New Build - Action opinions

[Totoro]

He means Borden, aka Jim Borden

 

[Rhovee]

BAT, Borden, Defiance. Only ones I'll ever own.

 

[lancetkenyon]

Another vote for Kelbly Atlas Tac. I have two now, and have shot several others. Smoothest actions I have shot.

 

[Bruce Treloar]

Pardon me for butting in but I'm not very tek savvy. Does anyone know where I can source very high quality mounts for Rem 700 222's and Rem 788 22.250's

 

[Buck Fever]

I can't say much about the others but the ARC nucleus is a 3 lug design with a 72° bolt throw so you get more scope clearance but marginally heavier bolt lift because you are cocking essentially the same firing pin over less degrees of lift. That's the trade off compared to 2 lug designs.

Beside that it is CRF with a similar to Mauser claw style extractor (not exactly the same), a Springfield style inertial ejector, interchangeable bolt heads, toroidal bolt lug geometry, Savage small shank threads, a recoil lug located by the scope rail which is also a scope rail recoil lug, probably the strongest bolt stop in the industry and I'm probably forgetting features.

It can use a Savage style barrel nut, shouldered prefit barrels or the Barloc barrel tensioner system. All of the ARC actions use the same barrel tenon so the shouldered prefit I have on my Archimedes would fit my Nucleus (if I swapped in a Magnum bolt head) but what I have installed is my Proof Research carbon fiber wrapped Savage prefit with a barrel nut type Barloc. I really like the Barloc, it makes the gun buildable with Allen keys and Torx keys, no receiver wrench or barrel vise required. I have a trick for easier assembly than the ARC instructions allow which ensures the tensioner won't bottom out. If you go for a Barloc, ask me about it.

One thing about the Nucleus is that the bolt body and receiver are machined so the bolt tightens up in the receiver as it closes but when it opens it has clearance to prevent binding and stoppages due to powder residue, dirt, sand, etc. It's easy to cycle but has that bit of slop to ensure reliability.

It's very good but I don't have the others to compare it against.

I think it is the most feature rich of the "budget" actions. The quality and the company behind it are first rate. My Nucleus is a 1.0 from the initial production and ARC has updated it to eliminate the issues the action had. My Archimedes was also a 1.0 and updated. I say that not because they were perfect, but because ARC stood behind them and made them right.

The Nucleus is at 2.0 currently and I think you will get "perfection" if you buy now.

 

[nksmfamjp]

Origin:
- floating bolt head ...Eliminates misalignment due to trigger pressure. May not mean much among custom actions.
- controlled round feed
- mechanical ejection
- $825
- all carbon steel
- separate lug
-DLC coated.
-Short only.
-Rem style feed lips for AICS or BDL
-20 MOA base.
-1.063" threads (savage type)

Defiance Tenacity
- fixed bolt head .390,.480,.545 choice
- $885-$935
- push feed
- spring ejection
- carbon steel bolt, SS body
-integral lug
-No coating
-Short or long
-DBM or BDL feed lips
-20 MOA base or Talley LW
-1.063" threads (Rem 700 type)

ARC Nucleous
harder to compare...but looks good!

 

[highdrum]

This will be my first rifle build. I was set on building a rifle on a Tikka action but with the costs after upgrades, it's not that much less than one of the three following actions. I'd like input to see what everyone favors.

Bighorn Origin
Defiant Tenacity
ARC Nucleus

Build will be a 7 Sherm Max used for hunting elk primarily and mule deer.

Your going to want to run a long action for this due to cartridge loaded length. You're also going to want to run a dbm or cfe box. The detach mags feed better than a cfe as well. I have a 7 max on a lone peak razor ti, fed like garbage in bdl Mbe-3 setup. Installed a cfe13 box and it feeds okay, have run run the bolt rather quick. The max cases are virtually square very little taper with a 40° shoulder, plus to make things worse, loaded length is around 3.15" this puts you into an xm length or long action, but non the choices you listed offer xm. So you're running magazines with 3.7" of room with a loaded case of 3.15 they need do be tuned very well for 100% reliable feeding. My max is built on a 26" proof barrel has around 300 rounds on it. I personally don't care much for it. Speeds are notably less than advertised. Brass/dies are expensive, feeds like butt. The best bet, would be to build this rifle on a Tikka action and use the Hells Canyon billet Tikka magazines. That action is 3.4" long, the mags are designed for short magnums loaded long, 60° lift, very smooth, quality trigger and they're cheap. A longer bolt handle will fix the heavy lift associated with the short angle. This will provide the best hopes of success in a good feeding smooth cycling action, and if you're not happy with the chambering would be less $ invested and easy sale or rebarrel. I'm still waiting on my 6.5 max to be finished, it's on a Tikka with a 26" bartlein carbon. Feel it'll work out far better than the lone peak long action.

 

[BWB]

An Origin allows you the ability to use shouldered Origin barrels (regular recoil lug), shouldered TL3 barrels (Hunts Long Range recoil lug) and any Savage pre-fit barrel (barrel nut). Plus the ability to easily swap bolt heads.

 

[Kmccord]

What about Stiller Actions, have you found it fairly easy to find Pre-fit barrels? I am looking into going into DIY builds. A lot of actions to choose from, hard to say who is better than others and I have only handled one Action that is custom, that being a Stiller from a Custom maker with his name on the action.

 

[BWB]

A Stiller is no better than a blueprinted factory Rem 700 action...change my mind.

I actually have a blueprinted Rem700 action I would take over any Stiller.

 

[Buck Fever]

I have a Savage Axis I built for 284. It's in an MDT chassis and uses their 3.56" magazines.

I'm going to load long but it will have plenty of room in the magazine.

The down side of the chassis is you only have one source for magazines, MDT.

You could do the same thing to make that Sherman but with a Magnum bolt head I think.

But getting back to choosing an action, it occurs to me that you should look at your barrel options first because not many places will have the reamer you want.

Once you know your barrel options, you can look to see what prefits are available and pricing. That will let you have a better understanding of total cost, then you can weigh the pros and cons of the different actions along with the cost and pick the right option for you.

 

[highdrum]

Xlr has a long action Tikka inlet utilizing the same 3.56" mdt mags.

 

[kbrezlin]

Terminus for me.

 

[highdrum]

Terminus for me.

I'm in the process of building my 3rd rifle on a Terminus action. They're quite nice.