Where are the lightweight Savage builds?

[nsaqam]

Has anyone here built a really lightweight Savage?

Seems like the vast majority of rebarreled Savages sport a varmint contour or larger.

You rarely see a featherweight or #1 contour and I see a lot of heavy laminate and heavy synthetic stocks but few Bansners, McMillan EDGE's, or Lone Wolfs.

Are Savage shooters just stronger than your average person and don't mind carrying 12lbs of rifle?

Who has a Savage which weighs under 7 lbs all up with scope, rings, and a magazine full of cartridges?

I'd like to build one in 243AI or 260AI with a 22" Featherweight or even better the great Remington KS contour PacNor , a Mickey Hunters EDGE, and a 12oz Minox ZA5 1.5-8x32 in Tally LWs.

Finally, I had no problem carrying 8-10lbs rifles until I got my LH Kimber 84M. At 6lbs 7.2 oz all up the rifle is a joy to carry and I find that light little rifle in my hands ready to go instead of on my shoulder or leaning up against something. Carrying heavy rifles quickly lost its appeal after the Kimber arrived.

[bluealtered]

I'm sure someone will show their lwh. I stopped my lwh build when savage came out with the lwh models and simply picked up one in .260. It works fine and comes in scoped at about 6.7lbs. That works for me.

[nsaqam]

Thanks for the reply.

Even if the Savage Lightweight Hunter were close to my vision of what a LW rifle should be they don't make it in LH yet.

Does the Lightweight Hunter satisfy your desire for a really LW rifle?

It doesn't for me as the barrel is too short, the stock is the wrong material and so is the metal.

Now I have a benchmark to shoot for though. I'd like to build a full sized rifle, 22" minimum, with a Kevlar stock and a blind mag which weighs equal to or less than the 5.5lbs advertised for the LWH.
This would be without the swiss cheese cuts on the receiver.

Let's see some LW Savage builds.

[dksac2]

I know of a stock that is the lighest stock made for the Savage CF, PM me for details, they are like a feather, but strong.

My Best, John K

[wbm]

Does the Lightweight Hunter satisfy your desire for a really LW rifle?
It doesn't for me as the barrel is too short, the stock is the wrong material and so is the metal.

Sounds like you should just stay with the Kimber. Very good rifles and they seem to meet your criteria of right barrel, right stock and right metal.

I have a Savage American Classic in .243 I bought from a member and it weighs about the same as your Kimber. It is the lightest rifle I care to shoot in any caliber larger than something in .223. I did build a light weight Savage in .223 with a stainless 22" barrel and synthetic stock that was very light but don't have pics anymore.

[nsaqam]

Unfortunately the Kimber is CM and not SS.

As for staying with the Kimber, that is a given as there isn't many LH 6x47 Kimber of Oregon M84's to choose from and it is the sweetest rifle I've ever held.

From what I see it is a whole lot easier to build a 10-12 lbs rifle than it is to build a 5 lbs one. More expensive too.

Well I'd still like to see some of the other LW Savage builds out there but I'm afraid Tacticool/LR is the order of the day right now and there just may not be too many folks building true LW Savages.

[bajabill]

I have come to like a little lighter gun for my hunting, but I am not going to extremes chasing a particular weight. I started with a standard wood stock short action, use a 22" sporter 7-08, and drilled a lot of material from the butt and forend of the stock. With blind mag, the stock weighs in at 2.75lbs. I used this gun this past year and think it may be my deer season setup for a while. After the season, it gets a makeover with a heavy long barrel and heavy target stock.

Also, I bought a CBI barrel last year, may be one of the few who opted for a 24" heavy sporter contour. This is probably my favorite contour, with about .7" diameter at the end with a nice fast taper. I have an A&B barrel that gets to that diameter, but it is a gradual taper along the entire length and therefore noticable heavier at the front.

My lightest gun I recently purchased a Rossi M92, with a 16" 45colt barrel. This gun is just over 5 lbs and a breeze to carry without a sling. Short enough to carry in one hand pointed down and doesnt drag the ground.

[jpdown]

Before the Savage LWH was introduced, I spent a lot of time and money trying to build a LW Savage that handled like a Remington Model 7, or Kimber 84 and would shoot sub 1" groups. Best I could ever do using a Savage standard SA, 20-22" #1 contour custom barrels, and a extremely modified Boyds thumbhole laminated stock was 7 lbs 4 oz without scope. I purchased the Savage LWH in 260 pictured below last fall. Out of the box, it weighed 5.6 lbs. You can switch out the plastic trigger guard and DBM assembly with the metal parts used with Savage Accustock models. But that will add 12 oz in weight which kind of defeats the purpose. So I just switch the TG to metal. The Savage LWH pictured below with the Leupold VX-R 2-7x33 scope, Burris low 30mm Zee rings and Xtreme bases weights 7.0 lbs. You can trim off another 8 oz if you use Talley LW rings and a Leupold VX-II ultralight scope. The 20" featherweight barrel shoots 0.75" or better 3-shot groups with the 120 gr Nosler BT and 130 gr Berger VLD hunting loads I have worked up so far. It is well balanced, easy to manuver in a blind or stand, and a joy to carry up and down the steep wooded hills where I hunt. The oil finished walnut stock allows easy repair of any nicks and scratches with a little Tru-Oil.

http://i266.photobucket.com/albums/ii276/jpdown/PICT0023.jpg

[nsaqam]

Very nice.

