Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunting Rifles Melvin Forbes upgrade to colt light rifle

Thinking about sending my clr 7mm mag to him for the normal upgrades. Anyone have regrets about spending 900.00 for this upgrade?

I did the $900 CLR upgrade and don't know if I would do it again, but I don't have any problems with the CLR stock and that seems to be the component that most people seem to object to.

260rem
Did your rifle shoot better, worse or the same after the upgrade? Mine shoots great now and if it shot worse after I would not be happy

It shoots the same, but the NULA stock seems to produce less felt recoil. However, that might be in my head because I want it to be better.

My CLR/NULA is a 270 that is half of my elk hunting pair, the other is a Remington 760 also chambered in 270. The NULA stock weighs around 10 ounces less than the factory stock, so that is a nice to have for a guy who is getting on in years when humping up typical elk hunting terrain.

That being true, the upgrade was not worth it.

It is a little lighter and the trigger is a little crisper.

I never expected the accuracy to improve since the barreled action remained the same. Mr. Forbes said that when he sold ULA to Colt and was there to set up the manufacturing process he insisted that the barreled acton be as close to ULA quality as was possible in a production process with a price point to hit.

I haven't met a CLR owner who complained about the accuracy in a lightweight $500 rifle. It seems to me that most of the people who don't care for the CLRs haven't owned one or spent any time developing a pet load for it.

with a little respect , NULA rifles are very nice but way over priced right now , Nula rifles list retail now for $4200.00 , you guys are nuts to pay that price .

Melvin has taken recent price increases. I had a NIB CLR 270 converted February this year. Stock, bedding, trigger guard, mag box, spring, follower, bolt upgrades & Timney trigger. I inquired regarding a stainless barrel, his quote on a Douglas was an additional $900. I couldn't justify a new barrel since all in I would be around $2500. I'd rather sell the CLR and pick up a used ULA or NULA, especially since the CLR is a Model 28 action instead of a Model 24 saving another 1/4 pound. I regret not going that route initially.

To me, the CLR/NULA upgrade is a pretty good value in today's market if you can get into the CLR for under $600. I paid an average of around $500 for my CLRs, so pouring $900 into one of them got me a ligher rifle, a crisper trigger, and a stock that seems to diminish the felt recoil. I don't love the NULA stock ergs, but it is a light, rigid, stock, exactly what is designed to be and sold as.

Was it worth it? I don't know, I haven't used it enough to know. The car accident that I was in last year put a big crimp in my ability to hunt in 2021.

I don't think that buying a CLR only for the donor action and then paying Mr. Forbes $1,800 or so for a full rebuild may be the use of money for me, but it might be for someone else. That said, I bought a lot of McMillan stocks for under $500, around 70 in all, but would be hard pressed to pay the current asking prices unless I really needed one. Twenty years ago I bought McM stocks from Rick for $350 and from the sale tab on the McM site for similar prices, but that was then and this is now.

Maybe you should consider adding "IMO" to your comment, since value tends to be an individual judgement based on individual wants, needs, and expectations.

I'm betting its more than $900 for the Colt conversion now... To me its worth the money for an improved stock and trigger. I guess its possible to get an accuracy gain but the Colt's seem to shoot pretty good as is. I like the full length bedding of the stock and have had good luck with it in my fieldcraft's and NUlA. If you like the original Colt stock then it might not be worth it.

Try $1500+. Best call Melvin he will inform of price hike.

so is a colt conversion just a stock or a stock and barrel job ?

seems some of you arent comparing apples to apples but i could be wrong

Can be any of the above. The full happy meal with new stock, trigger, parts, and barrel is currently $1900.

The "basic" upgrade is stock, trigger, firing pin spring, and follower for $900. A rebarrel job is more, quite a bit more, but if you don't want 270, 7mm RM, 30-06, or 300 WM you've got to rebarrel.

He told me within the last couple weeks when I called that it would be 900. That doesn’t include a new barrel. My rifle shoots great now, the barrel is free floated. I just wonder if the full length bedded stock he would install would make any difference. I definitely don’t want to mess it up.

Thinking of just the basic upgrade. Consider how it would compare to the same costs upgrading a 700/70/etc:

Quality lightweight synthetic stock (Mcmillan, Manners, etc): ~$679 (Basic McMillan Edge from Redhawk Rifles, could be +/- a bit depending on what you want)
Bedding job: $150-$250...many of us do it ourselves and prices vary, but it's part of the package and I doubt there's a better implementation of full length bedding out there
Trigger upgrade: $150 (Timney...could be +/-)
Firing pin/spring: $50

On the low side that's a total of ~$1,029, with no labor, tax, or shipping charges added. No cost for custom paint added.

I can't find fault with the charge if you compare it to the same upgrades on a 700 for nothing but the parts. Seems fair to me. If it's worth it to each of us or not depends on our desire for what we want out of the rifle.

I "upgraded" my CLR 7mm Mag about 13 or 14 years ago and have bought a couple since that were already "upgraded" by their previous owners. I believe the cost for mine was $650-675 at the time and I have always felt that it was money well spent. I did not shoot mine prior to Melvin's "touch" but never worried about the improvements hurting the accuracy; needless to say it shot great and still does! The Colt came out in it's final form as an attempt to reach a price point,not necessarily custom features (ULA/NULA)... doesn't mean they won't shoot! Many here have documented otherwise.

Everything has gone up in price recently... many things doubled. $650 to $900 over more than a decade does not seem too bad to me. Melvin's "costs" in supplies and labor costs have gone up as well! He has always seemed more than fair to me and kind of takes pride and ownership of the guns/design even after they leave his hands... pretty cool these days.

Likened to cars, do you want to own and drive a Toyota or a Lexus? Both are great reliable cars and will get the job done. Having owned and driven a few of both, I have never felt that the Lexus did not have a better build quality and higher finish. Want to shed even a few more oz and get it even more customized, buy a "new" ULA/NULA (Rolls Royce, etc.) and spend "thousands" extra... it is all up to you and what you want. The holes in the target will likely look the same!

A NULA rifle is custom built to the design specs that you, as the buyer, pick from a menu.


A CLR upgrade is just what it says, an upgrade of components on an existing production barreled action, not a full custom rifle. However, if one of the four cartridges that CLRs were made in works for you, the NULA upgrade may be a be a better than average value as the end result is, performance wise, probably around 90% of a NULA for about 45% of the cost of a NULA. It ain't full NULA, but it ain't all that far behind a full NULA. The downside to the CLR upgrade is that it is still a CLR in the eyes of most people, so when you sell it, you might not recoupe all of the money that you have into it. Just like when you sell a rifle with a McM stock, unless the buyer really likes the specs of that style of McM stock, you might not recoupe all of the money that you have into that stock.

Another thing to consider is that when Mr. Forbes is no longer doing CLR upgrades, that option might not be carried over by the next owner who wouldn't have any connection with the ULA to CLR to NULA history.

Agree 260Remguy!