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++Bighorn TL3 Builds++

I have a TL3 that is barely spitting out cases. Hide/Google searches pointed me to this thread but I'm not seeing anything yet.

Ejector seems to actuate properly, no problems extracting. No matter how hard I run the bolt it just spits them out about 6" from the gun, typically a little forward. The last round is the worst, 50% of the time it just stays in the gun. This leads me to believe that the extractor just isn't holding on as well as it should maybe? Anyone have this issue and figured it out? Bighorn has been radio silent on the matter when I reached out to them.
 
craigos said:
Ditto - Aaron is very focused on customers ... ping Aaron
Click to expand...

Yes he is, talked to him yesterday. After talking to him and sending him detailed pictures it seems something happened to it before it was mine and the extractor is damaged. Also noticed some pitting from a pierced primer that I thought was just grim if first glance when I picked it up a couple weeks back. Aaron has offered to just have me send the bolt in and have the bolt head replaced completely for the price of one way shipping. Top notch customer service for sure.
 
T.Ferguson said:
I have a TL3 that is barely spitting out cases. Hide/Google searches pointed me to this thread but I'm not seeing anything yet.

Ejector seems to actuate properly, no problems extracting. No matter how hard I run the bolt it just spits them out about 6" from the gun, typically a little forward. The last round is the worst, 50% of the time it just stays in the gun. This leads me to believe that the extractor just isn't holding on as well as it should maybe? Anyone have this issue and figured it out? Bighorn has been radio silent on the matter when I reached out to them.
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I might actually have the same issue. I just got back from the medical center today, loaded up 9 rounds for some quick groups and also checked shoulder bump and my COL to make sure they fed properly. They do, but the extraction seems weak, even on empty pieces of brass. Even if i slam it back it doesn't send the round flying.

Cycling with the thing is gorgeous. Very smooth and cam over when chambering a cartridges is extremely easy.

Might be that the rounds are too long to properly extract at 2.960. Going to size some brass and look at it again.
 
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Sheldon N said:
But they didn't coat the bolt release! Looks funny to me that way.

Hoping to have my second TL-3 back from DLC coating sometime this month.
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Told Aaron he needs to coat the bolt release else Chad is still going to have to deal with me.
 
craigos said:
Told Aaron he needs to coat the bolt release else Chad is still going to have to deal with me.
Click to expand...

Lol i agree, looks weird without the bolt release/ejector coated.

To update i had a false alarm. Rounds were too long to eject properly with the bullet in them. With empty cases it's just hitting the bushnell windage knob but it goes flying if i jerk it.
 
Got my other TL-3 back from DLC coating at Club Custom Guns yesterday. 4 weeks door to door. Putting all the rifle pieces together to make the pair complete!
 
Sheldon N said:
Got my other TL-3 back from DLC coating at Club Custom Guns yesterday. 4 weeks door to door. Putting all the rifle pieces together to make the pair complete!
Click to expand...

Did you send that off yourself and was there any prep? What was the cost? Do you know who bighorn is using? Appologies if this has been covered, I may have missed it.
 
Supersubes said:
Did you send that off yourself and was there any prep? What was the cost? Do you know who bighorn is using? Appologies if this has been covered, I may have missed it.
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While i don't know who bighorn is using, i used CCG for both my Tempest and Dad's SR3. No prep work has to be done, i sent him the receiver with the bolt stop/ejector in tact and it was 200$ and exactly a month turn around. I'll be going through bighorn this next time just because the price is pretty cheap, i think Aaron quoted me 75$ for my TL3. He said to get back with him in December. Which honestly once the gun is ready i'll be shooting it bare until january.
 
5RWill said:
While i don't know who bighorn is using, i used CCG for both my Tempest and Dad's SR3. No prep work has to be done, i sent him the receiver with the bolt stop/ejector in tact and it was 200$ and exactly a month turn around. I'll be going through bighorn this next time just because the price is pretty cheap, i think Aaron quoted me 75$ for my TL3. He said to get back with him in December. Which honestly once the gun is ready i'll be shooting it bare until january.
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So youre sending an existing action back to them for coating?

Thanks for the info.


Edit: back to bighorn i mean
 
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Sheldon N said:
Got my other TL-3 back from DLC coating at Club Custom Guns yesterday. 4 weeks door to door. Putting all the rifle pieces together to make the pair complete!
Click to expand...

Definitely let us know how the coated vs uncoated actions compare. I love how my naked TL3 feels, but if DLC makes it even better I might be tempted to try it.
 
