Making a rifle lighter?

I can't believe someone who says they've hunted any decent amount and a deer has never not dropped in sight. I've shot a buck straight through the center of the heart with an arrow, and had it run 200 yards. I shot a buck with a 325gr FTX out of a muzzleloader at 10ft, through the front, destroyed virtually every organ in the animal before stopping in the back ham. The deer covered 150 yards just from the shock of the shot so close. Not a week ago a shot a doe through both lungs and took out the top two chambers of the heart with a 44Mag carbine, and she covered 100 yards.

Now shots at >150yds, where they don't hear the shot so close, those are virtually always bang-flops.

And a deer going 3/4 mile after being shot with a 300WM, someone needs to either choose a better shot angle, a more appropriate bullet, or both. I hunt with one and the only animal it hasn't been massively overkill on is an elk at 700 yards.

As for lightening a rifle, IMHO you are probably cheaper to start with one that is already made to be light and choose light mounts and a small, lights scope. If you won't be hunting over 400 yards you can get away with pretty minimal optics.
 
Savage's 11/111 Lightweight Hunter looks close to what you want. 5.5lbs in short caliber, 6.0 long leaves room for a modest scope. Making your barrel, bolt, and stock lighter might cost as much as buying the Lightweight Hunter outright.
 
Truthfully the cheapest way to get a lighter rifle is to buy a new one as suggested earlier. To have Proof Research or Christensen arms rebarrel your Savage will cost more than that LW Hunter as suggested. I don't know if either will sell you a pre-fit barrel you can install yourself if you planned to DIY.

If you go with just the acton weight of a Savage you'll probably come in somewhere around 2.5 lbs so that will give you 4.5 lbs to play with to keep it under 7 lbs all up. A 22" fwt contour barrel will average around 1lb 13oz finishing .550" at the muzzle, a McMillan Hunters Edge will average 22 oz, Talley lwt mounts 4.5 oz, and Leupold 2.5-8X36 which is about the best variable scope for a lwt build will weigh in around 11.4 oz. So your roughly looking at a 6.75 lb rifle before you add a sling and ammo. You can trim about 3-4 oz off the build if you use a fixed power or 3-9X33 Ultralight by Leupold.

For the price to mold your Savage into a lightweight rifle you could buy a Kimber Montana in .243 ($1200) or one of the new Forbes rifles (not CLR, NULA or ULA) in .25-06 or .270 ($1300) for about the same money. The way I figure it a bare Savage action is worth $250-300, $350 for a prefit barrel, $500-700 for a lwt stock by the time it is finished, and $350-450 for scope and mounts. So for $1700 +/- if you were to buy all new parts you could come out with a rifle and be right at 7 lbs by the time you add a sling and ammo.

Sure you could do some other things and maybe shave another 4-6 oz off of the action by skeletonizing or running as a single shot. You'll probably carry the same amount of rounds hunting as you would if it had a magazine, so you might as well carry as many as you can in the rifle. Then to remove metal from the action and bolt would put your build over the $2K mark easily.
 
As stated you can only go so far. I homebrewed a Savage 110 in .243 a couple years ago with an 18.5" McGowan Striker barrel from savagebarrels.com, a Boyd's lightweight laminated thumbhole stock and Redfield 2-7x scope and it's still not what I'd call a lightweight. I do think the el'cheapo Choate (?) stock I had on it before hand was lighter but I've never scaled em out to be sure. But other than that you're gonna have what ya have and either that or stay home.

BTW, the main advantage of the shorter barrel is not in the weight savings. Just makes for a quicker handling gun with different balance that catches less crap when you're in the thick stuff.

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243 caliber with scope and a synthetic stock. Unsure of the barrel length, I'll have to check. Thinking of possibly cutting 2 inches off and getting it fluted. Possibly the bolt too. ]
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Just take the stock off and the scope they are way over rated or just quit being a feline and pack it.


