Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Custom Rifles & Wildcats Lightest 223 build?

I seen one in a Anchorage gun shop a few years back,dont remember the exact numbers, MPI has one on their website in 7.62x39 details written on paper.

I think I could do it with a Kimber, but will cost quite a bit.

NULA are great rifles, out of my budget though.

By the time you build a custom, then lose 1/3 of it's build cost selling it because it's too light and unbalanced to shoot well in the field, you will have as much into the project as a NULA.

The NULA will balance better, shoot better, stay in line better, and generally be a better rifle than any ill conceived pieced together flyweight project rifle. Buy once, cry once. Buy NULA.

That's pretty freakin' light....




Travis

Tikka T-3 in 223 doesn't meet your 4 lb limit, but it is pretty dam light with a fixed mini scope

Go here:
http://extremerifleworks.com/Custom.html#thumb

Second row, fourth down. Mini X in 223 that weighs 3.5#. That gunsmith posts here (440dodger or something like that) occasionally.

If you are like me, you are carrying much more than that around your waist.

Here ya go - 23 oz...

Heizer Defense - Smallest 223 made

3 lbs 6 ozs. So where do you get rings/bases for a Mini Mauser AND a scope that weighs 10 ozs? That's what's needed to get to 4 lbs scoped.

Wonder what the cost was of that rifle?? My guess is if a NULA's out of OP's budget....this would bust it all to hell.

Not only that, it has a "wrapped" barrel which is a deal killer for me. That said, I would still do a Mini Mauser build over a NULA. A 17" F/W Barrel, Timney F/W trigger, aluminum mounts and light scope. Bed it in a B&C stock and call it done. It won't make .the weight mark but neither does the NULA and probably far less than half the price.

Instead of a rifle, if weight is the biggest concern you might buy a handgun in a suitable chambering and learn how to shoot. IHMSA silhouette competition has an unlimited category that for years was capped at 4.5 lbs., and that for guns chambered in rounds capable of taking down a steel ram at 200, something a 223 won't do.

If you are most interested in it being packable and wouldn't mind an extra pound, I'd look at a T/C Contender with a foldable Choate stock and 16.25" barrel. Folded it would only be about 22" long and you could put a red dot sight on it to keep weight down. Just a thought.

Wouldn't a 527 be lighter than a Mini Mark X?

No. I have both and I don't see how you'd get a 527 lighter than a Mark X/799/M85.

It is very much smaller so I thought it might be lighter.

I didn't think the CZ 527 action was any smaller than the Mini Mauser.

There was a comparison at Realguns.com.
The CZ sure looks smaller.
I don't know how to post a link.
I googled "CZ-527 micro Mauser "
And the second image is that article.

I'll try to find it.

Thanks

I'm doing a couple of builds and looked a lot.
The mini Mauser has 22mm course thread.
The micro 25mm fine.

For length in a small build I went with the push feed Mauser.
Model 4000

The 257 x 50 will fit in that. 5.6x50mm necked up to 257.

A .222 LUX bolt action single shot is 5 pounds. You could whittle a pound off the stock. With a 223 reamer and a 223 headspace gauge, it would only take a few twists of the wrist to make it a .223.

A nice one for $400
http://www.armslist.com/posts/10424...rifle-made-in-west-germany--400-or-trade

One that needs a firing pin or spring repair $150
http://www.armslist.com/posts/34223...x-222-remington-single-shot--project-gun

I don't like those weird European dovetails, so I drilled and tapped 6-48 holes and put a couple of Weaver #15 scope bases on mine.

The LUX ss secret to low weight is rimfire technology. The locking lug is the bolt handle. The barrel is pinned. I thought that was so funny I bought it, just to overload it. I paid $125 at a gunshow in 2003. When I did an overload work up, piercing primers were the limit.

Somebody like them.
Gone already.