Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunting Rifles Your choice of lightweight bolt rifle

I'm thinking about purchasing a lightweight bolt rifle, probably in my long-favorite caliber of 308 Win. I'd appreciate any first-hand input on the brand(s) of rifles you'd recommend: Sako 85 Carbonlight? Kimber Mountain Ascent? What others are out there that are in the same weight range that should be considered?

Montana, hands down. Although mine is a 270, I'd be just as happy if it was 243, 6.5 Creed, 308.....

John,I would rule out the Sako on a light weight rifle simply because of the scope mounting issues. There are no light weight scope mounts for Sako except the Leupold Ringmounts and they have to be in the last 1/3 of the dovetail before they will tighten on the dovetail. This leaves you trying to pick a scope with a tube long enough or with eye relief long enough to have a good sight picture when mounting without having to adjust your head.


After that the top picks for me would be
1. NULA
2.Barrett Fieldcraft
3.Cooper Excalibur
4 Kimber Mountain Ascent or Montana


The NULA is $3500 and I have no idea how long on delivery. The action won't be stainless if that matters to you. The stock is thicker in the wrist than on a Kimber and I prefer the Kimber 3 position safety.

The Barrett Fieldcraft looks promising but it's basically an unknown right now. If anyone can do one right however Barrett should be able to.

The Cooper is a bit heavier than the rest but it does come with a 1/2 MOA guarantee. The non bolt locking safety turns me off and is the reason I haven't bought one. They do have an all stainless version.

The Kimber may require a bit of work to get it perfect. You may have to bed it,and worse case replace the barrel. It has the best stock of any I listed and the ergo's are the best IMHO.The good news is that even if you replace the barrel and have it bedded by a competent smith,you are still at the price of the next lowest priced in the list,(unless you go Ascent). Kimber has been producing good rifles as of late so it's also a good chance it will be perfect as received.

I own a Kimber Montana and I will be buying the Barrett next year.

Love the Montana but can't like the Ascent. The stock feels like a Hoque overmold with that camo on there.

The Barrett could very well be killer but a Montana with a PacNor is gonna run close in price. I could see the 7-08 and .308 taking advantage of the 3" mag box as would a .260 but the .243 and 22-250 don't really need it.

I'll second the Montana.

Second RHClark. Fieldcraft for me. The pillar got boogered while I was bedding my Montana and luckily live 7 miles from Barrett Firearms loaned me a Fieldcraft.

Just started thread about it.

Tikka T3 Superlight in 308
McMillan EDGE stock
Tikka Ringmount

Stupid simple.. and I kick myself for not going this route myself

Kimber. Nothing else comes close.

My choice would be a Winchester Featherweight.

Weatherby Ultra lightweight. 5-3/4 lbs bare. A little higher on the price range but no worse than a Kimber MT Ascent

.308, 6lbs 1/4oz. as pictured



bare rifle

Nula
Montana
T3 superlite
In that order.

I've been chasing lightweight rifles for 40 years. Finally ended up with a Kimber. If you really want a rifle that CAN be scoped and still keep the weight under 6 lbs they are a bargain. And I have no complaints with the potential accuracy of mine.

But I've also came to the conclusion that it is about 1 lb too light. Something right around 7 lbs scoped seems to be the perfect balance of carryability and shootability, at least for me.

Out of the box a Tikka T-3 will do that. So will a Rem 700 or Savage in an Edge stock. My current go-to rifle is a Winchester 70 EW in an Edge. At 7 1/4 lbs is right on the edge of being heavier than I want. But close enough.

For the money Tikka wins though.

My 270 Montana. It goes 6 # 1 oz as shown.

Absolutely second this one.

I purchased a Savage 16 Light Weight Hunter the other day. They come in .308 at 5 lb 10 0z. They are stainless.

Have you shot it yet? I would like to hear your evaluation when you get a chance.

Mine are:

1) Weatherby Ultralight in 30-06.
2) Kimber Montana in 7-08
3) Tikka Supperlight in 308
4) Winchester Featherweight in 7x57
5) Remington Mountain Rifle in 260

The one I bought is a .223. I got it to have it rebarreled to .300 Blackout because I was tired of fooling with the Ruger American. Really glad it's gone. I bought a 17 1/2" 8" twist barrel for $69 bucks. A special for this month is no shipping cost.

Another vote for Kimber Ascent in .270. Had mine out for the first time this morning. 5lbs, 15oz empty. Carries like a .22... Hope to blood it over the next two weeks.

T3x Superlite for Me, make mine a .300 Win.......Hb