Over the last couple years I have bought and sold a few factory rifles trying to find what I like and to improve on what I already use as my primary hunting rifle. Currently I shoot a plain old Ruger M77 .270 win that was my first rifle and I keep coming back to it. The gun has functioned flawlessly but what I mostly don’t like is overall length of the rifle. Although it only has a 22” barrel, I really dislike busting through brush with it strapped to my pack as it catches every alder.
My idea is to put together a hunting rifle in a XLR magnesium chassis so I can fold the rifle and loose some length. That being said, I plan to run a suppressor so I need to have a short barrel to not defeat the purpose of the folding chassis. I want it chambered in 6.5PRC as I think this will have similar performance to my .270 win and will do better in a short barrel compared to .270 win. I do not plan to shoot past 400 yards, and have never even shot that far at an animal.
The most expensive option is to build full custom. I am thinking zermatt origin action (I would rather go lighter weight but don’t want to spend the money) with a triggertech primary and a short 16-18” barrel. I’m hoping someone can help me here with carbon vs steel barrel and which contour, keeping in mind that I want to keep it lightweight and run a suppressor. Does anyone know what the bolt lift is like on this action? I do not like a bolt that opens with little pressure (snagging on brush) and prefer a locking bolt.
Another option to keep cost down is to buy a factory Christensen Mesa, have the barrel cut down, and drop it in a XLR. Although I have seen a lot of positive feedback on the rifles and the customer service, the many bad reviews scare me. I have handled these in the store and they feel decent to me. The bolt does not seem to lift too terribly easy which I like.
My last idea is to build off a tikka action. Unfortunately all tikka 6.5 PRCs are fluted so cutting a barrel doesn’t seem like an option. I would rebarrel with something shorter and drop it in an XLR. I like that the bolt locks when on safe but dislike how easy the safety can be flipped to fire. This route also won’t save me much from just going full custom.
The biggest downside to all this is when adding the weight of all the components I believe will put me in the 9.5-10lb range. My current rifle is around 8.5lbs and sometimes I wish it was lighter. What I don’t want to do is spend $3000+ on a build and dislike it in the end. Some things are worth the extra weight, but is this one of them? Hopefully you all can give me some good input if you have gone down this road before and what you would do, or suggest other ideas.
Thanks!
My idea is to put together a hunting rifle in a XLR magnesium chassis so I can fold the rifle and loose some length. That being said, I plan to run a suppressor so I need to have a short barrel to not defeat the purpose of the folding chassis. I want it chambered in 6.5PRC as I think this will have similar performance to my .270 win and will do better in a short barrel compared to .270 win. I do not plan to shoot past 400 yards, and have never even shot that far at an animal.
The most expensive option is to build full custom. I am thinking zermatt origin action (I would rather go lighter weight but don’t want to spend the money) with a triggertech primary and a short 16-18” barrel. I’m hoping someone can help me here with carbon vs steel barrel and which contour, keeping in mind that I want to keep it lightweight and run a suppressor. Does anyone know what the bolt lift is like on this action? I do not like a bolt that opens with little pressure (snagging on brush) and prefer a locking bolt.
Another option to keep cost down is to buy a factory Christensen Mesa, have the barrel cut down, and drop it in a XLR. Although I have seen a lot of positive feedback on the rifles and the customer service, the many bad reviews scare me. I have handled these in the store and they feel decent to me. The bolt does not seem to lift too terribly easy which I like.
My last idea is to build off a tikka action. Unfortunately all tikka 6.5 PRCs are fluted so cutting a barrel doesn’t seem like an option. I would rebarrel with something shorter and drop it in an XLR. I like that the bolt locks when on safe but dislike how easy the safety can be flipped to fire. This route also won’t save me much from just going full custom.
The biggest downside to all this is when adding the weight of all the components I believe will put me in the 9.5-10lb range. My current rifle is around 8.5lbs and sometimes I wish it was lighter. What I don’t want to do is spend $3000+ on a build and dislike it in the end. Some things are worth the extra weight, but is this one of them? Hopefully you all can give me some good input if you have gone down this road before and what you would do, or suggest other ideas.
Thanks!
