A VERY lightweight rifle?

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I should make one type 99 it to a light rifle. It's cut to 18 or 19 inches, the barrel on them are not very heavy. The bolt head is heavy tho. I'll dig them out one day any weigh one with the sporte r stock i have. I need to pick up 2 firing pin strings still don't know where I put them lol.
 
Seamaster31 said:
My Kimber Montana is a beautiful rifle in my eyes - but apparently nothing on this earth can make it shoot very well. Some guys win the Kimber lottery and other guys lose. I can not really recommend Kimber, but you might get lucky.
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Yes.
I was one of the losers in that lottery, too. T'was a fine day in the Poper household when it found a new home. :scrutiny:
 
Going lightweight (with quality) always has additional cost. I think the limiting factor will be the $1,000 budget. Any action that has been blueprinted and CNC'd to be structurally sound, but take out every available ounce, just has more work hours in it. Strong, lightweight stocks that don't flex also cost significantly more than just an everyday injection molded polymer stock.

I totally agree that a person has to learn how to shoot a mountain rifle. It is different from a typical 8-9lb sporter. It is helpful to hold it as tight as possible without trembling. There also has to be a different expectation for accuracy. It is meant to be carried a lot, but shot only a few times. It won't shoot 1moa all day, unless those shots are significantly spaced out since that lightweight profile wet noodle of a barrel heats up quickly. Handloads can help, but working them up can be a pain. You want that first cold bore shot on the money, but hunting big game with a large kill zone helps also. After you get the load worked up, a person ought to test the loads in field positions because that bench won't be there when you need to shoot from one hillside to the other. There is just more complexity with being successful with a mountain rifle.
 
LoonWulf said:
Or starting with a Tikka and removing weight form the tube? those actions are pretty light to begin with. The stocks are a little heavier than average tho.
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I've contemplated this again now. Simply picking up a T3x Superlite w/ 22" thin, fluted barrel, replacing the OEM modular stock with a lightweight carbon/kevlar/graphite/boron stock and maybe machining a bit weight off here and there. 5lbs 14oz to start with, stock upgrade will shave quite a bit of weight, a lightweight bolt handle an ounce, cutting 1-1½ off the barrel maybe another.

A good lightweight stock like Wildcat is $375CDN + expenses so it'll push the budget firmly over $1k. On the other hand it's 17.5oz, compared to 28oz the OEM stock weighs. Add a recoil pad, proper glass bedding and paint (hydrodip & matt lacquer?), it'll be around 20oz.

So... 5lbs 14oz - 8oz (stock) - 1oz (bolt handle) - 1oz (barrel) = 5lbs 4oz.
Add either a red dot and a base (6-7oz) or a lightweight scope and rings (10-12oz) and the package weighs in at 6lbs or even less.

Accuracy is definitely not an issue with Tikka, even though a minute of moose's @rse at 300yd max will suffice nicely.

Hmm.
 
hq said:
Last couple of trips up north have got me thinking. When you just hunt moose, carrying a medium-weight rifle like Remington 7600 in my case isn't a problem at all, that's exactly what it's for and does its job admirably.

However, when you combine that with upland birds, it gets a bit tricky. The rifle is on your back when you carry a shotgun, and after a few hours 9lbs+ for a scoped, loaded gun gets a bit uncomfortable.
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Krieghoff,

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Works for me!!

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Weighing in at 7 pounds, it's a joy to carry!!

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DM
 
HQ, the obvious answer is a low cost bearer.

You already have a wife or significant other (SO)? If so, you're paying for it. We all do.

So, what you do is invite the SO on the hunt under the guise of "sharing", then have she, he or xe, carry the heavier of the shotgun or rifle; also "sharing" .

Worst case: no more SO on hunting trips and you have to buy a Tikka compact and a new super light shotgun. Otherwise, the SO becomes bearer, therefore adding efficiency to the relationship, and you can buy a full size new Tikka in 30-06 anyway since you don't have to carry it, keeping the 7600 as a back up. A few sweet rakastan sinua in the SO's ear and Olavi is your uncle!
 
Was looking for a light affordable 16" threaded barrel in .308, came across the Remington Seven Threaded in 16". It's exactly what I was looking for. Purchased from buds gunshop for $489
Barebones it weighs in at 5lbs, scope/rings n sling at 6lbs. Just another Rifle you might want to check out
image.jpg
 
DocRock said:
HQ, the obvious answer is a low cost bearer.

