Rifle lose 1-2lb without major changes?

penguinofsleep

Sergeant of the Hide
Full Member
Minuteman
Nov 26, 2020
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Somewhere USA
Have a ~16.7-16.8lb 6.5x47 rifle that I built purely to shoot for fun right now. This is without a bipod. It's probably my favorite rifle to shoot 100-1k yards right now so I don't want to mess with it too much but maybe I'm missing something here.
However, if I were to shoot at an NRL event or two for fun later this year or next, it would be nice if I could come in under the 16lb limit with this particular rifle. If it's not viable with my wants right now though, it's fine - weight limit or no, I was going to shoot skills division anyways. If I REALLY had to go compete today, I would just bring a different rifle.

Obvious answer but don't want to:
6.5x47 26" M24 contour barrel - it barely meets power factor as is when ~55-60F at close to sea level right now (140gr at about 2720-25 right now) so I can't just chop the barrel down. Don't want to spend money on a new lighter contour shorter barrel in a faster cartridge I like less for skills division.

Viable but not enough:
Remove sunshade + wrap on optic - saves 3oz
Full length Arca - MCS rail + arca weights could be swapped for a shorter rail with no weights - save 3.6oz without weights and maybe 1-2oz on a slightly shorter rail or just chopping it down a bit? (Don't want to cut rail too much due to mounting points on stock + rail is already skeletonized anyways to allow for weights to be inserted).
ATS brake - Yes, I could remove this or put on a lighter brake, but I like the way it shoots with the brake right now - saves ~6-8oz removed, 1-2oz swapped

Things that are probably less viable or won't make enough of a difference, but listed anyways in case I'm wrong:
- Manners MCS PRS stock - weight spacer on the butt end of the stock has already been removed - it's just the aluminum rings as spacers, the rubber pad, and the mounting plate for the rubber pad now.
- Leica PRS scope with Hawkins 2pc rings - I suppose I could remove the diving board from the scope rings and save 1oz there? I don't want to switch to a different optic.
- Hawkins M5 DBM, ARC CDG action, BA trigger, dope card, probably 1-2 more very small <1oz parts I'm forgetting. - Doubt there is much weight to be saved here.
 
Barrel > Stock > Glass > Accesories

is the yield order you need to go over from most savings to least.

If you re unwilling to move away from the M24 to a Light/Med palma or similar, or make a stock change then you re pretty limited when it comes to shaving weight moving other pieces around.
 
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Chop the barrel and increase powder. Or flute/ countour the barrel. I’m partial to the chop - It’s about 25 fps per inch.

Work the load first seeing how much fps you can get without issue then you can chop that many in chest to start
 
How much does the bare stock weigh?

Barrel and optic are the obvious places to save weight, if you don’t want to touch those then you going to need to start shedding all the little accessories but even then I don’t see how you’ll make weight once a bipod is added.