Building a light weight budget rifle

[MuleyFever]

There are a lot of great, and accurate, factory rifles these days and in my opinion the only reason to build a custom is to get something you cant get in factory. My question is what is the lightest factory action to build from if you don't want to spend big money on a custom Ti action? We all know Tikkas are pigs, especially if you want to build a short action.

So, say I want to rebarrel a factory short action. What's the lightest donor that still keeps me under the cost of a similar weight custom action?

 

[AKredneck63]

Kimber 84M

Grab a kimber hunter or kimber Montana 84m they both same actions just different stocks. Hunter is a detachable mag and synthetic stock Montana is a blind mag and Kevlar stock. I prefer the Montanas. Very light actions and CRF if that’s your thing. Easily get a titanium bolt handle off 24h forums for them and they work great. You can find used actions very reasonably priced if you aren’t in a rush ( 6.5cms are usually up cheap a lot)

 

[270quest]

If a mini action cartridge such as the 6 arc is what your after, the Howa barreled actions are very light. My 20” CF barreled action is 3 pounds 8 oz…with stockys VG stock, 20 oz scope and suppressor it will be like 7 pounds 5-8 oz…..

 

[180ls1]

Kimber is you want nice

Howa Superlite if you want light / cheap / not nice.

 

[BART74]

FOLLOWING

 

[TurtleHerder]

As someone else said, something in 6ARC or 6.5 Grendel is probably your best bet for short action. 6ARC is a fun round to shoot and works great for pigs and whitetail, as well as just about everything else below. My rifle is an AR platform, but I've seen lots of conversation about the Howa Superlite for 6ARC, so there should be plenty of reference materials for you there.

 

[khuber84]

Kimber 84M

Grab a kimber hunter or kimber Montana 84m they both same actions just different stocks. Hunter is a detachable mag and synthetic stock Montana is a blind mag and Kevlar stock. I prefer the Montanas. Very light actions and CRF if that’s your thing. Easily get a titanium bolt handle off 24h forums for them and they work great. You can find used actions very reasonably priced if you aren’t in a rush ( 6.5cms are usually up cheap a lot)

What the coal limit on a kimber short action? I've heard it's somewhere around 2.88 on a Montana. Don't know what the internal is on the hunter magazines. That'd be fine for 6cm, 6xc, 6.5x47. But with a 6.5cm, using say Bergers, touching lands is close to 2.94+- depending on bullet choice. You'll be jumping a ways to get into the mag. I'd imagine a 7saw or 7-08 will be the same issue. However if using eldm bullets they'll be much shorter oal due to the squatty nose geometry.

 

[B23]

There are a lot of great, and accurate, factory rifles these days and in my opinion the only reason to build a custom is to get something you cant get in factory. My question is what is the lightest factory action to build from if you don't want to spend big money on a custom Ti action? We all know Tikkas are pigs, especially if you want to build a short action.

So, say I want to rebarrel a factory short action. What's the lightest donor that still keeps me under the cost of a similar weight custom action?

I'm not sure what you consider light but I don't know that I'd say Tikkas are pigs. I think a Tikka with no bottom metal and no trigger is 28oz and 30oz with trigger. If you put a Ti bolt handle on the same Tikka it'll shave another ounce so your at 27 without trigger and 29 with. They don't cost a lot either.

The folks at UM can shave another 5 or so ounces off a Tikka action as well but if you're trying to keep cost down as much as possible you may want to skip that.

To me 29oz w/trigger, 24oz if you have UM lighten it, seems pretty light and for an action that requires no truing can be used as a short or medium action and has great aftermarket support the Tikka seems like the natural choice to build on.

If I recall I've been told the Howa mini, just the bare receiver, is around 10.5oz but I'm not sure what a complete action w/bolt and trigger but no bottom metal weighs. They're quite a bit shorter then a Tikka and pretty much any other true short action so if the cartridge you plan to use will fit in a Howa Mini one of those would probably be the lightest action you can use. I'd make sure and look in to the aftermarket world for the Howa Mini first though because I know they make some pretty light stocks for Tikka's and 700/700 clones and it would suck to have this light compact little action then have to use a stock on it that puts the weight back up around what a LW Tikka build would weigh.

 

[Te Hopo]

I'm not sure what you consider light but I don't know that I'd say Tikkas are pigs. I think a Tikka with no bottom metal and no trigger is 28oz and 30oz with trigger. If you put a Ti bolt handle on the same Tikka it'll shave another ounce so your at 27 without trigger and 29 with. They don't cost a lot either.

The folks at UM can shave another 5 or so ounces off a Tikka action as well but if you're trying to keep cost down as much as possible you may want to skip that.

To me 29oz w/trigger, 24oz if you have UM lighten it, seems pretty light and for an action that requires no truing can be used as a short or medium action and has great aftermarket support the Tikka seems like the natural choice to build on.

If I recall I've been told the Howa mini, just the bare receiver, is around 10.5oz but I'm not sure what a complete action w/bolt and trigger but no bottom metal weighs. They're quite a bit shorter then a Tikka and pretty much any other true short action so if the cartridge you plan to use will fit in a Howa Mini one of those would probably be the lightest action you can use. I'd make sure and look in to the aftermarket world for the Howa Mini first though because I know they make some pretty light stocks for Tikka's and 700/700 clones and it would suck to have this light compact little action then have to use a stock on it that puts the weight back up around what a LW Tikka build would weigh.

My Stockys Carbon Sporter for the Howa Mini is around 16oz, bare rifle weight is near 4.5lb.