hey ash, thanks for starting this thread. My wife got her first taste of venison at a get together we went to the other day and basically told me I need to start hunting again (something I gave up after my deployments). With that stated I have been watching this thread closely as I will be buying a 308 bolt gun in the near future..
Hey man, glad it's helpful to you. Were it not for wanting the ability to suppress, I would have forgone the heavy barrel I think. Even so, though, it's not that bad. I am looking into different sling options, though. Carrying a precision rifle slung over one shoulder, muzzle up is not an easy thing to do. The weight of the barrel makes it want to fall backwards and you have to keep one hand pulling down/forward on the sling to keep the rifle on your shoulder.Originally Posted by breakingtime91
A .308 bolt gun just has a charm and elegance to it that I find hard to overlook.
Food Court Apprentice
Semper Paratus certified AR15 armorer
Have you tried carrying it muzzle down?
I haven't tried with a heavier gun, but for sporters its the primary way I carry one slung. They are usually in hand though.
Yeah, the weight thing doesn't seem to make much sense to me. You can get a bolt gun really light, of course (cf stock/cf barrel/Ti action), but I don't see most bolt guns being lighter than the 7.5 lbs of a decently light AR10 (which is just about exactly what most Remington 700s weigh). The chunkyness, I can see especially if you are packing a 3-5 round bolt gun and a 20-25 round gas gun magazine.
LB for LB, you use up more of your weight and bulk with a gas gun on the receivers than you do on a bolt gun. Thus, you can get a longer and heavier barrel with a bolt gun for the same weight/overall length of a gas gun.
Food Court Apprentice
Semper Paratus certified AR15 armorer
A NULA/Forbes 20B weighs just over five pounds with a kevlar stock, steel action, and 21" #2 contour steel barrel. Lightweight ARs usually have a very thin contour 16" barrel to cut weight. The NULA/Forbes is more than two pounds lighter and has a longer and thicker barrel.
My wife and I each have a NULA .260 for sheep hunting. They are accurate but don't seem built tough enough. My buddy broke the bolt handle on two with his. I built my model 70 based .260, because while only a pound heavier than the NULA, I would not hesitate to shoot 500 or 1000 rounds in a course with it, shoot practical rifle competition or fight with it.
Likes pretty much everything in every caliber.
Here is the much beefier, but still lightweight model 70 based .260:
Likes pretty much everything in every caliber.
Have you ever shot for groups with a bolt gun versus a gas gun? There's a very common issue with first round "fliers" (not really too far off but noticeably different POI) on the first round out of AR pattern rifles, especially the AR10/SR25 pattern rifles. Most think it has something to do with how the first round is chambered. The consensus across SnipersHide is that "gas guns are harder to shoot well." That's mainly in regard to groups and tactical long range matches so for hunting, it's not quite as big of deal.
Also, bolt guns are much easier to get a nice low prone position on. If you haven't tried both, do so, and really try to bear down and shoot some tight groups. There's no doubt in my mind which one will shoot better and be cheaper at the same time.
#RESIST
I don't think the consensus is that they are harder to shoot well, it is that they are harder to shoot for extreme accuracy as consistently. If your trying to make bughole groups, yes a bolt gun seems to be more forgiving. But from a practicality perspective, what shooting equations aren't solved by a sub moa rifle? Is there a practical difference between .9 moa, .7 moa, .2 moa outside of ELR? In my humble opinion I don't see the first shot issue. And that is not an issue reserved for the gas gun. The one that does seem to be related to gas guns is the last shot as the rifle recoils differently from the bolt locking back. So if Im shooting a 5 round group, I load 6 in the mag. I'm an ok precision rifle shooter, I just like it a lot. And I manage to hover around the .8's with my gas guns and sometimes drop into the .4's and below. Good enough for me.
Only group I fired for the day from an OBR 16" with factory Corbon 175's. 5 shots, 100 yds.
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