Good thinking, Okie John. As a walking rifle offhand shooting will be part of its repertoire. Balance will matter. Of course putting a featherweight or EW into a McMillan Hunter Edge could affect balance to the positive. Either rifle will be getting a new stock, most likely. The Barrett and Kimbers are lighter than I care for, and I like my bolt to lock shut on safe. Spend too much time threading my way through thickets and such for a non locking bolt. This rifle is moremfor open country, but that by no means rules out thick cover use at times. Which means finding an old safety would have to happen for the Remington. The 70 Sporter has a 24” barrel for the .25-06, and weighs two ounces more than the EW, according to Wichester specs. The extra is either in the non fluted barrel that is two inches longer, which I expect is the case, or the difference between the wood sporter stock and the synthetic EW stock. A McMillan like I am looking at would put the rifle under 7 lbs. bare. Add some Talleys and a lightweight scope, should end up under 8-1/2 lbs. all up. The CDL SF weighs a bit more as it comes, so the weight issue is nonexistent. An 8 or 8-1/2 lb. rifle in this caliber will be a soft shooter, I think. And settle nicely for offfhand shooting and shooting off a pack. I am going to have to get my hands on these and figure it out from there. But it is probably going to end up being some flavor of Winchester before it’s all over. That just seems to check more boxes, overall.
