Competition Actions- New Stuff

[StephenPerry]

Al
A good positive Post Al. Makes up for some of the negative ones. I see Francis is not on board yet, scary thought.
Al, I feel modifications need to be made to actions to serve the purpose of the shooter. Great that Stan can do the work. Where's Pete, what a Web this would be with him, scary eh.
Stephen Perry

 

[AlNyhus]

Stephen, I should have added that one of the reasons I love the Kodiak actions is because of the built in recoil lug at the front. I do all my own stock work and all my BR stuff is pillar bedded rather than glue-ins. Stan has dovetailed my Panda in front to take a .375 thick recoil lug that is dovetailed and screwed into the action. It's set back .020 from the face of the action to eliminate any problems with the shank/reciever face fit. With a recoil lug fitted in this manner, barrel changes are a snap..no recoil lug to position or reindex, even if they are pinned and your 'smith doesn't have to machine a relief on the barrel for a Rem. type lug typically used on actions designed as a glue-in.

I recently bedded a 30BR that had a RFD action that Stan drilled and tapped for action screws and fitted a pinned recoil lug to,'ala the Remingtons. It took quite a bit of work to get the bedding correct on it, as the action was undercut under the loading port area. I built this undercut area up on the action and then bedded it in a conventional manner. It resulted in a nice stress free bedding job that offers the accuracy of a glue in with the convenience of a bolt in.

I guess that what I'm getting at is that my action choices are also influenced by the fact that I believe strongly in pillar bedding over a glue in. Not all actions lend themselves to pillar bedding easily, so this becomes a big issue with my action choices. Im also of the belief that a front mounted recoil lug is a better situation than using the rear action tang,on a square tang action) as the recoil lug. The front mounted lug,I feel) loads the stock better and helps drive the butt into the rear bag rather than trying to pick it up as a rearward location trys to do. Again, there are a lot of variables with each setup...lots of people have had success with the rear tang as a recoil lug, though..it's just not something I like to do based on my experience.

Not to stray too far from the topic, but I feel that properly done bedding is one of the most overlooked areas of rifle performance. There is 'bedding' and there is 'bedding'...the difference between a great rifle and a mediocre one is sometimes subtle bedding issues.

Just my 2 cents worth.

 

[RoyinNC]

Al,

What advantage do you feel that pillar bedding has over a glue in?

 

[StephenPerry]

Roy
Great Q. I wanted to ask Al but I don't want to play moderator here. Al is the one to ask. I have both and done both but I know Al and Stan Ware are Masters at this. Come on Al tell us.
Stephen Perry

 

[AlNyhus]

Roy and Stephen:

Perfectly done glue ins are great bedding jobs..no doubt about it. But what happens when a glue-in is not quite right? There isn't a way to check it out, save for popping the action out, rebedding/reglueing and trying it again. There have been a lot of barrels and scopes changed for what eventually turned out to be bedding problems over the years, that's for sure. :,

With a perfectly done pillar job, you can find out pretty quickly if there's a bedding problem...plus it's nice to be able to take the barrelled action out for cleaning issues, trigger/cocking cam timing issues, etc, etc.

I do think that one of the good things about a perfect glue-in is that the action and stock become basically one homogenous unit...this may help with vibration control, to some extent.

But the possible downsides of a glue-in well outweigh that one possible advantage in my mind, so I'm a pillar beddin' kinda guy. :crazy: One other thing is for sure....a well done pillar job is a heck of a lot more work and more $ if you pay someone to do it. :lol:

Just different strokes for different folks, I guess. -Al

 

[Buzzbee]

Most custom actions are good to go out of the box, but I've seen a few that had issues. Not all of the bolt faces are perpendicular to the lug abuttments/reciever threads and this can give some issues that can disquise themselves as pressure/case sizing/shoulder bump problems.

You are not kidding, the worse I've seen was the AMT actions, that explains why we don't see them around any more.

 

[StephenPerry]

Buzzbee
As far as the AMT action you are right the action had enough flaws to require a gunsmith to fix them. The company AMT was in the neighborhood of our San Gabriel Range that had a BR range. The reason AMT actions are no longer produced is because the Company closed up 10 years ago. Actually our former Shoot Director worked for AMT.
The AMT action was touted as BR quality action but with its flaws was no better than a Varmint action. The Searcy Action touted to be a Hall clone also lost approval among the BR crowd. Both actions blueprinted and detailed were good actions but their initial bad names in the BR world lost their piece of that market.
Stephen Perry

 

[Buzzbee]

Stephen Perry,
Yes, I'm aware of the roots of AMT and I almost bought into one of their actions back then. I've been following your post about the closing of SG club, its very sad. Is Bob Sutton still around? Bob build my first live varmint rig when I lived in So Cal. I know he was/is also heavily involved in the BR scene at that time.

 

[StephenPerry]

Buzzbee
Bob Sutton built many guns and chambered at least a dozen BR barrels for me. Bob relocated to the Reno area several years ago. While down in So Cal he was a regular BR shooter. Bob and I roomed together at several Shoots. Since that time he has suffered from another Stroke. He is not smithing now not sure if he will later.
Stephen Perry