Need help to lighten up an old Rem Sportsman 78

[ridgewalker]

Trying to decide how to lighten my old 30-06. It still shoots better than me, so no need to rebarrel. It currently wears a Remington factory plastic stock.
Worst case would be to just find another light weight 30-06. I've looked for a Kimber Montana, but no luck so far.
Thanks for any suggestions!

 

[birddog 68]

How much does it weigh now? What do you have on it for optics and rings and bases?
A lighter scope and mounting may help but we don't know what you have on it now

 

[ridgewalker]

8 lbs 6 oz empty. B&L 2.5-10 power 1" tube. Aluminum Weaver bases and Burris rings.

 

[birddog 68]

Sounds like you aren't going to be lightening up the optics/mounting any and it's already got a plastic stock. Is the stock hollow? Some people add weight inside.
Sorry but that's all I got. I'm sure someone else will be able to help more than I have.

 

[Bob Wright]

Weigh your current stock and then go shopping around for weights of other stocks at any company you're interested in. Going too light has disadvantages as well. What you state your current rifle weighs, it's not heavy in my opinion.

 

[ridgewalker]

It wasn't too heavy for me for many years, but I live and hunt in Colorado and am working on my last quarter of a century. The mountains aren't nearly as easy to hunt as when I was even in my 60s. Hauled 4 backpacks of elk out at 69. Just want to be able to cover plenty of country to find my next one.

 

[cornshank]

Trying to decide how to lighten my old 30-06. It still shoots better than me, so no need to rebarrel. It currently wears a Remington factory plastic stock.
Worst case would be to just find another light weight 30-06. I've looked for a Kimber Montana, but no luck so far.
Thanks for any suggestions!

If you can't lighten it up , And your looking for a used one , the old jc Higgins model 51,
( Husqvarna ) is 7. 3/4 lbs or so, maybe even a touch lighter.

IF your looking for a new one , i would only be guessing.

 

[Alibiiv]

Brown Precision makes a stock called "The Pounder". I tried looking for their website, but could not find one. I'm not sure if they went out of business or not. I did read where they were supposed to move, however not certain about that either. They did/do make that Pounder stock. For a Remington 700 the stock weighs 17 ounces. I think that a regular, wooden stock weighs in around 2-2.5 lbs so might be able to save some weight there. I think that McMillan also makes a light stock like in the 20-23 ounce range.

 

[Bagpiper63]

It wasn't too heavy for me for many years, but I live and hunt in Colorado and am working on my last quarter of a century. The mountains aren't nearly as easy to hunt as when I was even in my 60s. Hauled 4 backpacks of elk out at 69. Just want to be able to cover plenty of country to find my next one.

Yup, hunted elk in Colorado for 25 years and that old adl in 7mm mag is like carrying a 9.5 lb brick but it shoots so well! Finally got a new 6.9 lb rifle with scope and my 64 yr old body thanked me!! Only way I could drop 2 pounds off the wood stocked adl would be to spend more than a new Tikka would cost. I'll keep the old girl and take her to the range a few times a year but her hunting days are over. Maybe my son in law will use it
.

 

[Highbrass]

Sportsman 78 is still a model 700.
So places to shave off weight.
Stock is an obvious point. A lightweight carbon fiber or fiberglass model may save a pound or so.
A carbon fiber wrapped barrel may shave a bit of weight.
Then that leaves the optics.there are some lightweight scopes and mounts available.
The issue i would think is obvious is you would at most cut 1~2 pounds and every option is pretty expensive.
A carbon fiber barrel $750 +
Lightweight stock $500 +
Optics $600 +
And these are conservative estimates.. on a rifle thats worth $400.
Personally ...have a maker build you a custom rifle i think you would come out way ahead

 

[ridgewalker]

Highbrass, I am leaning heavily in that direction after everyone's comments.

 

[bamban]

Cut the barrel down to 18.

 

[FEENIX]

Highbrass, I am leaning heavily in that direction after everyone's comments.

It boils down to your intended purpose and how much you can spend to lighten up what you have, have a light factory rifle, or a full custom build. I have Kimber 84L Hunter in .30-06 that I have rechambered to .30 Gibbs (https://www.longrangehunting.com/threads/30-gibbs-is-finally-ready.242088/), and it is 7.91 lbs hunt ready. With your scope set-up, it would be much lighter. A NULA would be much lighter but more than twice the cost. Good luck!

 

[Philward]

I have that same scope, 16oz I think, just mounted on a rem700 mtn rifle in 280rem. Change scopes would be the easiest, an equivalent Leupold would be 3oz lighter. Cut barrel to 20", maybe lighter rings and bases(?). I use SK bases and their one piece steel rings on 2 other mtn rifles and not had any issues in the many years they have been mounted.