Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Custom Rifles & Wildcats Tell me about bottom metal

So I've got a couple of 700SA rifles with hinged floor plate, and I've been contemplating putting some DBM bottom metal on one or two of them. I've seen Wyatt's, Badger M5, Seekins, PTG, etc, and I'm not sure how to differentiate between what's what, here. Apparently the Wyatt's box is a drop-in bottom metal, and most of the others require some inletting? If somebody could fill me in on the pro's and con's, I'd appreciate it.

To muddy the waters more you might check out the APA dbm. The mag release is incorporated into the trigger guard keeping clean lines. It uses the M5 footprint and takes AICS mags.

check them out here: American Precision Arms

M5 and similar are great to run. Can't beat center feed !

my choice would be based off what you are gonna do with it.

-tactical rifle would be M5 or similar, hands down. Fast mag changes with the paddle style mag release.

-hunting rifle would be APA or R&D with tac latch style. Cleaner trigger guard and no pogo stick hanging down.

Thanks, guys. Any thoughts on quality differences between the various products, mag compatibility (do they all use AICS?), inletting requirements/drop-in installation, value vs. price, etc? What about mag length confines? I see S/A AICS mags take up to 2.880" OAL, is that sufficient to seat bullets like the 140gr VLD to touch the lands with the bottom of the bullet's bearing surface at the shoulder/neck junction using a .260AI?

This would be for a Rem 700 S/A in .243AI/.260AI/6.5Creedmoor...

you can have the front plate removed in the mags. I run them like that and can load to 2.945" in my 6mm Crusader.

Most I run will work with the M5 inlet.

Send Scenarshooter a PM on the bullet question.

Curious guys but what's the main reason for going with a clip on your rifles?

I'd guess it's to work with rigs so as to not having feeding issues? Would that be correct?

Thx
Dober

Seekins push button release trumps all DBM systems.

7WSM with 3.050" COAL likes Seekins mag feeding in a SA700..

Dober,

The .243AI doesn't feed as well as I would like in the factory hinged-floor plate Rem S/A BDL, even after a little massaging, and the single-stack, center feed system of many of these DBM mag designs seems to be a thing of beauty for feeding. Not only that, but I wouldn't mind having a DBM setup for some of my heavier, LR rigs.

Thanks. I'll fire him a PM.

Jordan, I believe when you "Ackley" a .260, you actually shorten the case a bit. You will probably still be seating bullets down into the powder, even at 2.945"....at least the long, high BC bullets. No big deal for me, both of my .260's are short throated and the bullets I shoot are seated into the powder below the neck/shoulder junction. I remove "donuts" after two firings on my .260 Lapua brass with a Wilson inside neck reamer.

My next build(in the works)will have APA's DBM. I run several other rifles with Badger M5, some with the standard mag release lever and some with the RAD after market mag release. My light hunting rifles have the RAD, my heavy tactical rifles I run the Badger lever release. Those rifles are carried mostly in a dragbag, and I've never had a problem losing a mag while transporting my rifles that way.

What I like about the AI mag bottom metal systems is the totally reliable feeding you get with them. I've never had one snafu since I started using it.....I can't say the same for hinged floorplates, or blind mags.

Thanks, guys.

Any feedback on Seekins, PTG, or HS?

I have a 243 ai that also had feeding issues. I got an HS mag setup, found someone selling an old style used one and picked it up. it works great and feeding problems are gone. its almost a drop in for regular BDL inlet you just have to make a slight adjustment.

Seekins seems fairly reasonable and has nice lines!

The bottom metal is consist of aluminum with hard anodizing. The bottom metal looks very similar to Badger. The bottom metal comes with instructions, pillars, and proper length action screws, with or without a mag.

Who woulda thought....

Okay, so I'm leaning Seekins or APA for the funcionality, and PTG for the price. I guess if I'm feeling lazy there is Stiller for the ease of inletting (I don't like the look as much, though). Thoughts?

I personally wouldn't worry about the cost too much. You already have a lot of money into your rifle and what is another 100-200 after 5-10+ years of use. Get what you like the best, which sounds like the Seekins or APA

Keep us posted

another to investigate is Atlasworx out of Australia if you can find them. The old group buy on another forum was a deal.

Thanks, guys.

After speaking with several vendors in the US, I had trouble sourcing any of the US-made products in Canada because of your governments's beloved ITAR restrictions (any that I found for sale up here were outrageously priced because of the export/import fees under ITAR), so I ended up ordering the Atlas BM from Australia. Thanks for the tip, nimrod!