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L3i New "Stinger" Barreled action

wizit247

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Supporter
Minuteman
Jun 13, 2022
23
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N. Idaho
L3i released their new barreled action at Shot Show. Anyone have any more info?

I'm curious whos manufacturing the actions and barrels.

From their Site:

Stinger Barreled Action​

Introducing our new Stinger Rimfire Barreled Action “The Affordable Custom 700 Pattern Rimfire”! Coming Fall of 2024
  • Uses Popular Rem 700 Short Action Pattern Footprint
  • Uses Rem 700 Compatible Triggers
  • Uses our very own 700 Elite Rimfire Magazines
  • Pre-fit Barrel Capable
  • 90 Degree Bolt Lift with Neutral Timing
  • Made from Nitride Coated Stainless Steel
  • One Piece Rear Bolt Threaded 5/16-18 for Interchangeable Bolt Knobs
  • Extended Optics Base made from 7075-T6 Aluminum Hard coat Anodized Pinned with 8-40 Hardware.
  • 1.350 Full Diameter Body with Side Mounted Bolt Release.
  • Full Size ejection Port that matches the Aesthetics of most available Rem 700 SA Stocks and Chassis.
  • 24″ Straight 1.200″ Stainless Steel Barrel, Lapped and Match Chambered for Extreme Precision.
  • 11 degree Target Crown
  • 100% Made in the USA
Stinger-Render-2-edited.png
Stinger-Render-4.png
Stinger-Rendering-1.png
Stinger-with-barrel.png
 
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Interesting. Be nice to know barrel supplier too.
 
Sorry I should clarify. Is the tenon anything we currently know of like a RimX or is this new sizing or whatever?
 
I'm excited about this. I wish there would be a shorter and/or threaded barrel option instead of the 11 degree target crown. Maybe there will be a early group buy we can get in on.
 
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Hmmm, helluva gap between bolt body and receiver in this mockup.
Never owned any of their products, but have one friend with their Vudoo/Bergara mag that doesn’t feed, and one with the new metal CZ mags that don’t fit/feed. These are not shills or compensated shooters, so perhaps they didn’t merit the top drawer offerings? Since I shoot/compete with these people that was enough to give me pause, even though I’d like to see more precision offerings.
 
Hmmm, helluva gap between bolt body and receiver in this mockup.
Never owned any of their products, but have one friend with their Vudoo/Bergara mag that doesn’t feed, and one with the new metal CZ mags that don’t fit/feed. These are not shills or compensated shooters, so perhaps they didn’t merit the top drawer offerings? Since I shoot/compete with these people that was enough to give me pause, even though I’d like to see more precision offerings.
I have two of their aluminum CZ mags and they both run without issue. What is the “gap” you are referring too?
 
Always exciting to see more offering for the precision rimfire community. I feel like this is aiming directly at Bergara, but might take some market share from RimX and Vudoo. Curious to hear some reviews when they make it out to some shooters.
 
Interesting. I wonder who's making the action for them.

I know Vudoo has been working with them recently on their (Vudoo's) new Magazine design. Wouldn't surprise me if Vudoo is helping them with the action. But the price point is so low it's hard to say.
 
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So… it will look different from the leaked/promotional image?
🤔 ok.

Early rendering might be all they had right before the show. I'm guessing they rushed this out to get something out there. It might be the same, but could be slightly different. The gap shown is the opening at the bottom of the action for the magazine obviously, but the original design might have had a smaller diameter bolt body for weight reduction or whatever. The angles on the shots from the show don't show it well enough to tell if they've changed the design from the rendering.

You can see other differences in the rendering vs the actual action shown (which I'm assuming is still a prototype). Like there is no opening on the left side of the action under the rail in the rendering but there is on the actual action:

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I work for an automotive aftermarket manufacturer and leading up to SEMA we have tons of new product stuff that gets posted and printed that isn't the final production version. It's more about showing what's coming than an exact production unit.
 
