I've been trying for to build a light weight Savage hunting rifle with wood stock for several years. I thought I'd share some of my findings. Finished weight of stock, SA, and barrel (20" .308 Savage Sporter) is 7 lbs, 2 oz. Since the scope, rings and lens caps weigh right at 16 oz, that means the rifle weight is 6 lbs, 2 oz. (first picture). In the second picture I show some recent updates. I changed out the ebony tip to give some more length and balance to the rifles appearance. I changed to a Shaw 22" SS .260 barrel barrel and added a better recoil pad. Finished rifle weight is now 7.5 lbs. The Savage 14 walnut stock in the background is another attempt at a lightweight stock. It weights 8 lbs using the same action barrel and scope, or 8 oz more than the laminated version.

I've tried the Remington Model 7's. They weighted about 7 lbs with the Leupold VX-3 2.5-8 x 36 pictured. I loved the light weight and handling, but never could get them to shoot like I wanted. Most attempts at a traditional wood stock Savage have come in around 8 lbs with scope, give or take.

I started with an unfinished Boyd's LTH that weighed 2 lbs, 13 oz. I removed over a pound of wood from the stock. I added a ebony wood grip cap and tip to dress it up a bit. I converted the hole spacing from a stagger feed to a center feed, added pillars and bedded the action. I was able to get the finished weight of the stock down to 29 oz. The barrel in the first picture is a Savage factory .308 22" sporter cut to 20" and recrowned. The 2" cut reduced the barrel weight by almost 4 oz. I used Talley LW scope mounts. I'll need to replace them with the low height rings to get the proper sight picture for quick shots with this set up.
I got to shoot it a few times this evening before it started raining. I'm going to need to remove the hard rubber recoil pad and replace it with something a little more comfortable. Otherwise, I've finally got an easy to handle, light weight hunting rifle that shoots sub MOA groups like it should.


[img width=600 height=450]http://i266.photobucket.com/albums/ii276/jpdown/PICT0005.jpg[/img]

[img width=600 height=450]http://i266.photobucket.com/albums/ii276/jpdown/PICT0018.jpg[/img]