Ultralight Ultralight Rifles

[Thegman]

View attachment 819294Confirmed zero at 400 yards after not shooting the gun since deer season. Still on after 300 miles in the backpack on the motorcycle. Only shot once at someone’s dumped oil filter.

That rifle has some serious mojo...

 

[Thegman]

I need you guys to tell me these ULUL rifles are not that cool and I'm better off just spending the money on shooting my 243 and getting an extra scope haha. Seriously though.

I would, but then, there's that post immediately below yours...

 

[packgoatguy]

I need you guys to tell me these ULUL rifles are not that cool and I'm better off just spending the money on shooting my 243 and getting an extra scope haha. Seriously though.

Only if your 243 is a stainless superlite 8 twist tikka cut to 16 and threaded, bedded in a rokstok

 

[HighUintas]

Only if your 243 is a stainless superlite 8 twist tikka cut to 16 and threaded, bedded in a rokstok

Ha... Well, it's unfortunately a fluted d-18 contour Tikka at 22". But I was considering chopping it myself, filing the flutes deeper, potentially filing the contour down a bit, drilling holes all over the stock or carving a huge hole through it, cutting the forestock short along with the sides to make it look like that UL kimber hunter stock, rolling with the stock without any butt pad, dremeling out pockets on the action to look like a kindergarten version of UMs job... All really terrible ideas. However, I don't think any of them would ruin accuracy. So there's that. I would bet I could carve that stock down to 18oz

 

[packgoatguy]

Ha... Well, it's unfortunately a fluted d-18 contour Tikka at 22". But I was considering chopping it myself, filing the flutes deeper, potentially filing the contour down a bit, drilling holes all over the stock or carving a huge hole through it, cutting the forestock short along with the sides to make it look like that UL kimber hunter stock, rolling with the stock without any butt pad, dremeling out pockets on the action to look like a kindergarten version of UMs job... All really terrible ideas. However, I don't think any of them would ruin accuracy. So there's that. I would bet I could carve that stock down to 18oz

If you have the budget, a significant upgrade for any tikka is a stockys VG Carbon. Ive seen them go for $380 on sale... You might find a used one for cheaper. With mods, you can get it into the 20oz range easily.

 

[Trackselk]

If you have the budget, a significant upgrade for any tikka is a stockys VG Carbon. Ive seen them go for $380 on sale... You might find a used one for cheaper. With mods, you can get it into the 20oz range easily.

And send it to LRI for what ($200?) And they will reprofile it, add more to chop and thread it. Not crazy money though

 

[HighUintas]

And send it to LRI for what ($200?) And they will reprofile it, add more to chop and thread it. Not crazy money though

Selling and replacing would be cheaper than a recontour, cut and thread job. I'd considered that since I found a new SS lite 223 barrel locally for $100.

Anyway, I'm just dreaming at the moment since I'm medical bill rich and cash poor. I'd 100% buy all the parts for a ULUL tomorrow if I had the spare change

 

[Trackselk]

Selling and replacing would be cheaper than a recontour, cut and thread job. I'd considered that since I found a new SS lite 223 barrel locally for $100.

Anyway, I'm just dreaming at the moment since I'm medical bill rich and cash poor. I'd 100% buy all the parts for a ULUL tomorrow if I had the spare change

That's definitely a cheaper route, but my lite ss isn't threaded, hopefully that one is if you run a can. The LRI job would be lot thinner than the lite profile if you wanted. @packgoatguy could give you a better idea perhaps, although if they are willing to take it down to the profile of the green mountain (AR barrel) they made for me, it would take a ton of weight off of a tikka lite!

 

[HighUintas]

For anyone's info:

I cut this Tikka stock butt down by roughly 3/4" for my boys a couple years ago. Butt pad removed along with foam, and cutting off the foreend to the first lateral barrel rib/support, it's 19.7 oz. After drilling some holes or just cutting out a huge hole in the buttstock and cutting the upper 3/4 of the foreend off to where it only serves as a handle/rest, I bet it will drop another few ounces. I'm also going to remove brass inserts and screws, probably Dremel out some material under the grip and see if I can just glue the grip on.

So if I swapped out my d-18 243 barrel (could also just get my 30-06 superlite cut to 16" for even more weight savings) for a 16" 223 barrel, then the barrel may be around 30oz from my research.

Action+bottom metal +mag - 33oz
Barrel - 30oz
Stock - 17oz

5lbs for a bare Tikka isn't bad.

