If you were operational without issues in the MPA, you're bolt handle is probably touching the stock since this issue showed up after the change. Make sure there's clearance between the handle and the stock.
Thanks - Ray
Thanks - Ray
Is the stock bedded? If not, improper interface can lead to massive action torque/binding which can rob inertia and/or cause binding and interference of fire control group.
i use the allen keys from my fix it stick kit
adjust so they dont insert/hit the mag catch, then just go .5mm smaller until it clicks in
makes it easy to make all your mags the same
Anyone have experience with Straight Jacket’s house barrel?
I just recently got a one a SJA 20 inch MTU 14 twist McGowan blank on loan from a friend to test with the several lots of Lapua Center X and SK I have. I stripped it clean of carbon and started from scratch only running 30-40 rounds through each of 3 lots. I'm not on my best game with a upper back and shoulder injury and it was a little breezy the day I tested so the jury is still out. It does look promising though. I had 0.4-5 at 50 yards on average for the 4×5s I shot and when the wind gave me a break a couple of 0.3-4s. Only about 120 rounds so far so I'll hopefully get out again this coming weekend. Right now I'd say it shoots as well as the Proof 18 inch Competition Contour 16 twist I have which shoots my current 26XX lot of Center X really well.
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Thanks for the reply. There’s really no information on the twist rate either but what browsing the socials, I’m sure it’s 99.99% 14 twist as in your case. Wonder how a 16.5” barrel length would do. Hmm
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I confirmed it's a 14 twist and the friend I got it from has a good repore with SJA folks.
Also, @Front Range Precision had a few in stock, not sure if any are left.
I just finished chambering & installing a Keystone Accuracy contoured GM blank on my Rim-X. I'd purchased a couple of 1.20" dia straight cylinder CM blanks about a year ago, and finally got around to sending them to John at Keystone to have them contoured on his cnc lathe. I went with his Palma sport contour, which is essentially a heavy Palma with a large radius transition from the shank, instead of the normal Palma double taper transition. I had him do one of the GM blanks with the shank fully machined/threaded for the Rim-X, but not chambered, while the other one is just the Palma sport contour.
I went with the blank with John's cnc-produced Rim-X shank, and used my Eley EPS reamer to cut the chamber, then finished it at 23.5" with an 11* crown, and no threading. First time out, it shot OK group-wise, but I kept getting rounds knocked out of the extractor as I was closing the bolt, which requires opening the bolt and picking the loaded round out of the bbl - would estimate this was happening about 30% of the time. Since I'd had very few issues of this happening after I'd adjusted the mag latch height to work with the previous bbl, I thought perhaps the problem was connected with how tight the body of the EPS chamber is, and decided to pull the bbl and run my JGS carbide Win 52D Match reamer into the EPS chamber and see if that would solve the issue. The 52D chamber is .2278" at the rear, and tapers to .225" at the front, while the EPS is .2252" straight, with no taper to the front. The EPS is also .020" longer than the 52D, with a length of .600" compared to .580", and since they both have a 2* leade angle, the 52D reamer didn't re-cut the existing EPS leade. I simply re-cut the chamber by hand while the bbl was still in the bbl vise after removing the action, using Mobil Sigma cutting oil. I took three passes, removing the reamer and blowing the chips & oil off after each pass - it was a little surprising how much metal was cut, but it went very smoothly and required very little effort. I sprayed some brake & parts cleaner down the bore after finishing, then blew it out with compressed air, hoping to avoid pushing any sharp chips through the bore when I wiped it out with patches afterwards.
Whether my diagnosis of the problem was correct or not, re-cutting the chamber evidently fixed it, as I ran at least 50rds through the rifle without another single issue. I was also pleased with the accuracy, though oddly enough, it shot best with an exceptional lot of SK Std+ & SK LR Match, neither of which have ever shot as good in any of my other custom barreled rifles. Next time out, I plan to try some Eley Match in it, as the black box Eley shoots better in both of my CMP 52Ds than any of the SK/Lapua that I've shot in them.
