Several years ago, after owning & shooting my 1st Gen 1 Vudoo repeater, I decided that I wanted a light weight sporter on another Gen 1, so I ordered in a bbl'd action with an 18" ACE in Ranch contour, which was the lightest profile bbl they offered. I put it into a Manners EH2 stock, with an Athlon Midas TAC 6-24x50 scope, and used a Jewell HVR trigger on it. Rifle shot great, but was so butt-heavy that I wasn't at all happy with the balance (or lack thereof) when carrying it. Finally decided to pull the Ranch bbl and replaced it with a Krieger #4 sporter that I chambered with an EPS reamer, and finished at 22". That got it to balance at the front of the Stealth DBM, made it easier to shoot off the bench, and the finished weight was just under 10lbs. I carry this rifle in the truck on a daily basis, and it's a hammer with good lots of SK Std+ & Rifle Match.
As a comparison, I bought a CZ457 American not long after they were announced. Really liked the action & trigger, and the American stock appealed to me as well. But the factory bbl didn't shoot worth a hoot, with 50yd 'groups' that were typically 1-1/2"-2", with quality SK, Lapua, & Eley lots that shot well in my converted 40X rifles with custom barrels & match chambers. I couldn't see much use in sending it in for warranty work, so did some looking at Shilen's barrel profiles, looking for something that would be close to the pencil profile of the factory bbl. Closest thing I could find was a #5, which had a 1.2" shank, which I parted off, leaving the radiused transition in place, and turning it down to a close-fitting tenon to fit into the 457's bbl socket. I wanted to get away from the grub screws & having to cut the deep seats for them to bear on, so after chambering & cutting the extractor slots, then after using a mix of CeraKote graphite black & tungsten - which I hoped would be a better match for the CZ's nitride finish than black alone - I glued the Shilen select match ratchet bbl into the 457 bbl socket with Loctite #609. The finished rifle with the slightly heavier 23" Shilen bbl weighs just over 9lbs, and balances nicely for carrying. Based on experience with these two rifles, I find it a little hard to believe that you're going to be able to come up with an accurate Rim-X that's much lighter than my Vudoo...
