My best attempt at the perfect practical do alll North American hunting rifle.
Action - Stiller Predator, Stiller rail
Barrel - 24” Benchmark #3 5R 8 twist, fluted
Trigger- Trigger Tech Primary
Bottom Metal/Mags- HS Precision
Stock-Manners EH3, carbon fiber
Scope - Zeiss Conquest 2-10x42 RZ600
Cartridge-168gr Barnes LRX, Retumbo, Nosler 7mm Rem Mag Brass
I was looking for a more traditional looking rifle, nothing too flashy.
I wanted to be able to take game out to 500 yards, and light enough I could pack, but still enough weight it wasn’t too difficult to control. I was aiming for the 8.5-9lb range. I wanted a cartridge that I could find everywhere, just in case. (So no 280AI, even though it “gets 7mag velocity”... bs)
Must be lead free bullets, I’m not a fan of the lead fragments in my food, whether it’s a health risk to my family and myself or not.
So that really left me with two options, shoot the 7mm 168g Barnes LRX or the .308 200g LRX. Although the 30 cal would be better for long shots, I believe it is over kill for smaller sized game like southern whitetails and pronghorns at closer ranges. The 7mm is more than adequate for 500 yards on all game in the right circumstances. 95% of my shots are taken sub 300 yards any way, this is a do all rifle that is capable of 500 yard shots, not a specific long range build. The 7mm Rem Mag is the best cartridge that fit my criteria. 300 Win or WSM we’re the runner ups.
I do my fair share of long rage precision shooting, dialing and doping are not a problem for me, but it’s slow and not something I dont want to be doing when the heart is racing. For hunting I prefer fast and simple, no target turrets, no parallax adjustment. The Rapid Z 600 is not designed for magnums, but my plan was to ensure my velocity was right at the sweet spot so my magnification was maxed at 10x to have the BDC reticle lined up with my trajectory, it worked out perfect. No struggling in low light to ensure your on the right magnification, just twist all the way to the left. I did not like any other BDC scopes as the RZ 600 is the only one I could find that has the distances on the reticle, so there is no counting lines. This easy to use BDC paired with my ranging binoculars the Vortex Fury HD 5000, make for an extremely fast combo.
With a velocity and BC of 2945 FPS and Litz G7 of .256, in the worst of weather conditions I will hunt in (-3000 DA) the bullet will impact with 2000+FPS and 1500+ ft-lbs out to 500 yards. With just +/- 2.25” difference in drop from -3000 up to 7000 DA if zeroed around 2000. Test loads with Retumbo put 4 at .6” at 100 yards, I brought that straight out to 500, and it put three under 5”.
Action - Stiller Predator, Stiller rail
Barrel - 24” Benchmark #3 5R 8 twist, fluted
Trigger- Trigger Tech Primary
Bottom Metal/Mags- HS Precision
Stock-Manners EH3, carbon fiber
Scope - Zeiss Conquest 2-10x42 RZ600
Cartridge-168gr Barnes LRX, Retumbo, Nosler 7mm Rem Mag Brass
I was looking for a more traditional looking rifle, nothing too flashy.
I wanted to be able to take game out to 500 yards, and light enough I could pack, but still enough weight it wasn’t too difficult to control. I was aiming for the 8.5-9lb range. I wanted a cartridge that I could find everywhere, just in case. (So no 280AI, even though it “gets 7mag velocity”... bs)
Must be lead free bullets, I’m not a fan of the lead fragments in my food, whether it’s a health risk to my family and myself or not.
So that really left me with two options, shoot the 7mm 168g Barnes LRX or the .308 200g LRX. Although the 30 cal would be better for long shots, I believe it is over kill for smaller sized game like southern whitetails and pronghorns at closer ranges. The 7mm is more than adequate for 500 yards on all game in the right circumstances. 95% of my shots are taken sub 300 yards any way, this is a do all rifle that is capable of 500 yard shots, not a specific long range build. The 7mm Rem Mag is the best cartridge that fit my criteria. 300 Win or WSM we’re the runner ups.
I do my fair share of long rage precision shooting, dialing and doping are not a problem for me, but it’s slow and not something I dont want to be doing when the heart is racing. For hunting I prefer fast and simple, no target turrets, no parallax adjustment. The Rapid Z 600 is not designed for magnums, but my plan was to ensure my velocity was right at the sweet spot so my magnification was maxed at 10x to have the BDC reticle lined up with my trajectory, it worked out perfect. No struggling in low light to ensure your on the right magnification, just twist all the way to the left. I did not like any other BDC scopes as the RZ 600 is the only one I could find that has the distances on the reticle, so there is no counting lines. This easy to use BDC paired with my ranging binoculars the Vortex Fury HD 5000, make for an extremely fast combo.
With a velocity and BC of 2945 FPS and Litz G7 of .256, in the worst of weather conditions I will hunt in (-3000 DA) the bullet will impact with 2000+FPS and 1500+ ft-lbs out to 500 yards. With just +/- 2.25” difference in drop from -3000 up to 7000 DA if zeroed around 2000. Test loads with Retumbo put 4 at .6” at 100 yards, I brought that straight out to 500, and it put three under 5”.
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