15 May 2024

The New Rossi Lightweight Carbine - Your Easy Entry into 8.6 Blackout

 


Rossi teased a new release the other day that I had guessed was going to be a shotgun but it turned out to have been a new inexpensive single shot rifle. Based on the same receiver as the Brawler by the looks of it, the single shot platform will have a street price around $300 with the MSRP at $333. I like the idea as there is a market for inexpensive single shot rifles in hunting calibers that H&R used to fill but currently don't. They got bought up by Palmetto State Armory and are making retro AR's. Something thing I completely approve of. I'll take a DOE SMG clone please.

Anyway, the LWC is a 5-ish pound rifle that offers a number of low recoil calibers useful for hunting. They current list, .357 Magnum, .44 Magnum, 5.56, .300 Blackout, .350 Legend, 6.5 Creedmoor and the most interesting of all, the new 8.6 Blackout. I think it's odd that they are offering calibers based on .308 Winchester but aren't offering .308. It could be a recoil thing. 

All versions come with black plastic stocks, a 16.5 inch threaded barrel and a short Picatinny rail section for a scope or red dot which you will need as there are no sights. There are provisions for attaching a sling molded into the stocks.

I see this is a hugely welcomed addition. The caliber selection is great but what it means for us shooters is that we now have an 8.6 Blackout option that isn't expensive. Why should you care? That's up to you, but I would like to start using 8.6 BLK as a dedicated Homestead hunting rifle. Here's my plan.

In an effort to keep the noise pollution down on the Homestead during deer season, I've been considering following up on the .300 BLK Remington 700 build as a dedicated subsonic deer rifle. However, what I ran into was that the current rifle setup is driving the Discrete Ballistics custom ordered ammo into the sound barrier. Sadly, I'm getting the supersonic crack during the winter months. When I tested the ammo in the summer it was very quiet but in the winter, it was loud. I was considering replacing the current 16 inch barrel with a 13.9 inch and doing a pin and weld to make it 16 inches to help reduce the velocities enough to keep it quiet.

Green Mountain hasn't had the needed blank in stock for a while now with no ETA in sight. While .300 BLK is worked for subsonic hunting on whitetail for me in the past, I'd like to step up to the 8.6 BLK. If you aren't familiar, the new 8.6 BLK is basically the .308 Winchester version of .300 BLK. Whatever 5.56 is to .308 Winchester, .300 BLK is to 8.6 BLK. It gives to a highly versatile cartridge that can use supersonic loads for longer range and can be stepped down to subsonic levels for suppressed hard-hitting hunting. 

My idea would be to get the 8.6 BLK version of the Rossi LWC. I'm inclined to trim the barrel down and find a muzzle device like the Dead Air break that's silly long and permanently attach it. That would host my Dead Air Primal and the whole affair would be lightweight and silly quiet with some Gorilla Ammunition loads. I'm thinking their 342 grain Pork Shredder might be just the ticket. 

The whole build should be right around 7 to 7.5 pounds with everything on it. Pretty good for a cheap rifle and it would be very quiet. At least the way I see it, the whole new rifle is about the same price as rebarreling the Remington for a third time with a customer barrel. 

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