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Nucleus Build Pictures

hereinaz

LS Wild - Thunderbird Long Range
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Minuteman
  • Mar 7, 2018
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    Arizona
    I wanna see all the new builds. All the other info can stay in the other thread.
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    My new freedom machine, #6 off the line
    -Nucleus
    -PVA 6.5C prefit barrel (krylon flat black)
    -Hellfire Brake
    -Timney Calvin Elite 2-stage
    -KRG Bravo stock/arca rail
    -SWFA 5-20 HD
    View attachment 6918945
    Any issues with the CE? Someone in the other mentioned some issues regarding the overtravel screw I believe
     
    My new freedom machine, #6 off the line
    -Nucleus
    -PVA 6.5C prefit barrel (krylon flat black)
    -Hellfire Brake
    -Timney Calvin Elite 2-stage
    -KRG Bravo stock/arca rail
    -SWFA 5-20 HD
    View attachment 6918945
    Doesn’t look like you went Barloc....so what did u use for an action wrench. Sitting on my shouldered barrel from PVA and get my action tomorrow...
     
    A mock up w/ Barloc, 16.5" NSS Criterion Varmint contour barrel, TriggerTech primary trigger, PTG BDL, and Griffin minimalist muzzle brake in McMillan HTG stock.

    Barloc doesn't clear barrel channel so screws are not fully tighten.

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    A mock up w/ Barloc, 16.5" NSS Criterion Varmint contour barrel, TriggerTech primary trigger, PTG BDL, and Griffin minimalist muzzle brake in McMillan HTG stock.

    Barloc doesn't clear barrel channel so screws are not fully tighten.

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    Was that a 700 inlet or other clone inlet? Mine drops right into a Manners 700 inlet but all my McMillan 700 inlets require a bit of sanding for bolt handle clearance. Not as much as a sr3/TL3 but some.
     
    Was that a 700 inlet or other clone inlet? Mine drops right into a Manners 700 inlet but all my McMillan 700 inlets require a bit of sanding for bolt handle clearance. Not as much as a sr3/TL3 but some.

    It's a R700 with Rem Varmint barrel inlet: https://mcmillanusa.com/product/htg/
    Bolt handle clearance is fine, Barloc needs more.
     
    I put a Barloc on my Savage action and dropped it in an HS Precision for a varmint contour. I had to open the channel up for the Barloc as well. I think that will be a fairly common theme for Barloc in a stock, unless you have a straight barrel contour. It wasn't much though, maybe 1/16th or so free floated it in my stock. I also had it skim bedded, so that lifted it up a little bit.
     
    Picked up my Nuke yesterday. Waiting on a barrel. I've thrown it in a KRG W3 Gen 4. The front action screw is too long and will not allow the bolt to rotate. Just an fyi. The Huber two stage feels amazing.
     

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    I'm putting mine in an XRAY Chassis and this is my first build, If my action screw is too long similar to yours, how do I secure it? Did you replace the screw?

    I went to Fastenal. The only 1/4-28 SHCS they had was 1/2” long, which is what I had with the chassis. I believe there is supposed to be a washer as the hole is just slightly slotted. I thought about cutting it short, but will try the washer idea first. I’ll play with it tomorrow after work and let you know.
     
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    I went to Fastenal. The only 1/4-28 SHCS they had was 1/2” long, which is what I had with the chassis. I believe there is supposed to be a washer as the hole is just slightly slotted. I thought about cutting it short, but will try the washer idea first. I’ll play with it tomorrow after work and let you know.
    You don't want to try and make a screw a full .5" shorter by stacking washers until it works. You're going to want to trim the screw down.

    You can use a dremel, or you can use the bolt cutters that are built into many "industrial" style wire cutters. Here's an example of what I'm talking about. You can pick them up online or in a Home Depot/Lowes for about $15 and they'll strip or crimp wires and cut screws for you. Thread the screw into both sides of the screw cutter portion, then squeeze and it snaps right off. If you're really worried about the threads you can just touch them up with a bit of sandpaper if you don't have a dremel, but I've never had a screw that had problems requiring chamfering the threads using screw cutters like these.
     
    Picked up my Nuke yesterday. Waiting on a barrel. I've thrown it in a KRG W3 Gen 4. The front action screw is too long and will not allow the bolt to rotate. Just an fyi. The Huber two stage feels amazing.
    How many spacers are you using with the screw?
     
    You don't want to try and make a screw a full .5" shorter by stacking washers until it works. You're going to want to trim the screw down.

    You can use a dremel, or you can use the bolt cutters that are built into many "industrial" style wire cutters. Here's an example of what I'm talking about. You can pick them up online or in a Home Depot/Lowes for about $15 and they'll strip or crimp wires and cut screws for you. Thread the screw into both sides of the screw cutter portion, then squeeze and it snaps right off. If you're really worried about the threads you can just touch them up with a bit of sandpaper if you don't have a dremel, but I've never had a screw that had problems requiring chamfering the threads using screw cutters like these.

