Hey all - could use some words of wisdom from the community.
Backstory - looking to do my first ever 'custom' rifle build. This will be as much of a one all be all rifle (yea yea I know it's never your only rifle) in most aspects. It will be used here in Colorado for elk, deer, and pronghorn in the rocky mountain backcountry. My goals are to build a nice light weight rifle in .308 to run suppressed at all times. My realistic expectation is a 400-500 yard MAX shot. I try to practice smart shooting/placement in the backcountry. If I find myself wanting to take longer shots I will simply build another long range rifle for that.
I've been in contact with Alamo Precision who has been extremely helpful. I will be going with them on this build. I will most likely be going with their 'APR Classic Hunter' for a spruced up classic style hunting rifle. I do like the appeal and classic looks.
I will be using the McMillan APR Hunter stock they provide along with Defiance Anti action, and Proof Research (most likely) carbon wrapped barrel. This will hopefully net me a sub 7.5 lb rifle without optic and suppressor. Hoping to stay under 10 lbs all in (optic, suppressor mounted, loaded).
My biggest hang up right now is selecting barrel length with the suppressor. They have in stock a 16.5" Sendero Lite barrel and I could have this build on it's way fairly quick. My gut is telling me to go with an 18-20" barrel but maybe that's just misinformation. I know I won't lose a ton of velocity only going 2-4" shorter? I do have a Ruger Gunsite Scout in left hand .308 that I was actually going to use before I decided to go custom. That has a 16.1" barrel on it - so I'm not sure why now I have such reservations about barrel length. It's probably because the cost of this build is going to far exceed the cost of my Ruger. I just want to make sure I'm going about this right the first time around.
Any insight or recommendations would be extremely appreciated. Furthermore - if there is anything about this build that you would do differently, I'm all ears as well. Thanks
Backstory - looking to do my first ever 'custom' rifle build. This will be as much of a one all be all rifle (yea yea I know it's never your only rifle) in most aspects. It will be used here in Colorado for elk, deer, and pronghorn in the rocky mountain backcountry. My goals are to build a nice light weight rifle in .308 to run suppressed at all times. My realistic expectation is a 400-500 yard MAX shot. I try to practice smart shooting/placement in the backcountry. If I find myself wanting to take longer shots I will simply build another long range rifle for that.
I've been in contact with Alamo Precision who has been extremely helpful. I will be going with them on this build. I will most likely be going with their 'APR Classic Hunter' for a spruced up classic style hunting rifle. I do like the appeal and classic looks.
I will be using the McMillan APR Hunter stock they provide along with Defiance Anti action, and Proof Research (most likely) carbon wrapped barrel. This will hopefully net me a sub 7.5 lb rifle without optic and suppressor. Hoping to stay under 10 lbs all in (optic, suppressor mounted, loaded).
My biggest hang up right now is selecting barrel length with the suppressor. They have in stock a 16.5" Sendero Lite barrel and I could have this build on it's way fairly quick. My gut is telling me to go with an 18-20" barrel but maybe that's just misinformation. I know I won't lose a ton of velocity only going 2-4" shorter? I do have a Ruger Gunsite Scout in left hand .308 that I was actually going to use before I decided to go custom. That has a 16.1" barrel on it - so I'm not sure why now I have such reservations about barrel length. It's probably because the cost of this build is going to far exceed the cost of my Ruger. I just want to make sure I'm going about this right the first time around.
Any insight or recommendations would be extremely appreciated. Furthermore - if there is anything about this build that you would do differently, I'm all ears as well. Thanks