Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Custom Rifles & Wildcats Custom Actions?

RD - I don't doubt that, what the problem for me is, if you grab a mass mfg. rifle - how can you KNOW if it was done right?

I think you will only know when it was not, when it unexpectedly happens to fail, if you are one of the unlucky ones...

I seldom post but this thread caught my attention. For a sporter, I must come down on the side of a older Remington 700 with modest improvements such as squaring the face of the action and bolt and lapping the lugs. Spend your money on a barrel blank (Krieger, Broughten, Brux, etc), a McMillan stock, jewel trigger, and a nice scope. I have several such sporters with these upgrades and they all shoot under 1/2 inch (most are way under). Now I also have guns with custom actions that cost twice what the above-mentioned 700 will cost you (BAT repeater, Nesika Bay, older Shilen DGA etc.) They too will shoot under 1/2 inch. If you go the 700 with an std. accuracy job, you will have $600 in you pocket which will get you a long way toward the completion of your project. Don't forget that the gunsmith is terribly important. Some smiths can't drill a straight hole to save their life. All being said, the most crazy thing to do is take a 700, fully blueprint it, align bore the raceway and shim the bolt, flute the bolt, skelatonize the bolt handle with a custom knob, add a custom bolt release, and ceracoat it. You paid for a Caddy but it still says Chevy!

I hear what you're saying, but what do you do if you have a McMillan stock crack, split or delaminate. What about scope failures, triggers....etc. Not trying to bust you chops, but there are all kinds of equipment failures that can occur.

Just carry a roll of blue tape!

And there you have it.......grin

You can test the crap out of it prior to field use. Work the bolt hard, many, many times just like guys do with other stuff such as shooting a new riflescope alot to see if there are any mechanical quirks (that usually show themselves early on). I believe these bolt handle stories were accidents just waiting to happen cause they did a [bleep] job (surfaces didn't mate correctly, halfassed brazing, sloppy worker etc..) which can happen with just about any mass produced item we buy today. Remember, there are over 5 million of these rifles produced, so I, personally, don't consider it an epidemic.

ps/ One of the reasons Jim Borden made the Alpine/Timberline series was because some of these custom actions were so tight, they didn't lend themselves well to hunting in areas where dirt and such was more problematic which effected action function if to much [bleep] got in there.

RD , you have a point there about the dirt interaction with tight spaced Custom Actions . Some years back I was Prairie Dog hunting out West when my hunting buddy asked me if I had a hammer in my tool kit . I handed him an old hammer and he proceeded to pound on his BAT Bolt to free it up . Made me cringe . I later sent him a picture of that event ! However , I'm still going for a BAT while I can still get around . I'm thinking a used BR Rifle I could rebarrel to a Varmint Cartridge would be a good bet .

I have never felt an action that was as solid and tight feeling as a BAT. I don't know that this necessarily means they are the best but they are certainly held to some very tight tolerances all around. Their action with the integral rail was like a vault door locking up! Heavy as one too!!

that is the action I have. yeah the tolerances are much tighter, but I just wipe my bolt off, and the inside of the action with some hoppes. then I put some tetra gun grease on a patch fold the patch in half and moved the grease around, then I put an ever so slight fine coating of it on the bolt, the spiral flutes help wipe away grime and debris and allow the tight action to work great.

as to the weight, yeah the railed BAT is heavier, but with #5 krieger, mcmillan classic stock, and allow bottom metal, I still came out to right at 8#'s bare. a lighter barrel could have easier brought that down to 7.5#'s or less.

I talked with the guys at BAT two weeks ago, before buying the HR for a long range hunting rifle. I was told there have been rare occasions when junk locked up the action. On the HR, they are contemplating opening up the raceways .001, changing the fluting so it can't catch debris, putting a small radius in at pinch points, and Meloniting the action to make surfaces so hard grit will slide, or crush, rather than bind. They also told me action weight of about 36 oz. with integral 20 MOA rail. My action should show up at the smiths' any day, and we are sending it back to BAT for Melonite. With this action, Kreiger #19 barrel, and Manners or Greybull stock, I expect the rifle to come in around 9.5lbs.

you worry too much, mine is the short action VR no issues with dirt or gunk. my other calling rifle is a ruger mk 2 in 22-250 and I had to wipe down the bolt just about as often. I wouldn't put any kind of coating on the action personally, in fact I kinda wish they had left the polished finish on the bolt. and bead blasted the rest. I don't know about you but I don't drop my gun in the dirt of mud. I am not a tactical guy that rolls around on the ground and goes into creeks and swamps. the spiral fluting IMO will take care of your needs unless you, roll in the dirt.

one thing to keep in mind top loading can be done and works ok but getting shells in there with the pic rail and gloves on isn't the easiest thing to do. I am going to switch out to a HS detachable mag setup when they become available. should make the gun feed a bit better and also allow me to change out barrels easily if I ever want to, and a mag change will accommodate the feeding.

What, me worry? (grin) I'm not a tactical guy either. I don't roll around in the dirt unless I fell down, and that don't happen much. I'm actually pretty easy on equipment... holds up better with a little care. That said it would be unacceptable to have an action lock up on a hunt, and I do a lot of shooting off a bipod, kicking up a little dust sometimes. The BAT is a Cadillac, so it's worth a few more bucks if the Melonite might make it a bit more reliable. The detachable mag would be a good feature. Currently we are going with BDL bottom metal.

The mags are very functional but impossible to carry slung without gouging your backside. I am going ADL from here on out.

uhh, say what, have you actually looked at the HS 4 round mag?? its not going to be hitting your backside. I agree though never see the point of the single stack AICS mags and all the other of the type.

AFan - Thanks, will carry Blue Tape on future hunts in case my McM gives way

RD - No doubt - Murphy's law can strike unexpectedly.

Buying quality I think is a hedge against it's ugly head.

When I made the statement about the Borden Alpine/Timberline I wasn't speculating. I've spoken with Jim quite a bit when he's had a display at the Harrisburg Outdoorsman Show even as far back to when he didn't even make his own actions yet. Working the bolt on one of his completely rebuilt mod 700's was a thing of beauty. Smooth as glass, tight and locked up like a vault.