Defiant AntiX is the route I’m going for Ti weight sticking with steel. Action shipped today, actually. I’ll post something in a new thread once I get the barrel and chassis in (Bartlein 3B with spiral fluting and a MDT HNT26). Just didn’t want you to think there weren’t other options out there.
FWIW most nicer clip ons can handle a little offset, check with manufacturers of the clip ons you plan to use, but I use a 20MOA rail on all rifles and have never seen any issue when testing other peoples clip ons (mostly PVS-30s). I’m soon to be in the market myself so that was a concern of mine too. I prefer the cant in the rail, as I do use the rifle to shoot out 1000+. If it were a dedicated night hunting rig, I’d do a night hunting scope, so with my usage primarily day to dusk I settled on the 20MOA. I did go with the AntiX with the machined split pic rail.
I run a WP Insight M2124LR, its a little more sensitive than the PVS-30s. I've got other guns if I need to get out further at night. Since this mostly for a night hunting rig, realistically 600y is more than enough. In static perfect environments, 1k is doable at night, but hunting is never that and I also limit my range to ensure humane kills. The thing about hunting at night...I can usually stalk within 100y of most anything and often to about 50y so as much time as I spend stressing over ranging at night, even when I was running a Radius, was really not necessary.
For what they are they are fantastic. I have the cross 308. Other than the Fix there aren't many other (readily available) factory short barreled lightweight chassis style bolt action rifles. And the cross is half the price of the Fix. I haven't had mine too long and only have 40ish rounds through mine. Accuracy is fair at about 1.3ish MOA but I think a lot of that is me as this is the lightest rifle I've ever shot and it kicks a bit more than I am used to. Only had one type of 308 round to test (knock off 175 gr M118lr - Bullets 1st brand).
Thanks for the feedback. I certainly expect it to recoil a bit more, I think going with the 6.5 will help some. It being lightweight is what I am looking for the most as I will be often walking long distance and sometimes running with the rifle. I will also be doing a 30mm scope on whatever I decide to buy/build and I already have a Nomad Ti suppressor as well. The Cross price is certainly right, about the same as the Defiant anTi X action it looks like. I don't mind spending extra money either way but if the Cross is getting the job done at a lesser price point, its certainly worth the look. Ive handled the gun several times but never shot it. Probably need to look for someone in my area.
