Lightest barrel you would use?

[elkguide]

NULA/Swarovski combo must be awesome.

 

[luke moffat]

My NULA 6.5 CRD is right at 5 lbs with a Swarovski 3-9x36 and shoots sub-moa. It has a 22" #1 contour barrel and 14" LOP stock.

IMHO, it is the perfect backpack/mountain rifle.

Tell me more about this rifle man!!! Sounds awesome to be right at 5 pounds with scope and rings!

 

[sneaky]

Someone correct me if I am wrong in what I have been told by a couple of rifle builders. They told me if you don't shoot a ton of rounds through your rifle then the titanium actions are fine, if you do a lot of shooting then they get hot and start to lose tolerances a lot quicker than the steel actions. Any truth to this? Neither of the ones I talked to did any work on ti actions because of this. I'm guessing that the average hunter who shoots a box or two of shells through his rifle a year would ever notice, but if you like to burn powder it could be an issue. My cousin just picked up an Adirondack in 7-08 and with a Zeiss scope to match and Talley rings it's right at 6lbs on the nose and shoots under half moa. Not bad for a rifle that size.

 

[LightFoot]

Tell me more about this rifle man!!! Sounds awesome to be right at 5 pounds with scope and rings!

Ok, so my scale was a little off (please don't stone me).

Rifle is just over 6 lbs loaded.

NULA Model 20, 6.5 Creedmoor
14 inch LOP
22 inch #1 bbl
Talley rings
Swarovski Z3 3-9x36
Handloads: 140 Nosler Partition, IMR 4350, ~2650 fps

The eyebox on the Z3 is a little "tight." I ordered a Leupold VX-3i 3.5-10x40 from the custom shop to try in its place.

To me, this rifle is worth every penny. I could have bought multiple [insert quality mountain-style rifle here] for the cost of the NULA, but glad I didn't. Melvin Forbes told me that if I didn't like it, he would buy it back for a full refund . . . he can keep my money.

 

[luke moffat]

My cousin just picked up an Adirondack in 7-08 and with a Zeiss scope to match and Talley rings it's right at 6lbs on the nose and shoots under half moa. Not bad for ANY RIFLE.

Fixed it for you!

 

[luke moffat]

Ok, so my scale was a little off (please don't stone me).

Rifle is just over 6 lbs loaded.

NULA Model 20, 6.5 Creedmoor
14 inch LOP
22 inch #1 bbl
Talley rings
Swarovski Z3 3-9x36
Handloads: 140 Nosler Partition, IMR 4350, ~2650 fps

The eyebox on the Z3 is a little "tight." I ordered a Leupold VX-3i 3.5-10x40 from the custom shop to try in its place.

To me, this rifle is worth every penny. I could have bought multiple [insert quality mountain-style rifle here] for the cost of the NULA, but glad I didn't. Melvin Forbes told me that if I didn't like it, he would buy it back for a full refund . . . he can keep my money.

Still a great looking rifle!!

NULAs are a sweet rifle no doubt. I don't think anyone can argue that point. If you got the money to spend on one its a great option. Personally I can afford a fly out hunt for both my wife and I on Kodiak for goats in the difference between my Kimber and a NULA but the same could be said from the Kimber and the Ruger American. Its all about priorities

Again sweet rifle.

 

[sneaky]

Just weighed that Adirondack on a set of postal scales, rifle, talley rings, zeiss scope....5lbs 5oz unloaded. Shot .33 in at 150 yards with 140 Barnes Triple Shok Federal Premiums. 2730 fps out of that 18" barrel. Even better, we scored that ammo for $15 a box

 

[luke moffat]

Set of postal scales???

 

[sneaky]

Set of postal scales???

Lol, small town...everybody knows everybody. Guess that wouldn't fly in most places

 

[luke moffat]

Just wondering if you used two postal scales to weigh it?

 

[sneaky]

No, the big one they use at the actual post office to weigh package, not the little letter scales you are thinking of. They wouldn't work for that kind of weight. Need to throw rounds up on there with it and get the final weight and update. Not gonna be a huge change though.

