I have searching for a rifle with these specs for awhile and have into a dead end. I am hoping the forum can give me some ideas.
Budget, 1k or less.
Cal. 3006
24 inch barrel.
Synthetic stock
Protective finish, optional but would be nice!
Last and a real Hens tooth! Under 7 lbs, unscoped.

Looking at whats available in a factory production rifle not much meets the criteria other then a Weatherby back country. 6.75 lbs and that's about it. Everything else is either to heavy and or 22 inch barrel. I have no issue with the Weatherby but have never handled one.
My goal is a rifle at about 8lbs scoped. I want a hunting rifle that will not be a beast to carry.

Have I missed anything? Opinions are welcome! Thanks in advance and appy new year to all of you! , Blue

KIMBER has them for $1046, with a 22 inch barrel.

Colt light rifle or Forbes..

Obviously finding a 24” barrel 30-06 really cuts your options down. I think if it were me I’d get a 22” barrel if it had to be in 30-06 and at that point in a lightweight rifle is when something like a .308 in a short action to cut some more weight starts make a whole lot of sense. Or a 300 mag with 24” barrel and download it some as desired but you’d still have the options of standard power loads and a lot more choices in rifles.

I have a Kimber with 24" barrel and it's under 6 pounds grat rifle

Sabatti 870 Rover/Inox checks all these boxes, except barrel length......it's 22". With a Leupold 6x42 on it, in QR warne rings, and 2 piece 700 bases, it weights 8.75 lbs empty. A 6x36 scope would shave almost 4 ounces off it, aluminum rings and bases even more. Remove the sights for another couple ounces.

These guns have some nice features (700 2 lug bolt style with oversized extractor, right hand palm swell, very stiff reinforced stock, floated barrel, very crisp trigger that is easily adjusted, iron sights).

I use one for whitetails and it shoots factory 180 grain accubonds into an inch @ 100 yds. Iron sights are sighted for 220 grain federals. Great little rifle, that's easy to carry. But it looks to have been discontinued, as far as I can tell.

Andy3

I think the Sauer 100 pretty well checks the boxes...and you can find them.
Oops, sorry...22" bbl.

I think the Wby sounds like a great rifle. I didn't know they made a VG that lite. I love my VGs and MkVs. I'm picking up an Accuguard in 6.5-300 from my FFL tomorrow.

A couple of months ago, you could have bought a minty CLR for $600, had it CeraKoted and had maybe 20% left over from your $1K. But now? Who knows what the market will do?

TC venture 2
https://www.tcarms.com/firearms/bolt-action-rifles/venture/venture-ii

What can you do with a 24 inch barrel that you can't do with a 22 inch? Maybe 100 fps or so in velocity but is that a game changer?

A guy who I know has a Venture 2 in 6.5 CM that I've held and it seemed like a toad to me. The combination of a heavy barrel contour and a light stock made it about as unbalanced forward as the short barreled Remington 7s are unbalanced to the rear. Just my opinion, as with many things, what I consider to be a negative attribute might not bother the next guy in line.

Rob a Fieldcraft owner.

I have the first gen. venture and it’s a tack driver.
I haven’t held the new generation but Not too many 06 with 24”, hence why I posted.

Bergara B14 Hunter is avail in a 24 inch barrel. Should meet your requirements. But I believe it's a sketch over 7lbs.

Got one for my son a few weeks ago.

Gun broker listing...

My NULA M24 meets your bill of requirements, except for the cost!...

Going light costs money too...

jim

I believe my tikka is a 23.5 inch barrel.......weighs 6.2 lbs.

If you can find a Wby Vanguard Backcountry it will be cerakoted with a 24” barrel and will weigh 6.75 lbs. The wilderness is uncoated and pretty much the same rifle with fluted barrel. Wilderness will typically run around 775-850 and the backcountry will be right around $1K. Problem is that Weatherby has discontinued both. Best of luck finding them. Check Gun Deals ( https://gun.deals/search/apachesolr_search/747115423156 )

They will usually have a live online inventory around the country of who has them in stock.

Thanks for the many ideas. I do have a few options but they come down to price or weight. Kimber over my price ceiling, TC over my weight my ceiling. The idea of moving up to 300 win/wsm and loading down a bit solves the barrel length problem . But would push the rifle base weight up. I do not want a light weight 300 win. The Weatherby is the closest to meeting all of my specs but, there seems to be a definite love them or hate them vibe. The Howa action being the primary angst, second seems to be accuracy. Even with their MOA guarantee. I am still not leery of it for those reasons. I do need to put one in my hands.

The Weatherby Vanguard Badlands meets all your requirements for size, price, coating, etc....just not weight.

My son's friend has a Mossberg Hunter model . Look on the
website, the gun meets all your specs except for barrel -22".
and the price is the killer. You could probably have Shaw's
install 24" barrel and stay under your budget
Pete's rifle shot three five shot groups that averaged under
1"after they sighted in - Leupold 6x - ammo was Hornady
sst 168gr factory.
Good luck and Happy New year!
Old Cuss





'

the Weatherby wilderness meets all your needs even weight the detachable mag. model is a even lighter

Yes, the badlands seems to be front runner. Thanks all of your guys ideas and wisdom! I just want to try to get this right as it is the one retirement gift to myself. then I am on a seriously strict budget weapons wise. I am trying to get a nice balanced rifle for hunting that fills all of my wants and needs. Nothing to bright and shiny or abusive but effective for most of my needs.

I have 2 Tikka SS Lite models (diff cartridges) ----- Can't go wrong!

Jerry

I'd watch for a kimber montana.

If you could live with a 23.5” barrel and 7.25 lbs a Steyr-Mannlicher Model M Professional is a heck of a rifle for around $1000 on the used market

https://www.eurooptic.com/Kimber-3000794-Kimber-84L-Hunter-30-06-Spfd--MPN-3000794.aspx

Kimber Hunter 5ln 11 oz for under $900 shipped

That's the route I'd take. A no brainer, if you will.... Not hard to find one either. I'd opt for the 22.4" barreled superlite at 5.9 pounds and $750.00, though...

The Winchester classic stainless models manufactured in New Haven wore 24” barrels. With a lightweight synthetic you could be under 7 lbs un-scoped. Problem is the price on these are way up, but something to keep an eye out for.

I owned a couple 24” 30-06’s and prefer them to 22”. Better balance shooting from field positions, less muzzle blast. Good combo IMO.