Building the Ultimate Lightweight Magnum

This rifle is designed with looking in thoughts, at first–suppose bear, moose, elk, and so on. I needed it to be light-weight, exceptionally correct, and able to performing some excessive long-range (ELR) capturing at inanimate targets previous a mile.

What do you get once you construct a looking rig with high quality and efficiency as the one issues? Learn on to search out out.

The motion is the guts of any good rifle. It’s the half you work together with essentially the most and the muse for each different piece. When it got here time to select an motion, I knew I needed it to be light-weight, easy and absolutely customized.

I used to be fortunate sufficient to get to tour the Defiance Machine facility right here in Montana 5 years again and was amazed at what I noticed. Their consideration to element and the extent of precision they put into each motion was awe inspiring.

Since my tour, they’ve come out with an motion referred to as the anTi-X. A play on phrases, the motion is roughly as gentle as a titanium motion, however constituted of good ol’ metal. They achieved this with some intelligent machine work and lightening cuts all through. Oh, and it’s über easy. Like a swiss-made watch, it cycles effortlessly.

There are a TON of excellent barrels on the market. In the event you’re not “within the know,” navigating the ocean of choices available on the market could be daunting. Drawing upon my previous experiences, I knew I needed a carbon wrapped barrel to shave weight whereas sustaining rigidity. It additionally needed to be correct, in fact.

There are many choices that match the invoice, however just one that comes with a .5 moa accuracy assure: CarbonSIX. I’ve used their barrels on different builds and presently run one on my NRL Hunter rifle, and so they ship.

For size, I needed to maintain issues quick. I run a suppressor and hate carrying an excellent lengthy rifle. So I went with a 20”, 1:8 twist magnum contour barrel. CarbonSIX sells the barrel as a pre-fit prepared to put in, and since Defiance machines the actions to such tight tolerances, headspace is assured.

I spent extra time deciding on a cartridge than I did a barrel and motion. I needed one thing larger than the .223, 6.5 Creedmoor and 6.5 PRC I’ve been capturing these days. I needed one thing with much more punch, that would keep supersonic previous a mile, and had glorious ammo availability. I landed on the 300 PRC. Particularly, Berger’s 245-grain EOL manufacturing facility loaded providing.

After crunching some numbers and speaking with a couple of associates that additionally shoot that projectile, I figured I may handload ammunition to 2600-2700 feet-per-second (fps) out of the quick barrel whereas manufacturing facility ammo would in all probability clock in round 2600 fps. Which may not sound spectacular, however with the very environment friendly 245g projectile in my common environmental situations, it’ll keep supersonic to virtually 2,000 yards and carry a 1,000 ft/lbs of vitality to 1700 yards. That’s legitimately spectacular and precisely what I used to be in search of.

A velocity and vitality comparability between a 200-grain .300 Win. Magazine. and a 245g .300 PRC.

I first noticed an MDT HNT26 chassis at an area NRL hunter match a couple of years in the past. I used to be amazed at how gentle it was and the way cool it seemed. It was completely different from the rest I’d seen. The truth that it additionally folded and featured a full ARCA forend sealed the deal. I needed to have one.

I bought the HNT26 for this construct, but it surely didn’t take lengthy to note one shortcoming. The recoil pad left a bit of to be desired, particularly when making an attempt to tame the recoil of the massive PRC in such a light-weight platform. The primary time I check fired the rifle, my shoulder was actually black and blue the following day. I needed to discover a answer.

So, I searched the web and got here throughout the Again Cease recoil pad. This 3D printed marvel made a HUGE distinction. Gone was the cruel recoil kick, changed by what I’d describe as a “push” to the shoulder. You continue to really feel it, but it surely’s not painful in any respect.

Identical to barrels, there are a number of good triggers on the market, and I’ve used quite a lot of them over time. This was a troublesome selection, however I ultimately landed on the Triggertech Diamond. The mix of construct high quality, weight adjustment vary, crisp really feel and popularity for reliability in harsh situations made it an excellent selection.

To date, it’s been glorious. It breaks like glass and has virtually zero creep. I additionally opted for the flat set off vs curved. It’s primarily simply private choice, however I’m a fan of flat triggers.

When it got here time to select a scope, I needed to attempt to preserve it gentle, however I needed one thing with a entrance focal airplane reticle, ample adjustment vary and a max magnification energy of a minimum of 20x or extra. I landed on the Nightforce NX8 4-32, with a MIL-XT reticle. I’ve used Nightforce scopes many occasions, however they’ve all the time been on associates’ rifles, so I needed to attempt one out for myself. To maintain it firmly planted on the rifle, I opted for Nightforce’s ultralight rings. They’re machined very properly and mounting every thing up was a breeze.

The completed product is precisely what I used to be after. The rifle, with scope and rings, weighs a mere 8.2 kilos with an total size of 31 inches when the inventory is folded.

As for efficiency, the outcomes converse for themselves. As you may see from the teams under, the rifle is well able to sub ½” teams at 100 yards.

On the subject of ballistics, the 245-grain EOL carried out more-or-less as I suspected. Utilizing manufacturing facility Berger ammo, my common velocity was 2531 fps. Not the 2650-2700 fps I hope to get from handloaded rounds, however the knowledge exhibits how environment friendly this spherical could be. Within the charts above, I in contrast this spherical to the favored Hornady 200-grain 300 Win. Magazine. manufacturing facility providing on the marketed 2850 fps velocity. You may see that, though the Win. begins off tied or within the lead, it’s rapidly surpassed in each pace and vitality.

This 245-grain bullet is carrying 1000 ft-lbs of vitality out to 1500 yards. That’s 600 yards additional than the Win. On the subject of retained pace, the PRC will keep tremendous sonic out to 1900 yards to the WIN’s 1300 yards. For sure, this setup will pack sufficient punch for something I may wish to hunt.

First 3-shot group from the rifle: 0.499″.

One other 3-shot group from the rifle, this time with 37 rounds down the tube: 0.487″.

Like I mentioned within the intro, high quality and efficiency had been my solely standards for this rifle, which is a pleasant method of claiming that it value an arm and a leg. A construct like this prices north of $5,000, and I am extraordinarily pleased with the outcomes. However you needn’t spend that a lot to get a top quality looking rig that can do every thing you want it to do. On the identical day I used to be sighting on this rifle, MeatEater’s Garrett Lengthy was additionally capturing a Sig Sauer Cross Magnum, and it was maintaining simply tremendous.

Nonetheless, selecting all of the elements and parts offers me complete management of the ultimate outcome, and I really like the method of constructing after which tinkering with my rifles. I’ve met all the objectives I set out for this construct, however there’s nonetheless one remaining piece of the puzzle: rising bullet velocity. I plan on working up some hand hundreds within the coming months to see if I can get 2700 fps out of this 20” barrel. I’ll be experimenting with a couple of well-liked powders to see if something can ship. Keep tuned for extra.