I went with the blank with John's cnc-produced Rim-X shank, and used my Eley EPS reamer to cut the chamber, then finished it at 23.5" with an 11* crown, and no threading. First time out, it shot OK group-wise, but I kept getting rounds knocked out of the extractor as I was closing the bolt, which requires opening the bolt and picking the loaded round out of the bbl - would estimate this was happening about 30% of the time. Since I'd had very few issues of this happening after I'd adjusted the mag latch height to work with the previous bbl, I thought perhaps the problem was connected with how tight the body of the EPS chamber is, and decided to pull the bbl and run my JGS carbide Win 52D Match reamer into the EPS chamber and see if that would solve the issue. The 52D chamber is .2278" at the rear, and tapers to .225" at the front, while the EPS is .2252" straight, with no taper to the front. The EPS is also .020" longer than the 52D, with a length of .600" compared to .580", and since they both have a 2* leade angle, the 52D reamer didn't re-cut the existing EPS leade. I simply re-cut the chamber by hand while the bbl was still in the bbl vise after removing the action, using Mobil Sigma cutting oil. I took three passes, removing the reamer and blowing the chips & oil off after each pass - it was a little surprising how much metal was cut, but it went very smoothly and required very little effort. I sprayed some brake & parts cleaner down the bore after finishing, then blew it out with compressed air, hoping to avoid pushing any sharp chips through the bore when I wiped it out with patches afterwards.
Whether my diagnosis of the problem was correct or not, re-cutting the chamber evidently fixed it, as I ran at least 50rds through the rifle without another single issue. I was also pleased with the accuracy, though oddly enough, it shot best with an exceptional lot of SK Std+ & SK LR Match, neither of which have ever shot as good in any of my other custom barreled rifles. Next time out, I plan to try some Eley Match in it, as the black box Eley shoots better in both of my CMP 52Ds than any of the SK/Lapua that I've shot in them.
It depends entirely on your skills of installing a barrel and adjust the magazine. The most important thing in all is to choose a barrel where you can believe it was threaded and chambered correctly. I had a ejection issue with mine, Ray sent me a new bolt head. It’s operating flawless since then. I installed barrels from Keystone and Blue Mountain Precision, no issues with either one.
Unless you really like fiddle fucking around with firing pin fall, swapping triggers, extraction issues, chamber issues with builders that don't know fuck about 22s. Stick with a proven rig from the likes of Primal rights, Lee Gardner, or someone who understands 22 chambers and the RimX in particular.
The benefit is that someone else was responsible for figuring out and addressing issues that you might have in assembling and tuning it. How much of a benefit that is depends on who you get it from versus what your skills are and how much time and attention you are willing to devote to it. If you get a high quality pre-fit barrel, stock and trigger and know what you are doing, it is not difficult to build a very nice rifle yourself. If something goes wrong, you are responsible.
Wow, I am surprised to see the responses here. Between me and my shooting buddies we have 5 RimXs. Only 1 was purchased as a barreled action, and it was also the only one to have a problem. The other 4 have prefits from PVA (don't recommend), straight jacket, and proof. It really isn't hard to put together, and if there is a major issue, whoever made the barrel better stand behind their work.
I realize that not everyone has my life experiences. I was a repair man for Sears back in the day. I was a machinist for 7 years. I grew up on a farm where we did most of our own repairs, so I am somewhat mechanically inclined.
With that said, screwing together guns is easy peasy. Good quality parts will make it easy to wind up with a build that you are proud of with very little to no headaches.
With that said, screwing together guns is easy peasy. Good quality parts will make it easy to wind up with a build that you are proud of with very little to no headaches.
So, is a builder taking measurements of the action and machining a unique barrel for that? I don't understand the difference...
I’ve gone through minimum 2500 rounds on my RimX with a TS Customs prefit barrel. When I say zero issues I mean zero. All 2500+ have fed, fired, and extracted. The RimX was assembled in my garage.
Mine did yes, communicated with me every step of the way with chamber options, length, contour, headspacing, # of grooves, barrel manufacturer, twist rate etc. Then he took the rifle to a range and shot various lots and makes of ammo through it to make sure it was running reliably and was accurate.
I am sure there are dozens and dozens of prefits that are great and reliable, but that added peace of mind knowing someone who has built dozens of similar rifles with great results...easy for me to justify the extra $$$ and the wait time.
