F
Field Ethos
Guest
By Ron Dan
If you ask some of the best old-school instructors out there, a practical rifle is something every gun guy should have at their disposal. ARs and tactical guns are great, but there’s a solid place for a general-purpose rifle designed to do a lot of tasks well. Depending on your budget and your desires, this setup can cost you anywhere from $600-$6,000+. In our efforts to develop the highest-end practical rifle, we turned to the team at Gunwerks to make the best option that money can buy.
What is a practical rifle really? It’s a rifle that can be grabbed for most any task that you could reasonably ask a rifle to do. Plinking, hunting, defense, tasks around the farm, etc. — it can do it all. Is it the most specialized rifle for each task? Not necessarily. But it is a gun that you can take almost anywhere in the country and depend on it. Some of the original thoughts on a practical rifle were to develop skills to handle multiple tasks using a platform that would remain untouched in the event of certain gun bans. Other applications would be developing skills with a rifle if you found yourself in a position where a bolt gun is the only option you had available to you. In modern times, it allows you to have a useful rifle that is legally friendly in a lot of different states and environments.
When talking about practical rifles, you’re going to go through different factors for the build, including platform, caliber, size, and sighting systems (optics vs. irons). Personal preference can come into play for some factors, but it doesn’t hurt to have a short and light rifle in the largest practical caliber you can handle with an optic that gives you the most versatility for close and far shots.
For the platform, the idea is to have a rifle that is legally friendly in a lot of different states and environments. For this, lever guns and bolt guns are appropriate. Lever guns give you some caliber and range restrictions, so you will often see bolt guns chosen for this role. Modern bolt guns, with the right training, can be very fast to run and are all expected to be sub-MOA from the factory with the right shooter. Also, with AICS mags, you are open to a lot of capacity options, which is why we went this route. With this gun, a 16-inch threaded barrel still gives you a lot of ballistic capabilities while still being as compact and light as possible. The Gunwerks ClymR is one of the best, if not the best, base rifle you could pick for this project. We dubbed our exclusive build the Pygmy.
For caliber, I like to go with a round that can handle most all North American game while also being relatively inexpensive to shoot and relatively easy to find. For our build, the clear choice was .308. This round is versatile for hunting and adequate for defense. For availability, it’s one of the most available rifle cartridges out there. Cost-wise for plinking and practice, .308 has become one of the more reasonably priced rounds and there are almost endless load options available. This particular Gunwerks project comes pre-configured to perform with the gold standard of practical rifle loads: Federal’s Gold Medal Match 168-grain Sierra Matchking. This cartridge has been tried and true for years in various applications, and was the load I used 15 years ago for my first big-game rifle kill.
Finally, you must consider a versatile sighting system for your practical rifle. It’s no secret that I’m a fan of Leupold. I love great glass, and I love the USA, so it’s a pretty easy choice for me. For a long time, my go-to glass for a practical rifle was the original Leupold Mark 4 2.5-8. Tim Lesser guided me toward this magnification range and showed me that more magnification isn’t always necessary or better for hunting scenarios. Fast forward a decade or two and now Leupold has the Mark 5 series in a 2-10 magnification range that gives me more versatility, more clarity, and more features than the older Mark 4 series. On a practical rifle, this is one of the best options available. The lowest magnification range can handle even the closest encounters, and a 10-power scope is going to be as capable as you are out to 1,000 yards. For this rifle, we like .308 for 500 yards and in. We also opted for an illuminated reticle to ensure the optic is effective in less-than-ideal lighting situations.
Overall, this project really highlighted the best components and specifications we could put together for the last practical rifle you will need to buy. This gun is extremely capable for almost all hunting in the U.S. while still being handy and nimble for daily tasks that it can be called upon to perform. The biggest thing you get out of a Gunwerks rifle is confidence, and that’s hard to put a price tag on. This is designed to be the one rifle that you can depend on, and we picked every aspect of it to be a great tool when you need it.
Price: $12,349 for the Rifle & Optic Package, and you can add a GW 6ix+ Ti Suppressor for an additional $1145. Available directly through Gunwerks.
Pros: This is one of the most versatile and useful rifle systems available. If you can make this an extension of your body, this will prove to be one of the first guns you will always grab from the safe.
Cons: It’s not the absolute best gun for clearing rooms and it’s not the absolute best gun for shooting steel at 700 yards, but it will do both if you need it to.
The post Field Ethos x Gunwerks Pygmy appeared first on Field Ethos.
Continue reading...
