Bighorn Origin

M

MartyK2500

CGN Ultra frequent flyer
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Location
Quebec
Just received my Bighorn origin, and am stoked!
I don't know why but I had downplayed this action in my mind, thinking it wouldn't be much more than a very nice Savage with a rem700 footprint.
It is very smooth and nicely built, way beyond expectations..
And compared to my previous custom build attempt with a deadline, it fits very nicely in a rem700 compatible stock.

Played around with the scope rail, even if torqueing only rear or only front, there is zero springing, so that's a good thing.

Dropped the action in my stock without tighting it down,
There is a bit of springing between 2 action screws, when I torque the screws to recommended settings, everything settles.
Bolt still is smooth it doesn't bind it.
Would you still find a way to bed the front + recoil lug area in a way to stop this, or shim between action and stock at the rear screw, or simply leave it as is?
The way the inner chassis is made there isn't much space to bed, especially at the rear.

Bolt handle does slightly interfere with stock, as cut out is not quite made for my bolt.
I imagine a slight relief carefully using a Dremel would do the trick here.

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To be honest, I am a very big Savage fan.
My 308 Savage with an IBI barrel can 10 shot group sub 1/2 moa at 300M, that's nothing to frown on!

I chose this action for it's 2 lug bolt, and hoping everything would likely be more plug and play, and less gunsmith tune, especially around the mags.

What you see on the pic is a bighorn origin, TT diamond trigger, Manners PRS1 mini chassis stock, Area 419 3/4x24 hellfire muzzle brake, Atlas CAL BT65-LW17 with hawk hill spiked feet.
What you don't see, Vortex Razor gen ll 4.5x27 MRAD EBR2c, spuhr low mount, and an IBI 6.5x47 Lapua 26'' M40 profile, 1:8, 5R, Savage prefit with 3/4x24 muzzle threads.

In my opinion, with my limited tools and knowledge, it's the nicest non-gunsmith assembly I can do.
Sure a Defiant with custom shouldered barrel with a timed brake, cerakote and custom work all around should be a step above,
But working with 2 Savage 308s so far has made me appreciate the ease of assembling a precision rifle just as easy as an AR, when using the right parts.
 
I really like my bighorn tl3. These are very nice actions and I don’t see a defiance being a step above. So you are doing a prefit barrel? I’ve been thinking of having a go at doing a prefit build with impact action or even my bighorn action. Guess I only need a vise, wrench and a few other things to do it eh
 
Colquhoun said:
Sounds like a nice build....look forward to seeing the finished product!
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Thanks i will post it up once assembled.
And more importantly, ill post target results,
As she can be as pretty as i make her to be but if she doesn’t shoot it doesn’t matter!


Mike112288 said:
I really like my bighorn tl3. These are very nice actions and I don’t see a defiance being a step above. So you are doing a prefit barrel? I’ve been thinking of having a go at doing a prefit build with impact action or even my bighorn action. Guess I only need a vise, wrench and a few other things to do it eh
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Got a viper barrel vise, barrel nut wrench, 1x 308 GO gauge and 1x 6.5x45L GO gauge,
I can swap barrels as i like between my 3 action setups.
What i have noticed in 308, my IBI barrel has seen 3 actions including deadline, the load dev’ed accuracy node follows the barrel, not the action/stock setup.
 
Ah I see. You could even do a prefit shouldered barrel then and avoid the barrel nut situation. Cuz these bighorns are made with perfection haha. That’s pretty cool to know that the actions don’t play the part like the barrel itself does
 
The Origin does have a floating bolt head, which was on my check list.
I was looking for 2 lug bolt, floating head, savage barrel threads, rem 700 footprint, 1500$ max budget, the origin checked all those boxes nicely.
I was expecting a long waiting time but Tom at Go Big Tactical seems to bring them in easy.

As a very small update,
Trigger pack was dropped in, fit and functions fine.
I loaded dummy 308 ammo, when going slowly obviously as there’s no barrel,
The bolt catches the round, strips it from mag and brings it in what would be chamber area barely touching the feedramp, then when pulling back it’s got real good ejecting capabilities, the rounds went flying across the room.
Mags are unmodified, no feedlip tuning, so it feeds from off the shelf mags.
The action underside also fully clears MDT 12 round mags without binder plate.

IBI sent me a tracking number for my barrel last night.
My reload stuff is all ordered but hasn’t all trickled in yet, so I’ll buy a small box of factory ammo at Tesro so i could at least try.
At the same time it wouldn’t be a bad idea to compare factory ammo dimensions with my GO gauge and get the scope sighted in.
 
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madashell said:
The Origin fills my checklist as well. The only other action I'm thinking of at the moment is the Impact (which is a completely different design obviously).

It's not so much a choice between the two, being a gun nut will probably end up with both the darn things. There's something about the Origin I really like though, just seems well thought out and simple.

Looking forward to seeing your end results !
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Exactly my thoughts,
It has a clean and classic design, but still ready for business!

