Tex_Hunter
Well-Known Member
Hi All,
Wanted to kick off a thread here as I dig into a new project I have started for a youth whitetail hunting rifle that I had put together for my 9yr old son.
A little bit of background here, I was very intrigued several years ago when Gunwerks launched their "Co Pilot" concept with a specially made Manners Compact stock and a 16-18" Proof barrel chambered in 6mm Creedmoor. I couldnt afford their eye-bleeding MSRP on that package, but I set out looking for a way to replicate this on my own at a more reasonable price. My son had only just started shooting his 22lr at the time, but I wanted something powerful enough for him to hunt with here (central TX) and it needed to be suppressed. Fast forward a few years later and he's ready to start hunting with me so about a year ago I started planning what I wanted to put together for him.
I had danced around caliber for a long time, going back and forth between the 6.5 Creedmoor and 308 win which I had tons of experience with. A friend I shoot with has had amazing results with his own chopped down 243win so that was in the running as well. I've always been an avid reader of Rifleshooter.com so when he posted his "velocity vs barrel length" article around the same time for the 6mm Creedmoor I realized this would be a really good option for my build. His results showed a retained velocity of almost 2900fps with a 105gr projectile which with some quick math showed me I could easily hunt out to 500yds with. Recoil was a big concern for me as my own personal experience as a kid led to me having a really nasty flinch until my early twenties. My son has shot my 6.5 CM match rifle and my 308 AR10 so he's way ahead of where I was at his age, but I still wanted something that was going to be easy shooting. The 6mm checks all of these boxes.
I was able to find a Rem 700 inlet Manners MCS-CS on Sniper's Hide for a good price so I snagged that and a Hawkins M5 DBM since a floorplate wouldnt fit on the stock. I already had a scope (VX5HD 3-15x44) and rings (Iota Nomad ZL) on hand so I had everything I needed except for a host rifle.
With stock and caliber decided I moved onto host rifles. I had initially thought of finding a factory rifle and having the barrel cut down, but ran into issues finding good options already chambered in 6mm Creedmoor. Heavy barrel 243's were more than plentiful and cheap, but most had a twist rate too slow to shoot the 103gr ELD-X I had settled on as my desired bullet so I finally decided to have a Bergara B14 Woodsman that I had lying around, and had been considering selling, re-barreled instead. I ordered a Krieger 1:7.5 twist M24 blank from Bugholes and then contacted a local smith, Mark Pharr and Walker Polan of Tumbleweeds Custom Rifles just north of me in Round Rock Texas to have it all put together. I initially told him 18inches but then almost immediately decided to have him go all the way back to the NFA minimum of 16.5 inches instead when I dropped the parts off. A little over 4 months later and the final product is in the pictures below.
I took the rifle out this weekend to zero, and break in the barrel per Krieger's recommendations. I then shot 5 rounds over the chrono to get rough velocity numbers. Accuracy is outstanding with the best group of the day printing 0.16 MOA over 5 shots after a minor scope adjustment from rough zero! I only have about 30rds through the gun and judging by the SD my bet is the barrel still needs a bit more break in as this has been my experience with new rifles in the past, SD will usually cut in half after about 100 or so rds. Still, I'm really happy with where I am from a velocity standpoint at 2738 fps which is only about 40fps per inch lost going down to the 16.5 inch, and should be more than adequate for white-tail and hogs out to 400yds or more.
This is all preliminary and I plan to update this thread with velocity and performance data as I gather it. Enjoy for now, and ask away if you have any questions about the setup!
To put the size in perspective this is compared to my full-size match rifle; 24" Sendero contour in a McMillan A5 and a Dead Air Sandman-S with E-Brake mounted.
Wanted to kick off a thread here as I dig into a new project I have started for a youth whitetail hunting rifle that I had put together for my 9yr old son.
A little bit of background here, I was very intrigued several years ago when Gunwerks launched their "Co Pilot" concept with a specially made Manners Compact stock and a 16-18" Proof barrel chambered in 6mm Creedmoor. I couldnt afford their eye-bleeding MSRP on that package, but I set out looking for a way to replicate this on my own at a more reasonable price. My son had only just started shooting his 22lr at the time, but I wanted something powerful enough for him to hunt with here (central TX) and it needed to be suppressed. Fast forward a few years later and he's ready to start hunting with me so about a year ago I started planning what I wanted to put together for him.
I had danced around caliber for a long time, going back and forth between the 6.5 Creedmoor and 308 win which I had tons of experience with. A friend I shoot with has had amazing results with his own chopped down 243win so that was in the running as well. I've always been an avid reader of Rifleshooter.com so when he posted his "velocity vs barrel length" article around the same time for the 6mm Creedmoor I realized this would be a really good option for my build. His results showed a retained velocity of almost 2900fps with a 105gr projectile which with some quick math showed me I could easily hunt out to 500yds with. Recoil was a big concern for me as my own personal experience as a kid led to me having a really nasty flinch until my early twenties. My son has shot my 6.5 CM match rifle and my 308 AR10 so he's way ahead of where I was at his age, but I still wanted something that was going to be easy shooting. The 6mm checks all of these boxes.
I was able to find a Rem 700 inlet Manners MCS-CS on Sniper's Hide for a good price so I snagged that and a Hawkins M5 DBM since a floorplate wouldnt fit on the stock. I already had a scope (VX5HD 3-15x44) and rings (Iota Nomad ZL) on hand so I had everything I needed except for a host rifle.
With stock and caliber decided I moved onto host rifles. I had initially thought of finding a factory rifle and having the barrel cut down, but ran into issues finding good options already chambered in 6mm Creedmoor. Heavy barrel 243's were more than plentiful and cheap, but most had a twist rate too slow to shoot the 103gr ELD-X I had settled on as my desired bullet so I finally decided to have a Bergara B14 Woodsman that I had lying around, and had been considering selling, re-barreled instead. I ordered a Krieger 1:7.5 twist M24 blank from Bugholes and then contacted a local smith, Mark Pharr and Walker Polan of Tumbleweeds Custom Rifles just north of me in Round Rock Texas to have it all put together. I initially told him 18inches but then almost immediately decided to have him go all the way back to the NFA minimum of 16.5 inches instead when I dropped the parts off. A little over 4 months later and the final product is in the pictures below.
I took the rifle out this weekend to zero, and break in the barrel per Krieger's recommendations. I then shot 5 rounds over the chrono to get rough velocity numbers. Accuracy is outstanding with the best group of the day printing 0.16 MOA over 5 shots after a minor scope adjustment from rough zero! I only have about 30rds through the gun and judging by the SD my bet is the barrel still needs a bit more break in as this has been my experience with new rifles in the past, SD will usually cut in half after about 100 or so rds. Still, I'm really happy with where I am from a velocity standpoint at 2738 fps which is only about 40fps per inch lost going down to the 16.5 inch, and should be more than adequate for white-tail and hogs out to 400yds or more.
This is all preliminary and I plan to update this thread with velocity and performance data as I gather it. Enjoy for now, and ask away if you have any questions about the setup!
To put the size in perspective this is compared to my full-size match rifle; 24" Sendero contour in a McMillan A5 and a Dead Air Sandman-S with E-Brake mounted.