If you ask some of the best old-school instructors out there, a practical rifle is something every gun guy should have at their disposal. ARs and tactical guns are great, but there’s a solid place for a general-purpose rifle designed to do a lot of tasks well. Depending on your budget and your desires, this setup can cost you anywhere from $600-$6,000+. In our efforts to develop the highest-end practical rifle, we turned to the team at Gunwerks to make the best option that money can buy.
What is a practical rifle really? It’s a rifle that can be grabbed for most any task that you could reasonably ask a rifle to do. Plinking, hunting, defense, tasks around the farm, etc. — it can do it all. Is it the most specialized rifle for each task? Not necessarily. But it is a gun that you can take almost anywhere in the country and depend on it. Some of the original thoughts on a practical rifle were to develop skills to handle multiple tasks using a platform that would remain untouched in the event of certain gun bans. Other applications would be developing skills with a rifle if you found yourself in a position where a bolt gun is the only option you had available to you. In modern times, it allows you to have a useful rifle that is legally friendly in a lot of different states and environments.
When talking about practical rifles, you’re going to go through different factors for the build, including platform, caliber, size, and sighting systems (optics vs. irons). Personal preference can come into play for some factors, but it doesn’t hurt to have a short and light rifle in the largest practical caliber you can handle with an optic that gives you the most versatility for close and far shots.
Versatile, Compact Killer — the Pygmy
For the platform, the idea is to have a rifle that is legally friendly in a lot of different states and environments. For this, lever guns and bolt guns are appropriate. Lever guns give you some caliber and range restrictions, so you will often see bolt guns chosen for this role. Modern bolt guns, with the right training, can be very fast to run and are all expected to be sub-MOA from the factory with the right shooter. Also, with AICS mags, you are open to a lot of capacity options, which is why we went this route. With this gun, a 16-inch threaded barrel still gives you a lot of ballistic capabilities while still being as compact and light as possible. The Gunwerks ClymR is one of the best, if not the best, base rifle you could pick for this project. We dubbed our exclusive build the Pygmy.
For caliber, I like to go with a round that can handle most all North American game while also being relatively inexpensive to shoot and relatively easy to find. For our build, the clear choice was .308. This round is versatile for hunting and adequate for defense. For availability, it’s one of the most available rifle cartridges out there. Cost-wise for plinking and practice, .308 has become one of the more reasonably priced rounds and there are almost endless load options available. This particular Gunwerks project comes pre-configured to perform with the gold standard of practical rifle loads: Federal’s Gold Medal Match 168-grain Sierra Matchking. This cartridge has been tried and true for years in various applications, and was the load I used 15 years ago for my first big-game rifle kill.
Finally, you must consider a versatile sighting system for your practical rifle. It’s no secret that I’m a fan of Leupold. I love great glass, and I love the USA, so it’s a pretty easy choice for me. For a long time, my go-to glass for a practical rifle was the original Leupold Mark 4 2.5-8. Tim Lesser guided me toward this magnification range and showed me that more magnification isn’t always necessary or better for hunting scenarios. Fast forward a decade or two and now Leupold has the Mark 5 series in a 2-10 magnification range that gives me more versatility, more clarity, and more features than the older Mark 4 series. On a practical rifle, this is one of the best options available. The lowest magnification range can handle even the closest encounters, and a 10-power scope is going to be as capable as you are out to 1,000 yards. For this rifle, we like .308 for 500 yards and in. We also opted for an illuminated reticle to ensure the optic is effective in less-than-ideal lighting situations.
Elite Practical Rifle Package
Overall, this project really highlighted the best components and specifications we could put together for the last practical rifle you will need to buy. This gun is extremely capable for almost all hunting in the U.S. while still being handy and nimble for daily tasks that it can be called upon to perform. The biggest thing you get out of a Gunwerks rifle is confidence, and that’s hard to put a price tag on. This is designed to be the one rifle that you can depend on, and we picked every aspect of it to be a great tool when you need it.
Price: $12,349 for the Rifle & Optic Package, and you can add a GW 6ix+ Ti Suppressor for an additional $1145. Available directly through Gunwerks.
Pros: This is one of the most versatile and useful rifle systems available. If you can make this an extension of your body, this will prove to be one of the first guns you will always grab from the safe.
Cons: It’s not the absolute best gun for clearing rooms and it’s not the absolute best gun for shooting steel at 700 yards, but it will do both if you need it to.
The post Field Ethos x Gunwerks Pygmy appeared first on Field Ethos.
Continue reading...
