[SIGarmed]

Anyone own one of these rifles?

I would be interested in one in .308.
It weighs 5 3/4lbs in stainless with a laminated stock. Great for outdoors.

I think I can get one for around $500.

Pros and cons anyone?

http://home.earthlink.net/~ramon2nd/_uimages/70492.jpg

[wun_8_seven]

i have one in 260 rem. its my walk all day huntin rifle. also its handy as truck gun.187

[Omaha-BeenGlockin]

Wun---

Have been eyeing one of these myself----probably a .223 or .243.


How is the recoil and muzzle blast???

Have you had a chance to chrono it?? Curious as to how much velocity loss you are getting.

I have a Browning Micro A-Bolt---but its not really the same thing because it has a 20" in barrel which is quite a bit longer than the 16" Ruger barrel----its also a .308---so pretty stout on the recoil.

[cratz2]

Muzzle blast out of the 16" barrel is considerably increased compared to a 24" barrel but that will be something you just have to learn to live with if you want a lightweight rifle that is as short as legally possible. We didn't chrono it but I shot one of the black laminate rifles in 243. Very accurate... more accurate than I imagined. I ended up getting a Howa Ultralight in 243 instead.

Personally, if I were looking for a rifle in this category, I'd look pretty hard between the 260 and the 7mm-08.

[Omaha-BeenGlockin]

Cratz----

If I may ask----how much was the Howa??

I've seen them in the catalog---but never up close and personal.

[zahc]

I'd plan on some trigger work. It's a ruger thing, sadly. Maybe the compact rifles are different.

[cratz2]

The Howa lists for $511. The going rate at places with decent prices is about $375 or so.

I happen to have one for sale in the For Sale forum right now. Nothing wrong with it, I just would like to get a nice 22LR and am short on cash. If I had to sell something, this would be it. :p

[popeye]

I had one in standard blue finish. Recoil is to stout for me. I sold it and bought a Ruger 77/44 magnum. (I think thats the model) I like it much better as a "brush" gun. Barrel is 18.5". Savage makes a scout rifle with 20" barrel in .308. My other .308 is a M1A. When I shot that Ruger .308, I said "oh darn it that seems to hurt"

[wun_8_seven]

i don't notice the recoil being to bad with the 260. but i'm 6'6" 250lbs so most recoil doesn't bother me. it is a bit louder but when i'm shooting at game i dont really hear it and at the range i wear muffs. 187

[cratz2]

Speaking of recoil in short barreled rifles, come to think of it, I've shot a very painful 300 Win Mag that weighed right about 6 pounds with scope. And of course, I've shot my Howa in 243 that's really a pussycat but I don't recall ever shooting anything in between.

My favorite carry rifle, my Ruger in 25-06 weighs 9.1 lbs including scope If this were a .308, it would have about 16.1 ft/lbs of recoil shooting a 165 Gr bullet. The Ruger Compact weighing in a 7 lbs with scope would have about 20 ft/lbs of recoil. That is more than a carry weight 7mm Rem Mag and about the same as a carry weight 30-06.

Or to quote Chuck Hawks page, "Recoil energy is about 17.5 ft. lbs. in an 8 pound rifle shooting the 180 grain factory load. In an ultra-light 6.5 pound mountain rifle it would be about 22 ft. lbs."

[Sir Galahad]

I have a Ruger M77 International .308 and it has an 18" barrel. Now, mind you, that's two more inches of barrel and a fullstock rifle to boot. But it's still a fairly short .308 carbine nonetheless. I can go through a whole 140 round battle pack of milsurp ammo in a single day shooting and not have problems with recoil. It only has the stock recoil pad it came with from Ruger. (I see that the Compact comes with that same recoil pad, too.) I'm not a large man by any stretch (5'7", 125 lbs.) But I shoot my International just about every weekend and never less than 40 rounds at a crack and sometimes over 100. Never have recoil associated problems. Some commercial ammo is going to have a little more "oomph" than milsurp, but not by a whole lot recoil-wise. My International is my favorite rifle. If it wasn't comfortable to shoot, it wouldn't be my favorite. Accuracy-wise, the Ruger shoots plumb center if I do my part. The action on mine is slick as greased lightning.

And, by the way, you can't go wrong with a Ruger.

[Kaylee]

just floating this back up to see if anyone else wants to take a crack at the question. :)

Saw one of these this afternoon -- very handy! I have to admit.. it seriously made me reconsider starting from a Mauser action /Parker Hale barrel base I was looking at. The action looked about the same length as an intermediate M98, a little more graceful.. not certain about sturdiness.

A few questions in particular --

1 -- what's the accuracy like out of those barrels? Do they have the same problems as the Mini? Or are they actually pretty decent?

2 -- Feller who showed it to me advised .260 over .308 to get approximately the same about of oomph with less punishment... and better trajectory to boot, I'd imagine. True story? Out of 16" bbl, still true story?

3 -- what kind of backup iron sight options are there for that funky receiver?

4 -- any synthetic stock options aftermarket for it?

5 -- weight-wise, how does it stack up against other shorty-bolt rifle options? (Remington, Win 70, etc etc...)

-K