Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunting Rifles NULA model 24 30-06

Wilson/Nula as Yote referenced.

True. Customs don't bring schit on the used market. I'm not saying they aren't good rifles, I'm just [and this is just me] saying they are way overpriced. I'm guilty of the looney bug on my hunting rigs as well. A light rifle has its place. Got a mark v ultra light that is great to about 300, then it gets a little sketchy. It's a 5 3/4 pound 06, and it's not bad at all to shoot. I bought that rifle brand new in the box for 1200 bucks. Be hard to convince me a Nula is worth 3 times as much.

Copy. There were lots of drifts so 😂

I agree with you on the worth, and it relates back to what I mentioned earlier about manufacturers figuring out how to build custom features (in this case lightweight rifles) more cheaply than the semi-custom builders. Frankly I'd rather buy a Kimber and rebarrel with a bit heavier contour, as I don't care for the NULA stocks.

Same here. AKW is our local ULA/NULA maniac and he can lay on the temptation, but being a M70 guy, I like the firing controls on the Kimber, and the rifle just feels like a mini Model 70. I am sure they aren't a perfect match for the more expensive Wilson/ULA/NULA they do scratch that itch. Plus, like was mentioned, it is nice to start light so a good optic can be put on top and the whole package remains fairly light.

i always like when i go to deer camp and people say you paid how much for it!....I would never do that!... can I shoot it?

Casey,

You could get a NULA made any weight you wanted, depending on the action and barrel. The lightest action was named the Model 20, because that's how many ounces it weighed--just about a pound less than a short 700 action. The ".30-06" sized action was the Model 24, the action made for '06-length belted magnums the Model 28. The heaviest was the Model 40, two ounces heavier than the long 700 action--which was the action used on Ross Seyfried's .30/.416 Rigby ultra-long range rifle, "Miss America,"--which did NOT weigh 6-7 pounds, but if I recall correctly around 18.

Started buying them in 1991, when if I recall correctly the retail price was $2500. Found that I preferred them somewhat heavier than the lightest weight models, and in 1997 acquired the .30-06 I've since used on more big game animals than any of my other rifles. It has had various scopes on it over the years, but in genera hasl weighed in that 6.5-7 pound range your prefer. This is not just because of the 24-ounce action, but also because instead of the 22" #1 contour Douglas barrel that so many people specified when they order NULAs, I requested a 24" #2 contour. Have taken plenty of big game offhand, sitting and prone, and killed one of my two biggest caribou bulls (out of a dozen) with it rested over my pack at almost 500 yards.

But one of the things Melvin wouldn't vary was the stock dimensions, except for length-of-pull. The buttstock is straight "American classic," with no drop, and tends to fit most men pretty well--as it does me, because like the majority of men I have a relatively short neck and square shoulders.. However, it doesn't fit people with more sloping shoulders or longer necks very well, where some degree of Monte Carlo stock fits better. (Roy Weatherby had very sloping shoulders and a longer than average neck....)

But I agree that $7000 is a ridiculous price to ask for a used one, even in excellent condition. This is partly because I've purchased some Forbes NULAs since Bill Wilson bought the company a couple years ago. In 2023 I bought two, both of which have #1 22" barrels, and weigh considerably less. One was the .270 Winchester Eileen got in the early 90s and did most of her big game hunting with for over a decade, until developing recoil headaches. She sold it locally, and I got it back for $2000. It's also the NULA that she killed a mule deer with offhand at around 150 yards. It grouped into around an inch or so--at 300 yards, with both with 130-grain Partitions, and 140-grain Barnes TSXs when they appeared in 2004. In fact, she was the first person to call Coni Brooks with a field report from taking an elk with a TSX....

The other belonged to my late friend and fellow writer Tom McIntyre. It's a 6.5-284, which from all the evidence was unfired. I paid Tom's widow $3000 for it, partly because she needed the money (also bought a few of his other guns too), and partly because it was in such good condition. Like most NULAs, it'll put various bullets into the same group at 100 yards. One of the groups I've shot so far was from both the 127-grain Barnes LRX and the 129 Hornady Spire Point Interlock: A combined six shots (three with each bullet) went into .6.

The prices I've seen on other Forbes-made NULAs since he sold the company have also run between $2000 and $3000.

MD, the '06 I'm honored to own (only on loan from Mr. Forbes, of course... HA!) does the very same thing.
Please send Mrs McIntyre our well wishes from snowy New England!

If the warden allowed me to spring for a NULA I'd get it in 270. As it stands now I'll have to be content with my CLR 30-06

I bought a used LH early Forbes in 30-06 sent it to Melvin and had it re-barreled in 280 AI Melvin redid rifle. Very accurate rifle and perfect balance. Shoots like a heavier weight rifle easy to hold well.

What weight/length barrel did you have him use?

When I first started hanging out around here, I used to love reading Mr. Stick's posts about his "7 Wizzum Montuckys". Just seemed like a wicked combination. I hope you build something on a Kimber - I'll be very interested to see your take on it and what you come up with.


Ever see a NULA 32, John? I'm hoping Wilson will choose it for 7RM and 7PRC for the length - the 28 seems just a hair short for these with long bullets?

Glad the McIntyre 6.5-284 is a shooter!

Have only seen one Model 32. Hank Williams Jr. had a .300 H&H built on it, which he showed me during a short visit when I was passing through the Bitterroot on my way to Boise years ago.

Melvin also did some interesting things with shortened versions of his various actions. One of the other NULAs Tom McIntyre had was a .243 WSSM, which Eileen bought. I talked to Melvin about it shortly afterward--and it's the ONLY rifle he made for any WSSM round. The action is an extremely shortened Model 28--which per usual with Melvin, feeds perfectly.

I had a M24 with a 24" #2 barrel. I believe it had the best off hand balance of any rifle I've owned, except perhaps the following two: a factory Fieldcraft in the 24" 30-06 and a factory Fieldcraft in the 22" sporter 6.5 CM....these are much the same as the 24" #2 M24 NULA.

Yep, the Fieldcrafts were very similar to NULAs. I had one for a while, a .243 Winchester with a 1-7 twist barrel, and it balanced well too.

My little brother is boxing up a Kimber 270 WSM Classic along with a Schneider 338 barrel Dober gave to him and a Kimber Classic Select 308 along with a Krieger 1-7 .224 barrel that'll get made into a 22x47 Lapua. So he will beat me to the first in the family to build a Kimber, but, he might let me shoot them

Should be nice rifles when they are done.

Agreed JCMCUBIC. That 24" #2 NULA recipe is pretty sweet. I had Outkast put a 24" #2 on my CLR just based on Mule Deer's writing about his .30-06 while knowing I wasn't going to like it and planning on chopping 4 or maybe two inches off after confirming that I didn't like it. Well, I was wrong. That barrel/stock/action (though the CLR action adds 4oz) puts the mass in a sweet spot for off-hand shooting - hard to explain, a kind of hot and sour soup situation, quick but, locked on at the same time. She's staying at 24 inches.

That'll be a sweet matched pair. With those two rifles you really don't need anything else. I like the way your brother thinks!

I’d bet the 22x47 will get used quite a lot around home.

The 338 WSM should be a nice elk rifle for him.

Yeah, that’s going to be an awesome pair!