taylorce1
Handloader
- Jun 3, 2007
- 1,080
- 0
I'm on a quest to lighten up my daughter's elk hunting gear, as two years ago I watched her quit on her first hunt. She just wan't mentally and physically ready for this hunt in my opinion, but at 13 years old her biggest problem was mental. She's now 15 and better prepared for it and she should draw a cow tag this year second choice. However, I do believe her heavy gear that first year resulted in her giving up as well especially when she saw the terrain she'd be hunting in.
The most recent piece of equipment I invested in for her is a Howa 1500 Hogue Vias in .308 Win. A few years ago she asked me for a .308 Win but wound up with a M700 Classic in .300 Savage, that rifle weighs 8.5 lbs all up with sling, scope, and ammuniton. She absolutely loves that rifle and how well kills deer and pronghorn, and I suggested getting a lightweight stock from Manners or McMillan to lighten it up. You'd think I'd wanted to kill her puppy by wanting to remove the wood stock on her Classic!
The rifle I bought has the same barreled action that the now discontinued Howa Alpine rifle used. I had earlier this month found a guy selling a faux 7-08 Alpine, when he split it up I got the Bansner designed Alpine stock. I snagged it up and started plotting against my wife to get my daughter a lighter rifle.
So when I took off the Hogue stock I weighed it and it came in at 40 oz, the Alpine stock came in at 26 oz. So swapping the stock took a 7 lbs rifle down to 6 lbs 2 oz, and should leave her with an all up weight of less than 7.5 lbs. I'm currently waiting on the Talley lightweight scope mounts to come in, when they do she'll have a choice of scope options in VX III 1.75-6X32, Vari-X III 2.5-8X36, or VX II 3-9X40. Sportsman's had a close out Howa Alpine in .243 for $899 when I bought this rifle but I'm into the faux Alpine for about $650!
I'll post more pictures as I get the rifle put together. I figure I'll load it with the same bullets she likes to shoot out of her .300 Savage to keep recoil down, 125 grain BT and AB as well as 130 gran TTSX bullets which should server her well. I did buy 2 boxes of Nosler 125 BT grain ammo, since I don't have any .308 brass to reload yet.
The most recent piece of equipment I invested in for her is a Howa 1500 Hogue Vias in .308 Win. A few years ago she asked me for a .308 Win but wound up with a M700 Classic in .300 Savage, that rifle weighs 8.5 lbs all up with sling, scope, and ammuniton. She absolutely loves that rifle and how well kills deer and pronghorn, and I suggested getting a lightweight stock from Manners or McMillan to lighten it up. You'd think I'd wanted to kill her puppy by wanting to remove the wood stock on her Classic!
The rifle I bought has the same barreled action that the now discontinued Howa Alpine rifle used. I had earlier this month found a guy selling a faux 7-08 Alpine, when he split it up I got the Bansner designed Alpine stock. I snagged it up and started plotting against my wife to get my daughter a lighter rifle.
So when I took off the Hogue stock I weighed it and it came in at 40 oz, the Alpine stock came in at 26 oz. So swapping the stock took a 7 lbs rifle down to 6 lbs 2 oz, and should leave her with an all up weight of less than 7.5 lbs. I'm currently waiting on the Talley lightweight scope mounts to come in, when they do she'll have a choice of scope options in VX III 1.75-6X32, Vari-X III 2.5-8X36, or VX II 3-9X40. Sportsman's had a close out Howa Alpine in .243 for $899 when I bought this rifle but I'm into the faux Alpine for about $650!
I'll post more pictures as I get the rifle put together. I figure I'll load it with the same bullets she likes to shoot out of her .300 Savage to keep recoil down, 125 grain BT and AB as well as 130 gran TTSX bullets which should server her well. I did buy 2 boxes of Nosler 125 BT grain ammo, since I don't have any .308 brass to reload yet.
