Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunting Rifles Forbes vs NULA

What is the difference between the Model 24B Forbes Rifle and the NULA Model 24? The Forbes rifle has a retail that is half of the NULA.

The NULA has a Douglas barrel vs the ER Shaw on the Forbes. The NULA must have more options?

NULA is custom. You decide the barrel contour, length, rate of twist, chamber, color/paint of stock, length of pull, etc...

NULA is truly a custom rifle with many options and the Forbes is a mass produced rifle of generally similar quality except with only a few chambering options and standard stock dimensions. The NULA can be custom ordered to fit with virtually any chamber you want.Forbes rifles have Shaw barrels as noted.I have had both and think the Forbes is a bargain at the offered price.

Yep. The Forbes rifle is mass-produced, NULA's are made one at a time with every option the customer wants: barrel length and contour, more action-size variations, and stock length and paint job. Even the contour and circumference of the pistol grip of the stock can be changed. The standard make of barrel is Douglas, but you can also get any barrel you want--for an extra fee, or by buying it yourself.

The options with the Forbes rifle are more like the options for a Remington, Ruger or Winchester.

Are the NULA's actions made in-house by Mel ?

No, they're made in the Forbes factory. The ones I've seen have been very precise. Melvin made sure of that when they started production.

I'm going to snag an all stainless version when they come out, probably in 280.

Custom built and cafeteria built are not interchangeable, though the former is thrown about with reckless abandon.

Buy a Kimber Montana and use the extra dough on components.

Did Melvin manufacture the actions in-house until the advent of Forbes? Are there any differences between a Forbes and NULA action today (both being 24's, of course)?

I thought SACO in Maine was making the Forbes action's and Melvin made the NULA himself?

I'd do just that, but until Kimber offers LH rifles... Forbes it is...

Why make the exact same actions at two locations? If I'm not fooled, they are also made where the Colt Light Rifle actions were made.

Are these actions machined or Forged ?

Found the answer:

Titan Machine Products, Inc., a supplier for Saco Defense.

They apparently do not make the NULA actions.

Do you mean cast or forged? Regardless, I'm not sure but would think forged.

Both companies in Portland Maine so there is a connection there somewhere...

Interesting and thanks for the input. I was looking for Left Handed light weight rifles on the web and stumbled across these rifles. I wish there was a Left Hand rifle that weighed 5 to 5.5 pounds with a 3 position (Model 70 type) safety in short or long action, with custom trigger and nice custom barrel variations in the Forbes rifle price range (1500). I will keep looking, but the Forbes rifle has caught my attention.

Not sure where the action body is made, but I have watched Nula bolts being made by Mr. Forbes Smiths. Bolt parts are interchangeable. One of the reasons a Forbes is being made. He wanted those who have Nula to have a source of parts when he is no longer making Nulas.

Hint: If you can find an early serial numbered Forbes, buy it. I don't know when to stop buying it.

Let me try to set as much straight as I can after so much speculation.

Melvin still makes the NULA actions in-house. They're machined from steel cylinders which are probably forgings. I don't know, but there never has been a bolt action made by "forging" the finished dimensions. Instead they're machined from chunks of steel (or at least they're usually steel) that may be forged or cast.

When Melvin first started making NULA's there were so many machine-shops with too little work in the Morgantown, WV area that he had the cylinders machined a little over-sized, to save time and money, then did the machining to the final, precise dimensions in his shop. The bolts were made the same way. I suspect they're still made the same way, but don't know.

When Forbes was setting up the production line, Melvin came up for a quality check. He said he wanted each bolt to fit in every action, with both lugs bearing, just like they do in NULA's. The guy he was talking to, some sort of mid-level supervisor, said they did. Melvin said, "Then bring me a few." Some bolts did NOT fit, and he kicked some butt and took some names until everything was done right. He is not just a "consultant" for Forbes but one of the owners.

New York Kimbers are pretty good rifles (I've owned a few, and own three right now) but anybody who believes they're machined to the same level of precision as Forbes rifles is quite mistaken. And the Forbes/NULA synthetic stocks (which are made exactly the same way) are not only superior to Kimber synthetic stocks but are as good as anything made. I'm not saying that because I know Melvin, but because I know how precisely Melvin does things, and have seen them done that way over and over and over again over the past 25 years.