View Full Version : Looking for lightweight hunting gun
Im looking for a light weight hunting rifle for hog hunts that I can carry around. This needs to be for longer range 400+ yrds night hunts.
My Ar-15 just doesn't have enough firepower for DRT
I have a bolt action 308 and 338 Lapua for long range but they weigh 13 and 17 pounds and are too heavy. The weight adds up with a scope, clip on, suppressor, ir laser, ir light, bipod and sling. I am glad I didnt go with the Barrett 82A1 which is 29lbs. I would hate to lug that around.
Here is the catch, the gun needs to accept a clip on NV setup in front of the scope.
Bolt action or semi is fine. I also want it in a large enough caliber for one shot drops.
Am I dreaming or is there something out there thats close to 6 lbs that fills my needs that I am not aware of. My first thought was a Scar 17.
Not to nit-pic but google firepower and clip. Unless you find some seriously expensive materials, the 6 pound want is just that. Some chassis have the NV bridge available, MDT LSS is one. There maybe some factory offerings with that brand. Savage and/or Mossberg come to mind, but not my recommendation. Maybe a Tikka T3 placed into one.
Why not look into a 6.5 Grendel, 16" lightweight AA barrel?
6.5 Grendel with 16 or 18" barrel, 123g sst DRTs hogs very well.
If you move to 308 you'll be far heavier just on loaded mag weight alone
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Im looking for a light weight hunting rifle for hog hunts that I can carry around. This needs to be for longer range 400+ yrds night hunts.
My Ar-15 just doesn't have enough firepower for DRT
I have a bolt action 308 and 338 Lapua for long range but they weigh 13 and 17 pounds and are too heavy. The weight adds up with a scope, clip on, suppressor, ir laser, ir light, bipod and sling. I am glad I didnt go with the Barrett 82A1 which is 29lbs. I would hate to lug that around.
Here is the catch, the gun needs to accept a clip on NV setup in front of the scope.
Bolt action or semi is fine. I also want it in a large enough caliber for one shot drops.
Am I dreaming or is there something out there thats close to 6 lbs that fills my needs that I am not aware of. My first thought was a Scar 17.
First, I think you're on a good track with .308 - my experience has been that if you have good ammo, .308 anchors hogs extremely well.
I do have a few questions for you:
-If you are concerned about the weight, have you looked at a dedicated weapon mounted NV scope? Likewise, if you have a good weapon mounted NV scope, do you need an IR laser and light? Are that IR laser and light making a significant contribution to your ability to hit hogs at the range you are shooting at?
-400 yards does seem like a relatively long range for a shot occurring at night. I don't know the area you are hunting in so there are a lot of assumptions being made on my part here - but my experience has been that if you approach from downwind, you should be able to get quite a bit closer at night.
Whether you go with the dedicated scope or not, one reasonable possibility would be a Ruger Gunsite Scout Rifle. If you get the model with the synthetic stock, it comes in at 6.2 pounds "naked". If the existing rail on the barrel isn't suitable for your clip-on when paired with the 1" rings it comes with, you could pick up the XS sights scout rail for the RGSR, and that will give you one unbroken picatinny surface all the way from the rear of the action to the forward sling swivel stud.c The rifle also comes with a threaded muzzle, so you should have no issues putting on a suppressor. It's not very "tactical" but mine does manage to put pork in the freezer pretty effectively.
Also, I would not worry too much about the short barrel on the RGSR....mine does just fine out to 600 yards, and so far I am batting 1000 for anchoring the hogs I've shot with it.
Not to nit-pic but google firepower and clip. Unless you find some seriously expensive materials, the 6 pound want is just that. Some chassis have the NV bridge available, MDT LSS is one. There maybe some factory offerings with that brand. Savage and/or Mossberg come to mind, but not my recommendation. Maybe a Tikka T3 placed into one.
Why not look into a 6.5 Grendel, 16" lightweight AA barrel?
Ill look at the Tikka with chassis. I want something heavier hitting than the Grendel.
I do have a few questions for you:
-If you are concerned about the weight, have you looked at a dedicated weapon mounted NV scope? Likewise, if you have a good weapon mounted NV scope, do you need an IR laser and light? Are that IR laser and light making a significant contribution to your ability to hit hogs at the range you are shooting at?
I prefer the clip ons because you can use the gun day or night. Yes the dedicated NV scope would be a little better, but they are fixed power zoom and can only use them at night.
I stripped down my 308 (which is basically a knock off of the M24) and tried it tonight. No moon and heavy clouds made it where I almost couldn't see. I got two pigs but it was a chore. I estimated the first shot at 150-175 yards and the shot was about 6" low blowing out his low lungs/liver so the distance was quite a bit further than I thought. I use the laser to help judge distance. When the laser and cross hair meets I know I am at 200 yards. The gun was still too front heavy.
-400 yards does seem like a relatively long range for a shot occurring at night. I don't know the area you are hunting in so there are a lot of assumptions being made on my part here - but my experience has been that if you approach from downwind, you should be able to get quite a bit closer at night.
We are able to get within about 15-20 yards and blast them with the AR's, which works well, but this has turned into a challenge to see who can shoot one at the farthest distance. My best shot has been right under 600 yards at night with the pvs-22. The other challenge is judging distance with NV. It started out just pulling up and using the long gun from the hood of the truck, but now we walk with them.
