Paragon Action by Blake Barrel

[Presis Skytter]

I’m in the process of building my first F class open. The Paragon action by Blake Barrels/FCP is a very appealing option as it has all the features I want. I’ve also looked at Kauger, Bat, Kelby, and Borden. At over twice the cost of the Kauger I was planning from the get go, do others feel it’s worth it? It’s made from solid material, with a good bedding surface, with a good ignition system, as well as bolt face interchangeablility, I’m just wondering if I’d honestly be able to distinguish those features at the range. Also any comments on its smoothness compared to others since it’s one of the few I haven’t handled? Sorry to start another action thread, just not seeing as many comments on this particular action.

 

[whatwind?]

they are all great, kauger is 16 tpi threads vs BAT at 18tpi, depending on what you already have , the blake does come with mag and standard bolt faces to figure in your value, dont know what a kauger bolt cost and no matter what you do, you can sell it for 80% of what you paid or more

 

[Presis Skytter]

Kauger bolt faces are $80 when I asked

 

[ebb]

At the price they are asking for a Paragon it makes truing a Remington look like a foolish endeavor. Are there guns out there that have been built on this action?

 

[F Class John]

@Bryan Blake can help tell you the people using one right now. I know there's more than you think out there.

 

[Bryan Blake]

Thank you for your interest.

Here is some direct info, these are facts and not opinions, I like to let the consumer gather their own opinions based on facts.

The Paragon action is the only action available that features all the noted features into one action:

• Micrometer adjustable trigger handoff timing adjustments down to the .001” with no need to remove the trigger and or hanger to make adjustments to fit any Remington 700 trigger. Has .040” total adjustment with .250” firing pin fall that is adjusted to be right in the middle of that, so you can go from .230”-.270” firing pin fall.
• The barrel tenon index is identical between any Paragon action ever produced to allow barrels to be chambered by a competent gunsmith just going off the tenon print and never actually needing to have the action in their hands.
• Barrel tenon size guaranteed to be within .0015” on pitch diameter.
• Integral 20 MOA rail and integral 3/8” thick recoil lug.
• Loading port long enough to eject a loaded round that is 3.25” OAL or shorter.
• Interchangeable bolt control head to swap between magnum and standard size cartridges in a matter of 60 seconds. No need to order TWO bolts with two different timings, firing pins, etc. One bolt does most all the cartridges used in F-Open.
• Billet machined extraction cam and integral bolt handle register, no silver soldering of bolt handles. This also allows the user to swap between different lengths and shapes of bolt handles and bolt knobs as they desire.
• Multiple bolt patterns on the bottom of the receiver to allow you to use your existing stocks that are already pillared for other common receivers without having to move and make/add new pillars.
• Flat bottom design with 5-degree tapered sides to allow for the best footprint contact to allow for bedding shrinking over time to allow the action to always remain plainer and bolted down tight.
• Cross pin elimination. Our firing pin fire control systems has eliminated any component that can move over time with the retention of the firing pin to the cocking piece. Other actions either use a cross pin of a dowel pin or a roll pin that can “walk” out over time and make contact with the bolt shroud causing all sorts of ignition consistency issues. Other manufactures use a set screw on top of a threaded firing pin and that set screw and threaded firing pin can move as well. Our fully encapsulated snap ring design is designed to take hundreds of thousands of cycles with never a chance of movement relation from the cocking piece to the firing pin.
• M16 style extractor that features a set screw below the extractor to adjust extractor height without ever having to remove the extractor to do so.
• A hardened replaceable bushing that is pressed into the bolt shroud and guides the firing pin. This bushing allows the hardened firing pin to be guided by the hardened bushing and never wear out or create friction between the firing pin and bolt shroud. All other manufactures have the firing pin ride directly onto the bolt shroud material.
• ½-40 threads for the bolt shroud to the bolt to allow only .006” spring compression during opening of the bolt. The amount of surface area that the two mating parts have is far more than any other manufacture to reduce wear over time.
• The materials used in the Paragon action are the strongest available. 17-4 components that are hardened to 40-42 RC include the receiver, the bolt, the bolt handle, the bolt stop, the extractor, the cocking piece, and the bolt control head. These parts with this hardness and material have an ultimate tensile strength of over 190,000 PSI. Other manufactures are using a non-aircraft grade of stainless at a tensile of only 150,000 PSI. I don’t know about you, but when it comes to high pressure components being fired right next to my face, I would want the highest strength possible!
• All Paragon action receivers and bolts are nitride treated to allow over 60 RC surface hardness and reduce friction as to not allow the components to gall and reduce wear over time.
• Fully EDM bolt raceways and bolt bore as well as the bolt release, and bolt control head for the utmost precision machining available.
• Roller cocking piece that features a hardened roller on a hardened roller pin to allow ease of cocking on bolt opening.
• Billet in-house manufacturing of 4340 material firing pins from billet to allow for the highest strength, hardness, and fatigue resistance possible.

You will find NO other manufacturers that incorporate this many features into one action and many of the other manufacturers do not have even a couple of these features. We believe to build the ultimate competition action these are all features that are important to accuracy, reliability and safety to the shooter.

Thank you for your interest.

 

[Bryan Blake]

You asked if there are rifles out there with Paragon's, here are just the ones we have put together, doezens more out there that others have been doing.

 

[Bryan Blake]

 

[Presis Skytter]

I really appreciate the detailed response. I will say this looks like it checks all the boxes. I’ll just add another cool feature that intrigued me that wasn’t included in your list or even on your website: an action that can be black nitrided with polishing of the outer body. Only company I’m seeing doing that the way you are. Best of both worlds in functionality and appearance.

 

[Bryan Blake]

Ahh, yea I was only including functional facts, yes we do offer that as well, as shown here...

 

[Dimner]

At the price they are asking for a Paragon it makes truing a Remington look like a foolish endeavor. Are there guns out there that have been built on this action?

The $500 is the down payment. I think the full price is $2350?

 

[Bryan Blake]

The $500 is the down payment. I think the full price is $2350?

Yes that is the minimum down payment cost. When you select the options that price changes.

 

[Bat Rastard]

I have no need for such a fine machine, but I want one!!!

 

[Kevin1990]

Your first f-class gun and you're looking at a $2400 action. More power to you. I'm not a competition shooter, but I have a Kauger BRii and a kelbly Panda. The Kauger has interchangable bolt heads, smoothest action I've ever had, and the Kauger family is first class. They can nitrided or polish or for a stainless look. Plethora of bolt knob and bolt fluting available as well. Alex Wheeler did a write up of the Kauger BRIII which is what I'd get. If I was getting another action.

 

[Bryan Blake]

To answer more of your questions, we feel we go above and beyond to find the absolute best fire control system possible with not only target data results to back up what we build, but SD and ES of the firing pin Kinetic energy and consistency over thousands of cycles and lock time compared within that also.

 

[Presis Skytter]

This type of testing really intrigues me and popped a million questions in my head that I’d be doing with it. Not sure if you’d be willing to share the data but I’d really be interested in:

What are the SDs on this action compared to competitors? Even without names of the other companies.
How does the SD of the firing pin correlate to the SD of the MV?
How do these results change overtime, in different environmental conditions, and with different firing pin material/sizes?

Would love to see that data in minitab lol, but I’d guess you’ll hold that info tight to your chest.

 

[Bryan Blake]

 

[Bryan Blake]

 

[Bryan Blake]

Just from a couple customers, Everyone tells me the same thing for the most part. These are literally National champion shooters...

 

[Presis Skytter]

Those are some impressive numbers no doubt.