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Thanks for the input. Yeah, the peace of mind would be nice with good customer service and it's not the money or time at all and should t be at this price point. You're already paying a premium. For me, it's more I like the idea of being able to spin on a different bbl at home at some point without sending everything in to a gunsmith.
I’ll be messing with a new barrel at this weekend’s match. Had a local guy spin on a Krieger truck axle today. Surprisingly it balances perfectly with zero weights.
What length barrel?
How heavy is a 1.25 truck axle barrel? 7lbs?
22”
As far as weight wouldn’t doubt it being in the 7# range as shipped weight was around 8-ish for 25”.
as a reference
Proof Comp Contour as listed on their website
20" - 5 pound 15oz
24" - 6 pound 8 oz
26" - 7 pound 5 oz
not sure when they added the 24" and 26" options but that almost makes me want to pick up another RimX barrel
Proof Comp Contour as listed on their website
20" - 5 pound 15oz
24" - 6 pound 8 oz
26" - 7 pound 5 oz
not sure when they added the 24" and 26" options but that almost makes me want to pick up another RimX barrel
Enjoy.
I order my bbl blanks for either Rim-X or Vudoo actions with a 4" shank so I can part-off an inch and still have plenty of shank to make holding in a 4-jaw easy, even with 1.685" or 1.744" (Rim-X or Vudoo) protruding. That leaves plenty of room behind the tenon cut so I don't have to crowd the chuck jaws.
Does anyone change out there barrel(s) alot? Do you find that it is worth it or do you just buy another RimX rifle setup?
I've changed my barrel on my 1 RimX action at least 15x doing barrel testing....I'm not sure the question?? I've had zero issues changing out barrels...shoot as good when I put them back on as they did when I took them off..
Ok thanks, I just thought it would be a pain in the ass taking the action out of the stock, putting it back in and the situation if the barrel would be indexed properly so it would shoot just as good as before.
I torque every barrel on to 50lb so always the same.
Just screwed my Krieger back on after shooting the latest GM for a while and it hammers one hole just like it did before I pulled it off...
I have a magazine adjuster on my chassis. I think Krg’s also have them in most of their chassis. ( I have an MPA Matrix.
Got my 22” benchmark out finally after tuning. Pretty happy. I’m not usually a group shooting type fella. Cant wait to get a calm day and try again now…..
From bison Tactical?
No, I had a benchrest guy in WV do it for me. He's never done one before. JMPrecision. I did have to polish the chamfer after this test. The single flyers in some of the groups should be gone now. I came home and found some lead shavings in the lube buildup at the bottom of the chamber entrance.
Ah okay thanks. I was going to pick up one from Bison Tactical which is chambered by Modacam/Jelrod
Today was my first range day with the rim-x. I got interrupted with a work emergency, so I only fired 50 rounds, but boy I was pleased. Sorry no pictures and I'm still waiting for the bottom metal for the foundation stock so it's temporarily in a bravo.
For those wondering, I put this together in my basement. I spent about a half hour tuning 3 mags and they run super slick. I shot with 2 guys at a match a few weeks ago that were having troubles with feeding if anything touched the front of the mags. So I payed special attention to this, and I had to add a piece of velcro to the back of the mag to keep it from nose diving if I pushed it into a bag.
I'm using a Primal Rights/TS customs benchmark barrel with the EC tuner. I haven't played with the tuner at all and this is already the most accurate 22lr I've owned. Can't wait to put more rounds down range.
For those wondering, I put this together in my basement. I spent about a half hour tuning 3 mags and they run super slick. I shot with 2 guys at a match a few weeks ago that were having troubles with feeding if anything touched the front of the mags. So I payed special attention to this, and I had to add a piece of velcro to the back of the mag to keep it from nose diving if I pushed it into a bag.
I'm using a Primal Rights/TS customs benchmark barrel with the EC tuner. I haven't played with the tuner at all and this is already the most accurate 22lr I've owned. Can't wait to put more rounds down range.
You’ll enjoy the barrel. It feeds like butter. I have mine tuned with CX and the tuned rounds are stacked on top of each other. Mind you this is not indicative of group size. This is for tuning before someone says anything.
I don’t know how handy you are or what stock/chassis you are using but you can make yourself a barricade stop to protect the mag.
