R700 Action or Premium Clone?

[Erik_J]

My gut is telling me to go custom. I was looking at the TAC30, Bighorn TL3, as well as the Defiance Deviant. I am sure it will come down to what is available in left bolt when I have the cash.

I will make the chambering decision after I get the action. Right now I am between 6.5 Creed or .243. Just not 100% sure yet, but leaning heavily toward 6.5 Creed to give me the ability to buy off the shelf quality ammo if I get lazy in my reloading.

I have made my peace with the time line to get a nice rifle built. I have my 12FV (right bolt) in .233 that shoots the 52gr Bergers like a laser that should keep me entertained until then.

[CouchOperator]

Defiance or a GAP Templar

[Mute]

My gut is telling me to go custom. I was looking at the TAC30, Bighorn TL3, as well as the Defiance Deviant. I am sure it will come down to what is available in left bolt when I have the cash.

I will make the chambering decision after I get the action. Right now I am between 6.5 Creed or .243. Just not 100% sure yet, but leaning heavily toward 6.5 Creed to give me the ability to buy off the shelf quality ammo if I get lazy in my reloading.

I have made my peace with the time line to get a nice rifle built. I have my 12FV (right bolt) in .233 that shoots the 52gr Bergers like a laser that should keep me entertained until then.

Why not have both calibers? Since you're building from scratch, consider using the West Texas Ordnance SwitchLug system as a part of your build.

[Erik_J]

Hmmmm.... cool idea, Mute. I'll check it out.

[hunterb]

Defiance or Surgeon action if you can afford those.

http://precisionrifleblog.com/2017/04/21/custom-rifle-actions-2/

[LynnJr]

Bruce Thom at BAT Machine and Dave Kiff at Pacific Tool both make extended straight handles and you can silver solder them or have Dan Armstrong at Accu-Tig weld them in place.
The picture shows a factory bolt which I feel is too short and a Pacific Tool long straight handle which has been tig welded on.
The longer handles all seem to work well no matter which way you go.

[ar15barrels]

Since you're building from scratch, consider using the West Texas Ordnance SwitchLug system as a part of your build.

Why have a separate recoil lug at all when you can have a surgeon or a deviant where the lug is part of the action and you can simply swap barrels without any extra concern or effort?

[Mute]

Why have a separate recoil lug at all when you can have a surgeon or a deviant where the lug is part of the action and you can simply swap barrels without any extra concern or effort?

You'd still need an action wrench and a vise. I've owned a Surgeon action and it was great, but I wouldn't call barrel switching easy.

[ar15barrels]

You'd still need an action wrench and a vise. I've owned a Surgeon action and it was great, but I wouldn't call barrel switching easy.

You would still want the barrel tightened into the switch-lug setup with an action wrench and barrel vise too.
It's not like you would want to only use the 2-5ft-lbs you can make with hand-turning the barrel without an extra leverage.

A rear entry action wrench and a Davidson's vise are quite enough to get 50ft-lbs on the barrel.

[Mute]

You would still want the barrel tightened into the switch-lug setup with an action wrench and barrel vise too.
It's not like you would want to only use the 2-5ft-lbs you can make with hand-turning the barrel without an extra leverage.

A rear entry action wrench and a Davidson's vise are quite enough to get 50ft-lbs on the barrel.

That will of course need to be tested over time. The system was designed to not need the torquing and so far, those who tried it have reported good results.

[Trakker]

Can do a barrel nut on any Remington clone. The switch. It seems nice. But you still have to check headspace?


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[ar15barrels]

Can do a barrel nut on any Remington clone. The switch. It seems nice. But you still have to check headspace?

You only have to worry about headspace changing when you have a nut holding the barrel as the nut can move on the barrel while the barrel is off the action.

That switch lug thing uses a standard shouldered barrel.
The headspace on a shouldered barrel is set by the machinist/gunsmith.
The headspace will not change with a shouldered barrel unless you change the shoulder location, ream the chamber or change the thickness of the lug.

[LynnJr]

Randall
That switchlug thing sells for the price of a Remington action if I read the link correctly $350.
What exactly does it do?

[symbology]

Randall
That switchlug thing sells for the price of a Remington action if I read the link correctly $350.
What exactly does it do?

Not sure where you found that, but I see $125-135 for the switch-a-lug thingy.

So, this thing clamps down onto the threads on the barrel? Not sure I would like that.

To Randall's point. The proper tools to swap barrels do not cost much more than the added cost of this switch-a-lug. Great thing is you can use those tools on more than one rifle.

[ar15barrels]

The proper tools to swap barrels do not cost much more than the added cost of this switch-a-lug.
Great thing is you can use those tools on more than one rifle.

Exactly.