Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunting Rifles New Forbes rifle........is it for real?????

i was expecting the price to be considerably higher...

i came very close to buying a model 20 in 22-250 back in 1990 when i first began to seriously delve into the construction of these rigs (and if i recall correctly, i saw a photo of one for the first time in an article in a guns and ammo magazine published in October 1985--the article may have been called "space-age stocks" and written by jon sundra).

i decided to call and talk to melvin at that time--to get any/all information firsthand--we had a great visit, and he answered all of my questions very patiently--and i became even more interested in the rifle, the precision construction, the very light weight, the method of bedding it by "wedging the barreled action into the stock", and the materials in the stock itself--and at that time my dealer told me the tariff would be $2100.00, and though expensive, it seemed like a fitting price for a rifle so well thought out, and constructed.

with the rig costing about 2100 back then--over 20 years ago--what might be the reason why they are apparently going to sell for so much less today--are they in fact essentially the same rifle/construction?

Very familiar with the NULA and CLR I have not handled a Forbes rifle. All three basically have a custom tubular action scaled down to fit the cartridge with garand style extractor. NULA is a custom or semi custom rifle, CLR is the M28 but different trigger, barrel, firing pin, stock and trigger guard.

The Forbes from what I can tell is identical to the M24 but out sourced action and barrel. I do not think there will be any loss in tolerances or quality control on the Forbes Rifle. It is the production set up and process that can reduce the cost.

You couldn't build a rifle like the Forbes for that price. A custom action alone will be around $1,000 bare and it will weigh more. Just the parts would run over $2,000.

I'm sure the first Forbes rifles out of the box will come close to the real deal and some will be their equal. Presently all involved with the Forbes rifle are paying attention. Down the road when it becomes just another rifle to those putting them together and they try to get another couple rifles out before making sure all the tooling is up to snuff and squared away, you may run into some that are not the equal. Mr. Forbes will not be there to watch over the birthing like he is when they come out of his WV shop. He will not be there to shoot them, although he doesn't shoot each and every rifle that comes out of that shop. However, he is there to shoot them if problems are discovered-and believe me, he is a better than good hand at the bench-and will personally discover any real problems if they exist. Part of the extra cost is having an almost iron clad guarantee that it will be done right the first time.

Melvin knows how to make his rifle. It will be interesting to see how many buy a Forbes-remember once they get up and going, his hands on will be essentially limited to supplying the stock-and are or are not satisfied.

When they make a model chambered in 7-08, I'll buy one.

It's a blued .270. Can't sink much lower than that.

If it was a stainless '06 I'd be bidding.

I'll take one of those to

I wish it had been. Beer and Gunbroker don't mix well. Looks like I'll be trying one out soon...in a 270 no less.

You bought it? Congrats!!

Yeah. I was the only bidder. Up late Friday or Saturday(?) -- thought what the heck. I really expected to get sniped. I'm still surprised there wasn't more interest. Only about 290 views is five days and I was probably 50 of those!

I imagine a lot of folks aren't actively looking for them now because they don't know they're available. You can chalk me up for a half dozen of those 290 views, I would have never known it was there unless for this thread.

Congratulations on the new rifle, I'd be interested to hear your opinion of the rifle once you get your paws on it and shoot it.

Great, hoping it is everything you expect. I'm thinking it will be.

Thanks Battue.

The more I read, the more I liked it. My assessment may be a little optimistic, but it appears the rifle is a Nula at less than half the price. Granted the barrel is ER Shaw and I'm sure it's not hand fitted as well as Melvin does his custom jobs, but I'm hoping its close. If given the choice, I would have chosen a 7-08 or maybe a 308, but those aren't in production at this price.

I know it's not stainless, but that really doesn't bother me. I have stainless rifles that can be pulled into duty when needed.

My expectations are simple. I want it to perform as well as a faux Nula should....nothing more, nothing less.

Congrats, please do a follow up when you see how it shoots.

It is about the price of a CLR/NULA clone and should be as good or better. I would buy one in complete faith that if it wasn't as expected the worst thing that could happen would be a trip back to NULA.

Waiting for a lefty model.

I look forward to seeing the range results from your late night acquisition.

My Forbes finally arrived today. Long story.

I just got in from my 5 year olds flag football practice. I'll post some pics of the bedding and stuff as soon as I get the tribe to bed.

It does have a nice trigger......

Even though these are not custom-made NULA's, Melvin is supervising production every step of the way. They ARE being built the way he wants them to be (he is part owner of the "out-source" company), and in my experience Shaw barrels are very comparable to Douglas barrels these days.

The price is lot less than a NULA because of no options other than .25-06, .270 or .30-06, and mass production of the action.

I'll know more soon, as a .30-06 is supposed to turn up any day for testing, but heard really good things from another gun writer who tested a prototype.

The barrel measures .615" at the muzzle. That's a good thing in my book. The bolt is a little stiff, but I'm sure it will smooth up. Fit and finish is nice! I ran some factory ammo through it for feeding and it was perfect. A couple of bedding pictures below.



Full length bedding..no big pillar in the rear. The manual says 80lbs on the front screw and 36lbs on the rear.

Interesting facts....

http://www.forbesriflellc.com/FAQs.aspx

Oh hot damn...

I like the looks of that. If you don't mind, how does the 2pos.- 3 function safety work? Does it lock the bolt when ON?