Ive had a hankering for a light bolt gun in 6.5 Grendel for quite sometime, well Ive got the spare cash to burn on one now sooooo......
The current options are
Howa 1500 Mini, 20" Heavy barrel, hogue type stock. (I can also buy a heavy barreled action, and walnut stock from brownells, but cost will be more than the CZ) The heavys the only option i can get free shipping on.
Cz 527 American, 24" sporter barrel, in the beechwood stock (walnuts not worth the extra 100 bucks to me).
Ruger American Predator. 22" sporter barrel, synthetic stock, AR mags
Theres pros and cons to each of them, the Ruger is very, very, far back in the running just because of the magazines it takes.
One con for all of them is that their mags stick out the bottom. The CZs not horribly obtrusive, and Ive cut down howa mags to be flush with the botom of the mag well.
What kills the ruger for me is the AR mags. Ive got no good options for shortening them, and even tho i have both rotary, and AI mag wells for a short action rifle, i dont know if i could get either to work with the grendel.
The Howas cheaper by about 60 bucks than the CZ. Its got a decent synthetic stock, thats a touch longer than the CZ. The heavy barrel should theoretically make it a little more stable off a pod when target shooting, and its overall weight isnt much more than the wood stocked CZ. The 5 round magazine can probably be made into a 3 rounder and flush with the bottom of the mag well. The short 20" tube bothers me a little, I got close to 200fps more velocity in my 24" ar over my 20" (barrel quality was better, and i think the 24 was just plain faster)
The CZ has a longer barrel (24") which I prefer. The stock is wood, but not particularly pretty as far as i know. It weights .2lbs less than the synthetic stocked Howa. The factory mags arent particularly offensive in length or location. Comes with rings.
The only real downside is that 527s often require higher rings to keep the bolt handle off the scopes ocular bell. I have a leupold vx-f 2-7x32 im planning on using on the gun, so the relatively small ocular may mitigate that.
The ruger only really has price going for it, its about 100-150 bucks cheaper than either of the other two. Weight, even tho its a full size short action, is actually the same as the howa at 6.6lbs. I happen to really like the Americans, but unfortunately I dislike the magazine options this one comes with.
anyway, those are just my mental ramblings on the subject so far. Im probably going to place my order in the next few days, so i have some time to muse yet, and im curious what y'all think.
The current options are
Howa 1500 Mini, 20" Heavy barrel, hogue type stock. (I can also buy a heavy barreled action, and walnut stock from brownells, but cost will be more than the CZ) The heavys the only option i can get free shipping on.
Cz 527 American, 24" sporter barrel, in the beechwood stock (walnuts not worth the extra 100 bucks to me).
Ruger American Predator. 22" sporter barrel, synthetic stock, AR mags
Theres pros and cons to each of them, the Ruger is very, very, far back in the running just because of the magazines it takes.
One con for all of them is that their mags stick out the bottom. The CZs not horribly obtrusive, and Ive cut down howa mags to be flush with the botom of the mag well.
What kills the ruger for me is the AR mags. Ive got no good options for shortening them, and even tho i have both rotary, and AI mag wells for a short action rifle, i dont know if i could get either to work with the grendel.
The Howas cheaper by about 60 bucks than the CZ. Its got a decent synthetic stock, thats a touch longer than the CZ. The heavy barrel should theoretically make it a little more stable off a pod when target shooting, and its overall weight isnt much more than the wood stocked CZ. The 5 round magazine can probably be made into a 3 rounder and flush with the bottom of the mag well. The short 20" tube bothers me a little, I got close to 200fps more velocity in my 24" ar over my 20" (barrel quality was better, and i think the 24 was just plain faster)
The CZ has a longer barrel (24") which I prefer. The stock is wood, but not particularly pretty as far as i know. It weights .2lbs less than the synthetic stocked Howa. The factory mags arent particularly offensive in length or location. Comes with rings.
The only real downside is that 527s often require higher rings to keep the bolt handle off the scopes ocular bell. I have a leupold vx-f 2-7x32 im planning on using on the gun, so the relatively small ocular may mitigate that.
The ruger only really has price going for it, its about 100-150 bucks cheaper than either of the other two. Weight, even tho its a full size short action, is actually the same as the howa at 6.6lbs. I happen to really like the Americans, but unfortunately I dislike the magazine options this one comes with.
anyway, those are just my mental ramblings on the subject so far. Im probably going to place my order in the next few days, so i have some time to muse yet, and im curious what y'all think.
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