I've been looking the last couple months and finally decided to throw the question on here. I like a heavier gun but "want" one that is a few pounds lighter to start carrying around the mountains next year. I'm not familiar with many of the "custom's" that some of you have so I'm open to suggestions. I like the fluted bbls, bolts, skeleton bolt handles, etc. Something that can handle "inclement" weather, synthetic stocks, stainless or coated bbls. I know a short action would shed a little but I never got into the WSM's so I'll probably stick with a 300 win mag as this will be for elk, goat, sheep, etc. I've looked at Christensen Arms and a few others but open to suggestions on this. Also, what's an ideal lightweight scope in the 4.5-14x42ish range? Thanks in advance.

The caliber/scope suggestions you ask about are not conducive to lightweight rifles in general, IMHO. Besides a truly light 300 mag, would likely kick you off the mountain.

Christensen Arms lists their 300 win mag at 6.4 lbs with a 26" bbl. With the muzzle brake, it is more than manageable I would think. By lightweight, I guess anything around 7.5 lbs with scope.

By ignoring the WSMs you take away alot of options. The .300WSM is a short action so many lightweight rifle makers go with it instead of the long action .300 WM.....

How much do you want to spend?
Fluted barrels are a waste, go a lighter taper.

Don't discount the WSM's, they work! I really like the 7Wizzum!

Kimber Montana in .300WSM would be hard to beat off the rack.

Find out who Melvin Forbes & NULA is...and take a look at his 4lb+ custom stuff, or the latest project in a standardized "production" rifle at a tad heavier & cheaper than that.
Google "NULA aka New Ultra Light Arms, Inc"

+1. You can even go the semi-custom route and order a Forbes Rifle, which at $1400, is half the price of a NULA.

I would also suggest that you reconsider your choice of scope and caliber. You don't need a .300 Magnum to hunt mountain game. My ULA/NULA is chambered for .284 Win. You don't need a big-eye scope to hunt mountain game either. My ULA/NULA wears a 2.5x8x36 eleven-ounce Leupold. With sling and a full magazine, it weighs in right at 5.5 lbs.

Don't let your obsession with heavy rifles cloud your building of a dedicated mountain outfit. You'll still have your heavy guns for your truck and deer stand.

It really comes down to how much you want to spend. That will dictate steel or titanium action, action type, etc...

For the lightest weight rifle you wont beat a titanium action, blind magazine, #1 or custom barrel contour, and synthetic stock. The scope you chose is also rather large if you are desiring a light rifle.

Its also possible to get into a single shot thats under 6lbs. But thats wood stock, blued metal, and higher expense.

The swarovski Z5 would be a scope to check out. It comes in a 3.5-18x44 at around 15.5 oz. I prefer higher mag scopes for all my rifles and really like the z5.

I will be following this thread closely as I am looking at building a mountain rifle. I have considered going with the .280 Rem or .280ai but havent decided as of yet. It seems there are lots of options for the .284 bullets out there.

I noticed on the NULA site that their rifles are bedded all the way to the fore end of the stock. I wonder if this is to prevent "whipping" of the lighter contour barrels on the mountain rifles? I havent seen or noticed any builders doing that in years.

Thanks for the info so far. Definitely not discounting the WSM's, how much weight would that actually "cut". Not too worried about cost right now, just trying to gather as much info as possible to make the best decision.

A 5.5 pound .284 sounds like a lot more fun than a .300 Win Mag of the same weight, to me.

you might check out the new kimber ascent available in 280AI

Melvin Forbes has always swam against the prevailing current. He believes a light barrel should be bedded full-length, rather than free floated. And his Kevlar stocks are the lightest on the market while still retaining full stiffness in the fore-end. A nice benefit of this philosophy is that NULA rifles seldom "walk" their point of impact as the barrels heat up. My own experience supports Melvin's belief....my .284 shoots to the same POI hot AND cold.

Melvin supplies his Kevlar stocks to the Forbes rifles FWIW.

Buy a tikka light
Or
Buy a tikka for the action, order a 3 fluted cut rifle barrel, pick a short caliber that offers big bullets, or a McMillan edge or a manners light stock, tally rings, 2x10 or smaller Leupold or a Swaro scope. It should get you down under 7 lbs.