You can see the stop I made protecting the mag from pressing against the bag. The TS/Primal Rights barrel isn’t pictured. I’m messing around with a Krieger right now.
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Great post, thanks.
I was one who didn't know this. I was getting ready to pull the trigger on a Rimx mag (wanted 5 to be able to do a box at a time), saw this and just pulled the trigger on a Vuidoo 3 pack
Dennis,
I always appreciate the details you post and thanks again for turning me on to JElrod His work is superb. After problems with my initial Rimx, I had a local smith do the barrel with a 52D chamber on Ray's recommendation. It shot well, but I don't think the full length engraving is the best way to go. I called Kevin Nevius and he recommended .030 engagement for Lapua and .090 for Eley. After pouring over dozens of reamer specs, I decided to go with a "semi-auto" reamer (at least that is what I have heard it called), the Bentz (my 52D reamer is a recut Bentz). It shares a lot with the 52D and a Calfee II, .227 vice .2278 and tapers to .2255 and .670 to minimize engagement. Kevin also he found, from shooting Eley, before moving to Lapua, he recommended a 2 degree leade for Eley and a 1 1/5 degree for Lapua. Since what I am shooting seems to share bullet profile with Lapua and SK, I think the 1.5 is a good way to go. Wind has been terrible here, but my initial shooting with the 24" Shilen ratchet and PRX tuner at 70 yds were very promising. I just got in another Shilen I'll send to Jonathan to see how 26" compares which I'll shoot with the PRX and a Harrell's with 1" extension.
But have in mind that Vudoo mags have no feed ramp other then the little one you can grind into them. The feed ramp on the RimX is actually one of the greatest advantage‘s of the two different systems. If you have one not feeding because of the missing ramp you could damage the extractor and or tensioner. I have 4 mags for my RimX and 4 for the Vudoo for this exact reason.
Did you have to modify the feed ramp/lips? I'm shooting a KRG Bravo if that makes any difference.
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If Vudoo made RimX magazines that worked in the Vudoo, I'd gladly pay $125 for them. I see no reason to buy Vudoo mags for a RimX.
Doesn’t hurt sitting in your match range bag. It’s a win win. You can help out a Vudoo buddy that forgot their mag(s) or help yourself if you forgot your RimX mags. Plus they are $40. No biggie.
I have 4 Rimx, was going to buy a 5th, but on the chance that the Vudoo mags work, having 3 extras and some change, I figure it is worth a shot. I'm a backyard shooter. Would I use these if I needed to depend on them in a match? Probably not, but if they work, it will be worth the gamble. Also, once I get done testing my barrels, chamber and tuners, I have another Shilen barrel that I may want to mate up to a Vudoo action.
I bought my Rim-X action in August of 2020, and have it up & running with both Bartlein & Green Mtn bbls since then. The thing I really like about it more than anything else is the ease of loading the Rim-X mags without any concern of rim lock. Have never had a single issue with feeding due to that problem - but for $125/magazine, I'd expect them to work very well. I bought the action out of curiosity, since I already had three Vudoo Gen 1 repeaters, and am very satisfied with them - and since then, I've bought two single shot V22S actions and a new Three-60 repeater. Also, prior to buying the Rim-X, I'd built five CF rifles for my own use on Bighorn and Zermatt TL2-SA and LA actions, as well as one on a TL3-SA. Have also built a few rifles for customers on these actions, and because of dealings with A.J. & the good folks at Zermatt, was wanting to give their new Rim-X action a shot. But I've never tried any of my V-22 mags in the Rim-X - and I've got them ranging from some of the early prototype mags that Mike was making for those of us who built rifles on converted CMP Rem 40X repeaters, up to the latest mags with the orange followers like the ones I got with the Three-60 action. Guess I should try a couple of the V-22s in the Rim-X - again, just out of curiosity. I've never shot the Rim-X in a match, but might consider doing so if the V-22 mags were reliable in it.
I had already reached out to Ray prior to the match but didn’t get the fix in on time.
I was sent a firing pin assembly that increased pin travel by 0.010” after troubleshooting some things first. This “fix” might be old news as I didn’t search this entire thread.
If you’re an Eley shooter and plagued by light strikes I would reach out to Zermatt and work out a solution short of not shooting Eley altogether.
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