Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunting Rifles Forbes 24B looks very promising. More photo/comments.

Sometimes things were just meant to be. Walked into one of my local emporiums and see this rifle on the shelf. Salesman
said it was ordered for the store, than "saved" for a customer who then backed away from the sale. Took over 6 months to get it he said. I just put it on the rack this morning.
After looking it over thoroughly, I said I needed one of those 4473's. Yes, the same price you all are seeing around the country - in 30-06.

Took her home to the wife who said, "nice"! Another one for me?
Ah no, this one is mine, I replied. Did the first thing all loonies do - took it all apart.
Some weights from the digital scale. The rifle weighs 5# 9 oz..
The stock is 1# 8 oz, the bolt 8 oz.. The rifle as pictured with a FX II 6x36 and the factory supplied Talley LW lows end
up at 6# 5 oz.. The barrel diameter at the muzzle is .614".

Fired up some new WW brass for the occasion and headed out.
The rifle came with a measured 3# pull and I left it.
Nothing exotic was loaded - 56 gr. H4350 with some 180gr. B. Tip's, and 180 gr. Accubombers. I saved the Partitions for the next session.
Oh and the max COAL is 3.395" so there is plenty of room to experiment. I stayed .025" off.

The recoil as suspected was definitely snappy but not surprising with a rifle of this weight. While not an "all day gun" it was very tolerable. I would say on par with 165's out of a Kimber Montana 84M .308 or 180's out of a Montana in 30-06.

It took 4 to sight it and then I cleaned the bore. The next four was a group of 180gr. BT's which look very good and then the 180gr. Accubonds, also good. No adjustment was made to the scope. All eight were shot in a continual string in about two minutes. The temp was 30* with a negligible wind.

Yes I know its not a CRF and has a 2 position, 3 function safety. There was no trouble getting used to it. It was interesting to watch it function while out of the stock. Just something to get used to.

The splatter coat paint, is slightly rougher than the finish on the Montana. Same two action screw setup and same recoil pad. The full length bedding is clean and tight.
If one needs to replace the stock, Rick at Titan Machine said the rifle would have to go back to be re-bedded. They'd rather bed it there to the barrel and know its done right than having someone "budda" it up on their own.

According to the instruction booklet, it stated that any attempt to fieldstrip the bolt would void the limited lifetime warranty - which reminds me I have to send in.
I asked Rick about it and he said that based on their conversations (with Melvin too) they felt this was the best way to prevent someone from getting in over their head. It appears to be a Rem.700 style bolt. I am going to call Melvin next week and ask him.

The forward pillar is a robust 5/8" diameter. There is no rear action pillar.

All in all I think this is a very fine copycat of the real Forbes rifle. Is it worth the extra $250 more than a 84L?
Well, yes if there aren't any accuracy/functioning issues.

Certainly not every Forbes 24B will come "perfect" out of the box (my statement). But in talking to Rick and Chris at Titan they seem to be very motivated to deliver just that - perfection. They both were patient nor did I get the feeling that I was bothering them.

If anyone needs another photo angle or two, let me know.