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Early rendering might be all they had right before the show. I'm guessing they rushed this out to get something out there. It might be the same, but could be slightly different. The gap shown is the opening at the bottom of the action for the magazine obviously, but the original design might have had a smaller diameter bolt body for weight reduction or whatever. The angles on the shots from the show don't show it well enough to tell if they've changed the design from the rendering.

You can see other differences in the rendering vs the actual action shown (which I'm assuming is still a prototype). Like there is no opening on the left side of the action under the rail in the rendering but there is on the actual action:

View attachment 8332322View attachment 8332323

I work for an automotive aftermarket manufacturer and leading up to SEMA we have tons of new product stuff that gets posted and printed that isn't the final production version. It's more about showing what's coming than an exact production unit.
I can’t get that QR in the pic to scan, can you or anyone else?
 
OK, so to answer some questions.

1. The bodies/bolts/shroud/hanger/lug/barrels are all made at different places. It's based off the 40X but with our version of special sauce to make it run the way we want to.
2. Prefits are done with 700 threads and a custom tenon but any smith could chamber it since it's not metric threads.
3. For the first run Saturn blanks are being used, they have a great reputation in the benchrest and CMP world so we're excited to work with them on this.
4. The model we showed at Shot is an earlier prototype that we are doing some small batches on and then moving on to some atheistic changes for a large production run.
5. Right now it's this barrel only but there might be something else coming since it can take prefts. We're comp shooters so we went with what we would use first and plan to expand later on.
6, $1,500 MSRP is correct. The idea is that you get an action, barrel and two Elite mags. Everyone want's their own trigger and stock preference anyway.
7. It won't be for everyone since it's for sure heavy and not threaded. For the money I think you'll be able to hang with any PRS Rimfire or NRL22 rig out there
 
My worry there is that would people still choose it over a B14R carbon if they wanted a lighter setup?

If your action is better I think people will choose it over the B14R. One of the reasons I didn't get a B14R was reading about all the little issues and fixes you need to do (or should do) if you want it to run as well as a Vudoo or RimX. While I enjoy tinkering and modifying things, I wanted a more reliable action so I settled on Vudoo (mainly for the 60 degree throw), but it was a tough choice between that and the RimX. If this was available at the time I might have been tempted to try it out.

I'm guessing there will still be plenty of people who will pick the B14R Carbon because of price and weight, but plenty of people in the R700 Based Rimfire world aren't looking to buy the cheapest option. So once more barrel options appear (L3i supplied or aftermarket pre-fit), I think you'll see your user base grow even more.
 
My understanding is that the B14R is a carbon sleeve, not an epoxied carbon wrap? And carbon seems like a gimmick in a .22 where rigidity and/or heat characteristics don't seem like a concern. If you think you need carbon, you are probably looking at Proof/Bartlein and the associated $500+ jump in price. Plenty of us like shooting nice .22s, love to be able to build trainers around the R700, without wanting some crazy axle of a barrel on a rifle that is instantly only useful for a very specific type of competition. Unpopular opinion, but I think all of PRS and NRL is eventually going to get nudged toward unsupported stages, because the idea of guns heavier than the heaviest benchrest class being used in a "sporting" competition is laughable, and twising the whole industry around itself. It's just speed benchrest at this point.

Anyway, Bergara barreled actions have been relatively unavailable outside of a few vendors (Brownells, etc), and their default (factory) stock choices suck. For the life of me I can't figure out why they didn't come in a KRG Bravo, for example. Maybe they are selling as many Rimfires as they make, but it feels like they could have eaten up a lot of market share and didn't.

I still think you are competing with 1500 barreled action versus around 2000 for the Vudoo, and they have a ton of barrel profiles ready to go. It also seems like lots of folks are running the EC tuners, so the "no threading" seems like a non-starter, for some folks, and doing it after often adds $150+ to the price if you don't have someone local. I'm excited to see another vendor in the space, and will be pretty tempted if you guys release a more sporting oriented rifle.

Think about releasing one in 9mm!!!! No one is doing it (yet), cheap 9mm costs the same amount, or less, than match .22, hits on steel are way more responsive, etc, etc. I love rimfire but I would kill (and have lost some money) trying to find a good R700 in 9mm that I can train with.
 