 

[luke moffat]

Which Zeiss do you have?

 

[sneaky]

The HD5 2x10-42 in the matching optifade forest

 

[Brodie]

Someone correct me if I am wrong in what I have been told by a couple of rifle builders. They told me if you don't shoot a ton of rounds through your rifle then the titanium actions are fine, if you do a lot of shooting then they get hot and start to lose tolerances a lot quicker than the steel actions. Any truth to this? Neither of the ones I talked to did any work on ti actions because of this. I'm guessing that the average hunter who shoots a box or two of shells through his rifle a year would ever notice, but if you like to burn powder it could be an issue. My cousin just picked up an Adirondack in 7-08 and with a Zeiss scope to match and Talley rings it's right at 6lbs on the nose and shoots under half moa. Not bad for a rifle that size.

Sounds like a load of bull, coefficient of thermal expansion for titanium is lower (not by much) than steel. Also, how many rounds would you need to machine gun through a bolt action to heat the action up enough to throw off tolerances?? Throat would be toast by then I think.
It used to be common practice to sleeve actions in aluminum for rigidity and thermal expansion of aluminum is about twice that of titanium.
I would question their knowledge and abilities if they are spinning yarns like that.

 

[Brendan]

For what it's worth, the Kimber Mountain Ascent is available in 6.5 Creedmoor as of this year.

 

[three5x5s]

This one came out under 5lb with a 25" barrel. Model 7 rem, .264 raptor (.264/300 saum imp.) #1 barrel, MPI ultra light stock. Now it wears a Swaro z3 dc and weighs 6lb 2oz. I'd like to build another similar one with a titanium model 7 action. Maybe 4 pounds with 24" barrel would be achievable but with the components available now I think 4 is the limit without shortening the barrel.

I want one....

 

[as.ks.ak]

The adirondack is about the same weight as the mountain ascent. However maybe the bolt knob is steel, and maybe the trigger guard is steel. If so, then with some mods the Adirondack could be lighter. I tried Googling but can't figure it out.

Pretty sure the adirondack is lighter. It's like 4# 13oz? And I believe the ascent is right around the same ball park..maybe heavier. The moffats posted a hell of an article about a Kimber Montana rebuild...let me see if I can find the link.


Alright I found it. Here it is: Kimber Rifles - Lightweight Hunting Rifles - The Alaska Life

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[JigStick]

Well it'd be for carrying around the mountains, so lightweight is important. The range wouldn't be anywhere close to 1000. It's for hunting so the Creedmoor is not effective enough for my preferences at 1000 yards. Let's say 500 yards or under. If it could shoot 1 moa that would be enough. I'm basically curious if I could make a rifle that's lighter than a Kimber Mountain Ascent (which isn't chambered in 6.5 creedmoor anyway). Brown Precision Pound'r, potentially a titanium action, Hastings Microcell recoil pad (if they still make them), some ultralight barrel, talley lightweight rings, probably Leupold VX2 3-9x33 ultralight.

A #2 or #3 Krieger finished at 20in in a twist rate matched to the lighter projecticles would hammer at 500yds. You could probably chop it back even more if you wanted. Shooting the 6.5 Creedmore to 500yds is WELL within its capabilities, even with lighter bullets.

If you are going to be humping this rifle up and down mountains for days on end, make it short, and light. And I would take a custom barrel and chamber job over a stock Kimber rifle any day of the week.

 

[hooker]

If you were going to build a 6.5mm Creedmoor rifle, what is the lightest barrel you could use? Also what length barrel would you use?

The lightest one that you could actually shoot offhand worth a piss...

 

[jm1607]

I think the main thing with a Creedmoor is you can run a shorter barrel without losing much velocity compared to other calibers, which will save you some weight. Especially if you run a little heavier contour.. You can go down to 19-20" pretty easily..

With that being said, I personally don't think I'd run less than a Bartlein 2B