Ultralight Ultralight Rifles

180ls1

WKR
Joined
Apr 19, 2020
Messages
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Thanks guys. Yeah, looking back as some of my kills, I 100% would not have been able to shoot some with a red dot. Some of those were great animals and possibly the only shot I had after a week of hard hunting.

I got a really good deal on one of these (12oz). I will try and do a review soon when it arrives and I get behind it.

 

robtattoo

WKR
Joined
Mar 22, 2014
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3,519
Location
Tullahoma, TN
Thanks guys. Yeah, looking back as some of my kills, I 100% would not have been able to shoot some with a red dot. Some of those were great animals and possibly the only shot I had after a week of hard hunting.

I got a really good deal on one of these (12oz). I will try and do a review soon when it arrives and I get behind it.


FB_IMG_1578355225854.jpg

No Rob, if you don't have anything nice to say, don't say anything.
 

JBradley500

Lil-Rokslider
Joined
Feb 15, 2020
Messages
298
Optics are not the place to maximize weight savings on these builds. For self-defense, red dots are great, but for hunting purposes, they don't work well for IDing targets or shooting lanes or antlers, especially in low light.

There's tons of places to save weight on these builds that don't make a lick of difference — a slender barrel, simplistic stock, polymer components, etc. — but by all means, use quality bullets, a good trigger, and a magnified optic. I promise that you will kill more game without ever noticing the weight increase.

magnified optics > red dots > iron sights
That may be true for a lot of people, but where I hunt I have more worries about being over magnified vs. under magnified. I used an LPVO last season and never felt the need to take it off 1x. Of course my shots are all typically 100 yards and in, and most require quick reactions to deer on the move, and that makes me feel that a red dot or 1x prism is about perfect for what I'm doing. It doesn't hurt that i was able to shoot sub 1.5" groups with my red dot too.

I guess my point for my style of hunting is, why should I add 10+ oz on a 3.5 lb rifle when I'm never going to use the magnification anyway?
 

robtattoo

WKR
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Mar 22, 2014
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Tullahoma, TN
You wont hurt my feelings. This is the slide after all...
They're just your usual, run-of-the-mill, cheap, Chiwanese crap. On par with the likes of Barska, Tasco & Nikko-Stirling at the same price point. I wouldn't expect it to survive long. And don't use it if it's humid. Or cold. Or raining. Oddly, Monstrum do make some excellent rings!

I've only ever found one halfway useful optic under $100 & it's the Primary Arms 1-4x24 sfp. I've had these things hold zero on stupid recoiling .458s, spring piston air rifles & at least 1 AR that's fallen off a truck tailgate. I've got 2 on rifles & a spare & each one has at least a few thousand rounds on it, of rounds light to silly calibers. Unfortunately, in this situation, they're as heavy as fuuuuu.... 18+oz, if memory serves.
 

180ls1

WKR
Joined
Apr 19, 2020
Messages
1,165
They're just your usual, run-of-the-mill, cheap, Chiwanese crap. On par with the likes of Barska, Tasco & Nikko-Stirling at the same price point. I wouldn't expect it to survive long. And don't use it if it's humid. Or cold. Or raining. Oddly, Monstrum do make some excellent rings!

I've only ever found one halfway useful optic under $100 & it's the Primary Arms 1-4x24 sfp. I've had these things hold zero on stupid recoiling .458s, spring piston air rifles & at least 1 AR that's fallen off a truck tailgate. I've got 2 on rifles & a spare & each one has at least a few thousand rounds on it, of rounds light to silly calibers. Unfortunately, in this situation, they're as heavy as fuuuuu.... 18+oz, if memory serves.

Yeah, that's kinda what I figured. For $311 it came with an AR and mag so I really didn't have to choice but to buy it lol.


Bear creek barrels are out for delivery today. Hopefully update with weights today.
 