So are you looking to "kill" the hog or blow it up for theatrics? Making a variation of dog b gone? Bottom line, good luck with a .308 weighing 6 pounds with that equipment on it.
I'm not sure if 2nd Amendment has completed their light .308 or not. there was a thread on here where a guy spent untold amounts of money to make a very light one.
If my memory serves me correctly, this was around 8.5 as seen. 18" barrel.
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v509/mark5pt56/005_zpsoofkghcw.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v509/mark5pt56/008_zps8f8e5yi7.jpg
Sorry, I wasn't clear. I want the rifle to be 6 lbs before I add everything to it. I understand it's unrealistic for a fully loaded rifle to be 6 lbs.
I want overkill so to speak. Something that drops them. If it's like a prairie dog hunt then the better.
I looked at the t3 superlite and that's maybe what I'm looking for. I could always have the barrel cut down and threaded it.
What's your chassis made out of?
Ill look at the Tikka with chassis. I want something heavier hitting than the Grendel.
I agree with that, went through the same decision making process recently. The Grendel is cool and I may end up with one eventually. But for hunting medium and larger game especially at any longer distances, the ballistics and terminal performance out of a shorter manageable AR barrel just aren't that awesome. I know that there are folks really into Grendel here who hunt deer/hogs successfully with it, so there's no question it'll work with good bullets and good shot placement. But I think a solid centerfire cartridge with higher energy like the .308, or at least something in the 6.5 family like a 6.5 Creedmoor or a .260, is what you really want to solidly anchor medium and larger game at longer distances.
As for a light bolt rifle: Tikka T3 and don't look back. That's if you want to stick with a factory rifle rather than custom. The T3 is the best factory option I know of that's reasonably high quality and meets your specs.
Ok, did not know bolt guns were in play. Easy: 260 or creedmore if you are really playing out to 400 yards, 7mm08 or 308 if not. Many lightweight options. (Howa, tikka, etc)
If you want an AR in that weight range, then grendel is your best option.
Willing to go heavier for an autoloader, then AR-10 in 260 or creedmore.
6.5mm has optimal exterior ballistics in the 100-120g weight range that I'd be looking for. Some great bullets that just flat out work well. And some excellent cartridges to use them.
Pick a platform, and the cartridge choice becomes clear.
Since this is m4c, I'd lean toward grendel in an m4 format. It works well on hogs. But I'd go heavier (308 sized case) if the majority if of my shots would be 300+
Also make sure to really examine hog kill zones. It's not where most people assume. (Very different from deer)
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This is what you need! The Steyr Scout rifle in .308 weighs 6.6lbs. Back when I bought mine they had the threaded barrel versions. I'm not sure about that now. I added some weight to mine with a Leupold VX-R Patrol riflescope and a SilencerCo Omega suppressor.
SamM
42368
42367
tigershilone
11-11-16, 22:20
Gonna have problems with threading for the lightweight non factory threaded barrels on a lot of bolt guns, the muzzle tapers leave little meat to thread into for 5/8-24 threads.
A tikka ctr bold gun with 308 and a factory threaded barrel will weigh in at 7.5 lbs before anything is added. Both the MDT stock above and the KRG x-ray chasssis have the night vision bridge mount available.
http://www.tikka.fi/rifles/tikka-t3/t3-compact-tactical-rifle
https://kineticresearchgroup.com/product/x-ray-chassis/ https://kineticresearchgroup.com/product/invr/
https://mdttac.com/lss-chassis-system.html https://mdttac.com/night-vision-hood-xl.html
Larue's Predatar weights in at 7.75lbs bare, but has threaded barrel and semi-auto capability and no need for separate nv mount http://www.larue.com/16inch-larue-tactical-predatar-762#panel2
You need the Steyr Scout in .308. I know that I posted this before but my rifle comes in at right around 8lbs with (2) magazines of ammo, a Magpul sling, Steyr thread adapter, SilencerCo ASB flash hider, Leupold QRW rings and Leupold VX-R 3-9X Patrol rifle scope. It has plenty of rail left for NV or the new Leupold LTO Thermal Imager that I am looking at purchasing.
SamM
43326
Im looking for a light weight hunting rifle for hog hunts that I can carry around. This needs to be for longer range 400+ yrds night hunts.
My Ar-15 just doesn't have enough firepower for DRT
I have a bolt action 308 and 338 Lapua for long range but they weigh 13 and 17 pounds and are too heavy. The weight adds up with a scope, clip on, suppressor, ir laser, ir light, bipod and sling. I am glad I didnt go with the Barrett 82A1 which is 29lbs. I would hate to lug that around.
Here is the catch, the gun needs to accept a clip on NV setup in front of the scope.
Bolt action or semi is fine. I also want it in a large enough caliber for one shot drops.
Am I dreaming or is there something out there thats close to 6 lbs that fills my needs that I am not aware of. My first thought was a Scar 17.
Howa Mini Action in 6.5 Grendel. Then drop in Chassis system by MPA with front NV rail.
Will finish about 7lbs.
A top tier Savage would work.
I'm confused about the need for a light rifle. Hog hunting in my part of the world does not involve walking whether it's day or night.
I live and hunt in the mountains. I have a Kimber Classic American 7 mm-08. Just over 5 pounds. With a scope, it's still pretty light.
Recoil is tame. It's soft shooting.
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Check out
http://www.wildriverranch.net/
Last I knew, they were using 6.8SPC with TSX bullets to great effect.
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