Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Ask The Gunwriters Colt Light Rifle?

....Have any of our gun writers reviewed the Colt Light Rifle? Field born Opinions?...I bought one in 30/06. It shoots well with Federal blue box 150 gr. loads(betters 1" three shot groups from a bench rest). I like it's quality of metal finish,but disappointed since I anticipated it would be a lighter weight rifle,still it seems a decent buy at $300 NIB..Any in depth opinions would be appreciated.

I have one in 7 mag that I rarely use because it is redundant with several other residents of my safe. But it is accurate, fits well, trigger is good, and looks nice, although the stock is pretty tupperwarey. Mine wears a little 2x7 compact Leup. It is about a pound heavier than advertised. It kills deer about like every other 7 mag, but it isn't really an ultralight. Just another black rifle.

Melvin Forbes will sell you one of his kevelar stocks for $450 or so , it will fit the gun and weigh a pound less. He sells his New ultra light arms rifles for about $3,000 and you'll have about the same gun

I took the plunge on the new stock from Melvin and was not disappointed. Also had him send me a stronger follower and spring to complete the makeover.

My .300 WM with the new stock and 3.5-10 VX-III Leupold scope weighs in at exactly 7 pounds. The stock design also helps with the recoil which is pretty stiff. Shoots under 1" with a variety of loads. It's going to Montana with me in 5 days and 21 hours, but who's counting...

Buckster and I hunt together and have owned three Colt light rifles between us, a 270 and two 300 wins. All shot less than MOA with a variety of ammo. A great buy for the money.

Yeah, I've talked to him about it, when I was thinking about having a .257 Roy tube screwed on. I will probably change out stock if I keep it. I mostly use it as a loaner/spare, since I've never been a big 7 RM fan.

olhippie,

I was thinking about ordering an Ultra Light bolt rifle when the Colt Light Rifle was announced (I already had an Ultra Light Arms muzzleloader rifle). I thought I would wait for production to ramp up, and then get a Colt Light Rifle. I don't remember that they were in production long enough for someone to write a review, but then I don't read all the gun mags out there either.

The next thing I saw was the out of business announcement.

There were two Colt Light Rifles in a local shop that sat there for some while, and I made the owner an offer for the two of them (to use at our Chapter SCI fund raiser as prizes). Thse rifles were .270 and .30-'06.

I see several for sale on gunsamerica.com now.

jim

Why go through all that? Why not just get a new Kimber Montana?

The Colt Light Rifle wasn't reviewed by gun writers because it wasn't around long enough. Why review something that has already been discontinued?

That said, it was an OK rifle for the price. The weight was more than advertised because (as with a lot of prducts) they started with an assumption of eventual weight and never changed it, despite reality.

John Barsness

Only ever shot one, an ''06. It shot well, and could have bought it from owner. He was disappointed about weight thing also.

I didn't buy it, as it certainly no Ultralight Arms design, as was hyped to be. Then Colt at the time didn't look to be around long, AGAIN!

Probably a good rifle, but buying something that doesn't live up to claims doesn't work here, and also heard from good sources problems with putting the claims into production, before there was ANY production.

I usually just sit on situation like that to see how it goes for sometime.

I'm not a gunwriter, just shooter and hunter. For $300 NIB, I would say you came out with a nice rifle ahead of the game. Hope it does you well!

Just had a guy weigh one he had for sale in 300 Win Mag - 6 lbs, 10 OZ empty with talley rings.

I'm thinking the Montana is looking better and better

Had one for a while, there was a recall on them if I remember due to a tendency for the early ones to sometimes fire if slammed/dropped on the buttstock. That can rapidly ruin your day.. 6000+ made is the closest number I ever heard. I got $375 for my 30-06 on trade-in last year so getting one for $300 is good.

I do remember one glowing review, which was very favorable and one of the reasons I bought one when I ran into it.. Don't remember who wrote it, would have been f&s or s/a. Good rifle imho, but not outstanding. Learned from there not to trust magazine reviews overly much. <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif" alt="" />

August 1999, Field & Stream, Dave Petzal "THE COLT LIGHT RIFLE" Is this our number one bolt action?