Best Sub $1K Action With Prefits Readily Available

[Westernhuntr]

I didn't know they were available for the Atlas, but I'm not keen on Preferred Barrel blanks. I seen a bore scope of a barrel and it was not impressive at all. Talk about rough! I contacted them and asked if they lapped their barrels and they said no. They didn't give me a warm fuzzy at all. I was looking at a shouldered barrel for my ARC Nucleus at the time. I have used their old company MGM and had good luck but they were using Shilen and X-caliber barrels at the time.

Yeah Preferred Barrels or "match grade machine" makes total junk.
I bought a prefit last year that wouldn't shoot 2 moa, I sent it back for another and it was the same thing, It'd shoot 3" flyers at 100 yards and after hundreds of rounds through it I scraped the **** thing.
Don't waste your money, they're nice guys but can't make a Precision barrel to save their lives

 

[Alex Wheeler]

The action is the most important part of the rifle, and effects accuracy more than many give it credit. Dont let a few hundred steer you. In the big picture its not that big of a difference. Good rule of thumb, does the company have actions winning in accuracy minded competitions?

 

[Danny1788]

Yeah Preferred Barrels or "match grade machine" makes total junk.
I bought a prefit last year that wouldn't shoot 2 moa, I sent it back for another and it was the same thing, It'd shoot 3" flyers at 100 yards and after hundreds of rounds through it I scraped the **** thing.
Don't waste your money, they're nice guys but can't make a Precision barrel to save their lives

Ive never got a Prefit barrel from Preferred but I have chambered a few of their contoured blanks. All have been great shooting barrels for the price I paid for the blanks, But that's only a small sample from the few I chambered myself. I would put them on par with say a Douglas barrel.

 

[25WSM]

The action might be the most expensive part of the rifle but I will never believe it's the most important. Take a perfect Borden action and put a crap barrel on it and it will shoot like crap. Take a box stock remington 700 with a great barrel on it and it will shoot. Barrels are the most important part of accuracy. I see Remington 700s win 1000 yard matches all the time at Williamsport. Remington 700s have won the world open. Take a glued in benchrest rifle. Put different barrels on it and 1 of those barrels will out shoot all the rest. You didn't change anything with the action or stock or screw pressure. Just a better barrel. I'm not just singling out remington 700s. Put a match barrel on a Winchester 70 a Savage or Tikka or howa doesn't really matter as soon as you put that great barrel on they shoot. Take a Nasika a Bordin a kelblys a hall whatever br action you want and put a mediocre barrel on it it will be a dog.
Not to cause an argument with you it's just my opinion like you have yours. My Remington 700 6 bra cut with your reamer shoots as good as my kelblys 6 bra. Both have ABC barrels on them.
Shep

 

[MLN1963]

Ive never got a Prefit barrel from Preferred but I have chambered a few of their contoured blanks. All have been great shooting barrels for the price I paid for the blanks, But that's only a small sample from the few I chambered myself. I would put them on par with say a Douglas barrel.

Have you scoped those barrels to look at the rifling? I have only seen one and it was worse than any Savage I've seen. Based on that and the fact that a Criterion or Shilen cost roughly the same and are proven performers I'm very leery of PBB.

 

[Westernhuntr]

Ive never got a Prefit barrel from Preferred but I have chambered a few of their contoured blanks. All have been great shooting barrels for the price I paid for the blanks, But that's only a small sample from the few I chambered myself. I would put them on par with say a Douglas barrel.

The two I owned we're both the worst I've ever seen for copper fouling, and cold bore flyers of any barrel that I've owned.
And that includes a pile of factory rifles.
They really are garbage for a Precision rifle, and I hate to say that because their customer service is really good.

 

[J3n]

Zermatt Origin. Not just for the quality of the action but for how well they stand behind everything and their awesome customer service. Hard to beat those folks.

 

[Buck Fever]

My latest project is an ARC Archimedes which is outside that budget and 3 lug but the Nucleus is in budget and has a lot of the same features including the three lugs.

