Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunting Rifles A Tale of the "Stainless Steel" Forbes, and Rate of Twist

Sent an email to Forbes asking about their new stainless steel rifles. Had heard a rumor that the rifle were not all stainless. Also mentioned the 243 and the silly 10 twist.

Me:

Sir,

I was curious if your new stainless rifles are all stainless, or if they use a chrome moly bolt with a stainless receiver? Also, I think it is a mistake designing the 243 with a 10 twist. I would be interested in purchasing a 243, but the slow twist holds me back from stabilizing the heavier VLD type bullets. The mag length is there, but I can't use it! If this was an 8 or 9 twist, I would likely buy one.

Thanks very much for your time!

Forbes:

The bolt will be an alloy steel bolt. You may be interested in the 7mm08 than, it has a 1/9.5 for that very reason. We may actually change the 243 but for now its going to stay 1/10. Let me know if the 7mm08 interests you, we use a 3" mag box in that model as well.

So. The rifles are not all stainless. Lame. The 10 twist 243 is, at least for now, here to stay. Double Lame.

Guess I'll just keep my rebarreled Remingtons and Kimbers.

I'm curious under what circumstances a 1-10" on a 243 would ever be better than a faster twist.

Pretty much any time you want to shoot one of the many 100gr+ offerings out there.

Whoops, misread your statement. Fast=good, slow=bad.

I could live with the bolt. Would prefer stainless, but it's not a deal killer for me. The 1/10 twist on the .243 is a deal killer...it would be so nice with that mag box and a 1/8...and it appears ER Shaw makes a 1/8 barrel...

I might look into a 7mm08 or .308, but have no interest in the 1/10 .243.

They were close with that 3" mag box, but that twist is certainly puzzling.

Though the alloy bolt is probably just fine, it kinda pisses me off. Between the fluted bolts, slow twists, and now "stainless rifles" that aren't actually stainless, Forbes is doing a good job of sending my business elsewhere.

I just emailed requesting they pursue the 1/8 twist on the stainless .243's. I'm in for one if they do. Hopefully they'll get the message. Wouldn't hurt for anyone thinking the same to email and let them know:

rcampbellforbesriflellc.com

cbozziforbesriflellc.com

Pretty standard for bolts on stainless rifles to be cm. I know Borden actions are like that. It helps prevent galling

CM actions/bolts don't bother me, so long as the tube is stainless. I've alway been curious as to how much more a typical SS factory Rem/Win/Ruger barrel costs versus a CM/blued version. Is it $30? $40? I know that I'd gladly throw and extra $75-100 at pretty much any rifle if an SS barrel was an option. For that matter, make them standard on synthetic offerings and charge a bit more. Aesthetics is a non-issue in that department anyway. The guy who is interested in buying a Remington 783 isn't thinking about how handsome his new purchase is, but I bet he'd lay down another $40-50 if he was getting something that wouldn't rust where it mattered.

Ruger and Kimber SS actions have SS bolts. I believe Winchester is SS as well. Remington is SS with CM lugs, IIRC.

The alloy bolt isn't that big of a deal, but as someone who isn't a gunsmith and doesn't have a fraction of the knowledge of those at Forbes, it is puzzling why they would use a slower twist rate.

As mentioned, the stabilizing issues seem like it would be prohibitive on a caliber like a .243.

I guess my question would be what benefit to them using 1/10.

It puzzles me that many barrel makers, primarily those providing less expensive barrels, keep insisting on offering slow twist barrels in calibers where the trend has been toward longer bullets requiring faster twists. Heck, with the trend toward banning lead, almost all barrels being offered could benefit from a faster twist just in case.

Same can be said for most rifle makers.

It amuses me that many rifle makers have begun to supply bolt action .223's with faster 8" and 7" twists yet continue to offer .22-250's with 14" and 12" twists. If Ruger offered a Varmint or Tacticool .22-250 with an 8" or 9" twist I'm sure they would sell.

So close, but yet so far.....

It amazes me that companies still ignore simple solutions that would directly impact their bottom line.

I will never buy any 6mm again without an 8 twist

These dumbasses everywhere in the industry act like stainless is Kryptonite and fast twist tubes are Sarin gas. I tend not to buy cars without paint and don't feel the need to buy a rifle that'd rather rust than not.

Correct, most stainless steels are too close together on the Brinell scale to not gall. You need a spread of at least 10 between the two steels for it to feel smooth.


Pick up one of the old boat paddle Rugers in stainless and run the bolt. Those things are sticky pieces of [bleep]. Then pick up an SMLE, buttery smooth.

The odd part is, you don't need to be a longrange shooter or a fan of VLD's to need a faster twist. The move towards copper is going to make a lot of twists too slow. You would think companies would see the writing on the wall.

There is no down side that I can see. You can shoot light bullets in fast twist barrels too

American Rifleman show is on with a 30 min. Program about Melvin now. Inside look at NULA. Seems like an honest, decent, hard working entrepeneur to me. Sometimes there are business decisions that have to be made in order for your product to be both profitable and widely accepted and useable by a broad spectrum of consumers. For MOST folks, the twist rate will work fine. For MOST folks the CM bolt wont be an issue either. I talked to him earlier in the week about getting my Colt Light Rifle worked on, and was very impressed with the amount of time he took out of his busy schedule to discuss what will be a very low profit job for him. Free market economies are great... we have the choice to spend our money where we choose and benefit from a competitive market by getting quality, innovative products at a relatively cheap price. If you like the specifications of the Kimber better, buy one, if you like the specs of the Forbes, buy it. If you like neither, you can put a custom gun together to your personal preferences for not much more than either one.

Not many guys on here are going to be satisfied with any production gun out of the box, but the forbes looks like a good starting point if you like lightweight, abuseable hunting rifles. Me, Im starting with my Colt that I picked up dirt cheap and for another1200.00 im getting a quality barrel of my choosing, trigger, stock and bedding and the action slicked up so for a few hundred more than a forbes Im getting a gun to fit my needs.... If the Colt wasnt available, I could live with the forbes.

For those same folks, the 8" twist for 6mm would still work fine, AND it would work for those who want to go the VLD way. So why not?