You already have a wife or significant other (SO)? If so, you're paying for it. We all do.

So, what you do is invite the SO on the hunt under the guise of "sharing", then have she, he or xe, carry the heavier of the shotgun or rifle; also "sharing" .

Worst case: no more SO on hunting trips and you have to buy a Tikka compact and a new super light shotgun. Otherwise, the SO becomes bearer, therefore adding efficiency to the relationship, and you can buy a full size new Tikka in 30-06 anyway since you don't have to carry it, keeping the 7600 as a back up. A few sweet rakastan sinua in the SO's ear and Olavi is your uncle!
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I just asked my wife if she'd carry a gun for me if we went hunting ....I got asked how much I was paying per hour.

course she coulda just asked how much my life insurance was at this point ....
 
Well well well. I'd love to use the SWMBO -option (and kids) but they all have their own guns to carry and I've also been granted the privilege to carry her ammo and all assorted "necessary" gear whenever she's hunting with me. Instant +5lbs to my backpack whenever that happens. I would've never found out that a gas-operated curling iron is an absolute necessity at moose camp without her. Then again, day trips are a fair bit shorter than usual.

murf: Dissecting it, Sako is pronounced "SA" (like in "sun") "KO" (like in "cause"), keeping the vowels short.
 
d2wing said:
I am a fan of Tikka and use a T3 in 7-08 and really like it. I agree that .308 is a great caliber. The 7-08 has a little less recoil and is enough for the deer I shoot. 7600's are pretty heavy. I also have a 7400 which is semi-auto rather than a pump but other wise like the 7600. I vote for the Tikka.
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Love the 7mm-08 and a friend has one in a Remington lightweight carbine model 7 that shoots 1/2 MOA with the right factory ammo. That one loves Rem. Core-Loct, beating my handloads, though I didn't have the chance to "tune" them.
 
That particular Model 7 belonged to my buddy, but he wanted to sell it, so I told my lady neighbor about it and she bought it. I picked it up from my buddy and brought it home and decided to check it out, so took it apart and discovered that my buddy had over-torqued the front action screw and cracked the stock. I did a quick crossbolt reinforced bedding job and put we sighted it in with my quickly-assembled handload out of the manual and it shot about a 1 1/4" group at 100 yards. Then, we tried it with some factory Core-Locts and it made a perfect clover-leaf...all touching!!

The neighbor loves that rifle and last year, shot a 200 lb buck from her tree stand, about a hundred yards away. She absolutely loves that rifle!!!
 
Picher said:
That Drilling is beautiful and lighter than any I've hefted. It's certainly a game-killing machine!!!
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Guns take quite a beating in moving arctic hunts so medium-high grade walnut isn't a good idea. Additionally, up to 8½ lbs for a Krieghoff Optima even with short 22" barrels (plus optics and mounts) isn't - as a single-shot rifle - something I'd like to carry in my hands. A few of my buddies have brought their drillings to these hunts, no-one has done it twice. The pinnacle so far is a break action frozen shut, which wasn't totally unexpected.

Pretty guns, for somewhat less demanding conditions.
 
DM~ said:
I guess "your" artic is different than Alaska artic.
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Think of it as your moose antler photo (nice antlers, btw!), just remove all vehicles, add snow and carry everything by hand. It's not "mine" or anyone else's for that matter, it's just Lapland as we like to hunt it.
 
ifit said:
Was looking for a light affordable 16" threaded barrel in .308, came across the Remington Seven Threaded in 16". It's exactly what I was looking for. Purchased from buds gunshop for $489
Barebones it weighs in at 5lbs, scope/rings n sling at 6lbs. Just another Rifle you might want to check out
View attachment 867143
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Thanks for sharing this. It's probably still too heavy for HQ, but I took another look at the Model 7 and the Compact Synthetic in 7-08 is 6 lbs, which is pretty darn good for $600! That would make for a very handy carry rifle indeed.

And nice job on the stock.
 
I've done a LOT of cold winter hunting, many times in below 0F,

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I use to like hunting in the cold, but now, not so much...

I had this one out in some serous cold weather a time or three too,

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It weighs 6-3/4 pounds...

DM
 
that is an interesting front scope ring, dm~. a good idea to keep in my back pocket just in case.

murf
 
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