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Light | April 2005 | ||||||||||||||||||||||
Gerhard Schroeder |   | ||||||||||||||||||||||
The first encounter happened during an annual NRA show in Phoenix
many, many years ago. I snuggled up to several Ultra Light Arms
rifles, and each time silently uttered 'hmmm'! Back then the
financial reality condemned those finely crafted light weapons to
dreamland.
Actual drooling threatened years later when I fondled a heavily
customized Remington 700. This baby was chambered in 6mm Remington,
and had been trimmed down and re-stocked to stay around six pounds.
Still, too much money would have to trade hands to obtain one for
myself. The desire grew, though.
In 2002 an itch got scratched. Advertised as the last one, this Colt
Light Rifle was talking to me from Randell's rack. So I asked to check
the dark-gray-stocked rifle out, fondled it some, then gave it back.
But too late, the CLR had already infected me. Four days later I
returned to buy Colt's bolt gun. 24 inches of barrel got this 30-06
up to six pounds and 10 ounces, naked. Now that's light for a
full-sized rifle! Adding a 6x42 Leupold brought the total to just over
seven and a half pounds. She was accurate, too. With 125 grain Sierras
and 54 grains of Reloader 15 you only needed three quarter inches of
paper to shoot a group. Bolt operation was smooth as well. So what's
the problem? Me. Probably for the same reason that I don't drive a
full-size set of wheels, I'm just not much of a 30-06 fan, either. I
like things crisper, sportier, more efficient. And besides, I'd still
like to shed at least a pound of rifle. The light Colt cracked a few
rocks, but never drew blood in my hands, and only about a hundred rounds
fouled its barrel.
Call it a failed attempt! My own custom Remington 700 short action in
6-250 ended up fat, despite buddy Ron going to work hard on the excess
metal on action, bolt and bolt handle. The failure began with
specifying a 25½" barrel, and Ron doing such an excellent pillar bedding
job on the factory wood stock that I did not replace it with something
hollow that doesn't grow on trees. Adding the heavier but crystal clear
Meopta 6x42 scope constituted the final weight sin. No, at 8 pounds and
eleven ounces, the rifle did not even come close to being a lightweight.
BUT, yeah, a big fat 'but', this rifle is a real favorite now for other
reasons. Memories of spectacular kills lead the way.
For one, the 6-250 sent an Area 31 whitetail to the freezer. For another,
efficient vultures enjoyed dead rats some 300 steps from our shaded ambush
site. Yep, this sporter did in rodents with regularity at distances that
made me take note.
The rifle also saved Game & Fish some aviation fuel. On two occasions
did coyotes underestimate its reach. Almost scary when the 70 grain
Ballistic Tip picked a loping canine out of a jungle of creosote bushes
over 200 paces away. Another antelope baby killer paused just before
entering a wash some 300 yards out, wanting to check back at what had
disturbed him. Fired quickly, and off-hand, Nosler's finest kept him
there.
Next in line is notable accuracy. If there's a miss, the reason can be
found between the earplugs, not on the rifle. Finally, this rig
balances perfectly offhand, and hunting is easy on the ears because
the blasts originate over 25 inches away from my face. In summary,
my 6-250 is a serious "go-get 'em" tool, just not a light weight.
You could say that I made the terrible mistake of actually touching,
handling, operating the thing. That took place inside the Sportsman's
Warehouse in Phoenix in the spring of 2004. The thing was a Remington
700 Titanium. This one happened to be chambered for the 30-06, therefore
a long action. Ideally, I would have wanted one in 6mm Rem, but they
don't chamber Titaniums that way. For a short action, yet another quarter
pound off, we have only three choices from 'big green': .260 Rem, 7mm-08,
and .308 Win. Don't matter, the hook had been deeply set, I wanted one
'bad'. The search began for 'best price', all the while churning gray
matter as to what caliber to order. (They come in a Short Magnum version
also, but that adds over a pound.)
The .308 won. Yes, this NATO kid is the furthest from a 6mm, but provides
the most versatility of the given three choices. Apparently, I'm not alone
by having a positive bias towards this well-balanced cartridge. Can't
recall ever hearing or reading anything negative about this .300 Savage on
steroids. My hope was that the .308 would also do fine with light 110 grain
projectiles, its intended main fodder for off-season plinking and varmint
hunting.
