Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunting Rifles How would you build this lightweight...

....and what would you expect to have to pay? For what I hunt, where I hunt and how I hunt I need the following:

Lightweight bolt action carbine;

With 1.5-5 Leupold scope and lightweight mounts no more than 7 pounds;

Total length 37-39";

Barrel: 18-19"

Caliber: .358 Winchester or .350 Remington Magnum;

Metal: Stainless or hard chromed carbon....preferably with matt black or camo finish;

Stock: Lightweight composit;

Of all the rifles I have handled or shot the two which come the closest to the balance/length/shootability are the Remington M600 series and the Remington M7 KS. The problem is that neither are stainless, the M600 .350 RM weighs 8 pounds 2 oz and the KS has a 20" barrel.

If Remington had a "real" Custom Shop where you could order what you want I would order a M7 KS in .358 Winchester or .350 RM with a blackened stainless barreled action like on the M7 AWR 18.5" long with the open sights installed. The KS stock just feels perfect to me...

So...do we have a custom maker make up something, buy a base gun and have it modified....max budget is $1500.00.

Thanks,

Bob

My Kimber Montana in 243 is 6.6# W/4.5-14x40 Leupold in steel rings/bases, it's 41" overall. Rebarreled to 358 with an 18" tube would get you 37" overall. Talley lightweights and a lighter scope I'd guess the package would be 6.2-6.5#. The action is already stainless, and the stock is an excellent synthetic, order your choice of barrel, chamber, install, you might need to wait a year to coat it though if you are to stay under your $1500 price cap, that is assuming you already own the scope. If you don't own the scope already this won't work.

Ruger Ulta Light, rebarrel to 358. Done.

BMT

Or wait on their new Hawkeye in ss/synthetic and lop 4" off the barrel.

I don't think either will make the weight limit....I already have an All-Weather .350 Magnum with the barrel shortened to 18" and it weights in at 8 pounds 10 oz.

I just went and weighed the All-Weather 20" barreled light rifle I have...with 3-9 Bushnell scope it is 8 pounds even.

As to the Montana...that would be a good one. I have handled one in .308 and it was a delight...I have written Kimber once or twice "suggesting" they bring out the Montana in .358 Winchester but never get a reply. I'm going to the S.H.O.T. Show in January and plan on asking them in person.

Thanks for the thoughts so far.

Bob

I had a Remington Model 7 CDL in .350 Rem Mag. Ready to hunt weight was around 7 1/2 pounds. With a McMillan Edge stock, you could easily shave off 1/2 pound.

Cut the barrel to desired length, recrown, and treat the metal (Cerkote, Roguard, Black-T, or Gunkote) and adjust the trigger.... as long as you already have the scope, you'll be within your budget.

Another option is buy a Kimber 84M Montana and have it rebarreled to .358 Win and treat the metal. Might go over the budget a tad.... but it would be well worth it! Weight would be under 6 1/4 all up.

Or a Kimber 8400 Montana in one of the WSM flavors can be converted to .350 Rem Mag.

Buy a 700 SAUM and put it in a Edge or Banser stock. Put a Pacnor barrel on and you are good to go. If money is tight at the end of the project, Krylon in matte black, easy to touch up.

This might help a little, just showed up last week. My work in progress. I'm keeping my eye open for a new stock .

Mod 7 ss SAUM action, bolt fluted
Pac-Nor 350 Rem mag 21" very close to the 300 SAUM contour, .625 muzzel
Currently factory synthetic stock. 7 lb. 6 oz with Talleys and Leupold 1.75-6

Barreld action with scope and mounts goes a tad under 5 lb.

Hope this helps.

TK

Thanks for all the help.... Weight wise I am beginning to think the Montana is the way to go. Used ones are not in abundance but can be found in the $800.00 range. A NIB .308 sold last week on Gunbroker for $841.00 delivered. Depending on if the barrel can be rebored or would have to be replaced the gun would still come in well under budget. As to the $1500.00..that is just for the rifle. I already have the scope...