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spelunk said:
Definitely let us know how the coated vs uncoated compare actions compare. I love how my naked TL3 feels, but if DLC makes it even better I might be tempted to try it.
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I had a chance to try a DLC Mausingfield relative to a non DLC Mausingfield and the DLC was much slicker. I like the matte stainless of the TL3 action, if i were to build a hunting rifle on a TL3, definitely would get it DLCed.
 
Okay, had to get some pics for you guys. :)

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Chad at CCG was good to deal with. Easy to get ahold of, answered all my questions and gave me an honest quote on lead times and then met the low end of his estimate. I got the action in hand straight from Bighorn, did no prep work on it other than to disassemble it completely and send just the bare receiver body and bolt release button to Chad. I think prices recently went up but it's around $120 for the bare receiver and then another $10-15 for the bolt release, plus shipping. A bit more expensive than Bighorn, plus the logistics, so if I'd known Bighorn was going to start offering it I would have probably gone that way.

I'm definitely a fan of DLC coating, both my actions are DLC. Between the two I do notice that the older one is slicker. Both are very low effort to cycle the bolt but my first action is a bit more glassy and ultra smooth. Looking back on it they both felt about the same at the start but the first one has 3k live rounds and 10-15k dry fire cycles on it.

Love having a pair of the TL-3 actions. They both match perfectly for headspace, the barrels clock identically with the engraving in the same spot. Have multiple barrels from 223 all the way up through 7 SAUM so can basically make whatever rifle I want at the drop of a hat. Right now the Manners is a 223 trainer and the MPA is my competition rifle in 6 Dasher, though I'm always experimenting.
 
It's to mention if you don't remove the button like Sheldon did you will get charged more. When i saw his prices for disassembled i assumed the bare receiver was fine and didn't touch the mechanical ejector or bolt stop button, which cost me some and drove the price up. But he does great work as Shelon noted and is just an all around easy guy to deal with. He also offers polishing as well, which to be fair i still haven't come across an action as smooth as my tempest i let him polish and DLC.
 
Damn Sheldon, those are some beautiful looking rifles... making me think I definitely need to pick up some ARC rings for my next optic...
 
I stumbled upon this thread from a Google image search I did while waiting for my TL3 to get out of waiting period jail at the FFL. I should have my XLR Envy Chassis and Shilen .308 barrel in time to build it the first weekend in December. From reading all this, I feel even more confident that I made the right choice (I was considering a Defiance Deviant as well). I’ll post pics once I’ve built and shot it.

Thanks for all the wisdom you e posted here!


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Still waiting on the 6 Creedmoor barrel. 100 rounds loaded and ready to fire form 6.5 Addiction.
 
***Been meaning to drop something like this here for a while, wrote this in response to a question elsewhere and decided it was time. Thank you to the Bighorn crew for offering actions that allow this type of system to be so flexible!***

I've owned quite a few bolt actions in the last 11 years, probably around 30 or so. Not at the same time mind you, but it wasn't uncommon for me to have 10+ at once. I always found them a hassle to keep on top of. I never had more than 3 or 4 ready to go at any one time. A few have been totally stock, most have had some level of customization, and a few have been full customs.

Whenever I'd get back from a day spent shooting my "best" rifle, I'd wonder why I even had all the fair to middlin stuff, and say I should just get set up with a few matching "best" setups and call it good. Over the course of this year I did just that. Now I have three matching Bighorn TL3-SA's, which of course headspace the same making barrels interchangeable between them. The swappable bolt faces allow any of them to be 223, 308, or magnum bolts in ~ 30 seconds. I have two matching MPA Comp chassis's, and my favorite hunting weight stock in the Manners EH1. I've got three semi-matching Bushnell's, and matching Timney Calvin triggers set at 16 oz. There's four barrels here so far with another on the way, and I'm getting set up to have flats milled on them to swap them out quickly without needing my barrel vise (read, at the range). Whenever I'm interested in a new chambering (I'm not very interested in most though, 3 of 5 barrels are Dashers) or wear a barrel out, I can have a savage prefit from NSS here in 2-3 days, a premium barrel with a bugnut from Greg Young in ~ a month, or a premium shouldered barrel from PVA in however long they're taking, all without shipping an action or rifle out.

Now I can put my attention towards shooting (and also hunting) and my money towards barrels/bullets/brass/powder/primers as well as entry fees and fancy tags. As of now I'd certainly do it again, and anticipate long term happiness with the system, but time will of course tell. I may do some scope upgrading though, as funds allow.

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Thanks guys! The matching heavy gun has been getting quite a lot of use as a loaner, which was 1/3 of the reason I'd built it (also for practice and as a backup). In the four matches since I got it put together it's been used by others in three! I'm glad to have a quality platform to hand folks to get their feet wet. I do need to add some bright paint to one chassis to make them a touch easier to tell apart at a glance.

