I'm investigating building an ultra light weight 223. I think the rifle stock would be a Lonewolf 12ounce XL summit stock, the barrel an 18" shilen no1 contour just not sure of which action will make for the biggest weight savings. I'm thinking the CZ527 action could be the best since it's scaled in size to suit however maybe the remington model 7 might be an option. Has anybody done this before? Does anybody know the weight comparison of the actions before??

I'm inclined to think Sako's L461 action would be the lightest except maybe that it's all steel. The CZ 527 is pretty compact, but wide enough for the 7.62x39. It looks nice with the flush magazine conversion. Check the various Mini-Mausers as well. The Remington Seven will accomodate the H&H and SAUM casehead so it is both needlessly wide and overlong.

Ford Nut.....

Gotta admit I'm not too Up-to-Date on the CZ 527 actions but since I've got a Charles Daly Mini-Mauser; for my money they don't come any smaller than these.

You could easily substitue an alloy trigger guard and make into a blind magazine with this action too - saving a few ounces in the process, me thinks.

Sako L-461 is what I have always used for 222, 223 and 6x45..

The Sako L461 or A-1 would be the Cadillac for this project. And a Kimber of Oregon M84 would be the Lincoln. The Mini Mauser by Zastava (imported variously by Interarms, Charles Daly, and now Remington) is less refined, but with the addition of a Sako trigger and some clean-up makes a pretty nice rifle. I have one rebuilt as a .221 Fireball and have few complaints, other than it will never be a Sako.

The CZ 527 is rather cluncky with its fat bolt root, forced extra high scope mounting position, and protruding magazine (not to mention its dangerous backward-operating safety). It does have a great trigger, however.

Virtually everything else is made for a .308 or larger round and is therefore larger than desirable.

A properly built AR15 can made very light and be just as accurate as the aforementioned rifles.



ZM

quote:

Originally posted by fordnutter:
I'm investigating building an ultra light weight 223.

A ULA perhaps?

http://www.newultralight.com/HTML/custom-rifles.html

You can see some action weight comparisons (not all applicable to .223 cal) here:

http://www.brownprecision.com/SelectingComponents.htm

Some of the benchrest actions (Nesika, Borden etc) are also pretty light, in particular since you should be able to find an action scaled for .223 sized cartridges.

- mike

Stonecreek:

quote:

The Sako L461 or A-1 would be the Cadillac for this project.

I couldn't have said it better myself. Lou

How about a Winchester WSSM action?

I currently own a Sako L-461 and a mini mauser from interarms and the Sako is the better action but both will make a very fine lightweight .223. The CZ has the feature of the magazine extension that ruins the looks of the rifle and IMO badly!

I like both the Sako and the mini mauser but I worked on the Mini to get it to work properly.

If you can find a L-461 action I'd go for it for up to $350....one sold locally as a complete rifle lately for over $800 so they can be hard to get!!!

Cheap way is to just buy a Remington 799 and cut the barrel and restock it.....the Zastava barrels shoot surprisingly good.

Vapodog,
I was never quite satisfied with the way my Minni Mauser fed under all conditions so I finally dumped it..Jack Belk told me they just wouldn't feed 110% if you got to rough on them, in his opinnion...glad yours is feeding properly.

But like you, I opted for the L-461 for my 6x45 and the late Tony Barnes made me a pre 64 M-70 3 pos. safety for it out of piece of bull barrel, its really a super rifle...

I have had 2 mini Mausers and both were a bit spotty on feeding. WSSMs don't feed worth a crap.

Better to get a Sako Rhimaki (sp?)

Have you considered a single shot action.
Encore?

quote:

Originally posted by ddunn:
Have you considered a single shot action.

Ayup, if a fella can abide a single-shot then he could try a Contender, which would be lighter, sports a better trigger, and offers better ergonomics than its bigger, younger brother the Encore. Back in the day I had a factory 16 inch 223 tube on a Contender fitted with the Choate plastic stock set. I recall it weighed something under five pounds. A skinny tube and a recoil pad made of something lighter than recycled truck tires would have trimmed another half pound, easy. These days Bell & Carlson makes an attractive fiberglass stock set. All a fella would need then is a skinny barrel carefully made by the likes of Match Grade Machine. With such a short, light action a 20-22 inch barrel would balance better, do more work, and still make weight.

I suppose a Contender-based rifle could be made relatively light, but I'm not too enthused about a rifle made out of a pistol which was made out of a shotgun. The barn door-hinged singleshots are poorly adapted to nearly any rifle application you can name, IMO. Any action that requires you to hang the forearm from the barrel is subject to squirrliness when fired from some rest (or no rest) other than the one on which it was zeroed. I'll stick with the bolts, but differences of opinion are what makes the world go around.

New England Ultra Lite....

If I am going to shoot a single shot varmint rifle, it will be a Ruger...those others are butt ugly!

quote:

Originally posted by Stonecreek:
I suppose a Contender-based rifle could be made relatively light, but I'm not too enthused about a rifle made out of a pistol which was made out of a shotgun. The barn door-hinged singleshots are poorly adapted to nearly any rifle application you can name, IMO. Any action that requires you to hang the forearm from the barrel is subject to squirrliness when fired from some rest (or no rest) other than the one on which it was zeroed. I'll stick with the bolts, but differences of opinion are what makes the world go around.

I understand your feeling, but I was impressed with what bullberry did with my Encore. They took a trigger that was not good and made it a very crip 4# as asked for.

So far I have a 50BlackPowder from TC and a 22lr from Bullberry.
If I lived someplace where I was going to do a lot of walking and very little shooting, I would be tempted one in a fast flat shooting cartridge.

Additional thought, isn't this type of action used in all the doubles and combo guns that cost so much?

quote:

Originally posted by nordrseta:
... I had a factory 16 inch 223 tube on a Contender fitted with the Choate plastic stock set. I recall it weighed something under five pounds. ...

Hey Fordnutter, That is the only post I spotted which gave you a weight.

In comparison, a factory stock 223Rem S&S 20" M7 with a 6.5-20x VariX-III on it in Burris Signatures weighs 8 1/4#. Kind of surprised me that it weighed that much. The scope and rings do add up.

Best of luck to you.