A rifle's maximum weight depends on the nature of the country you hunt in, and your physical strength and endurance. My visits to the mountains were infrequent, and once there, I quickly discovered I wanted the lightest rifle I could get. Even when the terrain is demanding, at sea level I do much better. That said, sacrificing the rifle's balance for light weight is false economy. Choosing a very light contour, with a barrel of short to medium length, coupled with a standard weight stock, unavoidably results in a butt heavy balance, so the lightweight rifle must be designed to be light weight with good balance.
Rifle weight is a combination of the weight of the elements that make up the whole. Minimizing the weight of the individual elements could easily shave a pound from the entire weight. Consider using a light weight nylon sling rather than leather, a thin butt pad rather than a thick recoil pad, choose light weight aluminum ring mounts rather than steel mounts that consist of a heavy base with rings that attach to it, choose a compact scope rather than a full size, and load 3 rounds of ammo in the magazine rather than 5. Bottom metal and the magazine follower can be aluminum rather than steel. If the rifle has a custom stock, choosing Kevlar or carbon fiber, over wood or fiberglass will reduce the weight. If the stock is made from traditional stock materials like wood or fiberglass, holes drilled in the butt reduce weight and shift the center of balance forward, provided care ism taken not to exaggerate a muzzle heavy balance, and taking care not to weaken the stock.
Assuming its well balanced, a rifle is too light when recoil unduly interferes with marksmanship. So this brings another limitation to the light weight rifle, which is the size and velocity of it's cartridge. If you shoot only occasionally, a 6 pound .300 magnum is unlikely to encourage off season practice, despite its ballistic advantages. Muzzle breaks are gaining popularity, and they do reduce felt recoil, but the rearward projection of noise is a disadvantage, as is the additional couple of inches of barrel length. Unless dangerous game is on your list, you will probably not be disadvantaged by choosing a moderate capacity cartridge for your rifle.
Leave the rifle as you appreciate it. If the goal was/is to lessen the package weight I'm taking into the field, I'd be better off 
