Down the Practical Hole

[Borderland]

People can get mighty comfy with dots and scopes. I know I have. I keep an old Inland carbine around just to hone my skill with irons.

I believe the 6.5 CM has gained it's popularity as a hunting cartridge. That's probably the reason most rifles have 20-24" barrels.

You might want to change your cartridge spec if you want more options with an 18" barrel. That's typically a carbine length barrel.

[Borderland]

It’s no coincidence that we have so many threads about this, or how long some of these continue to get. The fact is, the rifle 95% of us would buy simply doesn’t exist is factory form. If it did, we’d likely all have one.

As such, we’re stuck making concessions on current offerings. We each have our own purposes and priorities, so the concessions change from person to person. Some give on features, others give on cost, most give on both to some extent. I went down this rabbit hole and ended up with a Tikka T3x CTR in .308, making concessions on barrel length and weight.

Ive enjoyed the tread and the blog posts. Looking forward to seeing how it all shakes out.

I think that checked most of my boxes also but I don't hunt anymore and don't have access to a rifle range past 200 yds. So I never purchased one. Nice rifle tho.

[Sensei]

I lost track of this thread, but are we still on a budget? If not, the Q the Fix in 6.5 with a sixteen inch barrel seems to check about every box Jeff Cooper would have been interested in.

I looked very hard today at The Fix in both 308 and 6.5 for a compact hiking gun. It is light, compact, accurate, and reasonably priced compared to many alternatives. My biggest hang up was the fact that, while backed by some serious industry talent, the gun is new and I’ve sworn off being a beta tester. I suppose the newness partially explains some reported teething issues that have been discussed on the Hide, especially in 6.5CM. Another worry is parts availability from what amounts to a boutique firearms manufacturer. Finally, shooting .308 for more than about 20 rounds from a 6lb gun with a thin stock is a real, real bitch; shooting a lot of 6.5CM from 16 inches and 6lbs may be better but still not exactly fun. I bet that 8 lbs would be the ideal sweet spot for The Fix in 308.

So, I was left with a couple other option - namely the Surgeon Concealable Sniper Sniper rifle built on the AXAICS chassis and the Barrett MRAD. I’m not sure that I trust what is coming out of Surgeon these days, which leaves the MRAD. Some may say that the MRAD is more of a heavy sniper rifle and I’m inclined to agree in terms of the long action calibers. However, the 17” 308 MRAD is actually pretty handy. Both it, the Surgeon CSR, and The Fix are roughly the same length folded and extended (30 vs. 38”). The Barrett at 11.7 lbs is almost 2X The Fix and 3lbs heavier than the SCAR 17S or SR-25 16”, but about 1/2lb lighter than the Surgeon. This is not an unreasonable starting weight.

Just before typing this, I found a new MRAD 308 with 17” heavy barrel on gunbroker for $4200; that’s $1800 less than MSRP and about $1K less than anything I’ve ever seen anywhere. I’m thinking that someone accidentally listed the buy now and starting bids at the same price. Anyone else wanting to jump on this can look on GB as there is another listed at the same buy now price by the same seller who has an A+ rating with hundreds of votes.

Next up is deciding on which glass...

[Sensei]

Well, the glass issue may have gotten solved pretty quick. I just won an open display model NF BEAST for $2600 on a GB penny auction. What looked to be a $10K rifle + optic hole is significantly shallower at $6.5K

I’m not 100% sure that I’ll use the BEAST on the MRAD since the rifle weight will be pushing 14.5 lbs (11.7lb rifle + 3lb optic and mount). However, I hate switching optics between rifles, so I’ll see how it feels as I open carry it to work at the hospital...

[OlongJohnson]

...compact hiking gun.

I don't see the connection between the quoted words and almost anything else you wrote. But that's just me.

[Sensei]

I don't see the connection between the quoted words and almost anything else you wrote. But that's just me.

Look at it this way: the practical rifle hole isn’t just and endless pit to throw your money. It’s also has a gravitational pull that bends all reason and sanity.

People go in thinking they are going to spend $2-4K on a collapsible 308 or 6.5CM and optic that weighs a combined 8-10lbs, only to come out writing gibberish about a modular sniper system that costs $8K and weighs 13lbs. BUT, it does collapse though - and that reality cannot be denied.

[OlongJohnson]

I can see the attraction to the MRAD, but https://barrett.net/firearms/mrad says it weighs 13.28 lb in .308. That's more than two Tikka T3 Lites, which are superbly accurate rifles. Cut the Tikka barrel to 18 inches and put it in a compact stock, and it's probably kissing 6 lb without glass. I just can't figure out what any possible use case for a 15-lb rifle has to do with hiking.

The first AR I put together was 5 lb, 10 oz as a flattop with the buttstock, and I wasn't even trying to make it uber-light, just chose light components where there was a choice. If I wanted a foldable tactical-looking rifle in a caliber bigger than 5.56 to stuff in a pack while hiking, I'd go with an AR in 6.8 or whatever preferred 6.5 cartridge applied and a foldable buffer tube setup. SBR for more shortness, as long as it's legal where you're hiking.

[Sensei]

I can see the attraction to the MRAD, but https://barrett.net/firearms/mrad says it weighs 13.28 lb in .308. That's more than two Tikka T3 Lites, which are superbly accurate rifles. Cut the Tikka barrel to 18 inches and put it in a compact stock, and it's probably kissing 6 lb without glass. I just can't figure out what any possible use case for a 15-lb rifle has to do with hiking.

The first AR I put together was 5 lb, 10 oz as a flattop with the buttstock, and I wasn't even trying to make it uber-light, just chose light components where there was a choice. If I wanted a foldable tactical-looking rifle in a caliber bigger than 5.56 to stuff in a pack while hiking, I'd go with an AR in 6.8 or whatever preferred 6.5 cartridge applied and a foldable buffer tube setup. SBR for more shortness, as long as it's legal where you're hiking.

The 17” barrel MRAD is 11.7 lbs (https://barrett.net/pdf/products/MRA...12925-REVB.pdf). The 22” barrel 308 MRAD is 12.5lbs. I don’t have a precision bolt gun that collapses into a backpack until now. As far as dimensions go, the 17” 308 MRAD and Q’s The Fix are very similar at roughly 30” folded and 38” extended; they will both tuck away nicely in my Eberlestock’s scabbard. The difference is 6lbs of weight and about an inch of thickness.

I plan to revisit The Fix in a couple of years once they have an established track record. It would likely go nicely with a NF 4-16X42 F1 ATACR. I’ll then bump up the MRAD to 338 Norma or 300 PRC with just a barrel and bolt head swap.

[OlongJohnson]

Well, now you got me thinking again. That thinking stuff is dangerous, and can be expensive.

https://www.taylorsfirearms.com/long...2-alaskan.html

[Sensei]

Here you go:


It is +/- 2 inches from a 16” LMT MWS depending on if the stock is folded or extended:




I’l get an official weight tomorrow, but I’m guessing 3-4 lbs heavier than the MWS in their current optic setup.