Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Custom Rifles & Wildcats NULA or other lightweight build?

Yeah, NULA's are built straight from the get-go, including the stock, one of the best made.

I've known Melvin for over 25 years, and he's going to be 70 on his next birthday. In the past couple years two of his long-time employees retired, and last I heard he hasn't found adequate replacements. A couple of companies that partnered with him over the years didn't work out, both due to their incompetence. (For a while he did have a decent partnership with another company.) But basically he's getting grumpy, like many people do as they get older. Have even seen it on the Fire!

Parts....Get the essentials. Firing pin and spring. Melvin isn't getting any younger and who knows if NULA or whoever will be making his clone will be in business x number of years from now.

John,

What is your experience with Kimber Montana's? Clearly you like Nosler stuff, almost their sponsor. But who knows... Have your Kimber's done well or not?

i have called melvin several times over the years about an issue i may have or a question and he truly does care about his product and customers he has proven this to me on more than one occasion when he answered his phone going down the road (he had the called forwarded to his cell phone) and pulled of the road to talk to me about the issue/question until i had my answer or understood what was going on with the rifle

Ed,

Kimber has made enormous strides in the past decade. The barrels they used were iffy for a while, but they've been far more consistent for several years now, and OTB accuracy has also improved considerably. The action has been a pretty neat unit since they worked out some of the initial bugs, one reason my wife's custom .308 Winchester is built on a Kimber 84M action.

There's no doubt the average NULA will be more accurate than the average Kimber, but that's comparing a mass-produced factory rifle with a limited-production rifle specifically built from the ground up to be very precise. (The same is true of Nosler rifles, which like NULAs use custom barrels.) But as battue points out, the practical difference in accuracy between a good Kimber and NULAs is so small it's irrelevant in most big game hunting. These days it's really hard to beat Kimbers in their price range.

For the price of these rifles and then the hassle when there is an issue, this is an easy call for me.

Chance of a hassle is rare and the rifle makes it worth working it out if there is one. Melvin may get cranky, but that doesn't mean he will not work with you, nor would he be the first cranky gunsmith.

Same here!
I guess I need to sell some of mine I don`t use anymore
and get a Forbes s.s. barrel 30-06 and get Melvin to
go over it and fix any issues.
Then Cerakote and Micro-Slick it mount a Leupold 6x42 Heavy Duplex
and be set!
AMRA

My interaction with Melvin after purchasing left a lot to be desired. Never again!

That's a given. I'd be on the lookout for a colt light rifle and build the damn thing myself. Just sayin..

I have had four NULA's all in 270. My pals talked me out of them. Last week I bought a Kimber 84 to get an action. Well I "shot the donor" and it is so accurate that I can't make any improvements.

The Kimber is the same weight as a NULA but is 1/3 the cost.

If you send it to Greg Tannel for an action job and then add a custom barrel and have it bedded and painted you will still be in it for less than a M 24 but you will have CRF and a 3 position safety.

Lots to like.

Maybe i've just been unlucky over the decades, but I've seriously had my fill of dealing with egocentric pretentious
purposely difficult rifle makers....so last thing I would do is support the business of yet another one. I don't give them
any more special entitlement than I do my green grocer ..Hey but if someone is doing something of far greater value
like saving peoples lives in an emergency ward, I will tolerate their grumpiness.

About time you caught on

With the Kimber Montana available, I can't think of a rational reason to build a lightweight rifle for BG hunting.

That doesn't mean it shouldn't be done. But I wouldn't bother.

Maybe I've just been lucky but everything I've had done by Mr. Forbes was simple and easy. Gave him the exact details and he did it.

Well, in the case of the OP, he's a Lefty, so that's one reason. Likely the only reason.

I'd go NULA.

I had a friend this fall just about get killed by a charging Grizzly. She bluffed him three times. In the fracus he grabbed the clients Kimber Montana and proceeded to lock it up tighter than Fort Knox.

It was captured on film by a professional film crew so I'm anxious to see what actually went on there.

It's not difficult to tie up a CRF.




Dave

If you are a righty, options abound.
Even the Weatherby superlgiht is a helluva rifle at
5 3/4lbs.
...My LH Forbes rifle shoots as well as, or better than the last NULA I had.
They wouldn't feel much different in the hands blindfolded.

It's not difficult to tie up a push feed either.