8lb but I shoot significantly better with a 9lb rifle.

I personaly have little problem shooting a light rifle unless I am breathing hard from a climb. i have a very light .257 roberts and off handed i shoot it very well.
One reason I walk very slowly when hunting is to keep my heart rate down and my hands steady.
I like your cartridge choice for deer up through black bear or caribu.
what kind of rifle are building on ? and what caliber is it now ?
...tj3006

I have been contemplating doing a rifle with a heavy magnum contour with a short 20 inch barrel on it...

stiffer, for stability but still light weight enough and short enough for brush hunting..with a 1.5 x 4 scope on it...

was thinking of chambering a 338/08 for it....
or a 7/08....

Thomas Jones,

The rifle is being built on a Montana Rifleman short action, which is long enough to take full advantge of thr Roberts. I can't for the like of me recall what barrel I selected - that will hit me in a couple of minutes!, but its cut to 23" and probably a bit too thin, in hind sight. The butt has been hollowed for 3" and some more will probably go and the action will be lightened, this in an effort to move the balance point forward. The stock is trim for the same reason. Goal is a finished weight of 7 -7 1/4lbs.

It'll be a hoot if I end up adding weight under the barrel so that I can shoot my lightweight rifle well!

JPK

Seafire,
What do you think of the new .338 Federal?

I like the sound of your project.
You mentioned the Roberts, Probably just to illistrate the length of the action, But its one of my favorite rounds.
But a .260 is I,m sure a great round, and unlikly to dissapoint.
what kind of stock ? Wood (my preferene) or synthehetick (I like some of those too)
...tj3006

Thomas Jones,

The rifle has an English walnut stock, with an ebony forend and a skeleton steel grip cap. It also has a shadow line pancake style cheek piece and a 1/2" Pachmyer pad.

I picked the Roberts for our local whitetails and for an occasional crack at a fox or groundhog. Bullet weights for all that I want to use it for and even in factory ammo, a wide range of velocity and performance potential in a low recoil package. IIRC, Nosler, for instance offers their 110gr Accubond at 3075fps, while Remington offers their round nose at 2675fps, in between is Federal's 120gr Partition load at 2780fps. Hopefully at least a couple of factory loads will shoot well or its off to the reloading bench for some trail and error.

I'm sure the 260 would be a great choice but I didn't feel I needed the heavier bullets offered for what I want the rifle for. If I felt the need for more bullet I would switch rifles. I considered going with the 25 Super, but really, wildcats aren't for me.

JPK

One of my favorite rifles is the ruger all weather ultralight 30/06 total weight 7.6 with leupold vari-xII 2x7x32 and my new browning BLR is the same 7.6 with the leupold 1.5x5x20 the browning i haven't shot yet but the ruger is a sweetheart to shoot and super accurate, and a pleasure , to carry all day long.

Tanoose,

Personally, stailess and/or composite stocked rifles don't do it for me. The BLR, on the other hand is a neat rifle and I'd love one, but in a short cartridge. 30-06 is great calibre and I've got two. Great for our whitetails but unessecary.

Besides I was looking for something different!

JPK

I have hunted and shot with several light weight [and short bbled] rifles.

One thing that will help you if you are shooting a light weight rifle is to use a tight hasty sling.

Also if you are winded and breathing hard, shoot on the pause in your breathing after a total exhale.

Around 1968 I sporterized a 6.5 Carcano by rechambering it to 6.5 x55,Removing all the magazine steel and trigger gaurd and welded in a light weight feed ramp yielding a single shot. The 16" barrel received MANY radial grooves to reduce the weight further and a rear peep and front ramp sights. After a lot of wood removal, inleting and adding a recoil pad my first wife had a 5 1/2lb. gauranteed deer killer.

She only shot it once before the divorce. No sense of humor I guess. I did kill two mule deer with it, however, off hand at 55 to 70 yds. and at 35 yds. running . That was the only game ever shot at with that rifle.
roger

I bet you will enjoy the Roberts.
I have 2. 1 is a Ruger ultra light woith a 2.5X8 leupold. It was a lot of work getting it to shoot but it finaly has a couple loads it likes. I want to try that 110 acubond of it.
The other is a custom 03 springfield.
I will try to post a picture. I want to have it checkerd and will in the next few monthes.
...tj3006

It apears I gave you a link to my gun pictures
There are several there feel free to check them out. The Roberts is the light collerd piece of clario. It looks like maple on the gray background but its clario.
...tj3006

Thomas Jones,

Tried the link but it required a password to get to photos.

JPK

quote:

Originally posted by N E 450 No2:
One thing that will help you if you are shooting a light weight rifle is to use a tight hasty sling.

I was wondering if anyone was going to mention that. A proper shooting sling is even better. I shot my Rem 7 today out to 700 yards with a tight sling from the sit and didn't have any problems (but the most I had to dial for wind was 4 clicks).

My first custom rifle weighed 7.5 lbs. and had a 24" #4 taper barrel. It was a very steady rifle with the weight forward. I still shoot that rifle, but now also shoot two Kimbers, one at 6 lbs scoped, the other just over 7. I used the light one, a .243, to shoot marmots at over 500 yards last summer. Light weight rifles will shoot. I had the custom, a 358 STA, and the heavier Kimber, a .300 WSM, out today. The Kimber is capable of hitting clay pigeons at 200 yards from a kneeling position. You can shoot a light rifle just fine, it just takes practice. The marmots were shot using a bipod.

There we go. Its my Roberts custom.
I need to have it checkerd , and I want to replace the bolt knobb with one that still has the mushroom. A new pad would be good too !
...tj3006

Beautiful piece of wood friend. Checkering will really set it off.

Very nice rifle. Checkering and a new pad will be a great finish.

JPK