I'm looking to build up a backpack hunting rifle with a short barrel in the 18-20" length range. It's on a switch barrel setup for a tikka action. I've currently got the rifle configured with a prefit 26" Carbon 6 barrel chambered in 280 AI. It's sitting in an MDT LSS XL chassis with a pretty light Trijicon Tenmile HX scope. That setup is the best shooting rifle I've ever had, it's so consistent out to 850 yards (farthest I can get to at my local range) that it's almost boring.....almost. but it comes in at 11 lbs flat. I carried it deep on a backpacking trip this fall and it was fine, but obviously not ideal. I love the chassis and long barrel for range work and hog hunting where I'm not walking 15 miles a day. My only kill so far was a hog at 525 yards, one shot, DRT, shooting a Hammer Hunter 131 at 3232 fps.
So I want to drop it into a XLR Element Magnesium chassis setup for minimal weight. The XLR uses the same Tikka specific AICS mags as the current chassis, and ideally I'd stick to a long action caliber based on the 30-06 parent case. This will allow me to just spin off the long 280AI barrel, spin the new shorty on and drop it into the lighter chassis. Same bolt face, same bolt stop, same mags, etc. Keep it as simple as possible. I'll lose approx 2 lbs 4oz from the chassis switch alone. I'm definitely going with another Carbon 6 barrel in their featherweight profile and shorter length, so I should realize some add'l weight savings there vs the 26" sendero profile barrel it's got now. Not gonna end up ultralight, but should be much more comfortable to carry long distance!
I'm so tempted to go with another 280AI just because I've had such good luck with this cartridge in terms of finding a ton of bullets that work with really great accuracy, I've got dies and 300 pieces of brass and plenty of powder and bullets to choose from in the cabinet. Not to mention it's just a great all around hunting cartridge. But that just feels BORING....if I'm gonna make the switch seems like I should actually change it up to something else. The savings in both time searching and money spent on all the components is attractive, though.
So that was a long way to get to my question: what chamber and barrel length do you guys think I should go for? I'd like to keep the ability to shoot at game to 650. I'm also not sure exactly how much velocity I'll be sacrificing with a shorter barrel...I know it'll depend on the cartridge somewhat.
I do also have a ton of 30-06 components, along with 7mm-08, and 6.5 CM. So, I could of course switch out the bolt stop and mags and run something short action too, as long as it uses the same bolt face. I don't really want to switch that out....again in the interest of simplicity.
So I want to drop it into a XLR Element Magnesium chassis setup for minimal weight. The XLR uses the same Tikka specific AICS mags as the current chassis, and ideally I'd stick to a long action caliber based on the 30-06 parent case. This will allow me to just spin off the long 280AI barrel, spin the new shorty on and drop it into the lighter chassis. Same bolt face, same bolt stop, same mags, etc. Keep it as simple as possible. I'll lose approx 2 lbs 4oz from the chassis switch alone. I'm definitely going with another Carbon 6 barrel in their featherweight profile and shorter length, so I should realize some add'l weight savings there vs the 26" sendero profile barrel it's got now. Not gonna end up ultralight, but should be much more comfortable to carry long distance!
I'm so tempted to go with another 280AI just because I've had such good luck with this cartridge in terms of finding a ton of bullets that work with really great accuracy, I've got dies and 300 pieces of brass and plenty of powder and bullets to choose from in the cabinet. Not to mention it's just a great all around hunting cartridge. But that just feels BORING....if I'm gonna make the switch seems like I should actually change it up to something else. The savings in both time searching and money spent on all the components is attractive, though.
So that was a long way to get to my question: what chamber and barrel length do you guys think I should go for? I'd like to keep the ability to shoot at game to 650. I'm also not sure exactly how much velocity I'll be sacrificing with a shorter barrel...I know it'll depend on the cartridge somewhat.
I do also have a ton of 30-06 components, along with 7mm-08, and 6.5 CM. So, I could of course switch out the bolt stop and mags and run something short action too, as long as it uses the same bolt face. I don't really want to switch that out....again in the interest of simplicity.
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