You got me curious
I stripped the Ruger American Predator short-action and weighed everything precisely.
The complete stock with buttpad, swivels and V-blocks is 648gm (1lb 6.86oz).
.223 6rd OEM rotary magazine is 48gm (1.69oz) empty (the magazine clips into the stock, not the action).
Complete barreled action with rail, trigger pack and two action bolts is 2377gm (5lb 3.85oz) - without thread protector (but with Hornady rubber bolt ball).
3073gm (6lb 12.4oz) all up from the factory without sights.
The AR Optics 4.5-18x40 scope with aluminium QD mounts (without lens covers) is 744gm (8lb 6.64oz rifle all up). Bushnell claims 550gm for the bare scope so there's about 200gm in my QD mounts (steel fasteners add weight).
The cerakoted 22" barrel (22-1/8" or 562mm to bolt face) is threaded at the muzzle 1/2"-28tpi. The knox is parallel at 1.150" (29.2mm) out to 1.750" (44.5mm) from the receiver, tapers down to .790" (20mm) 5.5" (140mm) from the receiver, then tapers down to .687" (17.5mm) at the muzzle threading, 20.67" (525mm) from the receiver. The thread adds another .585" (14.86mm) of barrel. The Predator barrel is heavier than the Standard barrel but I can't be bothered stripping the wrap off to measure the Standard barrel. Numbers between the Standard and Predator models gives around 200mm more weight to the Predator including the rail. If the barrel profile is 1mm smaller diameter it saves about 120gm.
I could cut 150mm off the muzzle to save about 260gm of weight (average of 17.75mm diameter is 290gm, less 29gm for the 5.56mm hole). As I would not want to do anything else to the barreled action, the lightest I can reasonably get it is 2120gm, though the 16" barrel would be heavier than required. I doubt I could be bothered to turn the profile down and re-cerakote or blue it, but it could conceivably get down to 2000gm without difficulty.
For a pure stalking rifle I think I could build a very rudimentary aluminium "chassis" that simply carries the receiver, conceals the trigger pack and retains the magazine, with a skeletonised buttstock (think early Sten gun stocks but in aluminium) to allow a basic cheekweld, no forend, remove the rail and install iron sights, for roughly 300gm. The AICS poly 10rd .223 mags are 122gm. So I could possibly build the 22" 10rd .223 Ruger American Predator down to about 2800gms, 270gms lighter than OEM at best. About 2600gm in single-shot (no mag or well), about 2520gm 10rd 16", and about 2400gm single-shot 16".
Now, 2400gm is significantly lighter than the original 3073gms for sure, it's enough to be a huge benefit in the bush, but is it worth the overall compromise in barrel length and follow-up shots? And, the Ruger American Ranch Rifle 10rd .223 16" already weighs 2767gm (6.1lb), only 250gm heavier than my contraption would be.
This place claims their carbon stock drops about 7oz or 200gm off the polymer Tikka's weight (A$1200).
https://precisiondefenceindustries.com/featherweight-rifle-stock-faq/I don't understand or work with ounces. If it weren't for shotshells I would have no idea what an ounce is (it's 28gm). Pounds I can work with a little after years of dealing with Americans, a pound is 454gm, 100lb is 45kg, 100kg is 220lb. Decimal pounds almost make sense, ounces make zero sense at all. And then you find something listed as 6.12lb, but it turns out they mean 6lb 12oz or 6.75lb! Don't mention stones!