So, I've been sitting on a chambered (for a Savage or Origin action) 20 practical barrel (a 24" 3 groove 1-10 twist X-Caliber) for a few months now. Lots of other projects and commitments have kept this one on the back burner until now.
As fate would have it, I was perusing Brownell's, and low and behold, they had Zermatt Origin Short Magnum actions on sale. Since I already had an Origin in 224 Valkyrie, I had previously ordered a .223 bolt head in the event I ever wanted to change back to a .223 based cartridge case. So becuase of the cheap sale price (around $750) I went ahead and ordered that along with a Timney two stage Rem 700 trigger.
Unfortunately, I was about to go on holiday when this all occurred, and during that vacation I intended to change my state residency from California to Montana, so I had to rush to get the paperwork started here in California before leaving. With that out of the way, I headed off to Montana for two weeks.
So, after getting back, picking up the action from the FFL, and catching up at work, I set off to build this rifle on Sunday.
The first thing was swapping out the magnum bolthead for a .223 sized bolthead/face. With the Origin, this is a 10 second affair, accomplished by rotating the bolt shroud 180* clockwise which releases the firing pin assembly, which is then used to push the bolthead retaining pin out of the bolt body, allowing the new bolt head to be installed.
After this was the removal of the extractor from the .223 bolt head. This is a needed step, since the Origin extractor will not snap over most case gauges (which is required to set the head spacing). While not difficult, it is a step which can often leave someone with a extractor pin and spring launched off into the darkest, deepest corner of your house. Sure to never been seen again. As such, using a large gallon sized ziplock bag (and paperclip to depress the spring & plunger) seemed to work well, in allowing me to see everything and have enough room to wiggle the extractor out of it's slot while catching the spring.
After this it was a simple process of screwing the barrel into the action about half way, dropping a .223 go-gauge into the chamber, closing the bolt, and then screwing the barrel in until it stops against the go-gauge. Then simply tighten the barrel nut with a 1 1/4" wrench. This tightening moves the barrel back a couple ten thousandths, which then provides the optimal headspace (which is really the genius of the Savage barrel nut design).
After this was done, the extractor was re-installed (much easier than taking it out), trigger installed, and the barreled action (which has a Rem 700 footprint) was dropped into a AT-X chassis, and ready for glass installation and zeroing. A muzzle brake was installed, for no other reason than to protect the threads. At some point I'll order another AI hinge to turn this one into a folder, as well as order a short forend bridge.
At any rate, that was all there was to it (took about 25 mins from start to finish).
For those unfamiliar with Origin actions, I can only say that IMHO, they are probably the best bang for the buck on a custom action today. They are the evolution of a cheap Savage action, but carried out with much more precision, and all steel components (unlike the sintered metal parts on a Savage these days). These actions are DLC'ed for hardness as well as corrosion resistance, and feature a controlled feed, mechanical eject (great for short, odd ball wildcat cartridges) system. The actions are held to tight enough tolerances that someone can order a shouldered, pre-fit/chambered barrel and have no issues installing it with the proper headspace. I went with a barrel nut, simply because I'm already set up and familiar with that arrangement.
At any rate, I'll post some photos whenever I get to the range and get her zero'ed.
As fate would have it, I was perusing Brownell's, and low and behold, they had Zermatt Origin Short Magnum actions on sale. Since I already had an Origin in 224 Valkyrie, I had previously ordered a .223 bolt head in the event I ever wanted to change back to a .223 based cartridge case. So becuase of the cheap sale price (around $750) I went ahead and ordered that along with a Timney two stage Rem 700 trigger.
Unfortunately, I was about to go on holiday when this all occurred, and during that vacation I intended to change my state residency from California to Montana, so I had to rush to get the paperwork started here in California before leaving. With that out of the way, I headed off to Montana for two weeks.
So, after getting back, picking up the action from the FFL, and catching up at work, I set off to build this rifle on Sunday.
The first thing was swapping out the magnum bolthead for a .223 sized bolthead/face. With the Origin, this is a 10 second affair, accomplished by rotating the bolt shroud 180* clockwise which releases the firing pin assembly, which is then used to push the bolthead retaining pin out of the bolt body, allowing the new bolt head to be installed.
After this was the removal of the extractor from the .223 bolt head. This is a needed step, since the Origin extractor will not snap over most case gauges (which is required to set the head spacing). While not difficult, it is a step which can often leave someone with a extractor pin and spring launched off into the darkest, deepest corner of your house. Sure to never been seen again. As such, using a large gallon sized ziplock bag (and paperclip to depress the spring & plunger) seemed to work well, in allowing me to see everything and have enough room to wiggle the extractor out of it's slot while catching the spring.
After this it was a simple process of screwing the barrel into the action about half way, dropping a .223 go-gauge into the chamber, closing the bolt, and then screwing the barrel in until it stops against the go-gauge. Then simply tighten the barrel nut with a 1 1/4" wrench. This tightening moves the barrel back a couple ten thousandths, which then provides the optimal headspace (which is really the genius of the Savage barrel nut design).
After this was done, the extractor was re-installed (much easier than taking it out), trigger installed, and the barreled action (which has a Rem 700 footprint) was dropped into a AT-X chassis, and ready for glass installation and zeroing. A muzzle brake was installed, for no other reason than to protect the threads. At some point I'll order another AI hinge to turn this one into a folder, as well as order a short forend bridge.
At any rate, that was all there was to it (took about 25 mins from start to finish).
For those unfamiliar with Origin actions, I can only say that IMHO, they are probably the best bang for the buck on a custom action today. They are the evolution of a cheap Savage action, but carried out with much more precision, and all steel components (unlike the sintered metal parts on a Savage these days). These actions are DLC'ed for hardness as well as corrosion resistance, and feature a controlled feed, mechanical eject (great for short, odd ball wildcat cartridges) system. The actions are held to tight enough tolerances that someone can order a shouldered, pre-fit/chambered barrel and have no issues installing it with the proper headspace. I went with a barrel nut, simply because I'm already set up and familiar with that arrangement.
At any rate, I'll post some photos whenever I get to the range and get her zero'ed.
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