Ideas on weight reduction?

[davemuzz]

;D I mean weight reduction on my Shilen re-barreled 17 Fireball Stevens 200!!! (Not me!! I go 220! And it don't matter what color camo I put on.....I just can't seem to lose any weight!!)

I have the "standard" tupperware Stevens stock that came with this gun, and the barrel is a sporter tapered one. It's accurate as all-get-out.......but I was just "throwin" it out there as to inquire if anyone had any ideas or any experience in shavin some weight off of their rifles.

I'm gonna guess this tips over 9lbs and prolly closer to 10lbs. That's with a Bushnell 3-9 X 50mm lighted Reticle scope (nite hunting for fox) on it.

Thoughts?

Thanks..Dave.

[firemachine69]

Put it on a treadmill? ;D


In all seriousness though, you're pretty limited without investing some serious cash.

[davemuzz]

Put it on a treadmill? ;D

I tried that. Damn thing loaded itself and shot the treadmill controls right out of the handle!!! > Now I keep the ammo locked up.

In all seriousness though, you're pretty limited without investing some serious cash.

Ok.....I'm "bitin". Wacha talkin about here? Fiberglass stocks with free-flowing minnow strain holes and Titanium bedding frames? Starting at $799? (Man.....that's like $400 a pound! Way more than my old girlfriend.....oh...nevermind)

Dave

[Eric in NC]

Shorten the barrel, get a smaller/lighter scope and that is about all you can do (that tupperware stock is about as light as they come before you get into carbon fiber etc.)

Flute the bolt/barrel is about the only other thing. It is a pretty light gun already - maybe a lifting program for you???

;D

[ellobo]

Loosen the barrel nut, remove the barrel, throw both away.
There, you just cut the weight in half.
Give us a range report. Oh, and pictures.

El Lobo

[firemachine69]

Shorten the barrel, get a smaller/lighter scope and that is about all you can do (that tupperware stock is about as light as they come before you get into carbon fiber etc.)

Flute the bolt/barrel is about the only other thing. It is a pretty light gun already - maybe a lifting program for you???

;D

That pretty much sums it up. Look into the McMillan ultra-light stocks, but you're essentially tossing a crappy stock for a good one, at about the same weight.

[82boy]

There is not a lot of weight to drop off of a Stevens 200. Get a set of Tally one piece mounts for your scope. I have yet to find a lighter set up.

Cut a few inches off the barrel, that is about as light as it will go.

[davemuzz]

Loosen the barrel nut, remove the barrel, throw both away.
There, you just cut the weight in half.
Give us a range report. Oh, and pictures.

El Lobo

Great idea El Lobo......but when I started giving this some serious thought....black helicopters with the letters BAFT began to circle my house and these tiny red dots began to appear on my chest. And I kept hearing someone mumbling "less than 16 inches". (I though...."Hey....who's looking when I go to the bathroom?"

Flute the bolt/barrel is about the only other thing. It is a pretty light gun already - maybe a lifting program for you???

;D

A lifting program!!!!! What!!?? Hey!! I'm lifting 4 to 5 jelly filled doughnuts every morning now!!! What more do you want a guy to do?

I have considered choppin a few (like up to 4") off the barrel....but the darn gun is so accurate and shoots so good that I hate to mess with perfection. I probably could find a lighter scope, but I need one with a lighted reticle and the Bushnell that's on it works like a charm.....I only paid $110 for it brand new.....and it gets banged around quite a bit when I hunt in the dark.

I guess I was hoping for a magic stock that weighed next to nothing and cost $39.95 with an aluminum frame bedding system.......but I can only hope.

Well, thanks for you ideas and your input.

Dave

[firemachine69]

I guess us canucks can brag about our 8"-barreled 870's. ;D

[davemuzz]

Alright......Exactely what is a Canuck? Is than some new kind of rifling technique that I haven't heard about? You know.....like "button rifling"? I mean.....who knew that you could just take a button and shove it through a bore and get top quality rifling? No wonder gun companies make such good money!!!

And another thing.....what is an 8"-barreled 870? Is this some new Revolver that BFR has issued that I don't know about too? I'll bet it is and I'll bet it has this new Canuck rifling your gabbin about.

Yeah.......thought you could get one on me.......eh?

Dave

[wbm]

Consider the scope. The Bushnell you have is 20oz. If you went to a Leupold 3-9x40 VX1 you would drop about 8oz of weight...half a pound ain't bad! AND! AND! you will have a great reason to justify buying a new scope in these economically trying times. ;D

[davemuzz]

Scope is a consideration......except the current Bushnell has a lighted reticle. That's real important for night hunting.....which is when this gun gets used.

I have a Leupold 3-9X Rifleman just layin around right now as I sold off the .243 Prohunter barrel it was attached to. (I haven't shot that barrel in 2+ years.....since I built my 6.5 Savage Swede!!! ;D)

Dave

[davemuzz]

Well,

I've given this some considerable thought. Since I re-barreled this Stevens to a .17 Fireball, there really isn't a need to have the Limbsaver recoil pad on the back of the stock. They are nice for the heaver kicking calibers, but for the little 17.....maybe "overkill" is the word here. I'll put back on the thin piece of hard stock rubber.

But my Shilen barrel is 24" long and a bit tough to carry easy and toss around when night hunting. And since my fox shots are usually no more than 100 yards, I'm going to cut off 4" of the barrel....maybe 6". I've got to think about that just a bit more.

That may not reduce as much of the weight as I want.....but it may make the rifle more compact and easier to handle. And I don't think the loss of velocity will be significant enough to make a difference for what I use the caliber for.

Dave

[Slowpoke Slim]

Dave,

Before you cut too much off that barrel, think about the night "flash" of shooting it. Depending on what powder you're loading in that 17, if the barrels too short, it's gonna be "impressive" to behold shooting it at night. How about starting with the barrel at 20", and since you'll have it off, turn it down to a thinner profile. Since it's a 17 bore, you don't need it to be as heavy as a 22 or 243 bore, and have the equivalent "meat" around it.

About the only other thing you could do is as mentioned, get rid of that cluge of a telescope and put a more sensible sized scope on it, like a 2-7x33 or so. There are other lighted scopes out there that aren't from the old NASA observatory program.

;D

[davemuzz]

SS,

Thanks for the input. I never even considered the muzzle flash issue. Right now I shoot the Berger 25gr. stoked up over a full load of 18.2gr of H-335. Over my chrony this measures 3691fps (average, std deviation of 40) and my accuracy is simply outstanding.

My reasoning for going with a 50mm scope was because of night hunting. I wanted to have a larger FOV plus allow as much light to gather as I could....being that I was nite hunting with a red lite and I wanted a lighted reticle....and I didn't want to spend $1,000 or more on a scope that I could drop in the "swamp" and then step on. Besides.....I'm just cheap at heart!!!

However, I do have a Millett red dot that would mount very nicely on that rifle. Even though it doesn't have any magnification power, I haven't found that to be such a big issue. I keep the current scope on 3X constantly anyway.

Thanks for your input! Great suggestion!!!

Dave