Fellow Campfire Members;
This is a rundown on the latest project coming out of my shop.

I started with a parts gun Mauser 98, this one actually made by Mauser and added a Parker Hale .270 Featherweight contour barrel.

At some point last fall, I decided it might be an interesting experiment to see how light I could make this rifle, without rebarreling with a fluted barrel.

This is the starting weight with a walnut stock, Parker Hale trigger, Timney Buehler-type safety,Pachmayr recoil pad, Leupold M8 4X sitting in steel Redfield type rings and bases, a leather sling, reworked steel military magazine box and trigger guard and 4 rounds of 140gr. ammo. It�s a long story, but that magazine only holds 4. blush
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This is the Wildcat Composites blank I started with. I was impressed with a number of things on this stock and would buy another in a heartbeat.
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I was surprised that the aluminum magazine/trigger guard weighed this much.
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This is a commercial steel magazine/trigger guard before I drilled it full of holes, which cut less than 1 oz. off of it. Poor return for an hour�s work I felt. frown
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These Bushnell rings had the dubious distinction of being both the lightest and the ugliest rings I could find in my parts bins. Including bases, they would see-saw pretty close with Talley Lightweights that I�ve weighed.
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This is the finished weight including a Pachmayr Decelerator, 6X Leupold Compact, ugly Bushnell rings, Weaver bases, Boonie Packer Safari Sling and 5 rounds of 140gr. ammo.
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This is one view outside today.
[img:center]http://i180.photobucket.com/albums/x83/BC30cal/finishedleft.jpg[/img]

This is the other side.
[img:center]http://i180.photobucket.com/albums/x83/BC30cal/rightclose.jpg[/img]

I'll just rust blue the magazine/trigger guard now and start to play with some loads for this fall.

Thanks for looking in to my latest project.

Regards,
Dwayne

The most important stuff in life isn't "stuff"