Mausingfield or Bighorn?
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My take on Proof:
I've installed a fair amount of them. They typically come in at a finished weight of approximately 3lbs and some change. Compare that to a typical Rem Varmint contour tipping the scales around just over 4.6lbs.
Ounces vs price. A Proof tops at 52.25 ounces. At $900.00 it works to just under $18.00/ounce. By contrast: A typical blank is $375 by the time it lands at your door. It's weight is around 72 ounces. That pencils out to $5 and change per ounce.
So, if you want to spend the difference to save 1.097lbs while adding an additional 84% in barrel cost to build it, go for it and have a blast doing so. I personally can't pencil that out. I would magnify this x10 for a "gamer gun" where the mileage is going to be short lived if you regularly attend events. The whole point of doing this is to use your equipment and if you want to be good at it you'll use it a lot.
I personally envision Proof Barrels on dedicated ultra light mountain rifles where your lungs are screaming to get up and down those hills. There I see ounces really start to matter. I'm 46, about 15lbs over weight, and I just recently stopped smoking cigarettes, a 30 year long really, really bad habit. I've hauled a 17lb rig and the relative support gear to matches for years in both PRS and NRA HP and it hasn't killed me yet.
When you talk to guys on the level of Jake Vibbert, they advocate a heavy gun. Really heavy in fact. The reduced recoil mitigates the chance of missing the splash. Hauling the thing around all day is just the cost of doing business. With all the dead time between stages its pretty easy to recharge your battery.
I just offer that for your consideration. Draw your own conclusions.
Handle? Impossible. It's part of the bolt. Knob? Lefty loosey, righty tighty. It's that easy.
Good to know. This won't be for a gamer gun, it will just be for some relaxed recreational shooting and hunting. I mainly went with a Proof to make up for the weight of the suppressor I'll be ordering soon.
When you do a build on a Mausingfield do you time the extractor? I recall you saying in the past that they sometimes need a little bit of adjustment. Thank you for your responsiveness, I hope to be putting in the order with you guys in around 6 weeks.
Edit: Also, I have an extremely stupid question because I've never been the one to order a barrel before, let alone a carbon fiber one. I ordered a Proof carbon fiber barrel in Sendero contour at 22" and .264 caliber. That barrel will stay at 22" when it's finished right? Just making sure I shouldn't have ordered one longer than my desired finished length.
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Shit. Got me there lol. I definitively meant to say the knob. Glad you caught it and definitely clarified it.
I forgot to ask this question yesterday. How does the Mausingfield bolt lift compare to a regular Remington 700 action?
A current production ARC MF action is a 105/-5 setup. M700's from the box are 50/50.
What this means:
Cocking the gun one complete cycle is 100%. (meaning you lift, pull back, push forward, close) On a MF action the lift of the bolt compresses the striker assy 105%. When you close the bolt it releases 5% or "back to 100%".
An M700 action can be described as "half on open, half on close". Meaning you get some of it when you lift the bolt and the rest comes when you roll it back into battery.
It's the same work, just done at different times. No advantage in either from a pure accuracy standpoint. Some like the reduction in lift "feel" coming up. Others want it butter smooth going down.
In the end, it doesn't mean a thing. These subjects come up frequently and I've yet to hear a credible argument of one over the other. It's largely opinion based. So, literally let your gut tell you which you like more.
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Both are 90* turn bolt actions. 90* means that's how far one has to rotate to get from battery to out of battery. Companies like to flirt with this number to make guys think they have some kind of secret where by some magical force they can shorten the rotation. You only get that by one of two ways:
1. Add more lugs. A 3 lug or 4 lug gun is less.
2. Rotate the in battery lug orientation so that you don't have as far to go.
1: You can add more lugs. It's been done for years. Guns can shoot just fine with it. Often what happens is the bolt lift gets heavier because the same work is now done in a shorter span. Kind of like steep staircases vs shallow ones. The answer for that can be increasing the handle length. Now you have a bigger arc, regardless if it is still less in total rotational degrees, there's more circumference. There's no free lunch. . .
2. Rolling lugs off the abutments on the action. I cannot begin to describe HOW BAD OF A DUMB FUCK IDEA I think this is. Why don't we just do away with the lugs all together and let the handle do the work? ? ? I know there are actions out there being produced right now where this is done and its advertised somehow as an advantage. I would strongly disagree.
If conserving 10 or 15 degrees of bolt rotation is worth more to you than your face then I would advise checking into a clinic and getting on some meds.
I ate a bolt once. Still have the hole in my ceiling from it. Price of admission was an orbital fracture and torn retina. The shroud put a fist size hole into a Pelican case from 10' away. Small parts killed a handful of shop lights 30' away from where it happened. I am very fortunate to have gotten off with the injuries I sustained. Pretty minor in all reality.
I don't wish that on anyone.
C.
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It's interesting to see this, as it pretty much parallels my own thoughts on CF barrels. While there seems to be some debate surrounding the barrel testing methods methods/findings in Modern Advancements in Long Range Shooting: Volume II, one of the statements has stuck with me (I'm going to mangle it, but the gist will be the same): "Carbon fiber barrels offer an advantage over all-steel barrels not of the same diameter, but of the same weight." (emphasis added)
Fuuuuck, sounds like a story for another thread.
I can say one thing about cocking force on the MF, my 9 y/o daughter can run ammo through it with no complaints, stays on target, keeps sight picture, way easier than her CZ452 (its going to get an extended bolt handle and polishing)
