Bighorn Origin

MartyK2500 said:
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.
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Even if it feeds fine, which I'm sure it does, you can make it feed better with a little tweaking. You can make the ammo almost effortlessly jump out of the mag and into the chamber.

Travis Stevens of TS Customs talks about it here starting at the 1:50 mark:

 
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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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If you are thinking of a switch barrel or a new barrel for your bighorn or impact I wouldn’t go barrel but I would go shouldered barrel. Shane at em precision will do a shouldered pre-fit for bighorns torqued to a certain ft/lbs. so in that case you still need a viper barrel vise, action wrench and just thread on and tightened to the required ft/lbs and get shooting. With impact, Insite arms will do shouldered prefits for them!!
 
Assembly finished
Everything plugged and played well together, a monkey could of assembled this one.
Debating on whether i take my vortex off my 308 asap, i think I’ll do it as i'm too eager to get this project shooting!

Thanks for the mag tune link, will look into it.
To me it had to work 100% out of the box no tune, that way i can use anyone’s magazine if ever a week-end event goes sideways by have a mag go out or even forgetting one.
It does feed pretty smooth as is with MDT 12 rounders though, haven’t tried other ones yet

Edit : Eff it I went ahead and installed my 308 scope on it,
I'll bench the 308 for now as i'll want to divert my attention to this rifle.
I'll try to buy some local factory ammo before the weekend to get a 200M tryout this sunday.

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Nice. Where are you going to shoot Sunday?

This sounds bad...but look forward to seeing your Big Horn haha...
 
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Fastestmanalive said:
Nice rig Marty. Nothing like the feel of shooting your own project rifle. Send’em
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Thanks!

To be honest all my rifles we're self assembled stuff.
From AR15s to Savage 308s,
Not being a smith, and having limited tools and knowledge, I stick with Savage prefit compatible actions,
Sure I have a big nut in front and ain't as pretty as a shouldered, but in the end I got the freedom to change barrels around as much as I like.
 
MartyK2500 said:
Thanks!

To be honest all my rifles we're self assembled stuff.
From AR15s to Savage 308s,
Not being a smith, and having limited tools and knowledge, I stick with Savage prefit compatible actions,
Sure I have a big nut in front and ain't as pretty as a shouldered, but in the end I got the freedom to change barrels around as much as I like.
Click to expand...

I know this has been covered before but shouldered barrels are very easy to swap out as well. I have a 6BRA and 6.5 creedmoor shouldered barrels that I swap between on one rifle. Takes 5 min and minimal tools.

An advantage to the bighorn actions is that they are held to really tight tolerances, so a gunsmith can spin you up a shouldered barrel without seeing your action as long as they have the thread specs.

Just something to keep in mind for the future, it opens up more options if you don't limit yourself to barrel nuts.
 
kthomas said:
I know this has been covered before but shouldered barrels are very easy to swap out as well. I have a 6BRA and 6.5 creedmoor shouldered barrels that I swap between on one rifle. Takes 5 min and minimal tools.

An advantage to the bighorn actions is that they are held to really tight tolerances, so a gunsmith can spin you up a shouldered barrel without seeing your action as long as they have the thread specs.

Just something to keep in mind for the future, it opens up more options if you don't limit yourself to barrel nuts.
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How accurate does it hold for headspace?
The way I understand it, the initial barrel install does not use a headspace gauge but a torque value,
If you play around with barrels and actions, does X value of torque always equals X value of headspace?

I imagine since I already have a barrel vise, my only missing tool would be an action wrench if ever I we're to proceed that way.
 
Just install it to the same torque as your gunsmith uses, for my stuff that's around 100 ft-lbs. It doesn't have to be exact. Headspace never changes if you are more or less in the ballpark with the correct torque. That's something I've never had to be concerned about.

The nice thing I've found with shouldered barrels is that the POI doesn't change when you take on or off your barrels, and in my experience swapping between shouldered 6BRA and 6.5 creedmoor, the POI shifts very little to not at all (0.10 mils or less).

You also get the benefit of heavier tapers. I like to run MTU and heavy varmint contours, makes my rifle balance much nicer. I played around with lighter contours (Hawkhill marksman - around a med Palma), and I didn't really care for it.

Barrel vice, torque wrench and action wrench are all that's required for tools.

For whatever reasons there are misconceptions on CGN about shouldered barrels being "difficult" to install, when in actuality it's very easy. Headspace never changes and just a few tools required.

Hopefully this answers your questions, and opens up some more options for you in the future.
 
It does answer my misconceptions and will keep an open mind next barrel change.
My prefits are all 26'' with M40 profile, and so far the rifles all balance an inch or two in front of mag, no complaints here on that end.
 
MartyK2500, great looking rig and I hope the package has arrived.

wrt to shouldered vs barrel nut (BN) prefits, some thoughts to consider

1 - we are in CANADA. Alot of options and resources common to the US market are not available.... and when US gear is brought into Canada, things get more pricey

2 - Quality match BN prefits can weigh the same as the contoured shouldered cousin. Same specs, same performance

3 - Quality match BN prefits start at $600 ready to install on your action. What is the cost of taking a blank and having a gunsmith machine it up? I hear some shops are charging almost as much for the install as a new barrel.. don't see them spinning up their CNC to make prefits at BN prices anytime soon

4 - Don't want to see the gauges again? that barrel nut with a judicious use of Red loctite is going to swap the same as a shouldered prefit. Barrel nuts are $45 each give or take and can be reused for as long as you want to shoot. Barrel nut wrenches are pretty inexpensive... what is a custom action rear entry wrench going to run?

5 - What happends if the action and/or shouldered barrel is not machined as precisely as assumed? There are certainly some shooters who have tried this route and now... not so happy. Want to reuse that brass but the new chamber is a 'hint' too long or too short BUT within spec.

