Which Rifle Action.

[TonyC]

I was curious, has anyone done a quantitative analysis on rifle actins? What makes the perfect rifle action? There are so many companies that make rifle actions and they mostly profess their design is better than the others. Are they made to a tighter tolerance, finished to a higher tolerance? Would it be a fair comparison between 10 different custom rifle actions? There is a lot of subjective opinions on this matter but no actual statistical data showing one or the other is empirically superior. What are your thoughts? With today’s technology there is a plethora of custom actions. It’s great to have all these options but now the real question is which one stands out above all the rest and why?

Regards,
TonyC

 

[Rob01]

The one that is perfect for your needs and shooting sport/needs. Don’t get analysis paralysis when trying to buy one. Pick one with the specs you like and need and buy it and shoot.

 

[SKWERLZ]

The one that is perfect for your needs and shooting sport/needs. Don’t get analysis paralysis when trying to buy one. Pick one with the specs you like and need and buy it and shoot.

Yep, perfect for me is different than perfect for a BR or F class competitors.

How I pick an action is note all the features I want then use that to weed out the options.

It did take me some years of shooting to learn what features I like.

 

[urbanrifleman]

How do you quantify awesomess?

 

[SteveOak]

This is an excellent question. I hope some of the experts here share their insight with us. I would really like to know what the significant considerations are for an all out accurate action.

 

[Rob01]

This is an excellent question. I hope some of the experts here share their insight with us. I would really like to know what the significant considerations are for an all out accurate action.

Hint, the barrel is more important than the action for all out accuracy. Any of the custom actions made will work to make a very accurate rifle but throw a crap barrel on it and it won’t be accurate.

 

[ISS]

Easier to answer the question: which member here has the best looking wife? Easy answer, I do. Feel free to disagree with me...

 

[Explorer1]

The info is available, an example is at https://varmintal.com/abat85.htm.
But IMHO all the name brand actions will work, pick one that's respected in your game/application. Quality of barrel and the smith are more critical to me. Most of the actions I have were acquired used, including the Rem 721 on one of my benchrest rifles.
Remember: Calculate it to 12 digits, measure it with a laser, mark it chalk/crayon (what ever you have handy), then cut it with an axe.

 

[TonyC]

Thank you all for your responses. It’s interesting to see, how there’s no definitive answer. If one were to separate the types of rifles such as military/law enforcement, hunting, benchrest, F class, PRS, NRL, etc. It would be possible to see statistically which rifle actions are predominantly used. Or perhaps a dimensional inspection like Joe Chambers does on 1911’s. Is a two lug, three lug, four lug, or six lug better? What’s ideal for each application? Quantitative analysis not based on what a friend said or because it looks good. The use of 17-4 Stainless Steel or 416 Stainless Steel, which one stands out? Is lock time important to you or ease of bolt lift? Some would say it’s the foundation of every rifle while others say use this or that. Put a good barrel on your 700 and you’ll be good to go. Is that what stands above all the rest?

Regards,
TonyC

 

[Rob01]

Dude you are wayyyyy overthinking it.

 

[Clancy]

You’re wise to dive into this.

For most applications, I’d say pick one that you like and go- just ask the smith to give it a once over and check for pin drag and measure the pin fall. You can have the trigger timed then if you want.

For Benchrest quality groups, it gets a whole lot more complicated. Anyone worth a dang at building a bench rifle is going to check everything and likely make some modifications to the $1800 action you thought was perfect. That’s just the nature of that beast. It’s worth it, yea, but there’s not that many guys I’d let carve on a brand new action.

2 lugs are the most common and in my opinion the best, but there’s a couple of 3 lugs I like. I don’t love them. I want a 90° throw.

Another consideration are your clearances relative to what you intend to use the rifle for. I’d have a BAT or Borden Benchrest action on everything I’ve got, but they don’t handle dirt blowing in them all night very well.

As far as materials go, I really don’t know. I’ve used several kinds of stainless and always wanted to try an aluminum. There’s a chapter in Tony Boyer’s book that goes over some of the different materials used. It’s been a few years since I read it though.

There are other trade offs, like cock on close vs easy bolt lift, glue ins or conventional lugs- or even plain looks.

But, you’ll never find a reliable ranking of receivers complete with data to back it up. There are just too many disclipines.

I’d say if you get ready to buy an action for X, Y or Z…. Ask around about that group of actions and pick one you like from that list. It’s unlikely you’ll be disappointed.

What was it you wanted to use it for, anyway?

 

[ISS]

It would be easier to answer if the question were best for Dangerous Game; Brown Bear in Alaska. or African Big Six. I would say a clean Pre-64 Winchester Model 70. I own two in 300 H&H, and one in 458 RUM (I had built).

 

[Sandstorm]

Three of the most important items are the Reamer #1 and the Gunsmith #2 High Quality Barrel #3
And any name brand Action, like Borden, Kelbly, Bat, FCP or Defiant...and many many others...
They are all good.

 

[Kracken McGraw]

It would be easier to answer if the question were best for Dangerous Game; Brown Bear in Alaska. or African Big Six. I would say a clean Pre-64 Winchester Model 70. I own two in 300 H&H, and one in 458 RUM (I had built).

I noticed Defiance is making a control round fed action now.https://defiancemachine.com/actions/deviant/deviant-crf-controlled-round-feed/

 

[Rob01]

Zermatt TL3 and Origins are controlled round feed also.

 

[jackieschmidt]

In simple terms, a good action designed for hunting should do 3 things flawlessly.
Feed
Extract
Eject.
While we all strive for ultimate accuracy, almost any modern Factory Rifle is accurate enough for the vast majority of hunting scenarios, especially if the shooter takes time to find out the most accurate load for the game he will be hunting.

As far as non hunting applications, it is difficult to say which is best from the features you listed. Matches are won with a of different manufactures actions. 2lug, 3 lug, horizontal locking, vertical locking, round, multi flat, 416, 17-4, aluminum with steel inserts, and so on.

The truth is, with today’s modern manufacturing, about the only thing different in any of them is the material chosen.