Making Weight on Standard Rifle

[GTKF]

My 22 rifle weighs in at 10# 5 oz. Anschutz 54 action (old style) with 24" barrel in a McMillan stock, Leupold 6.5-20X with B Square rings.

As is the gun shoots below 1/2 MOA at 100 yds so I'm reluctant to change too much. As a last resort I'm thinking of having the barrel cut from the breech and rechambered, but before doing that I wanted to see if anyone has some suggestions for saving 3 oz.

One suggestion was looking for a plastic trigger guard (do they exist?) Mine weighs 1.7 oz. Perhaps I could get another 1.3 oz by cutting the barrel 1/2" and recrowning. I understand you do not want to remove too much from  the muzzle as anschutz tightens the bore at the muzzle - any thoughts on this or other areas to save some wieght?

Thanks

Ken

[longgun]

ken,  I once had an old style anschutz 54 with 27" barrel.  To make weight I had to   cut  off the butt end and  hollow out my McMillan stock and then use a shower shoe for making the butt plate.   Use silicone rubber to glue it in place.  Never had to cut any metal just remove the chalky stuff inside the fore end and rear of  the stock.  Don

[Fivepigs]

Changing to a fixed power scope, like the no-longer-made Leupold 24X BRD will probably save you almost 3 oz (the new Weavers are also pretty light).  Marvin Pearson makes aluminum trigger guards and floorplates that are very light and very nice.  Are the B square rings & bases steel?  Change them to aluminum (Marvin also makes wonderful rings/bases with built-in lookdown.)  If you're really getting 1/2" groups the last thing in the world I'd do is cut the barrel.

[GeoNLR]

I would start with the b-square rings. Marv makes the best metals, BKL also makes some right under 2 ozs as well. I'm not a betting man but I would be willing to take the bet between the BKL rings and minor if any work to the stock would get you 3 ozs.... I would leave the barreled action alone.

Chicken

[GTKF]

Seems everyone is in agreement not to cut the barrel, including the local gunsmith. Getting sub 1/2" MOA with Lapua Master M, Lapua super Club gives  .75 - .9 both on a clam day and repeatable. Most other ammo, including all the Eley's give 5 shot groups of 1.0 -1.5.

The B Square rings are aluminum, they replaced BKL rings and I saved a bit. I believe the trigger guard is also aluminum (magnet doesn't stick). Just bought the scope for this rifle, but going to a 24 might make sense.

Hollowing the forend of the stock also sounds feasible, but I assumed it would be styrofoam and I wouldn't save very much. Would I weaken it by cutting the outer layer of fiblreglass under the barrel chanel? Could I get 3 oz. out of there? How should the exposed surface be protected?

Thanks

Ken

[ajj]

The Sightron 24x is reasonably priced, repeats well and weighs just under 16 ounces, I believe.

[GeoNLR]

On the stock.. Someone else feel free to jump in... I have only "hollowed out" 1 McMillian stock. I created a chanel in the forearm of a 1712 fwt that I swear was almost 1" deep right in front of the action. I could not get it to flex. I thought I had taken a little much when I was done and I saw no signs of it weakening. As far as weight? No clue, I was making a channel to add. I can tell you that it was tough stuff! I was using a hand drill with stone bits to "route" out the inside. With this method, there apeared to not be a need to "seal" it.

Can you get 5 ozs out of the stock? Well I was wrong on the rings (Was assuming they were the steel), but I would not think you could get 5 ozs just by removing some of the guts of your McMillian barrel channel. Like Don mentioned eariler, you may have to work on the front and rear to get some weight down. I have seen some heavy butt pads in my limited time...LOL

The scope alone would not get you there either. You could possibly save 3 ozs by making the swap from thee 6.5-20 to a 24x ...

HUmmm....

[GTKF]

George, I appreciate all the information. Looks like, with a combination of all the suggestions, I can get it down to 10 lb 2 oz. I'll start with the forend of the stock, then the back, lighten the trigger guard (some holes) and see where I come out. Then there is always an excuse for another scope

Ken

[ppk1]

GTKF,
Have you considered removing the butt plate and all the hardware. On my 64 the butt plate, steel inserts and screws weighed 6.5 ozs. I replaced it with a hard foam pad.  Removing anything but metal is not going to help. Picture this...a 1 inch cube of wood weighs on average about 1/2 oz.

[cws]

Some years ago I turned a 1411 (Older Match 54 Prone Rifle) with a 26"bbl into a decidedly front heavy Standard Rifle using one of the Fajen thumbhole silhouette stocks.  I skeletonized the butt, drilled out the pistol grip and gutted the forearm starting 1 1/2" forward of the action.  Bedded from there back.  (One other aside, here...  if you cut wood, reseal.  If you get them down this thin, it doesn't take a lot of water to cause warpage...)  Get rid of the heavy pad, if any, and replace it with a thin rubber pad or glue on the sole of a flip-flop as suggested by Don.  If you need more length use 1" aluminum tubing spacers.  Don't know which BKL rings you were using, but I saved over an ounce using their #257 rings vs B-Squares.  Since you're using a McMillan glass instead of wood, I don't know how much weight you'll save by skeletonizing but I'd try that prior to doing anything to upset an otherwise sweet barrel.  Best of luck.  Let us know how you come out.

[Fivepigs]

As a last resort you could change to a Mark Pharr stock.  I think it might be a couple oz lighter than the McMillan fiberglass.

[dave imas]

i was using a McMillan sako hunter stock and switched to a Mark Pharr stock...  saved about 14 ounces.