The Christensen Arms rifles are very good. I have shot and tested many of them. You can get a light weight rifle with a carbon wrapped barrel to make it very stiff and light and shoot very well. The interesting thing about the carbon wrapped barrels is they have a very large sweet spot, or accuracy node. The carbon wrap makes the barrel very stiff. When I test loads with these rifles, I can get 2-3 test groups of ammo to shoot about the same. When I try varying powder charges of Loads A, B, C, D, and E, I may see loads C, D, and E all shoot very well. Most rifles only shoot 1 load really well, and the other loads before and after open the groups up. I don't see this as much with the carbon wrapped barrels.
The biggest disadvantage of the carbon wrapped barrels is when they get hot, they dissipate heat. After 3-4 rounds, the barrel radiates this heat off the barrel, and the target becomes a huge wave of mirage from the heat off the barrel when looking through the scope.

If you went with a standard small profile barrel (#1 or #2 contour), they can shoot accurately for a shot or two, but once the barrel gets hot, your POI will start to move around, no matter how custom the rifle is. You have to shoot these rifles very slow and keep the barrel cool. I like fluting, when done by the barrel mfg. It reduces weight while keeping a larger contour barrel. Fluting often reduces the weight by 1-2 smaller contours.

A short action will save you about half a pound over a long action, so the weight savings can add up. But, you gain A LOT in caliber options with more energy on target with a long action. A half a pound isn't that much, IMO. Especially if I am comparing a WSM to a Win Mag option. But if weight savings is the goal, a short action is very common, and you need a big fat case to make it work. If I were to go to a WSM, a 338 WSM would be awesome! I like the 325 WSM, but the bullet choices are horrible.

On a side note, a 325 WSM is one of the most efficient rounds for the amount of gun powder used to push a certain bullet weight to a max speeds. A 338 WSM is right there with it. I've played with 2 of these 338 WSM, and if I were to ever build a WSM, it would be a 338 WSM.

Check out www.mcwhorterrifles.com
Alan and Tim are first class and build the best custom rifle on the market in my opinion. I have a safe full of custom rifles and their guns are the most accurate and balanced ones I have. They also drill the muzzle break into the end of the barrel and not a screw on job that gets loose every time you shoot. They do several custom calibers build on Weatherby calibers. My girlfriend shoots my 300 Win mag from them all of the time and loves it. She is only 115 lbs and has no issues. It honestly has less recoil than my 270 without the break. They will build the gun as light as you would like. Contour of the barrel influences the weight more than anything. I have a 6.5 Weatherby (necked up 257) that I shot all four of my rams for my grand slam with and the farthest one went after the shot was 20 yards. They will build a custom load for the gun and even site it in for you. I use the Swarovski scope with the BT reticle and gun is dialed in for 200-500 yards with the turn of the turret. One crosshair so no guessing which one to use. Anyhow, I have rambled enough but you would not be disappointed with their rifles. I have been let down by other guns, but all of their guns I own shoot 1/2 MOA or less out to 800 yards.

How fast does a 6.5 weatherby go?

Matches 264 win mag but suppose to be less finicky

Brother In Law
I don't want to tell you a tale, so I will look on my ammo box and post later.
It is a flat shooter with 140 grain Bergers

Taking a little different route, what could you do to a factory rifle to help improve accuracy and possibly cut a little weight? I have a Remi 700 CDL in 264 win mag with 26" fluted bbl. It shoots the cheap CoreLokts at about 3/4" @ 100 yds and I'm confident I can work up a load that would approach 1/2" or better. I've looked at some lightweight/synthetic stocks for weight reduction. What could be done to the action/bolt/handle, etc. Thanks again.

Not enough to make a huge difference in my opinion(via cost) with that being said my bolt on my 257 is fluted.

Biggest weight difference is going to be action material, barrel contour, scope weight and stock material.

If its shooting 3/4 of an inch I wouldn't mess with it other then high quality stock

Kifaru is probably your lightest option for a bolt hunting gun. Chambered in the potent but recoil pleasant 7-08, an you would have an awesome true featherweight mountain rifle.

I don't know of anything lighter than the Ultra-Light Rifle by MG Arms. They claim they can get them down to 4.75 lbs....but they start at $3,800.

http://www.mgarmsinc.com/MGA-UltraLight-Rifle.html

I agree with the comments about the Winchester short magnums. They are efficient, work well and the short action is going to weigh several ounces less than a long action.

I would caution one though that these cartridges may be short - but that does not mean that they will work well with a short barrel. You need a bare minimum of 24" of barrel for them to work properly.

Anything less, and the only thing that you are getting more of is noise and muzzle-blast - at non-magnum velocities.

For a mountain rifle, I would consider a more slender barrel, it's not like you are going to be up there popping prairie dogs all day long. It's unlikely that you'll ever need more than two or maybe three shots, in a worst-case scenario.