JBradley500

Lil-Rokslider
Joined
Feb 15, 2020
Messages
298
I'll be interested in your accuracy with the BCA barrels. It seems like they're hit or miss.
 

robtattoo

WKR
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Mar 22, 2014
Messages
3,519
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Tullahoma, TN
I should have my Ham'r barrel today! Brass & bullets showed up yesterday. I'm giddy to take my little UL-UL elk hunting this fall.

Got my barrel yesterday. Got around to blanking off the gas port & installing it today & came across an interesting issue.

With the free float nut torqued in place, the bolt wouldn't lock forwards. It'd close, then spring itself back open. It didn't matter how much I forced it (indicating super tight head space & the bolt binding on the breech face) it wouldn't go.
I suspected the opposite; excessive headspace & the locking lugs binding on the lugs in the barrel extension.
I've never seen this before!

I ended up using some 360, 800 & 1200 grit wet & dry on a piece of precision flat stock to polish a couple off thou of the upper receiver threads, setting the barrel back ever so slightly. That fixed her up a treat!

I need to load up a few dummy rounds now & make sure they'll chamber & the bolt locks on them. I may have to shorten a little more yet, we'll have to see.....
 

ChrisAU

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Jan 12, 2018
Messages
6,731
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SE Alabama
I see solo 300 only has 300 BO stuff on his site now, wonder why? Think I’m gonna sell my 10” 350 legend upper/stock if anyone is interested, I want to utilize my SBR’d lower elsewhere.
 
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T

Thegman

WKR
Joined
Nov 21, 2015
Messages
720
The 3 bear creek 16" all came in.

All 3 were 1.06lbs individually, so =16.96oz
That's really interesting. A kind of proof of concept on how light a 223 barrel can be. Imagine a non-threaded, unported barrel with no gas journal with the same profile. Would likely be under 16 oz.

Can you take some measurements of the barrel diameters. I'm curious how far it's turned down.
 
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T

Thegman

WKR
Joined
Nov 21, 2015
Messages
720
Got my barrel yesterday. Got around to blanking off the gas port & installing it today & came across an interesting issue.

With the free float nut torqued in place, the bolt wouldn't lock forwards. It'd close, then spring itself back open. It didn't matter how much I forced it (indicating super tight head space & the bolt binding on the breech face) it wouldn't go.
I suspected the opposite; excessive headspace & the locking lugs binding on the lugs in the barrel extension.
I've never seen this before!

I ended up using some 360, 800 & 1200 grit wet & dry on a piece of precision flat stock to polish a couple off thou of the upper receiver threads, setting the barrel back ever so slightly. That fixed her up a treat!

I need to load up a few dummy rounds now & make sure they'll chamber & the bolt locks on them. I may have to shorten a little more yet, we'll have to see.....
Yeah, that is pretty weird. Sounds like the barrel extension was a little out of spec. Maybe some tolerance stacking with the bolt??

My last 300 HAM’R barrel had more headspace than my other two HAM’R barrels (on the long side of the headspace specs - the other two are close to minimum). Was a little excessive using the same bolt I used with my other two HAM’R barrels. One of my spare bolts was minimal headspace and evened things out.
 

180ls1

WKR
Joined
Apr 19, 2020
Messages
1,165
That's really interesting. A kind of proof of concept on how light a 223 barrel can be. Imagine a non-threaded, unported barrel with no gas journal with the same profile. Would likely be under 16 oz.

Can you take some measurements of the barrel diameters. I'm curious how far it's turned down.

Unfortunately, I do not have the tools to do that. I'll update should I come across some.
 

180ls1

WKR
Joined
Apr 19, 2020
Messages
1,165
I see solo 300 only has 300 BO stuff on his site now, wonder why? Think I’m gonna sell my 10” 350 legend upper/stock if anyone is interested, I want to utilize my SBR’d lower elsewhere.

Shoot me the details, please.
 

David Walter

FNG
Classified Approved
Joined
Sep 30, 2015
Messages
61
I have a folding Sig pistol brace, the kind that lands on a picatinny rear attachment. I want to take the rubber sides off and replace them with the farrow Sig PCB brace to stock conversion piece.

No install instructions were included.

Anyway to do this without destroying the factory rubber parts?

 
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