Tikka Lite in 7-08 or 30-06 or some manageable caliber, buy almost whatever scope you want and you will come in under $3k.

Good to see the love for Christensen Arms.... They make a damn nice rifle. I've shot several in 6.5 Creedmoor and 300 WinMag

I picked up a Ridgeline over the weekend. Black/gray stock in 308 with a 20" barrel. Under 6.3# without optics.

Christensen Arms Ridgeline

(I have two Remington 700's and a Ruger American Ranch on the "cash" rack at my LGS now....)

you guys with Christensens...how do they shoot? I ask because I have been at two different ranges recently where two different people with them were getting really terrible accuracy (3MOA or worse), I always liked/wanted one so was surprised to see that. Believe both were 300WM though so maybe the problem was behind the recoil pad

I don't own one, but I've seen varying accuracy reports. Enough to give me pause on a CA rifle, and specifically carbon fiber wrapped barrels.

texrover91 said:

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Who's your gunsmith?

TIA

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Just saw this...

My first build (.260) was with Russell from Scout Supply Company. He used to post on texags OB as SSC. I'm not sure he's still in the business of building rifles. He built an amazing rifle though, I hope he gets back into it.

My second build (30-06) was with Marc of Triple C Shooting out Whitesboro.

Man that looks like Christmas.

Thank you - might reach out to 3C

First group from my Barrett Fieldcraft 6.5 Creedmoor. Factory Hornady 147gr ELDMs at 110 yards in a nice 10-15mph crosswind. .76" measured with calipers. This was my first time shooting a bolt gun from a bench in at least 5 years. After some quick adjustments I made shots on steel from 400 out to 605 yards. The 605 hits were a first round hit on a steel coyote in a sitting position and a 3rd round hit on a steel bowling pin. I messed up my windage adjustment on the 2nd shot, so it likely would've been a 2nd round hit if I'd done my part.



Bare rifle weight:




It gets heavier when you add a boat anchor scope to it, but it's still easy to carry and the ability to accurately dial and have a zero stop is worth it.



Did just fine snap shooting a pronghorn at 200yds too. His head was still up after a hit to the lungs so I head shot him from a sitting position using my pack as a rest to finish it.

I'd love a 3 position safety that locked the bolt like a kimber, but it's hard to argue with 5.25lb rifle that shoots this well with factory ammo and an inexperienced trigger puller. Only thing Ireally plan to change is switching scopes if someone decides to make a lighter FFP scope with a useful reticle and reliable dialing with a zero stop.

The scope you want is called the Leupold Mk5 3-18.

Puryear Playboy said:

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The scope you want is called the Leupold Mk5 3-18.

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It costs more, weighs the same, and none of the reticles look like they would be better for hunting than the bushnell 3-12 I have now. Add in a 35mm tube size that would require me to completely redo my mounting setup and it is a hard pass. I keep looking at a NF 2.5-10x42, but am holding out hope that NF will expand on the NX8 line with something like a 2-16 with a larger objective. I've even toyed with the idea of putting an NX8 1-8 on the rifle, but the .2mrad turrets and reports of so so performance at 8x have kept me away. It would drop a half pound off the rifle though.

Your absolutely correct about the scopes.

That 3-12 LRHS you have is the best thing out there. What you're looking for is the unicorn of scopes:

1) Dead nuts reliable tracking and RTZ
2) mid range variable power
3) zero stop elevation
4) capped wind knob
5) tree reticle with duplex center for hunting
6) under 20oz

LRHS does it all, but not the weight. I've got my eyes on Nightforce and Tangent Theta to knock the LRHS off the top. No ones done it yet. NForce got close with the NXS 2-10 with Mil Dot, but they discontinued that scope.

I keep waiting for SWFA to rework their "2.5-10x32 ultralight" to have a milquad but it doesn't seem to be a priority. Otherwise the best lightweight hunting scope options seem to still be the 2.5-8x36 vx3 and the nf 2.5-10x42, but the NF is really not very light...

Yeah, but that weight penalty comes from reliability. I wouldn't dare try dialing with the VX3. The return to zero is a disaster.

SWFA could def take their SS line and offer a SS hunter. Heck, just take the 3-9SS and cap the wind knob. That's a step in the right direction.

Nice write up - thank you

I haven't really found a bullet my 6.5C doesn't like, but 140's seems to be a sweet spot for mine.

yeah I am definitely not dialing with a vx3, I like reticles/holdovers better on hunting rifles anyway. The weight penalty on the NF is huge. The 2.5-8x36 vx3 is 11.4oz, the 2.5-10x42 NXS (I realize this is an entirely different animal) is 20.5oz. 3-9x42 SS is similar weight to the NF

I recently bought a fairly lightweight rifle that came with a swaro 4-16x50 AO with TDS, which I was planning to replace with the NF compact, but then I looked up the weights. That big honkin swaro is less than 2 ounces heavier than the NF. And you get a 50mm objective and 16 power. Again, the story changes if you need to twist, but I was surprised at how much less the NF Compacts "didn't" weigh compared to other great scopes. The TDS isn't my favorite reticle in the world but it definitely keeps things simple.

The SWFA ultralight is 9.5oz, add a decent reticle and I am in

well now...sightron s-tac 2-10x32 at 11.8oz and hhr2 reticle for $365 looks pretty nice...

I was extremely pissed when Swaro took the TDS from the Kahles line. Went from a $700* scope to more than double overnight to get that reticle.

*Based on ~2005 vintage 1" Kahles

Edit - iOS doesn't speak German

texrover91 said:

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PSA - Eurooptic has a Barrett deal week - Fieldcraft to be included later this week.

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Fieldcrafts are up today for $1499. No '06 or CM but they do have 270, and 7-twist 243 which should throw 115s with authority. They have the 22-250 on sale as well, which I believe is also a fast twist

NRD09 said:

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texrover91 said:

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PSA - Eurooptic has a Barrett deal week - Fieldcraft to be included later this week.

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Fieldcrafts are up today for $1499. No '06 or CM but they do have 270, and 7-twist 243 which should throw 115s with authority. They have the 22-250 on sale as well, which I believe is also a fast twist

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Dammit