How light can you make a LA Savage with 24" barrel?

Just parted out my old LH Savage LA which had a 26" PacNor SS .280AI barrel and a standard fill McMillan Classic stock. At 9+ pounds it was just too heavy.
I'm looking at a super lightweight build on this action for my next project but want a 24" barrel.
Here are my calculations.
My action complete with Stockade BH and .250" recoil lug. 36 ounces.
Brux or Krieger (not Criterion) #1 at 24" in 6mm-06. Nutless40 ounces.
McMillan Savage Hunters EDGE. 24 ounces.
Minox ZA5 1.5-8x32 scope. 12 ounces
Talley LW's 2 ounces

Total 114 ounces or 7 pounds 2 ounces with no ammo or sling.

Would like to get it under 7 pounds but fluting a #1 isn't wise and I don't want to go with a Lone Wolf or the Brown Pound'r due to their very high price.
The brand new Leupold VX-2 3-9x33 Ultralight CDS (pn 114414) comes in at 9.8 ounces and would get me just under 7 pounds.

What do you think I could do to reduce the weight even more? Does bolt fluting save an ounce or two?
I don't want to swiss cheese the action and 24" is non-negotiable.

Anyone here built a LA Savage that came in under 7 pounds all up?

And youre gonna be a little heavier than that by the time you add the barrel nut, trigger guard, and action screws. Personally i would not go with a plastic trigger guard just to save a couple ounces though.

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Originally Posted by pdog06

And youre gonna be a little heavier than that by the time you add the barrel nut, trigger guard, and action screws. Personally i would not go with a plastic trigger guard just to save a couple ounces though.

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I weighed my action with the action screws in it but I did neglect to add the TG. No plastic TG for me either. If I can find or make an aluminum TG I'd go that route but a slimmed down steel one would work too.
I would go nutless like I do with all my Savage rifles.
Thanks for your response.

Part of the beauty of McMillan stocks is that they'll inlet for whatever components you have.
The Savage TG doesn't work well with the lines of a McMillan unless you grind the back of the TG down to blend with the stock.
I'm thinking either the Rem ADL aluminum TG or better yet the Kimber Montana aftermarket aluminum TG.
Still I'm likely looking at an ounce or three over 7 pounds even with the Leupold Ultralight.

How much weight does bolt fluting remove? I dislike fluted bolts but if I can lose two ounces I could live with one.

By the time you cary that rifle a couple miles you wont even notice the 2oz so why worry about it.

Because my goal is under 7 pounds all up.

What better reason is there than that's what I want?

several months ago i was checking into bolt fluting my savage sa and was surprised to find that it would relieve only under an oz. recall being shocked how little... larry

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Originally Posted by roootie3

several months ago i was checking into bolt fluting my savage sa and was surprised to find that it would relieve only under an oz. recall being shocked how little... larry

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Thank you. So I'm looking at MAYBE an ounce on a LA.
May need to bump the bore size to shave another ounce or two.

Maybe the .25 Gibbs or the 6.5 Gibbs.

Bolt Flutes do take a few oz off but only in your head. You can also get a barrel flute and go from 24" to 22" to save some ozs.

http://i139.photobucket.com/albums/q...ictures051.jpg

I think he already mentioned the barrel was too thin for fluting. A $500+ stock? Ouch.

Have you considered a subscription to Golds gym? ;D

El Lobo

that's funny, el lobo!!! cut the guy some slack..... some people strive for accuracy, some for weight loss

I strive for first shot from a cold bore accuracy. If the second goes to POA that's even better. Third or more not such a big concern for me.

As for the $500 stock that doesn't faze me in the slightest. Quality costs and pays. $300-$400 for a top tier barrel is money well spent too. Custom chambering costs money but throating to suit your intended load is way more than half the good of a custom barrel IMO.

The Lone Wolf could take ~8oz off but you've decided against that. I don't imagine the Stockade bolt handle is super light, might go aluminum(or TI?). You could do the same with the recoil lug and maybe the trigger with a steel insert for sear engagment. Boring the inside of the bolt could save a little over external flutes without disrupting function. Going up in bore size would save some weight, as would going to a larger chamber. Maybe replace the nitrogen in the scope with helium.

