Project Zero G: Building a Ruger Precision Rifle Part 2

Ultralight Ruger Precision Rifle, 6.5 Creedmoor Ruger Rifle, Catalyst Arms Ruger Precision Rifle

Project Zero G Build Part Two: The Weigh-In and the Plan

Welcome back to Project Zero G where we try to build an ultra light Ruger Precision Rifle to shoot in the NRL hunter series in the Open Light division. To qualify, our rifle has to weigh 12 pounds or under, including the scope and bipod.

First we of course weighed the rifle to see how much weight we had to lose….which turned out to be just under 3.5lbs…

Then we pretty much completely disassembled the rifle and weighed all the components and sub-assemblies to see where we might reasonably lose the weight.

So one thing we’ve learned already with this project is there are surprising places weight can hide in your rifle. You’ll see what we mean.

Component              Weight (oz)       Weight Loss Goal(oz)         New Weight(oz)

Barrel                          66.1                             24.8                                        41.3

Stock                           29                                10                                           19

Handguard               17.7                             5.5                                           15.2

Bolt shroud               4.4                               3.2                                           1.2

Hammerhead           1.8                               8                                             1

Grip                           3.3                               1.5                                           1.8

Stock hinge              6.1                               tbd                                          tbd

Scope base              4.1                               2                                              2.1

Scope rings              5.2                               2                                              3.3

Trigger                       5.3                               2                                              3

Bolt                          10.1                             3                                              7.1

 

These are the goal weights we’re shooting for and we’ll still have to probably find a few ounces here and there. But overall, we should be able to get very close to these weights, then we can look at what we do without scope and bipod to make up the next difference.

Be sure to check out the video, subscribe to our channel and watch for more Project Zero G videos. We’ll be detailing how we make the modifications to build this ultralight Ruger Precision Rifle!