Gordon
Member
I started looking for ultra light rifles in 1976 while still in active reserves at Hunter Liggett California. I was only issued a 2" S&W .38 revolver so I used my Plain Clothes allotment for a couple months and bought a Colt CAR and put the old Colt 3x carry handle sight on it and when we did the Big Sur Diablo Mountain range in 100 degrees was happy with the .5 1/2 pound load . My hobby at the time and for 30 years after was hiking that same coastal range and I sought custom flyweight hunting guns to use as my income increased . I met Chet Brown in his San Jose Garage in 1979 and he told me to go get a Remington 600 .308 carbine and he would make me an Ultra light that would weigh the same as the old SP1 Colt CAR . The first one was a glued in fiberglass stock, turned barrel and trued action and swiss cheesed everything using machined down Bushnell rings and bases and a Burris "mini scope" that just came out it weighed 6 pounds. After going to a Gunsite Orange class where I met the first Scout Concept rifle I took it back and had Chet put on a Forward scope mount and 2x Leupold LER scope in 1981 = 6.5 Lbs. I started to earn good money and Chet had started to use Kevlar in his Ultra light builds and he made me a gorgeous , shadow camoed little 600 that was skillfully machined all over with a fluted 16.5 " fluted & Ported barrel with Aluminum everywhere that could be used , custom scope mounts and a M3x Leupold scope that was right at 5 pounds unloaded which he finished in 1984 . The thing kicked pretty well but was 1" accurate for 3 shots and I killed afew deer and lots of pigs with it and it was the talk of Monterey county until it was stolen by a burglary in 1986 . I found it in a gun store for gunsmith repair 8 years later but thats another story. I never had another flyweight gun made up since, but had a few customs . My current and final Harry Lawson highly modified Remington 600 .308 weighs 7 pounds currently with a Swaroski scope (not pictured) and is pleasant to shoot with the effectie brake and delivers sub miniute of angle from a custom barrel (I forget whose) and is as light as I want to go. My Brown Precision Remington 700 .375 H&H weighs just under 8.5 pounds and is ok to hunt with . I still shoot my little .35 Remington 600 stocker with a 1-4 Leupold that weighs 6.5 pounds . Good luck, the Kimber 84M and the Ruger American Compact are GTG I believe. I am shooting more .243 these days