In my (limited) experience, the barrel is where most of the accuracy comes from, so it's all on IBI now to get this working top notch!
No pressure Ryan ;)
 
I am really excited, received my IBI barrel and hardware this afternoon!
I feel like taking the afternoon off to assemble but got too much work ahead of me at my shop today, damn it sucks being responsible!


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MartyK2500 said:
To be honest, I am a very big Savage fan.
My 308 Savage with an IBI barrel can 10 shot group sub 1/2 moa at 300M, that's nothing to frown on!

I chose this action for it's 2 lug bolt, and hoping everything would likely be more plug and play, and less gunsmith tune, especially around the mags.

What you see on the pic is a bighorn origin, TT diamond trigger, Manners PRS1 mini chassis stock, Area 419 3/4x24 hellfire muzzle brake, Atlas CAL BT65-LW17 with hawk hill spiked feet.
What you don't see, Vortex Razor gen ll 4.5x27 MRAD EBR2c, spuhr low mount, and an IBI 6.5x47 Lapua 26'' M40 profile, 1:8, 5R, Savage prefit with 3/4x24 muzzle threads.

In my opinion, with my limited tools and knowledge, it's the nicest non-gunsmith assembly I can do.
Sure a Defiant with custom shouldered barrel with a timed brake, cerakote and custom work all around should be a step above,
But working with 2 Savage 308s so far has made me appreciate the ease of assembling a precision rifle just as easy as an AR, when using the right parts.
Click to expand...

Much more to an action than just accuracy. Accuracy/precision comes mostly from the barrel and chamber quality. Most factory precision bolt guns are capable of 1/2 MOA with the right ammo these days.

An actions main function is to insert and extract ammo to and from the chamber in the barrel. Something that Savage is not exactly known to do well.

As you will soon find out, there's a reason why people prefer custom actions over Savages. Reliable extraction, smooth bolt manipulation, reliability in adverse conditions, quality machining and QA/QC, plethora of trigger options, etc are some of the reasons why a custom action is superior to a Savage.

There's a reason why Savages are cheap. They work well for a lot of people and have a reputation for shooting good out of the box, so I understand why they have a big following. They are massed produced, with poor QA/QC and machining. The triggers are sub par, and the actions feel gritty like they are full of sand when you manipulate the bolt. Put one side by side with a custom action, and it's very apparent why one costs a lot more than the other.

Good choice on the Origin. Bighorn is a great company with great products and CS. I think you are going to be very happy with your purchase, looks like you are on your way to having a very nice rifle built.
 
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You may need to tune the mags a bit for optimal performance. Tweaking the feed lips (MPA has a great tool for this) and sanding the inside of the feed lips with very fine grit sandpaper can improve performance.

Something to keep in mind as you are on your rifle build journey.
 
kthomas said:
Much more to an action than just accuracy. Accuracy/precision comes mostly from the barrel and chamber quality. Most factory precision bolt guns are capable of 1/2 MOA with the right ammo these days.

An actions main function is to insert and extract ammo to and from the chamber in the barrel. Something that Savage is not exactly known to do well.

As you will soon find out, there's a reason why people prefer custom actions over Savages. Reliable extraction, smooth bolt manipulation, reliability in adverse conditions, quality machining and QA/QC, plethora of trigger options, etc are some of the reasons why a custom action is superior to a Savage.

There's a reason why Savages are cheap. They work well for a lot of people and have a reputation for shooting good out of the box, so I understand why they have a big following. They are massed produced, with poor QA/QC and machining. The triggers are sub par, and the actions feel gritty like they are full of sand when you manipulate the bolt. Put one side by side with a custom action, and it's very apparent why one costs a lot more than the other.

Good choice on the Origin. Bighorn is a great company with great products and CS. I think you are going to be very happy with your purchase, looks like you are on your way to having a very nice rifle built.
Click to expand...

I have been told often that I was blessed with my actual Savage,
It feeds from any mags, from any position, and extracts o.k., something I have starting to take notice on the line, that not everyone was equally lucky.

The origin being a 2 lug bolt, I have a feeling it will not require any mag tuning,
As it can strip ammo from the mag, barely touch the feedramp it at all, without any resistance, without a barrel in place.
So far it's looking very good.
 
Even different threads from savage 10tr people have very different experiences. Mine is good thus far but who knows what's going to be tomorrow.
Are you gonna assemble it tonight?
 
Hornychief said:
Even different threads from savage 10tr people have very different experiences. Mine is good thus far but who knows what's going to be tomorrow.
Are you gonna assemble it tonight?
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You betcha!
Just don't have any brass or projectiles here, they are expected early next week arrival.
I may flinch and give Tesro a call and pay through the nose for 50 factory rounds give it a test run.
Maybe have my standard of how accurate it is with factory.

I also have my 308 I wanted to try a new load dev with this weekend but currently have my vortex gen 2 razor on it, I may bench it earlier than expected as I have been wanting a 6.5 for a long time now,
Did the classic everyone advised me at my local club, which was shoot 308 for 3K+ rounds and try to learn how the wind is pushing it around.
 
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