What's a lefthanded poor man to do if he wants a ready to hunt (rifle,scope,sling) rig of six pounds or less without having to sell his pick-up ? I know that Browning ,Winchester, and Remington are cataloging their short actions in left hand but they aren't that light. Are there options I'm not taking into consideration ?

I don't know of any inexpensive LH bolt-actions weighing 6lbs. Even my LH 700FS in .270 & .30-06 rifles weigh 6 3/4lbs. unscoped.

Your options are limited: carry the affordable, but 'heavy' rifles available today; spend a lot of money to skeletonize a standard rifle; or, drop $2900 or a NULA rifle or a bit more for a Kifaru, if they will make a LH rifle.

George

Goat,

Have you looked at Savage for left hander's? Not sure if they have any under six pounds - but forsure they are around the seven pound mark. For the money they get the job done very well, IMO

[ 02-10-2003, 23:48: Message edited by: CK ]

Well the other George pretty much hit it on the nail. I have an ULA. Mine trips out at 7 lbs. I wanted it that way. Any time you get below 7 to 8 lbs in a rifle, the price goes up in direct proportion to the amount of light weight you want. The ULA or NULA is a very good rifle for the money, but they cost , all I can say is that if you want one bad enough then its becomes a question on what are you willing to give up for one. I'm my case, If I stoped buying coffee as starbucks, I would be able to save enought money for another in a four year period. Less if I don't go to my favorite rib joint. There is always a way.

You didn't mention caliber for your rifle. Unless you get something less than a 308 or 270 you'll be dealing with some fierce recoil and a very hot barrel after 2 shots.

I think 8 pounds is a more reasonable goal for a carry rifle. A good sling should make it easier.

What caliber are you interested in?

Hmm. Given those parameters, I think you're limited to a lefty Savage .22 bolt action. The affordable "standards" are heavy. The rest are expensive.

Personally, I'm more athletic than wealthy, so I carry the boring stuff.

Redial
Lefthanded AND cheap

My friend has the same delima and he has settled on a 308 BLR, he also shoots a Sako 308 lever gun.

If you dont mind a lever gun I would highly reccomend a Savage 99 E model. Mine is the lightest gun I own (next to my .22) and one of my favorites for packing up a hill. They are put together like a brick sh!^house..

I had a 6lb mountain rifle left hand custom made. And let me tell you hunting up mountains to make a shot is difficult to steady that 6lb or less rifle. I went back to 7 to 7 3/4 lb guns they shoot better and have less recoil.

First � you�re right, there is NO way to get a 6 pound or less left hand rifle without spending a lot of bucks. Even trying to get something with a total loaded weight under 7 pounds is going to cost you.

Here are a couple of ways I went.

LH M700 BDL in .270 with a left hand McMillan Custom KS Mountain Rifle stock � contact the webmaster at www.24hourcampfire.com or look at www.gunbroker.com - he offers them there every other week or so. I went with Leupold Dual Dovetail rings and a Leupold 2.5X8 scope, plus, this particular rifle was rebarreled with a 23� Pac-Nor barrel. Total weight without ammo or sling is just about 7 � pounds. I could have used the new Talley mounts (I think they weigh about 1 � ounces total) and gone with a Leupold M8 4X scope (about 9 ounces) and saved about 5 � ounces. If I kept the original 22� barrel let�s figure another ounce saved. This would put a full sized rifle in about the most classic �Mountain� caliber you can get right around 7 pounds 1 � ounces total weight.

M700 � used around $400. Mine was new on sale for $450 plus tax.
Custom KS stock - $245 delivered. You can drop the factory barreled action in or bed it if you desire � but bedding is not absolutely required.
Kit to convert BDL to ADL - $54 from Brown precision. You can get the parts directly from Remington as well but they have to be ordered individually and will add up to a few dollars more.
Total cost for the rifle alone about $775
Of course add the cost of scope and mounts but that has to be added in to any rifle cost.

Remington is again offering their LH BDL in a short action in .243 and .308. Not sure if either of those calibers would float your boat. I have one of each from the first run they made back in the late 80�s/early 90�s. I put a Brown Precision �Custom Pre-Fit� stock on them. With a Leupold 3X9 scope in Leupold STD mounts the .308 weighs about 6 � pounds. Again, go with the Talley mounts and a straight 4X scope and save a bit over a quarter pound. So you get a .308 or .243 weighing right about 6 � pounds all up. Unfortunately, the new M700�s have the j-lock and the Brown stock is now close to $400 and it definitely needs to be bedded. A Borden Rimrock stock is another option for a lightweight stock � don�t know the price but think they run close to $400 as well.

I won�t give you the prices I paid to put mine together because they are 12 years out of date.

But let me add some personal philosophy to Frank�s. I like my 7 � pound .270 a whole lot. It balances well but is just slightly muzzle heavy. That forward balance makes it REAL nice when it comes time to shoot from other than a bench. The .308 is light and handy for sure, but it does not have that steadiness and �shootability� of the .270. And really, ask yourself if the difference between 6 and 7 pounds in your hands is going to mean the difference between effortlessly bounding up the mountainside like a goat or huffing and puffing and being all out of breath when you get to the top? Methinks not. However, that pound will make a noticeable difference in recoil when you shoot a decent sized cartridge in your rifle.

I know, pounds do add up. I sure wouldn�t want to carry my 10 pound plus .375 up too many mountains. But within your budget, you can find lots of used LH M700�s in .270 or .30-06. Slap on one of the 24hcf KS Mountain rifle stocks or for about $150 more get a Brown Precision and have a nice rifle that won�t weigh much over 7 pounds. But no matter how you look at you are going to be spending close to $800 to save maybe one pound over a wood stocked factory rifle.

As a final FWIW, I was at a gunshop last year and picked up a LH Model 700 in .30-06 just for the heck of it (in Idaho it�s a state law � if you�re in a gun shop you HAVE to look at the guns . This one felt really light to me as the stock density is very light. I really needed a fifth .30-06 so I bought it. Quality of the finish was so-so but it did not have the j-lock. Did not do any modifications to the rifle or bedding, just adjusted the trigger down a bit and stuck a Leupold 2.5X8 scope on it with their dual dovetail mounts. Then I loaded up seven rounds each at 57, 57.5, and 58 gr. IMR-4350 under 165 gr. Hornady�s. After 4 rounds of green box factory ammo used to sight in the scope, the 5th through 25th rounds out of that rifle went into three groups that were right at and under one inch. Total weight of the rifle, scope and mounts � 7 pounds 9 ounces. About 2 ounces heavier than my custom super duper .270 at half the cost. It balances very well, it functions well, it "feels" lighter than it really is due to that balance, and it shoots great. I look at my high dollar custom jobs and then look at this plain ol' out of the box factory job that weighs just about the same and think *bad word*. Oh well, some days you�re the bug and some days you�re the windshield.

[ 02-12-2003, 21:08: Message edited by: Jim in Idaho ]

Savage Sierra? Not 6 pounds all up but quality, inexpensive, light, and left. Maybe a little ugly but she will shoot.