About the comment saying you don't need a follow up shot, you are mistaken and you must have good luck. I've seen a deer run with about half of it's head missing. It needed another shot. And even with a fatal shot, not every deer magically drops instantly. Many run. Running a few hundred yards is somewhat common and they were shot in the heart. Just yesterday one ran about 3/4 of a mile that was shot in the chest with a .300 magnum where I was hunting.
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Sounds like a follow up shot is not needed in these cases just patience unless swiss deer is what your after.
 
I had a Vouree Mauser in 243 some years back. It had a thin barrell with a diameter of my little finger. With scope, a bushnel banner. it weighed 5.5 pounds. It would place the first three rounds in a 3/4 inch group at 50 yards.
After that they opened up to about 2 inches as the barrel heated up.

For hunting this is good accuracy. You might check with some of the Barrel makers and get the thinnest barrel they make.

If you have a wood stock you can drill holes in it and remove a fair amount of wood without destroying the integrity of the stock.
 
find a sling you like and use it

Making the rifle more compact and better balanced will go along way toward making it less of a burden to carry. Cut the barrel to 18", mount a lighter scope with light weight rings and mounts will help. you need a good sling.

My best suggestion is to find a tactical sling that you like. One that will allow you to rapidly shoulder your rifle. Getting the weight of the rifle off of your arms and onto your shoulders will make a big difference over the course of the day.

I often carry a nearly 14 pound 308 target rifle to hunt Antelope, I could not carry that beast all day with out a very good sling.
 
Making the rifle more compact and better balanced will go along way toward making it less of a burden to carry. Cut the barrel to 18", mount a lighter scope with light weight rings and mounts will help. you need a good sling.
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I agree to a point you are correct about a more compact rifle being less of a burden. However I don't think just cutting a barrel back to 18" is going to help with balance. I like hunting rifles that balance at the front action screw or that are slightly muzzle heavy around an inch or two in front of the action screw. They tend to settle better for offhand shooting you have to do sometimes hunting. Just cutting a barrel to 18" will often times make your rifle butt heavy which isn't what I like to carry. My opinion as well slings should be shooting aids more than useful for carrying your rifle.
 
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I like hunting rifles that balance at the front action screw or that are slightly muzzle heavy around an inch or two in front of the action screw. They tend to settle better for offhand shooting you have to do sometimes hunting. Just cutting a barrel to 18" will often times make your rifle butt heavy which isn't what I like to carry. My opinion as well slings should be shooting aids more than useful for carrying your rifle.
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Both of the points are good general shooting points, I was trying to address how to lighten the burden the OP is feeling from carrying his currently rifle all day.

Very thing is a trade off, one feature is given up for another, to strike a balance that meets the shooters needs.

Balance point is a matter of personal preference, mine generally is centered about the chamber area. I hold my rifles with the lead hand just in front of the magazine. It is about getting the feeling that the shooter likes, sometimes adding a little lead into the front of the stock really helps.

I agree that a sling can and should be a great shooting aid, Though most hunters do not under stand how to properly use it. Once again compromise.


As for barrel length, between 18" to 22" seem to be the happy medium for most none magnums. The effect of shorten a rifle may be more mental than fact. That said, the "feel" of something is subjective, to me compact rifles carry easier.

At one end I have a 8X57 Mauser with a 16 1/4" barrel , at the other end I have a 26" barrel 308 rifle that weights in at over 14 pounds. Love them both.
 
Along with som eof the other sling suggestions, look into different ways to carry with a sling. If you are using a traditional military method you may find there are other ways to carry which are more convenient for fast shouldering or even plowing through a thicket.

I use a set-up similar to this picture for my muzzle loader. It may not look traditional, but I can easily make sure it isn't hitting or getting caught on anything and also shoulder quickly.
 
The scope on the fun is bad, but I just got a Bushnell for free.
I use a regular shoulder sling but i try to always carry the gun though.The style showed in the picture wouldn't work for me. Looks like it'd be in the way when getting through brush.
 
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