I have a Hell's Canyon barrel ordered right now. Went with the heavy hunter for the larger shank. I am not sold on the NMI though yet. Maybe more homework is needed. I am not sure I want to deal with the fire forming even though I will be reloading. Also, I have seen some discrepancies between reamers and whose NMI "design" is better.Chris from Hell canyon armory is good to go also, He does he own carbon fiber wrapped barrels and does a 300nmi also .
I'm on my third Norma mag improved now. Have zero regrets going the Improved route. My buddy has one built by Ryan Pierce and it shoots lights out. My first one was built by Mike at hells canyon, & My last two were built by Ty Shaw at flatlight precision and he's been great to work with. Ty also fire formed 200 pieces of brass for me for $200. That was an easy decision hahaha.I have a Hell's Canyon barrel ordered right now. Went with the heavy hunter for the larger shank. I am not sold on the NMI though yet. Maybe more homework is needed. I am not sure I want to deal with the fire forming even though I will be reloading. Also, I have seen some discrepancies between reamers and whose NMI "design" is better.
Do the BAT Vesper you will regret a lesser action with a NMI.Looking for a lightweight action to build a 300 norma on. Seems like they are all heavy or have the smaller tenon threads. Any recommendations? Saw an option from BAT but the action alone is almost 2k!
Currently Im only building normas on the Borden Bigfoot or Bat. The others will work but aren't optimal. If you put a pile of rounds down it youll eventually have some lug setback. I did a 33XC on a certain 3 lug action and had .0015 lug setback in 200 rounds with a warmer load. The lugs were extremely small for such a huge round. The borden has a 1.400 OD so there is a pile of meat between the OD and the bigger 1.125x18 threads. Has a big bolt and big lugs, integral recoil lug, super clean ignition, and comes timed perfectly for triggertechs. This setup with my 300 norma improved is pushing the 220 bergers at the 3175-3200 fps node w n570 and no bolt clicks after 20+ firings. Still a few grains under pressure. But at that node its single digit es and stupid accurate. I have some brass with 30+ firings and the primer pocket is still very tight. Thats what makes the extra brass prep worth it for the norma improved. Hydro forming the brass will eliminate early case head separation as have a perfect form after one firing. I use an AUTODOD neck turner to turn the necks after the brass is fired once. It turns the inside and outside of the neck into the shoulder. This prevents a donut from forming down the road. Therefore freebore isn't super critical. The 245 is still above the neck shoulder junction with my reamer I use thats ideal for 215-230s.
This is my new 300 NMI I just finished for myself.
Borden Bigfoot Lightweight
Manners LRH
Benchmark Carbon 30 cal 9.0 tw SENDERO 1.250 shank
Triggertech Diamond
Hawkins Hunter bottom metal and magazine
TBAC Dominus SR
8lbs 3 oz without the suppressor. 9 lbs 1 oz with suppressor. Bipod not included. Probably gonna throw a NF 4-20 ATACR on it. Possibly a 7-35 ATACR. Im currently using my Kahles 10-50 for break in/load development. The 3175 fps node w a 220 is showing alot of promise but Im monitoring velocity as the barrel is just starting to speed up.
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I have a Hell's Canyon barrel ordered right now. Went with the heavy hunter for the larger shank. I am not sold on the NMI though yet. Maybe more homework is needed. I am not sure I want to deal with the fire forming even though I will be reloading. Also, I have seen some discrepancies between reamers and whose NMI "design" is better.
Currently Im only building normas on the Borden Bigfoot or Bat. The others will work but aren't optimal. If you put a pile of rounds down it youll eventually have some lug setback. I did a 33XC on a certain 3 lug action and had .0015 lug setback in 200 rounds with a warmer load. The lugs were extremely small for such a huge round. The borden has a 1.400 OD so there is a pile of meat between the OD and the bigger 1.125x18 threads. Has a big bolt and big lugs, integral recoil lug, super clean ignition, and comes timed perfectly for triggertechs. This setup with my 300 norma improved is pushing the 220 bergers at the 3175-3200 fps node w n570 and no bolt clicks after 20+ firings. Still a few grains under pressure. But at that node its single digit es and stupid accurate. I have some brass with 30+ firings and the primer pocket is still very tight. Thats what makes the extra brass prep worth it for the norma improved. Hydro forming the brass will eliminate early case head separation as have a perfect form after one firing. I use an AUTODOD neck turner to turn the necks after the brass is fired once. It turns the inside and outside of the neck into the shoulder. This prevents a donut from forming down the road. Therefore freebore isn't super critical. The 245 is still above the neck shoulder junction with my reamer I use thats ideal for 215-230s.
This is my new 300 NMI I just finished for myself.
Borden Bigfoot Lightweight
Manners LRH
Benchmark Carbon 30 cal 9.0 tw SENDERO 1.250 shank
Triggertech Diamond
Hawkins Hunter bottom metal and magazine
TBAC Dominus SR
8lbs 3 oz without the suppressor. 9 lbs 1 oz with suppressor. Bipod not included. Probably gonna throw a NF 4-20 ATACR on it. Possibly a 7-35 ATACR. Im currently using my Kahles 10-50 for break in/load development. The 3175 fps node w a 220 is showing alot of promise but Im monitoring velocity as the barrel is just starting to speed up.
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If you aren't using Unknown Munitions DBM bottom metal for your NMI you're wrongMike’s HCA barrels shoot fantastic. There are only 3 improved designs (maybe 4 since Mike moved the shoulder forward a bit) but they are 33°, 35° and an Ackley at 40°. I don’t know that there is a bit of difference in them performance wise but In such a big case I would be concerned about feeding smoothly with a 40° shoulder. That may be a non issue with a center feed mag box.
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with a high volume of warm loads yes. most people probably won't shoot enough for it to happen. But after I would fix the ignitions on kelblys they were only a few hundred cheaper than a borden. But still not the quality of the borden. I figure a few hundred bucks more is nothing once you factor in the cost for the rest of the build and optics. Let alone the hunts youll be taking it on etc. So Im no longer building on Kelblys for anything. Pierce Engineering, Defiance, Borden, Bat, and then Impact whenever they actually show up is what Ill build rifles on currently.Will a Kelby Atlas get bolt lug set back?
thank you. They are awesome actions.Nice work. Big Borden fan here too. Jim is the finest kind.