The UK's Finest Independent Forum for Shooters and Gun Owners. Est 2010.

My LMT 308sp is heavy. I dont mind a heavy rifle and most of the weight is to the rear which is fine.

I am swapping the steel nightforce rings for nightforce ultralite rings. Then I got to thinking about the picatinny rails.........

I use a couple of inches of the top one and never use the rest. Thats 69 bits of metal all up front not being used and adding weight just where I dont want it.

Just wondered if any of you guys had machined away picatinny rails and how much weight you saved per slot removed ( if you made a note )

Also considering fluting or dimpling the barrel - any idea how much weight I would lose by doing that ?

The picatinny rails on my BR99's handguard are removable, I can weigh them if you want?

Blackstuff wrote:The picatinny rails on my BR99's handguard are removable, I can weigh them if you want?

Thanks Mark but I was thinking about the actual "peaks" alone - machining off tbe peaks and leanlving the rest ( on a rail built into the handguard )

Would it not make more sense to look for a handguard (which I assume the rails are part of) that has no rails on? That way, if you ever sold it, you'd not be trying to sell a butchered rail-less rifle.

Ah right. I think if its just the peaks the gains, ore rather losses in weight would be minimal as obviously most of the mass is contained in the 'bar' they sit on.

A rough calculation for weight is W = P x V where P is density, the density of Aluminium is equal to 2699 kilogram per cubic meter at 20C

User702 wrote:Would it not make more sense to look for a handguard (which I assume the rails are part of) that has no rails on? That way, if you ever sold it, you'd not be trying to sell a butchered rail-less rifle.

Its a LMT so a monolithic upper - thats not an option.

I was just curious how much these 69 bits of metal weigh when combined.

Thanks Ovenpaa but I dont have a means to measure the "peaks" with the degree of accuracy required.

My 99p B&Q tape measure wont do ;-)

In the big scheme of things I really can't see it make an appreciable difference in the perceived weight.

Ovenpaa wrote:

STANAG_4694_NATO_Accessory_Rail.jpg

I never even thought of published data !

Well - from my calculations, removing the 69 unused picatinny "peaks" would only amount to about 100 grams. Hardly worth it !

I will be losing far more by switching from steel to ultralite nightforce rings.

Will still look into barrel fluting / dimpling though.......