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16-18 inch shorty rifles

:ROFLMAO::ROFLMAO::ROFLMAO:

Duffy and Shrubjr, glad I could help with your rifle choices! Yeah, that girl has some years and miles on her. Its going to be time to re-barrel. I hate to do it since it has a very strong sentimental value to me and a few others around me.
 
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I wanna do an 18.5" 6.5CM one day for hunting with a suppressor but then I'll never be able to post in this thread since the title says 16-18...
The struggle is real!

😂😂😂
You won’t miss a half you won’t miss a whole.

My new shorty rifle. Robert’s Precision 6.5 CM, Old school 591, 17 1/2” Bartlein, McWoody HTG, Surgeon DBM, Badger rail, and a Montana Gun Sling. The Jewel and S&B are just passing through.
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Dropped one of my old beater gun show 7mm Mausers off at the gunsmith today... here soon it will be an 18" shorty... Love that cartridge. Wish it had never fallen out of favor. I think a lot of the newer rounds are just different ways of doing what it can do. Imagine the 7mm Mauser if development had continued into today, with the better powders, and 7mm bullets, fired in newer designed rifles...
 
18' Tikka 6BR - 87gr Vmax @ 2850fps and 105gr Bergers @ 2690fps. 8.2lb as pictured

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Nice, my smith has two 6mm barrels to cut an 18" BRA to run the 87gr VLD and a "long" 22" carbon fiber barrel to run 95, 105 or 108s for hunting. I like your velocity on the 87 grainers!

That an AG composite stock? They seem to make the prettiest expose CF stocks I have seen.
 
Nice, my smith has two 6mm barrels to cut an 18" BRA to run the 87gr VLD and a "long" 22" carbon fiber barrel to run 95, 105 or 108s for hunting. I like your velocity on the 87 grainers!

That an AG composite stock? They seem to make the prettiest expose CF stocks I have seen.
Have you seen a paradigm carbon stock?
 
My new night hunting rig.

Factory Tikka 243 chopped to 16.5”, pictured with my TBAC Ultra 7 and Bering Optics Super Hogster. Plan to upgrade the stock eventually to something carbon fiber, or perhaps a chassis that allows short LOP for use with the thermal.
 

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My new night hunting rig.

Factory Tikka 243 chopped to 16.5”, pictured with my TBAC Ultra 7 and Bering Optics Super Hogster. Plan to upgrade the stock eventually to something carbon fiber, or perhaps a chassis that allows short LOP for use with the thermal.
Sweet. How’s the velocity on the 243? I’ve got a tikka 308 chopped to 16.5. Super handy. Just need a YHM resonator K
 
Sweet. How’s the velocity on the 243? I’ve got a tikka 308 chopped to 16.5. Super handy. Just need a YHM resonator K

Haven’t checked yet but I plan to next weekend, I’m gonna run some handloads with 65gr Nosler ballistics tips through it and see how it does. May play with some 58gr and 75gr vmax’s too.
 
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My new night hunting rig.

Factory Tikka 243 chopped to 16.5”, pictured with my TBAC Ultra 7 and Bering Optics Super Hogster. Plan to upgrade the stock eventually to something carbon fiber, or perhaps a chassis that allows short LOP for use with the thermal.
How do you like the Super Hogster? Thinking about getting one on order.
 
Nice, my smith has two 6mm barrels to cut an 18" BRA to run the 87gr VLD and a "long" 22" carbon fiber barrel to run 95, 105 or 108s for hunting. I like your velocity on the 87 grainers!

That an AG composite stock? They seem to make the prettiest expose CF stocks I have seen.
It's amazing what can be done with ~30 grains of powder out of such an efficient case. The stock is made by Hi-Tec Composites in New Zealand. I know Hardy Rifle uses them on their custom builds
 
How do you like the Super Hogster? Thinking about getting one on order.

It’s pretty awesome how compact and light it is, easy to use handheld and on the gun.

Optically looks very good to me but all I’ve compared it to is an AGM TS25 monocular and a Trijicon Mk35. It has a lot more detail than the AGM and obviously far less than the Trijicon.

I think they’ve built a reputation as a good middle of the road thermal though.
 
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I see that you have a car axle of a 223 barrel as well. I’ll have to share a photo of mine when I get the new chassis in.
Haha yes wasn’t meant to be finished so extreme but I just went with it. Was originally 26” but did my back in haha.


Does it even move when shot?
Not much 😂.


At first glance that looked integrally suppressed. Well done.
Not here in Australia mate....no chance!
 
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Just finished up my hunting rifle build and I have to say, it's got me pretty excited.

Tikka T3x action, 6.5 C 17" X-caliber carbon fiber barrel. KRG X-ray chassis. I went with a Burris RT15 for some significant weight savings over quite a few other ffp scopes. It had the features I wanted so I'm excited to try it out.

It weighs in at 9lbs 7oz w/out bipod, TBAC and mag. Looking forward to next fall!
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That’s rad.
Thanks mate. It’s a shooter. 1:8 twist. 77gr Berger’s or SMKs are it’s favourites. Those Ultimatum actions are great...once you work through a couple minor issues. Action is bedded (that’s one of them). MDT ACC is 3 inches shorter now. Triggertech special. March 3-24x42 on top. Probably should have written this on original post. 🤣
 
Thanks mate. It’s a shooter. 1:8 twist. 77gr Berger’s or SMKs are it’s favourites. Those Ultimatum actions are great...once you work through a couple minor issues. Action is bedded (that’s one of them). MDT ACC is 3 inches shorter now. Triggertech special. March 3-24x42 on top. Probably should have written this on original post. 🤣

I noticed that. Just curious, what you cut it with? Bandsaw?
 