When the opportunity arose to purchase a Titanium for quite a bit less than
store prices, the checkbook came out. Once the rifle arrived, it got
fattened up with a Leupold VX 2.5-8x36 in Dual Dovetail low rings, and a
sling from Uncle Mike's. Even so, the package totals only six pounds, six
ounces. Notice that you could stay below six pounds with different mounts
holding a compact scope. By the way, this is my second 2.5-8x36. In
Arizona, where twilight does not linger like it does in more northern
territory, I found this Leupold number to be the ideal meat gun companion.
Perfect compromise between weight and power. Enough at 8x to detect smallish
antlers in dark timber with those pesky branches in the background, yet open
enough at 2.5x to ruin the day of a running jack rabbit.
If you're looking for flashy new styling, you will be disappointed. The
Titanium exhibits classic Model 700 lines. Remington gets the lead out of
this rig by employing a light composite Bell & Carlson stock, pillar bedded,
by selecting Titanium (hence the name) for the action, and seriously hogging
away metal from bolt body and bolt handle. In fact, the bolt with its helical
flutes is the only optical departure from a common short action look. What
sold me is that they left the barrel 'alone', still sporting 22 inches of
stainless steel, though at minimum diameter.
The Titanium means business, pure and simple. No frills like fancy inlays or
fake engraving, no silly hinged floor plate, no open sights, no pretty
high-gloss show tuning. The result is a real light rifle, a full two pounds
less then its ADL brother, even beating the Model 7 by a proud pound. Still,
due to those twenty two inches of barrel this rig balances more like a normal
gun, yet swings noticeably faster. It is sweet! The Colt Light rifle and I
parted ways at the September 2004 gun show.
Herr Oberst helped with the meticulous scope mounting, lapping in Leupold's
Dual Dovetail rings. After the usual lapping of the locking lugs, and setting
the trigger from the factory six pounds to a user-friendly two and a half, the
barrel got stroked with JB bore paste and cleaned with Montana Extreme.
Finally, it was time to make noise.
At first, admittedly due to respect for its low weight, I only unleashed light
loads or bullets. As expected, recoil was sharper than with normal R700's.
Simple laws of physics at work! But by no means was thrust-back unpleasant.
In fact, both Mike and I had expected more punishment. Not so. The Titanium
metes it out such that it feels a hint fast initially, then quickly turning it
into more of a longer push than a painful punch. Frequent cleaning in-between
the first 15 shots 'broke in' the barrel.
Going offhand is more of a challenge. It is noticeably more difficult to
stay steady on target because the rifle is so light. Upon firing, however,
recoil wasn't a factor. The rig is fun to shoot. Once again, I did not waste
much time shooting groups. This is definitely a meat gun, to be tested away
from any bench.
By the way, when the objective is to gather prime lean American game meat for
the freezer, it is not required that you can hit a silver dollar at a hundred
paces, or a rat at three hundred. Said meat will accumulate more reliably if
you can hit a pie plate quickly. Take it from this meat hunter, if you're
thankful for the many fine meals a downed critter will provide, and your first
thought after downing large game is not to grab for your tape measure, then
practice quickness. As soon as you've established that the animal in question
is legal, the gun should be firmly against your shoulder, and seconds later the
bullet should be on its way.
The 'meat' on that test day was really tough, also referred to as rocks.
Sierra's 110 grain HPs nailed them with comforting regularity. On the plus
side, these light projectiles are accurately exiting from the racy Remington.
However, their point of impact is about 18 clicks off from the serious meat
hunting slugs.
And to highlight it once more, it takes more concentration to keep the gun on
target. This light rifle can be nudged around so easily. With game in sight,
your excitement gets transferred noticeably. The crosshairs like the dance
your heartbeat invites too!
In a test on a windy March 2005 morning, the Titanium had competition from
both its 6-250 big brother, and my first meat gun, the beloved combo. Those
fired 70 grain Ballistic Tips at 3450 fps, and 100 grain Sierra HPs at about
2900 fps, respectively. Using a paper target (really!) at one hundred paces,
I took turns with one shot from each gun in field positions.
Whether offhand or sitting, the 6-250 'groups' were noticeably smaller than
from both the light weights, like hitting a coke bottle instead of a gallon
jug. Again, I could not out-maneuver physics. But all shots would have been
fatal if the target had been something the size of a sitting jack.
Those hollow points aren't driven to the wall. 40 grains of Reloader 7 for
3000 fps seemed speedy enough, the .308 could get them past 3200. Pressure
wasn't at maximum eardrum stress, and consequently recoil was also tamer.