Lone Wolf was definitely a consideration but they insist on doing the complete stocking job with your BA in their hands. That costs a BUNCH of money. I think they quoted me $800-$900 a year or so ago!
My rough calculations put me very very close to 7 pounds even, once a bolt fluting is done.
I'm thinking that if I'm not at 7 pounds with a 6mm bore I'd likely get there with a 6.5mm bore and no cylindrical shank ahead of the recoil lug like the nearly perfect Remington KS contour.
I have the smaller Stockade BH and it is lighter than the stock BH by mere grams.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v6...123/6br004.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v6...123/6br007.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v6...123/6br009.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v6...123/6br011.jpg

Avenger, that is just plumb interesting!!!
Hmmmm..........also be intresting to see how much of the remaing barrel you could turn down, like leave every third fin, or maybe fourth.
Makes me wish I hadn't seen that....................... :-\
Thanks, Andy

I tried for several years to build a scoped LW Savage that would come in under 7 lbs. I don't think your going to get there with a 24" barrel. You can save yourself a lot of time, money and frustation. Take a look at the Savage 111 Lightweight Hunter. It weights in at around 5.5 lbs in a SA and 6 lbs in a LA with 20" FW barrel. Add another 1.5 oz per inch of barrel length over 20" if you want a longer custom FW barrel. My rifle weights 5 lbs 12 oz without scope. I changed the trigger guard from plastic to metal (+1 oz). I'm using a heavier Leupold VXR scope and steel Burris bases/Zee rings for a total scoped rifle weight of 7 lbs with sling. So Talley LW rings and a Leupold untralight scope would get you below 7 lbs total. Recoil energy with this load and rifle is 15.4 ft-lbs. So a LA cartridge and heavier bullet is going to have a pretty good punch in a LW rifle. The balance, handling, fit and feel of the Savage LWH is also better than any of the LW builds I attempted using a Savage standard factory action, modified stocks and longer 22" barrels. Just wish Savage had rolled out the LWH 5 years ago. I also bought and sold a couple of Remington Model 7's in 260 and 308. I never could get them to consistently shoot less than 1.25" groups. My Savage LWH cost less and is more accurate than either of the Model 7's I tried.

The LWH is out for a number of reasons. The main one, and an instant disqualifier for me, is that it doesn't come in left hand. I won't get into all the other reasons.
I talked to a number of people today who have fluted a #2 so that option is open even though I dislike fluted barrels. I'll readily admit that I like velocity and, especially in the smaller bores, I find that 24" is required to get me where I want to be velocitywise. I'll run some numbers through QuickLOAD for the various Gibbs cartridges to see what I might be looking at. My first choice will be the .240 Gibbs. A .280AI is certainly not out of the question either. The 162 gr Amax at 3000fps always excites me.

This should be an interesting project and since there are no new factory lightweight left hand bolt rifles out there a build is my only choice.
I'm thinking it can be done, especially in an 8 twist .280AI. Might be harder in a 7 twist 6mm bore though.
This is a future project because I have my hands full and my pockets empty with my LH Kimber M82 .22LR project right now.

Hunter5280.. Who did your bolt fluting? It looks super nice... I like the looks of SSS interupted fluted bolts too, but I think the spiral will have more weight reduction.

Thanks in advance.

aoshtr

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Originally Posted by jpdown

Add another 1.5 oz per inch of barrel length over 20" if you want a longer custom FW barrel.

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You must be talking carbon fiber.

The 1.5 oz per inch estimate is based on my experience with CM and SS barrels. I had Sinman cut and recrown a 22" .308 Savage sporter barrel to 20" and a 24" .260 A&B barrel to 22". The weight of both barrels was reduced by approximately 2 oz per inch removed. Sinman also made a 22" FW contour barrel in .260 for another Savage LW build. This barrel tipped the scale at 2 lbs 0.5 oz. So 32.5 oz divided by 22" gives you 1.48 oz per inch of barrel which I rounded up to the 1.5 oz per inch estimate in my origional reply above. It is tough to get below 7 lbs using a standard Savage action, barrel, stock, and scope. But at the time I attempted these LW builds, the Savage LWH was not available. You can easily get to a 6.5 lb scoped truck/carry rifle with the Savage LWH.

My experience also shows that you lose under 2 ounces per inch of barrel length removed.
That's one of the reasons I prefer a longer barrel and why I feel cutting a barrel for weight purposes is foolish.
Cutting for balance is another thing entirely.

As for getting under 7 pounds with a 24" barreled LA Savage, I'm going to give it a heck of a shot.
With a fluted #2 and a fluted bolt, the Leupold Ultralight in Talley's, and a 6.5mm bore all set into a Mickey EDGE I think I'll be DARN close.

Two testimonials is good enogh for me. I am sure contour and caliber are factors here gut based on the math and numbers provided I am convinced. I think the balance is where my head was.

My wifes 338 weighs in at 6.2 pounds including 3-12 Burris scope and EGW base and Rings.

The largest weight cut was a contoured extremely light 19" (plus brake) tapered 338 bore Benchmark stainless barrel. I took the most weight cut from both inside and outside the barrel!
#2 weight cut was the bolt fluting plus ultra-light bolt handles are plentiful.

The 6.5 WSM weighs exactly 14 oz heavier with everything else being equal. The external barrel is exactly the same as they can not contour any lighter.
I checked into a carbon Fiber barrel and at $800.+ for the barrel I passed.

I would call Scott Null and purchase his 20 oz Ultra-light stock though.

Neal