I know there are many options under $1,000 in two lug but some I have heard of sound no better than a 700 to me. It would be nice if there was a feature matrix comparing what is out there but that would only be part of the story. At least a matrix would let you narrow down your choices before you start reading reviews.

 

[elf]

Nobody mentioned the Marsh action. It is a Rem 700 foot print, with all the cxustom ugrades built in.

 

[Alex Wheeler]

The action might be the most expensive part of the rifle but I will never believe it's the most important. Take a perfect Borden action and put a crap barrel on it and it will shoot like crap. Take a box stock remington 700 with a great barrel on it and it will shoot. Barrels are the most important part of accuracy. I see Remington 700s win 1000 yard matches all the time at Williamsport. Remington 700s have won the world open. Take a glued in benchrest rifle. Put different barrels on it and 1 of those barrels will out shoot all the rest. You didn't change anything with the action or stock or screw pressure. Just a better barrel. I'm not just singling out remington 700s. Put a match barrel on a Winchester 70 a Savage or Tikka or howa doesn't really matter as soon as you put that great barrel on they shoot. Take a Nasika a Bordin a kelblys a hall whatever br action you want and put a mediocre barrel on it it will be a dog.
Not to cause an argument with you it's just my opinion like you have yours. My Remington 700 6 bra cut with your reamer shoots as good as my kelblys 6 bra. Both have ABC barrels on them.
Shep

I didnt say the action has the largest effect on accuracy, I said its the most important part of the rifle. Barrels are consumables. I base my opinion on rifles sent in that would not shoot with multiple barrels until the issues with the actions were fixed (customs). Action problems will hold back every barrel and I have seen guys spend a lot of money in components trying to tune a barrel, and replacing barrels. In fact its easy to spend more than the cost of the action in bullets/powder/barrels. I can think of 2 guys off the top of my head that burnt out proofs chasing fliers caused by poor ignition design in a certain action. Poor/average barrels are extremely rare. Well built rifles seem to always get competitive barrels when the owner can tune. A 700 or a custom can have problems or they can shoot, its not a brand thing so long as the design is up to it. But if your going to use them out of the box your chances will be better with some than others. What many guys dismiss as fliers, conditions, pulled shots, ext. are really in the rifle and if they pay attention they eventually notice a pattern with these shots, thats when they get the rifle fixed or get frustrated and sell it. I guess until you see the before and after as much as I have you wont believe it.

 

[25WSM]

I believe just about anything with guns. I've been building them for quite some time myself. I've seen the smallest issue cause big problems. Being one of the bench rest guys I'm always chasing that next hummer barrel. And accuracy is the game so barrels to me are number one. Which action was having the poor ignition? You can message me if you don't want to come right out and say it. I honestly think 700s have poor ignition consistentcy until you bush the firing pin and do a captive tip on it.
Shep

 

[Joel Russo]

There's a lot of good information on this thread.
When talking pre fit barrels and accuracy, one has to keep in mind that there are two very important pieces to this puzzle. The action manufacturer, and the guy doing the barrel work. If either one of those variables is off, the whole concept goes to hell.
There are many good actions out there as well as many good guys doing pre fit barrels for them. Conversely, there are not so good actions, read unable to hold headspace tolerance, and many not so good guys doing barrels, read unable to thread and chamber to print.
Here's an example of what I'm doing at Terminus..
I pulled a Zeus action off the shelf, ordered a pre fit barrel from one of the guys who knows what he's doing, and screwed it on the action when it arrived.
A little load work and here's the results.
See pictures...
These results are a copulation of action manufacturer holding tight headspace tolerance as well as everything else you would expect from a custom action, and the guy doing the barrel following the print and chambering the well made barrel properly. I've seen a few pre fit barrels come through there for customers that were no where close to fitting. After rechecking the action, and confirming it was well within tolerance, the barrel was the issue. Thread tennon was totally off what the print called for. My suggestion is to do your research before diving in head first.

 

[Flyingdaddy]

+1 for Big Horn Origin. Screw on a Patriot Valley Arms prefit and go shoot.

 

[Greyfox]

All mentioned will get the job done. "Best" is a relative term. I like the Bighorn Origin's CRF capability for hunting.