Anyone shooting a Nucleus action?

[Danehunter]

The 3 lug Nucleus action has a lot going for it.
Does anyone here have one? If so could you give us a report on it?

Eric B.

 

[EddieHarren]

https://www.americanrifle.com/product/nucleus-bolt-action/

Hear the sound of "Their horn blowing" here.

 

[Danehunter]

Hmmm... All I "heard" was a factual listing of the features. And it has a lot of good features.

So what other three lug custom actions are better and why?

Eric B.

 

[Edd]

Buy one, then you can write the report.

 

[EddieHarren]

Hmmm... All I "heard" was a factual listing of the features. And it has a lot of good features.

So what other three lug custom actions are better and why?

Eric B.

All I meant was, "This is what the manufacturer has to say about their product".

 

[Joel Russo]

So what other three lug custom actions are better and why?

Eric B.

Eric~
Take a look at the Curtis Axiom.

 

[just country]

morning, weatherby actions. I have three builds of the weatherby
magnum actions. have a extra in my safe. justme gbot tum

 

[yorke-1]

I have a long action Nucleus on order that should be here in a couple months. I got it during the early preorder so it was a bit cheaper. I'm a sucker for CRF actions and a good price so I went for it.

If I were looking for a 3 lug action right now I'd look at the Curtis Axiom. I've played with two so far and they were really nice. Plus they're available now.

 

[Greyfox]

A buddy of mine had its big brother, a Mauserfield, on his 6XC PRS rifle. At a match, a few months ago, I had the opportunity to use it for a couple of stages. I was impressed. It felt buttery smooth and functioned perfectly. But, a couple of matches later it developed extraction issues. After some troubleshooting with the factory by phone with no success, he sent it back to the factory. The returned action had a replacent extractor, and functioned properly. Unfortunately, having lost confidence, he sold the action and returned to his Surgeon 591. I would have liked to see how it performed over time. The Mauserfield/Nucleus actions have a unique design with lot of impressive features, but I would like to see some track time/feedback form shooters in the field/competition before jumping in. I have been very impressed, and considering the Bigorn Arms Action( TL). While not a 3 lug design, reports from both the hunting and competition crowd has been very positive over the past year or so. I'm seriously considering one for my next build. I have always been neutral to whether an action has 2 lugs or 3, seeing no difference in accuracy, performance, or reliability.

 

[Txhillbilly]

My LH SA Nucleus is supposed to arrive at my FFL on Friday. If it does,I'll pick it up Saturday and try to get the rifle assembled.
I'm building a 22 Creedmoor,it will set in a KRG Bravo chassis,a 20" X-Caliber 1-7 twist 5R barrel,TriggerTech Diamond trigger,with a Revic PMR 428 scope setting in ARC M10 rings. I'm more worried about figuring out how to setup the scope than shooting the rifle. I'm a low tech redneck living in a high tech world!

 

[CMP70306]

A buddy of mine had its big brother, a Mauserfield, on his 6XC PRS rifle. At a match, a few months ago, I had the opportunity to use it for a couple of stages. I was impressed. It felt buttery smooth and functioned perfectly. But, a couple of matches later it developed extraction issues. After some troubleshooting with the factory by phone with no success, he sent it back to the factory. The returned action had a replacent extractor, and functioned properly. Unfortunately, having lost confidence, he sold the action and returned to his Surgeon 591. I would have liked to see how it performed over time.

Out of curiosity what kind of extraction issues was he having? I have a long action magnum and haven't had any issues that I can think of in near 1500 rounds and several thousand more dry fires.

As for the Nucleus I got my action last week but am still waiting on the barrel so I haven't gotten a chance to shoot it or test feeding and extraction. I did dry fire it quite a bit and it is buttery smooth with a relatively light bolt lift. I can lift it up by running my pointer and middle finger up and close it with my thumb, much quicker than I expected but it is my first short action.

I'll provide an update when I get my barrel and actually get a chance to run it with ammo.