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The plan is for more contours to come but starting out we had to go with what we compete in since those are the people more likely to buy from us. I would keep an eye out for some classic style repeaters coming to the market as well.
 
Think about releasing one in 9mm!!!! No one is doing it (yet), cheap 9mm costs the same amount, or less, than match .22, hits on steel are way more responsive, etc, etc. I love rimfire but I would kill (and have lost some money) trying to find a good R700 in 9mm that I can train with.

Not gonna lie, that's something I've never heard anyone bring up. Though I don't know how accurate 9mm would be past 100 yards even in a longer barrel. IIRC, optimal barrel length for 9mm is like 9-11 inches or something like that. It's no rifle round. I could see someone making a case for 5.7 ammo but that's not cheap either.
 
There was a company , up north Curtis custom or something , not the actions in Texas , he was building 9mm Remington 40x clone rifles , Covid messed that up I think
 
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I bought one. It was 90% there, but controlled round feed, which didn't really work and the round needed to travel ~1.5 inches, the ejector was too small and punched a hole in the rim (thus failing to extract), etc, etc. I still have it. I'm not going to lie, having a Rem700 feed from Glock mags... dream come true. But I don't think he could get it the rest of the way. I think its a simple problem of Glock Mag to AICS compatibility, which he solved, and then push feed with a shorter bolt/ chamber moved up, similar to any blowback 9mm geometry.

But when it ran, I mean, damn to just drop a box of 9mm on the table, for $15 bucks, and start ringing steel at 400... Pretty crazy. I look at what I pay for Standard Velocity these days and feel like I'm getting taken for a ride...
 
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I'm looking forward to Lowlight's review of this!!!

I wish more manufacturers would start a launch with a SME comparing among known knowns, in this case Bergara, Vudoo, RimX. But so exciting to see more competition here. Would also love to see a Tikka T1X competitor, i.e. build it around T3x footprint, since the stock options keep expanding and TriggerTech is about to offer triggers.
 
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I'm looking forward to Lowlight's review of this!!!

I wish more manufacturers would start a launch with a SME comparing among known knowns, in this case Bergara, Vudoo, RimX. But so exciting to see more competition here. Would also love to see a Tikka T1X competitor, i.e. build it around T3x footprint, since the stock options keep expanding and TriggerTech is about to offer triggers.

Curious what the advantage would be of having a T3x Footprint over an R700. I understand it might be cool to have something a little different, but given the R700 has and will probably always have the largest aftermarket support, I don't know why someone would go out of their way to make something like that just to be different. I could see if being viable as a trainer for Tikka T3x owners, but past that I can't see the draw. Does anyone make custom Tikka T3x footprint actions at all?
 
I'm looking forward to Lowlight's review of this!!!

I wish more manufacturers would start a launch with a SME comparing among known knowns, in this case Bergara, Vudoo, RimX. But so exciting to see more competition here. Would also love to see a Tikka T1X competitor, i.e. build it around T3x footprint, since the stock options keep expanding and TriggerTech is about to offer triggers.

Not fussy on the 90 degree bolt throw.
Yeah it is all personal preference on bolt throw. Some guys like the stiff 60 degree bolt lifts and some prefer the lighter 90 degree lifts. There are world class competitors that run both.
 

Good to see more competition in the market.
My hope is that this system makes barrel swaps easier with a barrel nut for pre-fit barrels.

One thing I noticed in the video is spent case ejection variability. I don't think that it was related to the speed of cycling the bolt. But it could also be due to the angle of the camera....
YMMV, happy shooting
 
Good to see more competition in the market.
My hope is that this system makes barrel swaps easier with a barrel nut for pre-fit barrels.

One thing I noticed in the video is spent case ejection variability. I don't think that it was related to the speed of cycling the bolt. But it could also be due to the angle of the camera....
YMMV, happy shooting
I'll get a good video of ejection, it's fairly consistent. The barrels will be prefits so no barrel nut needed, I guess you could use one if you wanted to adjust the headspace but we plan on starting with factory barrels and having a few smiths that could turn one on a specific blank or contour in the future