One downside of the matching setups, if you find a new component or part you like, it costs you 2x or 3x!
 
The final parts for my TL3 arrived this week, and I was able to get two days in at the range. Here’s the setup:

TL3 Action with 20 MOA rail from Northwest Shooters Supply
Shilen 26” .308 Stainless Savage pre-fit (muzzle threaded by Shilen)
Little Bastard muzzle break
Timney 510 trigger (I could not get two different Shilen triggers to function)
XLR Envy chassis with ergo grip, XRL Extreme butt stock, and folder
Vortex Razor HD Gen II

I can’t believe how easy it was to barrel this thing. As you see in the pics, I don’t keep vices mounted on my work bench. The total time, including vice set up, barrel installation, and vice takedown was about 30 minutes.

There was the usual run-in stuff when I got to the range, but once it was dialed in, that thing shoots!

The four-shot groups were when cease-fire was called before I could get the last shot off.

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It's finally almost done, Triggertech is on the way and it should be finished. Got some 123gr Scenars loaded over 4451 should be shooting Wednesday. Weighs a little more than i was expecting probably 12ish pounds depending. Wont get it DLC'd/Cerakoted and fluted until january likely.
 

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I think this is by far my favorite 2-lug i've used. Granted i've not run any other other than a remington for an extended amount of time. But the bolt lift, cock on close, and cam over are just smooth as hell. The way it feeds is ridiculous as well i press check almost constantly because i don't realize the action picked up the round. Love it. I need to get it painted and fluted and then try and source a proof .284 barrel for a 7 SAUM.

image_84983.jpg
 
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Love this thread. My build should be done by end of Feb. Can anyone tell me if I need the extended sear for the Timney 510 trigger (model U I think) with a Bighorn action?
 
To add those looking to TT triggers the Standard will only go to 2.5lbs for the Bighorns while the Special will go to 1.5lbs. Least both following their instructions per setting the lowest weight are reading those in my TL3. Haven't tried them in Dad's SR3. I'm sure the Diamond goes lower.
 
My 2nd TL3 is waiting to be sent out for DLC so it matches this one. Need to finish up 2 barrel reviews then sending it over to Bighorn.

Bighorn TL3 DLC
XLR Evolution w/Tactical Buttstock
Jewell HVR 14oz
Patriot Valley Arms 26" Rock Creek 6.5x47L Marksman Contour Prefit
Bighorn 12 Point Barrel Nut
ARC 10rd Mag
Rugged Surge 7.62
Harris S-BRM
Vortex Razor HD


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I love this thread, but some of the photos aren’t loading for me. How much of the TL3 action do you guys recommend getting DLC coated? I haven’t thought of it until reading on page 17.
 
Kane0519 said:
I love this thread, but some of the photos aren’t loading for me. How much of the TL3 action do you guys recommend getting DLC coated? I haven’t thought of it until reading on page 17.
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If you're getting it DLC plated just get the action body.
The bolt assembly is already plated and there's no point in stripping that to put DLC on it.
 
Ordered this one DLC from Bighorn after they started offering it from the factory. ordered dec10 received feb 2. The bolt body is darker than I expected it to be I don't know if coatings are different now? I thought it would be much shinier not as flat and gunmetalish based off pics of other actions
 

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kRcu said:
Update

t46z6hY.jpg


im loving my setup. The throw is even smoother than it was new, after ~400 times dryfiring for practice. Already looking into another caliber to complement the 6.5 creedmoor I currently run.
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How is the barrel blended with the action? Can we get a close-up shot?
 
DEW0341 said:
Ordered this one DLC from Bighorn after they started offering it from the factory. ordered dec10 received feb 2. The bolt body is darker than I expected it to be I don't know if coatings are different now? I thought it would be much shinier not as flat and gunmetalish based off pics of other actions
Click to expand...
Bolt bodies are still receiving the same coating they have been in the last year. They do tend to look darker in DLC coated receivers than they do in standard finish (bead blasted) receivers, but that seems to be a trick our eyes play on us. Other than that, there has not been a change in bolt bodies.
-Ray
 
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BigHorn / ZAI Team said:
Bolt bodies are still receiving the same coating they have been in the last year. They do tend to look darker in DLC coated receivers than they do in standard finish (bead blasted) receivers, but that seems to be a trick our eyes play on us. Other than that, there has not been a change in bolt bodies.
-Ray
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I like the dark look, no qualms with it at all. Just wanted to let you know I'm not complaining about it??
 
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