6 - the generic specs for a Savage BN prefit allow for an infinite adjustment in headspace. In most cases, I set my barrel to my DIES and that means I get custom ammo fit without the custom dies, reamers and massive added costs... and my brass can be easily transfered to another barrel. I also don't need to worry when the reamer is changed cause as long as it falls within SAAMI, I can adjust what I want when I install

I use shouldered headspaced prefits on my FTR rifles... I use BN prefits on my FTR rifles as well as PRS, ELR and hunting rifles. Through the eyes of an F class shooter, I can't see a difference in on target performance between the two types of headspace... at 1000yds in competition.

Pick the method that floats your boat but let's discuss knowing all the pros and cons.... Makes no difference to me as I support both styles of install and have done so since starting in business.

Jerry
 
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Not trying to turn this into a BN vs shouldered barrel debate. There's merits to both systems.

OP clearly didn't realize that he could get a shouldered barrel without his gun visiting a gunsmith. I'm just clearing up that misconception. If he chooses to stay with BN that's fine, but he at least now knows that he has even more options on the table than he previously realized.

I couldn't care less with what he ends up with, I'm not on here to sell barrels or gunsmithing work. More options are always a good thing.
 
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One of the best things to happen in the aftermarket is manfs standardising and producing to 1 dimensional spec. Many brands have suggested they can and/or do this... unfortunately, some have not.

If a new generation of manfs can keep their tolerance on point, that will allow more goodies to be produced... good news for all.

Time will tell...

Jerry
 
Mystic Precision said:
MartyK2500, great looking rig and I hope the package has arrived.

wrt to shouldered vs barrel nut (BN) prefits, some thoughts to consider

1 - we are in CANADA. Alot of options and resources common to the US market are not available.... and when US gear is brought into Canada, things get more pricey

2 - Quality match BN prefits can weigh the same as the contoured shouldered cousin. Same specs, same performance

3 - Quality match BN prefits start at $600 ready to install on your action. What is the cost of taking a blank and having a gunsmith machine it up? I hear some shops are charging almost as much for the install as a new barrel.. don't see them spinning up their CNC to make prefits at BN prices anytime soon

4 - Don't want to see the gauges again? that barrel nut with a judicious use of Red loctite is going to swap the same as a shouldered prefit. Barrel nuts are $45 each give or take and can be reused for as long as you want to shoot. Barrel nut wrenches are pretty inexpensive... what is a custom action rear entry wrench going to run?

5 - What happends if the action and/or shouldered barrel is not machined as precisely as assumed? There are certainly some shooters who have tried this route and now... not so happy. Want to reuse that brass but the new chamber is a 'hint' too long or too short BUT within spec.

6 - the generic specs for a Savage BN prefit allow for an infinite adjustment in headspace. In most cases, I set my barrel to my DIES and that means I get custom ammo fit without the custom dies, reamers and massive added costs... and my brass can be easily transfered to another barrel. I also don't need to worry when the reamer is changed cause as long as it falls within SAAMI, I can adjust what I want when I install

I use shouldered headspaced prefits on my FTR rifles... I use BN prefits on my FTR rifles as well as PRS, ELR and hunting rifles. Through the eyes of an F class shooter, I can't see a difference in on target performance between the two types of headspace... at 1000yds in competition.

Pick the method that floats your boat but let's discuss knowing all the pros and cons.... Makes no difference to me as I support both styles of install and have done so since starting in business.

Jerry
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Thanks for taking the time to write this up.
I would guess it boils down to preference at this point, much like a ford vs gmc debate.

In my particular case, BN prefits are my choice, for future builds as well.
As the extra cost in tooling and gunsmithing would kill the deal, i can live with an exposed BN that’s not a problem.
Being able to adjust headspace could be nice, but not necessary in my case as i just throw a SAAMI gauge in when installing and my dies are already set for SAAMI - 2 thous.

A big winning point for me, i now own 2 savages and a bighorn, and 3 prefit barrels (2x 308 and 1x 6.5),
I can swap barrels around my actions as much as i like, every barrel fits every action and can be headspaced accordingly.

Funny tidbit, i recently saw someone at the range with a savage 10TR that ATRS installed a shouldered custom barrel on.
First time i saw a savage not use the barrel nut.

Order is not in yet Jerry,
Thanks again for helping me in my die/component selection and making them available to me!
 
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Eeenie

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Meenie...

Both do a great job....

I will give you an email tomorrow... stuff should be arriving

Yes, being able to use the prefit in ANY compatible action is nice. I have an assortment of barrels and bolt heads and actions... just mix and match whatever suits my whim.

Jerry
 

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Mystic Precision said:
One of the best things to happen in the aftermarket is manfs standardising and producing to 1 dimensional spec. Many brands have suggested they can and/or do this... unfortunately, some have not.

If a new generation of manfs can keep their tolerance on point, that will allow more goodies to be produced... good news for all.

Time will tell...

Jerry
Click to expand...

As these actions get machined more precisely and held to tighter and tighter tolerances as we are seeing (such as Bighorn, Lone Peak, Impact, ARC, Terminus, Curtis, etc), there are more and more shouldered barrel options coming available with little to no wait times and at decent prices down in the US. Hopefully that happens in Canada as the market expands up there.

Barrel nuts have definitely fallen out of favor in the US with the plethora of shouldered barrel options available. You rarely see them now a days, as the benefits of BN's are fastly being overtaken by the new shouldered barrel options.

Options are always a great thing for the consumer, and as a Bighorn action owner, MartyK2500 has some. It's a great action, and I'll be following this thread to see how it works out for him. I think this project is going to turn out much more successfully than the Deadline one, based on some of his choices in components.
 
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