Overall a fun load to burn idle time with. This is now my favorite off-season
load in this rifle.
Simulations, as in walking with rifle on shoulder, stopping, mounting, aiming
and firing (at rocks, of course), showed how quick the Titanium can be. Ditto
for lining up three rocks and blasting them in rapid succession.
Of course, some long-range shooting occurred as well. The 110 HPs go fairly
flat for the first two hundred steps or so. You get the idea, I was learning
this rig, having fun shooting. And with experimenting grew the positive
impressions for this rifle and scope.
Daring into full throttle meat loads was next. "Whitetail" was specified on
my 2004 tag. Hence the selection settled on 150 grain Ballistic Tips. Normally
I'd prefer more lead, but AZ whitetails are smallish. Since I had a partial box,
180gr Ballistic Tips also got a ride down the new bore. Here's a block of data,
hastily generated at the end of a turkey-scouting afternoon:
All loads were briefly tested on paper, generating groups below ¾ inches at fifty
paces. Later I tried one group each with the 110s and 180s at one hundred paces.
They grouped right under 1.5 inches, plenty comforting for meat hunting. None of
the loads felt uncomfortable. Even the 180s did not rattle my cage. Credit goes
to the stock design, meting out recoil in a pleasant manner. This rig is simply
a keeper!
By now the "Titanium" has also burnt a bright spot into my memory. On the second
day outdoors the dying rabbit call faked nothing out, although a bugling elk, two
busily feeding turkeys, four nervous widgeons and a fleeing muley with velvet
headgear kept the entertainment level way up.
At the second stand, two miles down the road, I spied an occupied young yodel beast
before I even blew the misery whistle. I'm brave enough to admit that the first
offhand shot barely missed at some 150 paces. However, the young killer was more
confused than scared, and quickly slowed. Now suffering from slightly more hunting
fever - that is why we enter the woods armed, hoping to generate a little fever - I
missed again. That only seemed to increase the critter's confusion, certainly not
its speed. When the predator entered yet another clearing, hesitantly walking now,
110 grains of Sierra hollow point finally torpedoed his chest. Lots of red was
visible through the Leupold before the grass swallowed all fur.
Relieved, yet excited I picked up the three empties. While fishing for fresh ammo
in my pockets to refill the magazine, one of those "why not?" thoughts dropped in.
Out came the call to send promises of an easy meal. And Bingo!
Not thirty seconds had passed, and another killer appeared, drifting towards where
the first had stayed for good. He had no clue that crosshairs followed his every
move. As he hesitated in that opening, the .308 slammed him to the ground. I
kept viewing through the scope to make sure he was down for good. He was.
Totally thrilled about being blessed with such varmint success, I was about to
leave my shaded stand when I detected more movement. Did one of the varmints get
back up? No, a third one had slipped out of the junipers, almost exactly copying
what his buddy had done only a minute ago. When this beast reached the fateful
clearing, it turned, facing my direction. At that moment the crosshairs seemed
just right for a little squeeze. When the Titanium returned from recoil, there
was no more movement.
I waited several more minutes, counting my blessings. Also of importance was the
fact that this load - I had fired 5 rounds without protection - did not blow away
the rest of my tattered eardrums. Don't get me wrong here, shooting is still a
major offense to your audio system. It's just that the bells weren't ringing as
bad as they on occasion had already and regrettably done in the past. The desire
for conformation eventually brought me to the scene. Unforgettable! Three antelope
baby killers had expired, all within a seven steps circle.
More memory burning occurred a month later near Klondike, AZ, where the "Titanium"
bagged me a fine whitetail on opening day. And to shamelessly steal from Harry, it
has also taken a head clean off -- a running jackrabbit, that is.
I have made it a habit to shoot this rifle frequently, to get used to its dynamic
behavior. The rifle may actually demand this, to cope with its lightness. I
especially like it as a calling gun, where the low weight makes it a breeze to hold
at the ready for long periods of time. Before an outing is over, a few rocks usually
show gouge marks from visiting hollow points.
Bottom line: the Remington Titanium has been on a diet! You almost forget that it
is on your shoulder, and you almost give the soft gun case a little squeeze to make
sure it's in there. She is more difficult to hold steady on target, but way easier
to keep in the firing position. Shoulders and arms just don't tire when handling
this lightweight. With sufficient concentration during the moment of squeeze, it's
a perfect all around rig. The Titanium will be the rifle to grab when I plan to
leave city limits.
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