A lightweight rifle has a chassis with a forward receptacle and rear receptacle, a forend tube with a male key, a barrel, a breech, a spacer, a trigger guard, a grip, and a butt stock adapter. The barrel and breech connect along a shared longitudinal axis, and the resulting subassembly inserts into the forend tube. The spacer secures the connection between the breech and the forend tube with a combination of scope screws and rivets that extend through the forend tube, spacer, and breach, respectively. This forend tube subassembly connects to the chassis by inserting the forend tube male key into the chassis forward receptacle and further securing the male key and forward receptacle together with bolts. The butt stock adapter has a protruding male key and mates to the chassis rear receptacle. This allows for the quick and secure connection of a butt stock to the rifle chassis.