 

[Greyfox]

Out of curiosity what kind of extraction issues was he having? I have a long action magnum and haven't had any issues that I can think of in near 1500 rounds and several thousand more dry fires.

As for the Nucleus I got my action last week but am still waiting on the barrel so I haven't gotten a chance to shoot it or test feeding and extraction. I did dry fire it quite a bit and it is buttery smooth with a relatively light bolt lift. I can lift it up by running my pointer and middle finger up and close it with my thumb, much quicker than I expected but it is my first short action.

I'll provide an update when I get my barrel and actually get a chance to run it with ammo.

He said that it would intermittently fail to extract the case(grab the rim) from the chamber requiring it to be pushed out with a cleaning rod. There were no issues with the cartridges/cases causing the problem, as he finished the match with his back-up rifle. Visually, the extractor(and brass cases) looked OK, and as mentioned, the replacement worked fine.
I fully agree with the smoothness. It was immediately noticeable, and one of the nicest feeling actions I have used. It's good to hear of your positive experience with your Mauserfield, and looking forward to your updates on the Nucleus.

 

[CMP70306]

He said that it would intermittently fail to extract the case(grab the rim) from the chamber requiring it to be pushed out with a cleaning rod. There were no issues with the cartridges/cases causing the problem, as he finished the match with his back-up rifle. Visually, the extractor(and brass cases) looked OK, and as mentioned, the replacement worked fine.
I fully agree with the smoothness. It was immediately noticeable, and one of the nicest feeling actions I have used. It's good to hear of your positive experience with your Mauserfield, and looking forward to your updates on the Nucleus.

That's an odd one that I can't say I've ever had happen to me, the only thing I can think of is the combination of a tight extractor and a thick spot on the case rim. In that scenario the rim wouldn't slip under the extractor when the bolt is pushed forward or allow it to snap over when the bolt closed yet it would still allow the cartridge to fire. I know some of the earlier models had tight extractors that were meant to be tuned by the owner/gunsmith to provide the best feeding for the particular cartridge used. I know the owner of ARC stated that he preferred to produce them with a tighter fit and have to tune them rather than too loose and have them not work.

After I found this thread I spent an hour or so running dummy cartridges through the Mausingfield and dry firing the Nucleus to practice my bolt manipulation & trigger control. The only issue I had with the Mausingfield was when I didn't have the bolt all the way back while seating a mag and the bolt caught the belt rather than the rim of the cartridge.

The only time it failed to extract was when I swapped bolt heads and tried running 30-06 from a Magpul mag that doesn't lock in the action. Turns out if you push up on the mag too hard it pinches the cartridge and prevents it from getting under the extractor. However I'm sure it would have extracted fine but it turns out that a 30-06 fits entirely into a .300 WM chamber so I had to bump it to get the case to fall out. However the other 49 times it fed fine even with a borderline non functioning set up.

 

[Tactical Taz]

I am running a Nucleus RH SA for competition. So far so good for me with a couple hundred dry fires and about 160 rounds of factory now. I really love mine. It is smooth and the bolt manipulation is light. I have had no extraction issues. The Nucleus is control round feed by Ted's definition which he put up on Snipershide where the bolt doesn't need to be rotated to capture a case in the extractor. I say this because the case doesn't snap under the extractor right out of the mag. I am fine with this and hasn't caused any problems. I note this because others have mentioned it on Snipershide.

The bolt stop is a pretty neat idea and is very robust. If you are into the switch barrel thing, ARC's Barloc is pretty cool and you can get a Nucleus specific recoil lug for the barloc.

The only issue I know of with the Nucleus is some people are getting light primer strikes. They shipped with a 16# spring but many people are switching to a 19# spring which mostly fixes their issues. Josh at PVA is shipping all of his John Hancock rifles out with the 19# spring. Ted may be switching current actions to have that spring. I have not had light primer strikes with factory ammo so far.

So far I am happy and do not have any complaints. I will likely build a LA hunting rig off one next year.