    You've misunderstood. The length of the SHCS is only 1/2 inch long, which was the shortest that I could find. And I don't think you're going to cut a 1/4-28 cap screw with a wire strippers.
     
    If you're cutting a screw use a high tension hand saw and a wire wheel or similar dremel bit
     
    Going shooting next week and couldn’t wait my Barloc so I put it together with a savage barrel nut.

    Nucleus RH short action
    25 inch X-caliber medium Palma 1:10 308 barrel
    No name 3 port muzzle brake
    Greyboe Renegade stock
    TriggerTech special trigger
    IOR Valdada 3.5-18x50

    Really happy with how it’s turned out and can’t wait to shoot it.
     

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    Do you mean with the front action screw? If so, then none as of yet. I'm going to try it with one. If that doesn't work, I'll shave the screw down.

    I have Gen 5 W3 chassis and the manual says "For Remington stocks, two washers are used on the front action screw." I ended up using only one with Mausingfield as two washer gives me to little thread contact, but using none will make the screw go in too much blocking the bolt.
     
    Thanks Derek. I'll try that and see what happens. I bought the chassis used and have no instructions for it.

    They have Gen6 instructions on their website. For R700 you need one washer in the back and 2 in the front, like I said with my Mausingfield I use one back and one front. I'm sure they can send you a few washer if you don't have it if you give them a call. Good luck.
     
    You've misunderstood. The length of the SHCS is only 1/2 inch long, which was the shortest that I could find. And I don't think you're going to cut a 1/4-28 cap screw with a wire strippers.
    If you buy wire strippers with the threading for 1/4"-28 you absolutely can cut them. The trick would be finding a pair with that specific threading instead of the more common 1/4-20. I most frequently use mine to cut down 1/4-20 socket head cap screws.

    Regardless, not using washers will be preferable since it's more repeatable (in terms of zero and maintaining constant screw torque) if you ever remove the action and re-install it later. Washers usually compress when you tighten down on them which does some wonky things with your screw torque. Don't use washers, cut the bolt down in whatever way you see fit.
     
    I have Gen 5 W3 chassis and the manual says "For Remington stocks, two washers are used on the front action screw." I ended up using only one with Mausingfield as two washer gives me to little thread contact, but using none will make the screw go in too much blocking the bolt.

    One washer was enough to make some clearance between the boot and the screw. Thanks for the tip!
     
    One washer was enough to make some clearance between the boot and the screw. Thanks for the tip!

    On my KRG Gen 5 W3, I use two washers up front and one on the back for my TL3 as stated in the instruction. With the ARC Nucleus as the others have mentioned only one washer was needed for the front action screw solid thread engagement and one on the rear.
     
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    If you buy wire strippers with the threading for 1/4"-28 you absolutely can cut them. The trick would be finding a pair with that specific threading instead of the more common 1/4-20. I most frequently use mine to cut down 1/4-20 socket head cap screws.

    Regardless, not using washers will be preferable since it's more repeatable (in terms of zero and maintaining constant screw torque) if you ever remove the action and re-install it later. Washers usually compress when you tighten down on them which does some wonky things with your screw torque. Don't use washers, cut the bolt down in whatever way you see fit.
    A socket head cap screw in fine thread is almost guaranteed to be grade 8 and probably hard enough to wreck wire cutters.

    The proper way to shorten a bolt (short of lathe turning) is to make a stack of one nut and as many washers as you need for your desired length and tighten that on the bolt. Next use a hack saw, band saw, abrasive saw or grinder to cut off the excess length. Use a file to smooth the cut and square it up somewhat, then remove the nut which will push any remaining burrs out of the bolt thread. Finally put about a 45° chamfer on the end to blend with the thread profile. I usually use a sanding disk, belt sander or bench grinder for the last step but a file can work too.

    An alternative on longer bolts is to double nut instead of creating a washer stack.

    In a stock/chassis, you're bolting against aluminum, fiberglass or wood, so use a washer.
     
    Nucleus, Barloc, Manners PRS, ptg bottom metal, Hawk Hill 6.5x47 Savage Prefit. No pics of groups but it flat hammers with factory Lapua 139gr. SHV F1 for now that I’ll likely upgrade. I have a PVA 6.5 creedmoor barrel and another Hawk Hill in 6 creed. This one shoots so good I doubt I’ll swap it any time soon.
     

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    Nucleus, Barloc, Manners PRS, ptg bottom metal, Hawk Hill 6.5x47 Savage Prefit. No pics of groups but it flat hammers with factory Lapua 139gr. SHV F1 for now that I’ll likely upgrade. I have a PVA 6.5 creedmoor barrel and another Hawk Hill in 6 creed. This one shoots so good I doubt I’ll swap it any time soon.