 

[HighUintas]

That's definitely a cheaper route, but my lite ss isn't threaded, hopefully that one is if you run a can. The LRI job would be lot thinner than the lite profile if you wanted. @packgoatguy could give you a better idea perhaps, although if they are willing to take it down to the profile of the green mountain (AR barrel) they made for me, it would take a ton of weight off of a tikka lite!

Ugh!!! Really? Man.... You guys really are a bad influence. I knew LRI did recontouring, but I didn't know they'd take a Tikka barrel even lighter than a Tikka lite profile.

The 223 barrel I found locally is a regular lite SS full length, so 22.4". But, I'd eventually get it cut and threaded for my can.

I expect I'd be able to sell my 243 for $200 or maybe a little more, so I'd only be out a little money with the local 223 plus a cut and thread

 

[Trackselk]

For anyone's info:

I cut this Tikka stock butt down by roughly 3/4" for my boys a couple years ago. Butt pad removed along with foam, and cutting off the foreend to the first lateral barrel rib/support, it's 19.7 oz. After drilling some holes or just cutting out a huge hole in the buttstock and cutting the upper 3/4 of the foreend off to where it only serves as a handle/rest, I bet it will drop another few ounces. I'm also going to remove brass inserts and screws, probably Dremel out some material under the grip and see if I can just glue the grip on.

So if I swapped out my d-18 243 barrel (could also just get my 30-06 superlite cut to 16" for even more weight savings) for a 16" 223 barrel, then the barrel may be around 30oz from my research.

Action+bottom metal +mag - 33oz
Barrel - 30oz
Stock - 17oz

4.38lbs for a bare Tikka isn't bad.

View attachment 819359
View attachment 819357View attachment 819358

Nice work! I've added a bit of spray foam in the cavity, and then cut it flush after it dried, then the water activated gorilla glue IIRC worked great to glue the buttpad to. Got my kimber hunter stock to 13.5oz that way, with a lot of holes drilled in it...
Edited to show the correct weight. Had to look at an old Pic to remember

 

[HighUintas]

Nice work! I've added a bit of spray foam in the cavity, and then cut it flush after it dried, then the water activated gorilla glue IIRC worked great to glue the buttpad to. Got my kimber hunter stock to 13.5oz that way, with a lot of holes drilled in it...
Edited to show the correct weight. Had to look at an old Pic to remember

Hmm.... Haha.

It's still surprisingly rigid. But I wouldn't want to shoot a 30 cal with it.

 

[grappling_hook]

Cool stuff on the Tikka for the kids. Please post an update with a full pic of the completed rifle once you're done with the tinkering.

 

[packgoatguy]

1st blood with the little 1.9lb 5.56.

60 yards with a subsonic 77gr.

Cottontail for the stewpot.

 

[Trackselk]

1st blood with the little 1.9lb 5.56.

60 yards with a subsonic 77gr.

Cottontail for the stewpot.

Am I invited for dinner!? It's only a 5 hour drive, love me some rabbit stew!

 

[packgoatguy]

Am I invited for dinner!? It's only a 5 hour drive, love me some rabbit stew!

C'mon down!

 

[Luke S]

That little SBR is the kind of thing I want to build. Just need to prioritize...
Hope I don't derail things but that Tikka idea looks cool. If you could turn the barrel down it would appear that 4 pound Tikka would be possible. Not UL UL but I'd like it for an all around hunting rifle.

 

[Trackselk]

That little SBR is the kind of thing I want to build. Just need to prioritize...
Hope I don't derail things but that Tikka idea looks cool. If you could turn the barrel down it would appear that 4 pound Tikka would be possible. Not UL UL but I'd like it for an all around hunting rifle.

I think the kimber hunter option is lighter, but it did cost me about $1200 just to go from 308 to 22creed (blueprinted action, trigger job, cerakote, custom profile, threaded at 18"). So, a 223 flavor kimber would be a lot more expensive than the tikka. Now, if you go with a 6.5creed, or 308 (serious recoil), you could end up lighter for about the same price. All bets are off if you already own the tikka...

 

[Luke S]

IF I do another rifle I might SBR it. A Tikka seems to make more sense for that than a Kimber. The fact that I could get a Tikka almost as light seems like a good deal.

I don't own a Tikka or a Kimber. A UL UL is next on the agenda.

 

[Jimbee]

1st blood with the little 1.9lb 5.56.

60 yards with a subsonic 77gr.

Cottontail for the stewpot.

Could you please tell me more about this subsonic 77gr?