I noticed while looking at the shot show photos on gun blast that the lightweight hunter shown there had checking on the stock, unlike the photo on the savage site. Does make it look better. Also ran across a lightweight ruger 77 compact at the store, (listed at six pounds, 16.5" barrel) that was very light to handle and priced at $589, our model 11 will have to come down quite a bit to compete with that price. Heres hoping it does. blue