My preferred deer rifle is a .25-06 built by my father on a Springfield action with a 24" medium contour barrel. The walnut stock that my father shaped himself is kind of meaty. The whole outfit -- including scope -- probably weights 10 LBS, I would guess. This is at least a couple of pounds heavier than currently manufactured rifles. It still kills deer. I somehow manage to get through the morning hunts and afternoon hunts without dieing of exhaustion. The extra weight actually reduces the already modest recoil of the .25-06. I have a .243 Winchester Model 70 featherweight that probably weighs 2.5 LBS less. It doesn't seem to me to be a noticeable difference between carrying the 10 LBS rifle or carrying the 7.5 LBS rifle.

I think if the weight of your mass produced rifle -- whatever that weight may be -- is too heavy for you, maybe you need to work out more. And before you throw mountain hunting at me, I'm headin' out to the mountains in about a week for 8 days of backpacking -- average elevation probably around 10,500', two passes over 12,500' will be crossed -- and carrying a heavy pack. I have done this before and know what this is like. You just do it. +/- a couple of pounds isn't that big of a deal, or so I think. Just my opinion.