light weight 76's

[KWK]

Madis's books shows 76's with half magazines under a tapered half octagon barrel. Anyone care to guess how much such a gun would weigh, say with a 26" barrel? The 76 is a pretty hefty rifle, and I was wondering how much one might trim it down.

[Grizzly Adams]

I haven't got an 1876 with a half mag, but I have a short rifle with round 22 inch barrel that weighs in at a dainty 9 pounds!

[Joe Lansing]

    I shortened my 45-60 Chappy to 24" w/ a half octagon barrel and half magazine. It started out w/ a 28" barrel, but turning it to half round, I had to keep it at 24" because of the cut under the barrel for the magazine support ring. The starting weight was 10.1 lbs. and it finished at 8.6 lbs.
    For more details and picts., look for my posts under "Shortening a 76 Rifle" posted in 2008. 

                                                                            J.L.

[KWK]

Joe, thanks for the information. One and half pounds is about what I guessed. I figured with a custom barrel and forend, one might get a 2 lb reduction. It is a big action.

[Joe Lansing]

    Don't forget your magazine capacity. It's 5 rounds as is with a half magazine. Shortening the fore end will give you almost no weight advantage. Wood weighs almost nothing and the hardware is the same (weight). The only thing is the weight of a couple inches of tubing. If cutting the weight is that important to you, make the barrel full round and thinner like the featherweight '86. However, doing that will require a new fore end with a narrower barrel channel and a new or filled in nose cap.         

                                                                 J.L.

                                                                                       

[KWK]

Yes, a full round barrel would be the lightest custom barrel one could use. Madis's book shows a few 66's (I think it was) that even dispensed with the fore end cap, but that would likely sacrifice a round from magazine capacity. Nothing is imminent here; just pondering the possibilities. Thanks again.

[skoda]

My 50 with the round barrel cut down to 18" and half mag weighs 7pounds, 15 oz. It kicks accordingly!