Best Factory Action

[lsm62]

Weahterby Mark V is strong well designed and considered to be one of the smoothest.

 

[texas 527]

I see a lot of 700's, for those that like them, enjoy. My results with 700's have been OK. not great. I started looking around and found a couple of actions that I like better.

Montana Rifle Co. 1999 action, out of the box no tweaking required. They don't cut corners on workmanship, materials and build quality. I saved lots of time and frustration buying the tweaks from the factory. I have a .308 built on this action that out shot everything in a match a couple of months ago. Love shooting this rifle. I have plans for a second rifle using the same action.

CZ-550 action, if you like Mauser actions this is one of the best IMHO. Great single set trigger and build. Not fancy but solid.

These may not be everyone's choice but who cares?

 

[J E Custom]

personally one shouldn't fear a metric thread, they are actually simpler in most cases than the U.S. standard threads (which most rifle actions are not). On the otherhand I hate metric pin diameters, as the reamers are a pain to get the right size. Where as an inch one can be had +/- .001" over or under off the shelf. If you can read mics accurately, and know how to use three wires; you can cut most any thread
gary

yea, I hear you Gary

I don't fear the Metric threads I just don't have a metric lead screw on my lathe (I wish I did)and It makes it very labor intensive to cut them.

I do have a process for changing the metric threads to Inch threads that only uses up .004 or .005 thousandths of the existing metric threads and it seems to be the easiest method to barrel a metric action.

If the vanguard had standard inch threads It would become more popular to use as a doner.

J E CUSTOM

 

[Trickymissfit]

I see a lot of 700's, for those that like them, enjoy. My results with 700's have been OK. not great. I started looking around and found a couple of actions that I like better.

Montana Rifle Co. 1999 action, out of the box no tweaking required. They don't cut corners on workmanship, materials and build quality. I saved lots of time and frustration buying the tweaks from the factory. I have a .308 built on this action that out shot everything in a match a couple of months ago. Love shooting this rifle. I have plans for a second rifle using the same action.

CZ-550 action, if you like Mauser actions this is one of the best IMHO. Great single set trigger and build. Not fancy but solid.

These may not be everyone's choice but who cares?

if that is the same rifle company I'm thinking of they use most 8620 steel. Nothing but hot rolled low carbon steel, and not exactly the best thing on the planet. 8620 has pretty much replaced CRS 1010 thru 1020 because it machines much better (not gummy with a little better quality control). On the otherhand you can carburize and harden it with a .025" case pretty easily. I'll pass!

Speaking of Mauser actions. I once had a buddy (been in the ground for ten years now) that bought two of the old Mark 10 "Mini Mauser" actions when they were practically giving them away. He built either a 6BR or a 22PPC short on that action. Shot like a house on fire! The down side was that he had to virtually hand make everything that went into the rifle, and he worked it for a solid year. A solid quarter inch rifle day in and day out! I should have bought a couple of them as well, and he tried to get me to buy at least one.
gary

 

[Trickymissfit]

yea, I hear you Gary

I don't fear the Metric threads I just don't have a metric lead screw on my lathe (I wish I did)and It makes it very labor intensive to cut them.

I do have a process for changing the metric threads to Inch threads that only uses up .004 or .005 thousandths of the existing metric threads and it seems to be the easiest method to barrel a metric action.

If the vanguard had standard inch threads It would become more popular to use as a doner.

J E CUSTOM

your preaching to the choir here!

At work (that dreaded word) at one time I did a survey, and had about six lathes I could cut a metric thread pitch on! Four of them (Monarch) you had to change a gear set, and half the time the gear sets were miss placed or worse. The LeBlonds were easier, but also a pain to do without the operator's manual close by. The easiest was a little Hardingh Brothers bench lathe. All the CNC stuff would do metric threads as it was built into the software. It finally reached a point that if the work was too big for the Hardingh, I'd take it down to the model shop and do it on a Colechester they rarely ever used. I always felt the gear change system induced a little lead error in the threads, but never could seriously prove it. I finally called Monarch with the lathe serial numbers in hand, and ordered in the cear change sets for each lathe. That had a lock box made for each machine with a plexiglass top. The operators had the keys, and then you always had them. The Hardingh absolutely cut the best threads short of grinding them, but you were also limited to about a 1.06" diameter. Why they never did a 1.38" bore I'll never understand.

The best lathe for barrel work is the Monarch EE in either an 8" or 10" chuck. Problem is that they are no longer in production, and users covet them dearly. If I were 15 years younger, and had the time; I think I could build a CNC lathe off that frame that would be a killer.
gary