Rifle Build for Backpacking

[GarBy]

I had a 7 PRC made by OMR.....22" carbon barrel, titanium action and MDT 26 chassis. With a 3x18 Leica Amplus scope it weighs right at 6.4#. Carries and shoots awesome. It was purpose built for exactly as you describe. Not a give away price but comparable to the Seekins SLAM which was not available (I tried) when I had OMR build mine.....this is my second OMR rifle.

 

[19elkhunter51]

Having read all the comments I have seen only one person address an issue that is paramount in Alaska. BEARS. I know everyone believes that a .243 will kill elephants over the horizon with one shot while standing on your head. But ask yourself how you will feel when you are in ten foot tall willows with 18" inches of visibility. I am old and have more time behind me than ahead of me but I would much rather carry something that has a chance of stopping a big bear rather than trying to out run the bear because you just put every round you had in your rifle in the bear but the bear has spent its life being bitten by mosquitoes and your puny little mosquito bites only made the bear mad.
Carry enough gun. I think that has been said before by much more experienced hunters than I.
IMHO and YMMV.
Have a great hunt and many good wishes to you.

 

[Longshotjames]

Having read all the comments I have seen only one person address an issue that is paramount in Alaska. BEARS. I know everyone believes that a .243 will kill elephants over the horizon with one shot while standing on your head. But ask yourself how you will feel when you are in ten foot tall willows with 18" inches of visibility. I am old and have more time behind me than ahead of me but I would much rather carry something that has a chance of stopping a big bear rather than trying to out run the bear because you just put every round you had in your rifle in the bear but the bear has spent its life being bitten by mosquitoes and your puny little mosquito bites only made the bear mad.
Carry enough gun. I think that has been said before by much more experienced hunters than I.
IMHO and YMMV.
Have a great hunt and many good wishes to you.

This is gold!

a folding stock strapped in your pack is a joke if you need a rifle FAST! My rifle stays slung in the ready position. I actually prefer it on my chest to offset the weight of my pack. To each his own
James

 

[milestown]

I'm kinda like 19 elkhunter.
I can't imagine a folding rifle in bear country,clawing my way through a brush filled trail and meeting a bear.
Aren't most of the chassis stocks heavy, everything adjust ,but heavy. Once adjusted to,fit you, does anybody move the adjustments again?

Hal

 

[dfanonymous]

I'm kinda like 19 elkhunter.
I can't imagine a folding rifle in bear country,clawing my way through a brush filled trail and meeting a bear.
Aren't most of the chassis stocks heavy, everything adjust ,but heavy. Once adjusted to,fit you, does anybody move the adjustments again?

Hal

The chassis the OP is talking about are exceptionally light.

No, once you adjust it to yourself, you ought to leave it. If not, you're just moving your body around from where you zero'd. Which is a recipe for inconsistency and defeats the purpose entirely.

 

[Lee7588]

Chassis are like a car that allows you to adjust the seats, the mirrors, and the steering wheel.

A fixed stock is like trying to drive vehicle that's tuned to nobody.

Once you get all the components that make YOU comfortable driving the gun, other benefits included more control over hand grip, modularity, and head position which is a big one. Length of pull. Stuff like that. All aimed at making you the shooter more consistent and thus more accurate.

The only con is the money. Again, I'm not sure the hnt26 offers much more than the XLR magnesium but all adjustable chassis will give the shooter a better rifle set up for the reasons already mentioned.

I will say that another con would be weight when comparing to ultralight carbon fiber stocks. The Hnt26 is advertised at 26 oz my carbon fiber stock is advertised at 20 oz. Ounces equals pounds. The comfort of having an Ar style pistol grip is nice. Along with my carbon stock I have a element 4.0 magnesium chassis for the same rifle, one of the other cons is the stock gets cold. So a cold environment won't make it to where you want to leave your cheek on the stock waiting for the perfect shot

 

[DirtNap35]

Short action, just buy a long action down the road for a long-action caliber and build a second rifle. I would stick with steel, titanium is like bubblegum, and the steel action will not flex under recoil nearly as much as a Ti. It's fine for .223 caliber recoil, but that's about it in my experience trying to run them in magnum cartridges, and a few extra ounces will always help with recoil management. Besides, the AntiX is lighter than my Lone Peak Razor and far more rigid.

I'll take a look at AntiX….I like they added the 75 degree bolt. Typically I stay with Terminus for that reason. I do run BAT's for my Lapua bolt face cartridges.

