Sporter diet

S

SINJIN

Guest
Well I am building a sporter rifle to shoot in RBA and right now the rig has a little weight problem. What are some suggestions for dropping a few OZ legally. I know that I can get some lightweight Kelby rings but what other weight reduction tips can the experienced crowd here give me? Also what type of scopes are you guys and gals using to keep the weight down and keep optimal quality and clarity. Any help would be appreciated.
 
"A. Sporter

Rifle and scope must weigh 7 1/2 lbs. or under. Scopes limited to 6.5 power maximum. Variable scopes must be set at the legal power and taped by a referee. Rifle must be a repeater and must be capable of holding two or more rounds in a clip or magazine. Stock must be 2 1/4" or under at its widest point. Holes can not be drilled or cut in exterior of stock to make the legal weight. Rifle must be designed to be shoulder fired. No vibration tuning devices allowed. No electronic or mechanically assisted triggers allowed. Effective January 5, 2008, a magazine and safety are no longer required."

According to the rules, Holes cannot be drilled or cut into the exterior of the stock.. So, remove the buttplate and drill out the interior of the buttstock. You should be able to lose a couple of ounces..

Dave
 
Make sure you are weighing it with scope caps and lens caps removed.
Also you can remove material from the barrel channel.
 
What action are you using, and what stock? Don Stith can make some incredibly lightweight stocks that work well. Get a set of Allen Hall's rings if it's and action that will allow their use. If the bolt handle is solid steel, you can drill it and hollow it out, and of course you can drill the butt stock as others have advised. Depending on the density of the wood, depends on how much weight you'll lose. Use aluminum bottom metal, or trigger guard.
The lightest quality scope is the 3-9X33AO Leupold compact at around 11 ozs. A Burris HBRII would be next in line at around 13 ozs(not exact about that).
As someone asked, how much overweight is the rifle ?
 
The action is a Sako quad and it is in a Stith sporter benchrest stock right now. I really only need to loose about 4 to 5 oz right now. The stock does not have a butt plate on it right now so maybe drilling out the inside of it is a possibility.
 
Scott Hamilton used to make an aluminum bolt handle for the Finnfires. Don't know if the Quad takes the same handle or not? Never had one. I think the bolt handle saved a couple of ozs, maybe more. If you need to lose 4-5 ozs., that's a lot. It's very hard to get rid of one oz sometimes. I have one sporter that I made the action screws out of T-6 alloy to get it to make weight.
 
what kind of stock is it? can you take a drill and drill bit(say 1/2 inch) and remove wood from the butt of the stock? that could take some wieght off for you if it is legal. then you could put the butt plate back on it. just a ideal.
 
SINJIN said:
The action is a Sako quad and it is in a Stith sporter benchrest stock right now. I really only need to loose about 4 to 5 oz right now. The stock does not have a butt plate on it right now so maybe drilling out the inside of it is a possibility.
Click to expand...

Sinjin give me your address and I will send you a bolt handle made of alum.
E/M address is higdonkentucky@aol.com
 
sinjin
I don't remember what wood I used on your stock or what it weighed. the foreend is already hollowed out somewhat and the pull length is only 1/2 longer than minimum. The most you are likely to save by drilling out the butt is a couple of oz. I can do that for you if you are uncomfortable doing it yourself. . The factory guard is less than an oz. If you need to save 5 oz, I may have to trade you a lighter stock. Don't know what scope, scope rings and barrel size you used, but that is where the majority of weight exists. Hall rings are less than an oz compared to 3 or 4 oz in many rings. The Burris scope is a good one to consider for saving weight
Don
 
I assume that you are 4-5 oz over weight with a scope on the gun. One of the lightest scopes out there is the burris 6x 32 hbr2. It weighs 13 oz.
What is the barrel on your gun? Most sporters have pretty thin barrels.
 
The current scope that I have is heavy so I am looking for another alternative like the Burris or the leuopold ultrlight series. I have already hollowed out the butt of the rifle and it has taken out a couple of oz.

Don, the stock that you made me is WAY TO NICE for me to return it to you and since I have already hollowed out the butt, that does not make this possible. The stock is made out of Maple and Mahogany and IT IS GEOURGOUS!!!! Everyone that has seen it compliments me on it and the work that you did.

I will look into getting the hall rings to also save as much as I can. By the way are the Kelby rings just as good as the Hall and do they also have light weight?

The trigger guard I am using is the factory plastic guard that is very light. Don had already inletted the stock for this guard when I got it from him. I looked at the bolt handle and the Quad is not using a solid metel handle. the first part that conncets to the bolt is but then there is a composite handle that accounts for about 3/4 of the entire length. The butt plate that I made and used is one that I made from a very hard plastic/composite material and it weighs almost next to nothing.

As far as the barrel, I have not placed the barrel on the rifle yet since I am trying to get the weight down so that I can get the heavy bull barrel from Lilja. Lilja has already informed me of the weight of both the straight bull barrel and Sunburg taper so that I know how much weight savings is needed. According to Lilja, the Sunberg does not shoot quite as well as the Bull barrel so that is the reason I am wanting to go with the bull. Lilja will not cut any special coutours or flutes to save weight on a drop in barrel so I am limited to these two barrels only.

It is coming around and with changing the rings out with a set of Hall or Kelby, and getting a lighter scope it should hopefully be right around what I need.
 
A thought on weight issue perhaps a taper grind of the barrel would help. My thought here is that grinding ( many light passes) would impart less stress on/in barrel (rather than cutting tool) while reducing weight without sacrificing too much stiffness of bull barrel. I am not aware of what the sonburg profile is so please do not flame me too badly. Then again maybe I am all wet.
I fought a weight issue with a 52c bull (max weight 10lbs 1oz) many years ago in my silly-wet phase. Got down to 1- 2/10 under depending on scale used.
A lot of the options avaiable now did not exist then or were not legal for use.
 
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