"Big Thicket" East Texas

[olde sarge]

Hello to all. Am presently shooting a M24 copy in .260 Remington which weights to darned much to tow around at my age. Am mining all the info I can on this forum trying to plan a lighter weight 6.5 Grendel with a 20" barrel. Build will be a hunting rifle not a bench rifle. Hogs are my main critter to hunt, with deer and the occasional coyote following closely. Any recommendations you would pass on will be eagerly considered. With the lead times I am seeing I just hope I live long enough to collect the parts for the build. LOL. John

[NugginFutz]

First, welcome to the Horde, John. Lots of good people and better advice.

I don't know if you've owned or built another AR style weapon before, but these can be ideal for your stated use. As far as keeping the weight down, there are three primary areas to achieve this:

1. Barrel
2, Furniture
3, Optics

While you can get some pretty hefty (relatively speaking) billet uppers and lowers, they generally aren't a huge factor when it comes down to weight reduction.

Barrel:
If you don't intend to blast the prairie with consecutive mag dumps, a lightweight profile barrel is the first thing to consider. Something in the .750" diameter will do you just fine. So many choices, here, so I will only add that the better barrels usually come with higher price tags, but that is for a reason. The Horde can (will) chime in on some of their preferred lightweight tubes, so just be patient. It does not usually pay to snatch up the first that comes along.

Furniture:
I recommend staying away from the Full Quad Rail systems, as they add quite a bit of weight. There are some excellent narrow profile free float systems available, which are well ventilated and quite light. Some have rail adaptors, in case you decide to add lights, lasers, toaster ovens, etc. The point is, try to keep it light, but also consider leaving your options open, if you think you may need to later accessorize.

Depending on your build, and whether or not you intend to use the weapon year-round, a telescoping butt stock is usually what you want, since going from T-Shirts to heavy coats can change the length of pull as much as an inch or so. Adjustable stocks also make it very easy to accommodate other family members of different stature and build. If all potential shooters are of similar build, there are also some fixed stocks from companies like Ace which provide a comfortable over foam, which can really make those sub-zero shots less chilling to the cheek. These are usually Skeletonized to keep the weight down, and are a favorite among some of the Horde. The stock is the last thing I would buy, though. It seems like every day, something new and improved shows up, and it drives me crazy when I buy yesterday's tech at tomorrow's price.

Optics:
This is worthy of many pages of discussion, but for a daytime hog/dog scope, any good 3-9x40ish will do. Many folks here will also recommend a solid (lighter) 1-4. But anything bigger than 3-9 will just add to that shoulder pain, when you get a few miles from the truck.

You did mention Hogs as the #1 use, though. If you intend to go after them after dark, night time shooting introduces a whole other realm of optics. There are several members here (HuntsTXHogs, Klem and DoubleNaughtSpy come to mind) who have quite a bit of experience and success with this. I am sure they will be happy to share their advice (and some good exploit videos) with you.

Well - those are my meager first thoughts and, again, welcome to the Horde.

[hm2 clark]

Thats a beautiful part of the country your in. I like a shorter barrel to hunt hogs with. Maybe 16 inches. It points faster, is lighter and still plenty of killing power out to 400 yards. I like a lited dot in the middle of the scope cross hairs. Hogs are dark the cross hairs are dark,the light helps. Alternate choice is a German #4 cross hairs. I dont like heavy 30mm scope tubes; I cant see any better through them so why pay the extra money? Minox makes a nice little 1.5x8 sold on this site by camera land,I like it for hunting hogs. I hear that the new "key hole" hand guards are great for a light hunter,but I havn't seen on yet.

[Trock03]

Howdy Ole Sarge! Welcome aboard. Don't feel like you need a 20" barrel to take advantage of the Grendel. You'll get plenty of mileage out of a 16" tube. i just recently re-barreled an extra 5.56 upper into an 18" Grendel. It's mounted on a lower with an A2 stock and I've been please with how easy it is in and out of elevated box blinds. I think the 18" barrel gives me a little extra confidence to reach out there on some South Texas properties that I'm able to hunt. Good luck!

[PigOPs]

That's my old stomping ground. I echo what others have said. I have an 18" that's fairly light. My next build will be a 16" if not a pinned 14.7" with a lighter profile. Hiking around with any gun on your shoulder all day gets to be a pain. I too hunt hogs primarily (although I've never heard of hunting them "with deer" ) and feel like the ideal setup would be a short lighter profile barrel with 1-4 or 1-6 optics. Have fun with your build.

[olde sarge]

Thanks to all the have replied. You are right PigOPs. A little comma can make a lot of difference in the meaning. Thanks for the correction. John

[jkingrph]

Where in the "Big Thicket" I'm a bit north of there in Jacksonville.

I have built up three, two long barrel basically bench guns and one mid length, gas piston model that's not exactly a lightweight, but still handy.

Jeff

[olde sarge]

jkingrph, PM sent