Horse...if you have a caliper could you, or anyone else with a Montana, tell me what the diameter of the barel is at the muzzle and again 3.5" back...


Nice rifle TK...take a look at the Hightech Specialties stock...18.5 oz. It is the one I plan on using if I end up building from the ground up.

FO..unless I can't afford it I want a stainless barrel. The M7 CDL is a great rifle but beside rust on the outside of the gun I don't want to worry about rust in the bore...so unless the whole carbon steel barrel can be hard chromed I want to stay with stainless.

Bob

TK

NICE rifle!! I've said many times.....if Rem would build a stainless Mod 7 in 350 mag I'd be the first in line to buy one!

Bob,

You could always have Robar do their NP3 to the internal metal. In addition to roguard (or Cerkote, or Gunkote, etc) the external metal, it'll be weather proof.

However, I do think the Kimber would make a much better base for your project. You'll have to rebarrel instead of rebore though.

I had a Kimber 84M Montana in .308 that Hill Country Rifle converted to .338 Federal for me. It's been sent off for the roguard to external and NP3 to the internal metal treatment. Shots awesome with the 185gr. TSX!

Kimber Montana .243 is: .561" at the muzzle, .585, 3.5" back from the muzzle. The barrel reaches .600" 5.4" back from the muzzle.

I'd go with a Kimber Montanna 300 WSM. It'll do everything the 35's will do, as well as what they won't do. You'll also be under budget.

...except shoot .357 pistol bullets.

You got me there. I do have a Ruger all weather 350 rem mag that I really like. I'm not sure that I'd want it considerably lighter though. I also haven't had a chance to put any pistol bullets through it.

You used to be able to order a Model 7 in .358 or .350 Rem in stainless steel and Kevlar stock. I friend of mine has a .280 Remington 700 like that from the custom shop that shoots lights out and weighs 6.5 lbs without a scope.

There should be plenty of used SS Model 7s around in .243, .308 or 7mm-08 for about $400 or so. Slap on a .358 barrel, maybe even a 700 take off, chop it to 20 inches, lightweight stock, blind magazine, Gentry rings.

Or you can buy my rifle over on the classifieds. Currently 6 lbs 10.5 oz. you could lop off the 21" barrel and front sight and sell off the lyman rear sight and save more weight. It's not stainless steel, but you could certainly strip the Black T finish off (after you've cut the barrel), and cerakote or teflon in the color you want.

Of yeah, I forgot your budget was $1500 and I'll gladly sell it at that price. <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/wink.gif" alt="" /> It's actually $800 and you can use the $700 savings to buy another rifle.

After a lot of consideration I've decided to stay with stainless. Main reasons are the cost of most coatings, if the coating is damaged due to wear or a fall then it has to be redone and most coating don't protect the inside of the barrel.

.458 Lott...I believe I am using 14-16 grains of 700X with a 160 or 180 grain Hornady Silhouette or XTP bullet. Velocity is in the 1600 fps range and kills grouse cleanly. The 180 XTP would probably kill deer cleanly also as it is about what a .357 Magnum carbine will do. I have one of the All-Weather guns also and reall love it...but it is heavy to lug around.

Don..that is a nice rifle. Is that M7 or a M700 Classic that has been customized.

Lee..from what I have been told Remington has flat refused to make rifles in .358 Winchester. You can get them in .35 Remington or .350 RM but no .358.

Bob

You can figure out which action you'd be able to use by going backwards:

18" #3 contour barrel = 36.6 oz. (MD = ~.700")
McMillan EDGE stock = 24 oz.
VX-III 1.5-5X = 9.7 oz.
Talley LW's = 2.5 oz.
TOTAL = 4 lb. 8.8 oz.

That leaves you with 39.2 oz. for the action, if I figured it correctly. Going down to a #2 contour (MD = ~ 0.650") saves you about another 6 oz., which would allow you to use a Winchester or Montana action and still make weight. Or, you could adjust your target weight to 7 1/4 lb. and use a #3 contour barrel.

If it were me, I'd just blatantly steal Mtn Hunter's blueprint for his 350 RM... <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/cool.gif" alt="" />