Am I going to be close?

[taylorce1]

I just bought a used McMillian FWT stock for a M70 and planning my next build. I want to build a .338-06 22-24" bbl that comes in at 8 lbs or a little less ready to hunt. My current .338-06 weighs in right at 10 lbs but to put it on a diet would require a new stock and barrel or recontour and shorten the old one and since it is a 1903 action there isn't a whole lot of stock options to choose from.

The previous owner of this stock has it inletted for a standard Winchester sporter contour which I'm guessing will be around a 3 lb barrel and said the stock weighs in at 32 oz, which I'm assuming isn't the bedded weight. I think I'm going to use PT&G M70 aluminum bottom metal which weighs in at 2.7 oz since the Winchester action I'll be using is from a M670 rifle. I'm thinking with the Talley LWT rings and bases and a Leupold VX-III 2.5-8X36 scope I want to put on will add just over a pound of weight to the rifle.

So that gets me to 6 lbs give or take with out figuring in the action weight. Am I going to make my goal or be too heavy to have a rifle that when loaded and sling attached weighs in at 8 lbs or less? I don't want a super light rifle as the .338-06 recoil is nothing to take lightly plus around 8 lbs is pretty easy to steady when hunting elk in the high country.

 

[Scorch]

Well, M70s are pretty heavy actions, but you can hit your weight target if you try. Let's assume a M70 action weighs about 1-1/4 lbs (for argument sake, so please, nobody go out and take their M70 apart). The lightest steel barrel you put on it will still weigh about 2-1/4 lbs (#1 contour, pencil-thin), but an aluminum-sleeved (Lothar Walther) or carbon wrapped (Advanced Barrel Systems) barrel can take the weight down to about 1-1/4 lbs. Aluminum bottom metal is actually adding weight (as opposed to a blind magazine), but you're talking ounces, so I wouldn't worry about it. The stock is where you can make the difference. A fiberglass composite stock like the ones from MPI will drop your weight significantly (about 1-1/2 lbs finished weight), and a carbon-Kevlar stock will take you under a pound finished. Grand total, that is about 5-1/2 lbs scoped, so yes, you can hit your target weight of 8 lbs if you do it right. Nice thing about laid-up composite stocks is that they absorb a bit of recoil.

So ask yourself, do you really want a 6-8 lbs .338-06? I built a 5 lbs 12 oz 338 Win Mag for a customer about 25 years ago (he was going to hunt sheep in Alaska and there was the possibility of grizzly in the area). He loved it, It weighed close to nothing. He came back after the hunt about a month later and wanted a muzzle break on it. He said recoil was brutal.

 

[taylorce1]

Scorch, thanks for the reply. I don't want it down in the 6lb range and I don't want to go over 9lbs. I've already have a 1903A3 in .338-06 that weighs in just a little over 10 lbs. I just want to cut some weight and still have an elk thumper, that will work even if I want to hunt AK for things bigger than elk. I know from the bench a 8lb or less rifle will be a beast but from field positions I figure it will be quite managable.

Right now I'm looking right at 8.4 lbs using a #1 contour Pac-Nor barrel 22" long. Talley LW mounts and Leupold VX-III 2.5-8X36 scope. Thats before I load it and slap a sling on so I'm sure it will weigh in right around 9 lbs.