Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunting Rifles Forbes.........again

At least it won't lead to a New New Ultra Light Arms.

Mel can't pick them.

Wow.
I never would have bought one if I had known.
They repaired mine and sent it back just in time.

No loss in my mind because of quality of later guns except for those that already bought a Forbes.

The real NULAs are nice, quality rifles worth saving $$$ for if they fit you. I hunted exclusively for 5-6 seasons with a handful of NULAs. I really liked the rifles except the recoil was atrocious for me. Also, I work a bolt rifle from the shoulder and with some authority and broke the spring that holds up the bolt stop several times on a couple of rifles. I don't think this is a common problem because Melvin seemed surprised. I eventually found a fix for it, though. I have switched to Kimbers for light rifles because of stock fit. I really do miss NULAs and wished they fit me better.

It's a real shame because some quality control and customer service would have made them a great company.

All they needed was one good worker there that could handle people and take a 5 minute look at the rifles before they left the factory.

Yep.

If anybody wants a really good used Forbes rifle, look for low serial numbers, because Melvin himself built the early rifles. A friend of mine was at the range when I was testing a prototype, and wanted one in .30-06. He got #24, and it's as good a rifle as my mid-90's NULA .30-06. It shoots cloverleaves with Nosler 165 AccuBond factory ammo, and he's taken several deer and elk with that load, including a big bull.

But the later ones.....

I can't say enough good things about my Colt Light Rifle that was sent to Melvin for his NULA make over. I think buying a used CLR and then sending it to Mr. Forbes for his upgrade is the best value for guaranteed performance out there right now.

I got #238 - a .270 and it is as close to flawless right out of the box as anything I have ever owned. Scary accurate too.

Be interesting to work up the serial # scale to see where things started to go south.

I'll not part with this rifle because I don't think you could replace it for anything near the money.

Geez, Melvin has had bad luck with these secondary companies - CLR and Forbes.
Hopefully he has a solid crew in the shop now, so when he decides to retire, rifles will continue to be made properly.

I suspect that Melvin would welcome some young gunsmith who wanted to really learn to make NULA rifles and eventually take over the shop.

Boy, there is an opportunity for a young man looking towards the future!

As long as Melvin is breathing, he would never believe anyone else could do it right. Maybe so even when he isn't.

If he didn't think so before, his experience with Colt and Titan should have pushed him in that direction.

I have an early Forbes in 30/06. It had some issues at first, but seemed to break in well after about a hundred rounds. I'm sad to see this happening with Titan.

He keeps going with 'Yankee' companies. Of course WV is a Yankee state, so I guess it makes sense.

When Titan finally folds, there could be a good opportunity to buy the equipment and do things the way Melvin intended. The production and custom shops would be best suited in the same area, so they could benefit from each other in many ways and Melvin could keep a finger on the pulse of everything while mentoring and building trust with a new partner. That's the way I'd do it, anyway.

Mayhaps the nidus for NForbes LLC.

Learnt me a new word.

nidus

http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/nidus



P

I've owned 1 ULA, 2 Montanas, and now a mid-60s serial # Forbes 30-06. The ULA/Forbes stock fits me much better than the Montana. All had excellent fit/finish and were accurate with handloads. I loved the ULA (7RM) but had to sell it when money got tight. Recently replaced it with the Forbes. I bought it here so it had a known history of functioning 100% and being accurate. I enjoy it. The stocks seem to fit perfectly and really tame recoil, for me anyway - I'm 6'5. I never felt as comfortable with the Montanas.

With the skill set we have here on the campfire, we need to spawn our own rifle company. Good Lord these startups are sucking.

Kind of what I was thinking. His business acumen seems to be lacking.