Great string. Near as I can tell, JOC never carried an extra 30# on his belly, so an extra pound, or 2, in a well built rifle might be irrelevant. Not the least of which, I bet that rifle is a delight to shoot, and would encourage you to shoot a lot.
My father hiked much of Northern Italy, then down to Greece with a Garand. That generation was a little tougher than we seem to be.
He was lucky. My father somehow blundered into shooting Expert with the BAR during training and had to tote one of those all over Europe. He also "lucked" into a weapons platoon, which meant always staying on the line instead of getting relieved by reserves.
His second wife bought him a carbine, which I have, in the 80s, but he really wanted the Garand, but the price put him off.