 

[DirtNap35]

Thanks. Yeah I would be carrying a 9mm with some good bullets

Having read all the comments I have seen only one person address an issue that is paramount in Alaska. BEARS. I know everyone believes that a .243 will kill elephants over the horizon with one shot while standing on your head. But ask yourself how you will feel when you are in ten foot tall willows with 18" inches of visibility. I am old and have more time behind me than ahead of me but I would much rather carry something that has a chance of stopping a big bear rather than trying to out run the bear because you just put every round you had in your rifle in the bear but the bear has spent its life being bitten by mosquitoes and your puny little mosquito bites only made the bear mad.
Carry enough gun. I think that has been said before by much more experienced hunters than I.
IMHO and YMMV.
Have a great hunt and many good wishes to you.

thanks. Yeah I would be carrying a 9mm with good bullets for bear defense.

 

[dfanonymous]

I will say that another con would be weight when comparing to ultralight carbon fiber stocks. The Hnt26 is advertised at 26 oz my carbon fiber stock is advertised at 20 oz. Ounces equals pounds. The comfort of having an Ar style pistol grip is nice. Along with my carbon stock I have a element 4.0 magnesium chassis for the same rifle, one of the other cons is the stock gets cold. So a cold environment won't make it to where you want to leave your cheek on the stock waiting for the perfect shot

Ounces equal lbs in total, but I don't think guys on here are going to give up their 2 lbs crispi boots for trail runners. When it comes to a rifle's total build weight, you'd be hard pressed to feel 6 ounces.

That's considering that these have 3 fold the modular capability than a peak44. There more moving parts…I'm actually impressed that there is only a 6 ounce difference.

I'd argue that most won't feel the cold once they get behind the gun to make a kill. Where it's annoying is when you have to carry the weapon with your ungloved hands. Like with archery. It's the worst to make long stalks with a cold bow and below freezing.

 

[19elkhunter51]

+ P + 9 mm @ 1005 fps = 326 ft lbs of energy at the muzzle. 10 rounds = 3260 ft lbs of energy. One 460 S&W 460 magnum = 2860 ft lbs of energy with a 300 grain bullet at 2060 ft/sec. Five rounds of 460 gives you more than four and one half times the energy of ten 9mm. Presuming that you had time to fire 10 rounds.
Just saying.
Good hunting.

 

[19elkhunter51]

I want to apologize to the OP for taking this thread in a direction other than his original request. I worry about people heading into potentially dangerous situations that could end in serious injury or death.
Your build and your preferences will direct to what you think is proper and correct for you.
Be careful, enjoy Alaska and be safe. Hunt hard and shoot straight!

 

[DirtNap35]

I want to apologize to the OP for taking this thread in a direction other than his original request. I worry about people heading into potentially dangerous situations that could end in serious injury or death.
Your build and your preferences will direct to what you think is proper and correct for you.
Be careful, enjoy Alaska and be safe. Hunt hard and shoot straight!

No worries man, all great information. I'm by far more efficient and precise with a 9mm vs 10mm in a rapid fire situation. For me the last thing I want is to miss with something like a 460 and not have the chance to get 2 or 3 more rounds off. I'm big on practice with putting stress on myself such as using a timer to get so many shots off and doing sprints or up/downs to get my heart rate up to try and mimic the situation in field. I'm the guy at the range everybody is looking at like *** is this guy doing, stay away from him.

Also would like to add my brother will be with me on these hunts so that helps situation with bears.

 

[Lee7588]

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[Lee7588]

Ounces equal lbs in total, but I don't think guys on here are going to give up their 2 lbs crispi boots for trail runners. When it comes to a rifle's total build weight, you'd be hard pressed to feel 6 ounces.

That's considering that these have 3 fold the modular capability than a peak44. There more moving parts…I'm actually impressed that there is only a 6 ounce difference.

I'd argue that most won't feel the cold once they get behind the gun to make a kill. Where it's annoying is when you have to carry the weapon with your ungloved hands. Like with archery. It's the worst to make long stalks with a cold bow and below freezing.

I agree that I'm shocked that between those two is only 6 oz difference. I agree that the chassis has more adjustability to the shooter but for me a traditional stock fits pretty comfortably. But I'm sure it doesn't fit everybody. I know I left Georgia yesterday as the front was coming through and my chassis isn't warm when I grab it to get on target. But yes when you pull the trigger you don't notice it the same with most recoils. I never thought about a bow being cold while carrying it just because of how mine is wrapped with tape on the grip and a lot of times I carry mine by the string. The great thing is is there's plenty of options for all of us and we could get opinions to make us think about different scenarios