Kimber Hunter in 6.5 Creedmoor - Let the Project Begin!

[Ndbowhunter]

Any super lightweight xps foam spanned side to side will work.

EPS is okay but it's not hydrophobic like XPS

 

[BigWoods]

Any super lightweight xps foam spanned side to side will work.

EPS is okay but it's not hydrophobic like XPS

I believe I used a polyurethane foam, cut to size. Works well.

 

[424hunter]

Just got back from the range, the Hunter 6.5 felt great with the weight reduction, I don't have another rifle close to this cal or weight but I would say it felt and handled like a .243 IMO. No real vibration or extra noise. Love it!!!! Now just need to work up some loads for Sheep.

 

[mt100gr.]

Here's a teaser. I need to shoot it some before I post up how I got that 4oz piece of metal. Mine never was a tack driver so it can't be any worse. I went stubby.

 

[424hunter]

4 inches?????????............... The suspense is killin me

 

[EastMT]

That looks like more than 4”, 16.5”??


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[424hunter]

Ndbowhunter cut his 3" @ 2.5oz, so I'm gonna change my guess to closer to 6"

 

[mt100gr.]

I cut off 4.5 inches. It finished at about 17.25. I'm shooting it quick right now and it's certainly as good or better than before I chopped it. That makes me happy!! I will post up later a more detailed 'how I did it' but here's a picture of my DIY crown job. All up, unloaded, it weighs 5lbs 11oz. It's definitely a different animal being so light.I believe the potential is there though,
As it shot better than it ever has. I just need to shoot it a bunch to work on my lightweight rifle skills.

 

[424hunter]

I cut off 4.5 inches. It finished at about 17.25. I'm shooting it quick right now and it's certainly as good or better than before I chopped it. That makes me happy!! I will post up later a more detailed 'how I did it' but here's a picture of my DIY crown job. All up, unloaded, it weighs 5lbs 11oz. It's definitely a different animal being so light.I believe the potential is there though,
As it shot better than it ever has. I just need to shoot it a bunch to work on my lightweight rifle skills. View attachment 92869

Should have stayed with my original guess, hahahah. Nice that it shoots better, maybe just a re-crown is all it needed??? Keep us posted on the accuracy.

 

[TonySkyline]

Looking good!!!

 

[MuleyFever]

Could one cut an inch off the back of the stock and reattach the recoil pad pretty easily on one of these?

 

[mt100gr.]

I was never all that enamored with my hunter. It shot ok, was pretty lightweight, etc. I bought it entirely on impulse and it served me well in the role I had intended for it. I dabbled a bit with trying to shave the ounces but never went all-in as the interest just wasn't there. The same goes for handloading for it - it shot factory ammo good enough for what I decided I would do with it.

Then, the above post of all the stock goo coming out so easily got me tracking again. Winter projects are fun (and necessary ).

I popped the stock filler out in one fell swoop and set it on the scale. Good.

Then I read ndbowhunter's post about the hack saw. What the hell, barrels are a wear-item, right? Worst case, I figured, I could just sell the action and the stock and move on.

I have a handful of shop tools at my disposal and have been a "functional fabricator " out of necessity. I can make metal do what I need it to. So I decided I was going to chop that rifle.

I started out by taping the barrel and wrapping it in 2 places on either side of the cut to make 3 locations of equal diameter. Theoretically, this would make my cut square to the bore despite the taper.Those are marked with x's.

Then I cut down a piece of angle iron to serve as a jig that would allow my chop saw's clamp to hold the barrel and the jig tight against the fence of the saw. I added a notch for the blade so the wheel would only be cutting the barrel. Chop.

With a short barrel in the vise, I cleaned up the outer edge first with a metal file. Just rounded the shoulder evenly to my liking.

I roughed in a recessed crown with a large metal bit.

To finish the crown, I used a carriage bolt with very coarse sand paper wrapped around the the rounded bolt head. It cleaned up pretty fast and I used finer and finer grit paper as I achieved the surface I was after.

I'm no gunsmith, and to be fair, I performed the same steps on a 9/16 machine bolt the day before just to see if my plan was feasible. I drilled out a "bore" and crowned that with no hiccups so why not?

Between the stock filler and losing 4 1/2 inches of barrel, I dropped over 12 ounces for zero dollars. As it sits, with a 3-9×40 Nikon (unloaded), it weighs exactly 5lbs 11oz. I'm good with that and it shoots as well or better than it ever has, though I am sure my velocity will be down a fair bit. And now I have a tentative plan to start load development for it as well!

 

[SkunkCabbage]

…

 

[424hunter]

Question, how tight are you guys torquing your actions screws and in what order for the best accuracy?

The answer to this question is all over the place on other forums and never the same answer.

 

[mtwarden]

older thread, but not too old

Question, how tight are you guys torquing your actions screws and in what order for the best accuracy?

The answer to this question is all over the place on other forums and never the same answer.

from what I've found 45 inch/lbs front, 35 rear- probably a good idea to tighten both at the same time- incrementally- finishing with the front

just started on my .308 Hunter- 5 lbs 7 oz out of the box, my smith lopped off 3" of barrel resulting in

roughly 0.7 oz/inch of barrel; weight loss wasn't the goal here- just a handier rifle backpacking

added a Ti bolt handle- weighs roughly half of the stainless stock one (looks pretty decent too )

 

[BigWoods]

Since the hosting sight I originally used dumped the pictures of my completed rifle, I figured I should repost it:

I'm planning to go after the silicone in the pistol grip area to bring off a few more ounces before hunting season. I'll post results soon!

 

[mtwarden]

^ Nice!

Well I attacked the silicone gel this afternoon; I used WD40 as a lubricant and a combination of a long, thin screwdriver and a butterknife to work the edges. I couldn't get the big piece to come out with the screwdriver, so I used a 1/2" wood bit to screw into the gel and the pull it. I still fought for a long time and then finally decided to remove the rear swivel stud (it sticks up a lot!) and then voila popped right out, the grip piece came out pretty easy w/ the drill bit

weight of my stock before gel removal

after, a full 9 oz

 

[oenanthe]

23 oz.? Wow. My Montana 84m stock weighs 25 oz. Add another ounce for the trigger guard. And another 2.5 oz. for the mag box, spring, and follower. So 28.5 oz. total.

How much does the Hunter magazine weigh?

 

[kad11]

^ Nice!

Well I attacked the silicone gel this afternoon; I used WD40 as a lubricant and a combination of a long, thin screwdriver and a butterknife to work the edges. I couldn't get the big piece to come out with the screwdriver, so I used a 1/2" wood bit to screw into the gel and the pull it. I still fought for a long time and then finally decided to remove the rear swivel stud (it sticks up a lot!) and then voila popped right out, the grip piece came out pretty easy w/ the drill bit

weight of my stock before gel removal

after, a full 9 oz

Any idea what your velocity loss was with the barrel chop?

 

[mtwarden]

23 oz.? Wow. My Montana 84m stock weighs 25 oz. Add another ounce for the trigger guard. And another 2.5 oz. for the mag box, spring, and follower. So 28.5 oz. total.

How much does the Hunter magazine weigh?

2.7 oz for the Hunter box magazine

Any idea what your velocity loss was with the barrel chop?

for a 168 gr bullet, 65 feet (22" vs 19")- it's not a lot, much less than I would have thought

https://rifleshooter.com/2014/12/30...ato-barrel-length-versus-velocity-28-to-16-5/