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I noticed that. Just curious, what you cut it with? Bandsaw?
Mate gunsmith did it while doing few other bits and bobs but yeah that’ll work, straight forward job. Little front plate on chassis screws off with Allen key screws, then just cut down to desired length. so designed to be able to shorten by the looks of it. Cheers.
 
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Sweet. How’s the velocity on the 243? I’ve got a tikka 308 chopped to 16.5. Super handy. Just need a YHM resonator K

Got my first coyote with the new setup this last weekend. Running 3300 FPS with 58 gr VMAX from the 16.5” 243. Could probably go faster if I wanted as I didn’t have any pressure signs or sticky bolt but I’ll probably leave as is.
 

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Got my first coyote with the new setup this last weekend. Running 3300 FPS with 58 gr VMAX from the 16.5” 243. Could probably go faster if I wanted as I didn’t have any pressure signs or sticky bolt but I’ll probably leave as is.
Nice rig! I have the same table in my gun room. One of my better purchases related to this hobby.
 
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I say go as short as you legally can (16" unless you apply for an SBR in most places) and as short as you can for the distance you want to shoot; in most cases is 16" before it becomes impractical.
I have had a factory barrel cut down crowned and threaded by a local smith and it was about $300.
I wish I just bought a shorter prefit barrel and swapped it my self as I could have sold the old barrel and purchased a new one with a better twist rate. The shorter you go the more likely your gonna want to shoot a heavier bullet to make up some of the lost energy caused by drop in speed, for hunting purposes. If you don't plan on hunting with it, chop it and call it a day.
 
This thread keeps pushing me towards shorter. I've got a .308 24" Savage 11VT barrel I'll be threading for a TBAC can mount and I'm unsure what combination of long can/short can and long barrel/short barrel I want to take it. 24" and an Ultra 9 works well for PRS TAC and other 308 class stuff, but if I ever want to go into the woods for deer or elk I'm certain a Dominus CB on the end of a 16" tube is wildly preferable. Choices...
 
This thread keeps pushing me towards shorter. I've got a .308 24" Savage 11VT barrel I'll be threading for a TBAC can mount and I'm unsure what combination of long can/short can and long barrel/short barrel I want to take it. 24" and an Ultra 9 works well for PRS TAC and other 308 class stuff, but if I ever want to go into the woods for deer or elk I'm certain a Dominus CB on the end of a 16" tube is wildly preferable. Choices...
Go short and load with a hot powder to get some speed back if you need it for comps

I got this rifle assembled for my son for this past deer season.

It started off as a 24 inch .223

I have a Savage model 10 myself (currently has a 26 inch Criterion 6.5CM) and I had picked up some factory take off barrels to play with an ARC Barloc.

I took a factory 24 inch 6.5CM barrel and sent it to @toygunner... he cut it down to 16 inches and rethreaded it. I cut 4 inches off the rear of the stock to get LOP proper for him and reinstalled recoil pad. This is my 9 inch Form1 can. I haven't had the magneetospeed on it to get a velocity yet but it shoots factory Hornady American Whitetail 129gr Interlocks right at 0.5 MOA.

Pic for reference with 16 inch barrel and 9 inch can. This is a VERY compact setup and I love it.

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Man I have enjoyed this thread. All except that it now is going to cost me money. Started ordering for my shorty build. So far the plan...
Manners PRS1 Elite Tommy Bahama with mini chassis
Bighorn Origin SA 6.5cm or maybe 308
TT Diamond
Spuhr Rings
Kahles K318i or K525 undecided sort of but leaning toward the 318 for more compact size.

Only real question I have is on the barrel. Looking for suggestions on 16-18 carbon barrels. Proof lists the shortest at 20. I would like to go below that. Any suggestions would be great. Now to just wait for parts to come in. Figure won’t have it done until late fall.
 
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Man I have enjoyed this thread. All except that it now is going to cost me money. Started ordering for my shorty build. So far the plan...
Manners PRS1 Elite Tommy Bahama with mini chassis
Bighorn Origin SA 6.5cm or maybe 308
TT Diamond
Spuhr Rings
Kahles K318i or K525 undecided sort of but leaning toward the 318 for more compact size.

Only real question I have is on the barrel. Looking for suggestions on 16-18 carbon barrels. Proof lists the shortest at 20. I would like to go below that. Any suggestions would be great. Now to just wait for parts to come in. Figure won’t have it done until late fall.
TS customs has 18” 6.5 benchmark carbons in stock as of a couple weeks ago. Had him use one to spin me up a shorty. My build is similar to yours.

manners eh1a
Lone peak fuzion
18” benchmark carbon
TT special pro curve 2 stage
Hawkins flush dbm
Arc rings
K318i
 
Man I have enjoyed this thread. All except that it now is going to cost me money. Started ordering for my shorty build. So far the plan...
Manners PRS1 Elite Tommy Bahama with mini chassis
Bighorn Origin SA 6.5cm or maybe 308
TT Diamond
Spuhr Rings
Kahles K318i or K525 undecided sort of but leaning toward the 318 for more compact size.

Only real question I have is on the barrel. Looking for suggestions on 16-18 carbon barrels. Proof lists the shortest at 20. I would like to go below that. Any suggestions would be great. Now to just wait for parts to come in. Figure won’t have it done until late fall.
Carbon six is another option, or there’s Oregon mountain gunsmithing. I’m having an 18.5” carbon spun up from them now on an lightweight creedmoor build. Should be just under 6 lbs and hopefully be able to throw up some photos in the next week or two
 
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