Ok guys, so I’ve been hunting since i was 12, and I’ve come to the realization that in my 20 years in the deer woods of East texas, i rarely get a shot outside of 150-200 yards. Now i have a 7 mag for most big hunts that i pay for or at least demand a larger tool. What do you guys think about having a shorter rifle for white tails and pigs?
.308 Winchester seems to do well in a shorter barrel. I am getting about 2650 of an 18 inch barrel, pushing a 168 grain Barnes bullet.
Seems like a good idea to me!
450 Bushmaster and 308 would be at the top of my list.
I dropped off one of my .308s at the gunsmith a few weeks ago to cut it down to 16.5 . I know its going to lose some speed what would you recommend for a load , a heavy slow pill or a lighter “faster” bullet?
I would consider the 7mm08 less recoil and a little flatter than the 308!
Another tempting option could be 300blk. It doesn’t hit as hard as a 308 but under 200 should do you just fine. Plus it leaves you the option of shooting sub-sonics, which could be nice for pigs, especially if you put a suppressor on it.
I have a Christensen Arms scout in 308. The gun weighs like 6 pounds or under. 18 inch barrel. It out shoots all my other 308’s and the action is phenomenal. I can’t say enough good things about this rifle. Since I have bought this rifle I want all short barrel rifles. If you shoot with a suppressor then you know why. I’m in the process of figuring out which caliber’s shoot well short. I’m sure there are plenty that do and some that do not. If you think about it the shorter barrel is a lot stiffer and should be more accurate. That is actually what we try to achieve by using a bull barrel on a rifle with a regular length barrel, makes it more stiff to prevent barrel whip during barrel harmonics. Barrel harmonics is a major part of a barrel’s accuracy as is heat dissipation. I could talk all day about this but I don’t want to hijack his thread so that’s just what I’m thinking.
Lol funny you say that i have both the ruger american ranch and the savage axis in16.5 300 blk i like both rifles and i enjoy the 300 blk cartridge but i wanted just a tad more authority on target
Ive been eyeing the scout for some time now i have the Ridgeline in 7mm rem mag and i enjoy that rifle
The scout is awesome. I bought it for a lite weight mountain rifle that would be short enough that when the suppressor was added it would not be too long. I didn’t know just how lite and accurate this thing would be. I topped it with the Vortex Raxor LHT 3x15 which is the perfect scope for this gun in my opinion.
That’s fair. I’ve never chased hogs, but I’ve heard they can be pretty tough.
This just occurred to me. Another interesting option is the 8.6 blk. Although your rifle selection is probably fairly limited, and ammo availability could be rough. Might be an option if you reload.