7 lbs is pretty impressive considering that you didn't use particularly light mounts or a featherweight scope.

You're also right about the repairability of oiled walnut.

These LW rifles really are a joy to carry.

On your previous LW build how much do you think you could've saved by going with say a 20 oz synthetic instead of the laminate thumbhole?

Do you by chance remember what a #1 barreled Savage SA weighed?

Thanks

[Dan Fletcher]

My Stevens 200 in 243 with SF mag weighs 6 lb. 10 oz. The tupperware stock weighs 28 oz.

[henry1]

I built a lw lh 25-06 with a octagon bbl, a good looking wood stock, pillar bedded, metal trig. guard and a burris fullfield 2 and it weighs a little over 7lbs....all of my other builds are at least 10lbs, the heaviest in the safe weighs 13.5lbs. most of my common carry calibers, (.224) are heavy but gets me in shape to carry the 06 come seasons.
H.

[Dano5001]

I am giving some thought to trying a lightweight build, I havent weighed my .260 but it feels very heavy to me, 26" varmint contour. I would like to do somthing with a sporter to heavy sporter contour and a light composit stock.

[savageboy]

Can you buy the new lighweight action yet? I haven't seen any. I would like to use one, get a 22" barrel, lightweight stock, etc. or maybe get the whole rifle, unscrew the barrel and put a 22" or 23" sporter contour. 20" is a little short for my tastes. Prob great in brush. thick stuff

[pdog06]

I know of a stock that is the lighest stock made for the Savage CF, PM me for details, they are like a feather, but strong.

My Best, John K


??????? Is this some super secret that it cannot be shared on an open forum???????

[N8Will]

Im in the process of building a lighter rig at the moment. Im going with a stockade stock that weighs in about 28 ounces, barrel will be factory sav in 243 win that Im going to have rechambered to a 243 AI. Talley light rings with a Leupold VX 2 3-9 on top. Im thinking it should come in around 7 lbs or so. Not a true LW but should make for a real nice mid range coyote calling rig. Still waiting on parts so I dont have any pics yet, sorry.

[bajabill]

thanks for the syn stock weights, tells me I can shave a pound by changing stocks.

[jpdown]

Very nice.

On your previous LW build how much do you think you could've saved by going with say a 20 oz synthetic instead of the laminate thumbhole?

Do you by chance remember what a #1 barreled Savage SA weighed?



As stated, I've look at all kinds of possible combinations. I was able to get a Boyds laminated thumbhole with a 3 lb starting weight down to 24 oz by shortening the forend and enlarging the thumbhole similar to maco the shark stock on my Savage 93-17HMR. The 22" SS Sinman #1 contour barrel weighed 2.0 lbs 1 oz. A Savage factory sporter barrel shortened to 20" will be around 2 lbs 6 oz for comparison.

The following are my observations from attempting to build a LW Savage using a standard SA.
• As mentioned above, a composite blind magazine stock will be the lightest. The Savage factory, B&C Carblite Classic and Stockade Hunter are all in the 28 to 32 oz range.
• If you want a DBM or HFP stock and metal TG, that will add 12 oz in weight. If Savage Arms will sell you the parts, you could replace the metal DBM assembly on an Accustock with the composite DBM assembly used on the Savage LWH. My guess is that would save 6-8 oz.
• A 22” Savage factory sporter barrel is around 2 lbs 10 oz. with a weight savings of around 2 oz per inch removed.
• A 22” barrel with #1 contour will be around 2.0 lbs.
• Compact/ultralight scope tubes are short and somewhat limit mounting options. Talley LW rings are the lightest option.

[nsaqam]

I'm thinking of a much lighter stock than 28-32oz.

I'm thinking 16-20oz and blind mag for certain. Something like a Bansner with a flip flop recoil pad or for big bucks the Lone Wolf Summit.

I'll definitely go with a #1 contour unless I can find one smaller. It will be a full 22" long though.

Flute the bolt but not the barrel.

[Cserv]

I am in the process of taking my model11. 308 to 16-17". With the factory synthetic stock it should be a light and handy hunting rig, and still be able to effectively take game out to 400 meters.

[mutwagn]

Not an ultra light build, but a slightly custom light/standard weight build.
This is my older savage 223 with a replacement Shaw 6x45 22" SS sporter barrel, and SSS trigger. I have a Stockade hunting sporter stock I may use on this, if I don't use it on my 260 which is most likely. The scope is a Weaver V10 that I have had for a while.
Shoots 75 gr Vmax into 1/2-3/4" at 100 yards, but I have only shot about 20 rounds so far through it, and 10 of them were some nosler 70 gr. that were loaded single shot because of length. I want to try a few more bullets, like the Sierra 85 gr. hps also.
http://i34.photobucket.com/albums/d101/mutwagn/6x45savagec.jpg
I built this for coyote, and ground hog, and maybe deer when hunting crop control, or short range. My wife is also a lefty, and she can shoot this without much fear of recoil. So far I am pleased.
Andy