    How'd the Barloc fit in the Manners barrel channel?
     
    How'd the Barloc fit in the Manners barrel channel?

    It didn’t. VERY careful dremel work. Tom Manners in another thread said they can Inlet for the Barloc. This was a CORE heavy Palma inlet and it only required an inch or so to be enlarged.
     
    I was able to finally get the Nucleus build completed this weekend. It's sitting in an XLR Envy chassis with their heavy fill options (both front rail and a solid buffer tube) and attached to a 28" Criterion 6BR bull contour pre-fit with a Thunder Beast Ultra 7 on the end. Glass on top is a TT525P. I wasn't sure how I'd feel about a polished stainless barrel when everything else was a nice black, but I'm digging the contrast after seeing it all together.

    I headspaced it off of my virgin Lapua brass and threw together a quick set of test loads using 105 Hybrids seated .020" off the lands with charges from 29 to 31 grains of Varget in half grain increments. The winner of this very coarse test was 30.5 grains, but the worst group of the day was still under .5 MOA with one flyer. I didn't take as much care as I should have loading these since I was excited to test out the rifle, and I know there were 3 or 4 cases that I ended up priming after dropping powder and seating bullets so I'll need to do some proper load development when I get the chance to find what the true best is.

    Order of the photos is the rifle, best group (30.5gr), and worst group (29gr).

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    What did you think of the think of the thunderbeast? I picked mine up (ultra 7 CB) and shot it for first time today. I was unimpressed. :confused:
     
    What did you think of the think of the thunderbeast? I picked mine up (ultra 7 CB) and shot it for first time today. I was unimpressed. :confused:

    Unimpressed how? I was very happy with my 6.5 Ultra 7 CB on my Tikka TAC A1, especially compared to the SiCo Hybrid that I had been using on it before the TB. Better tone, quieter, lighter weight. What didn't you like?
     
    Here’s mine in a kmw sentinel with the mini chassis and nvg rail. Currently has a Jewell trigger on it just to try out probably will switch it back to my 2 stage Calvin elite and get rid of the Jewell if I don’t like it. Just waiting on a barrel now.
     

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    ARC Nucleus, right hand short action, 0.475 bolt face, 20moa rail
    KRG Bravo
    X-Caliber 26" Savage bull contour 6.5 Creedmoor
    TriggerTech Diamond
    Vortex PST Gen II 5-25x50 EBR-2C MOA
    Waiting on a BarLoc

    Using a load worked up for my Savage 10 factory rifle:
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    What did you think of the think of the thunderbeast? I picked mine up (ultra 7 CB) and shot it for first time today. I was unimpressed. :confused:
    I've used both the Ultra 7 and the Ultra 9 quite a few times. If maximum suppression is your primary concern, the Ultra 9 is the way to go. I can comfortably shoot 6.5 Creedmoor with no ear protection (even though I know it's unsafe, I still avoid it unless I don't have any ear pro with me) using the Ultra 9.

    The Ultra 7 isn't quite as quiet, but it's still far, far better than shooting with just a plain muzzle or a brake. I would be a bit uncomfortable shooting the 7 without ear protection, but the reason I'm planning to use it instead of the 9 is because this gun has a 28" barrel instead of the 26" barrel I'm used to. With the 7" can on the end instead of the 9" can it feels like the same overall barrel length to me because they're effectively equivalent. I might try the 9" can on this one again later, but for PRS matches longer can end up being a hindrance even if it's only 2 inches.

    Is this your first time shooting with a suppressor before? If so, you'll have to keep in mind they're not quite like in the movies unless you're shooting something sub-sonic.

    Neither can has given me any POI shift though (using their 30CB to mount it), so on stages where I'm concerned about the gun possibly being too long I just unscrew it and shoot with only the brake.
     
    Is it possible to single feed a Nucleus, like it is a Mausingfield?
     
    Unimpressed how? I was very happy with my 6.5 Ultra 7 CB on my Tikka TAC A1, especially compared to the SiCo Hybrid that I had been using on it before the TB. Better tone, quieter, lighter weight. What didn't you like?

    Mine seemed really loud compared to my Surefire socom and a friend's omega.

    We didn't do a scientific test by any means, but without ear protection the ultra 7 was easily the most painful to our ears.
     
    Has anyone gotten to compare the Nucleus to any other actions they own? Looking for real world input on how it would compare against a Bighorn or Impact in regards to reliability, smoothness, etc (And yes it may be a tad early to ask this).
     
    I've had mine next to my TL3.

    I like the ejector on the TL3 more. It requires less effort and can be run slower than the Nucleus ejector.

    Bolt lift is lighter on TL3 but that's expected with 90 degree lift.

    I think the Nucleus is smoother but my friend thinks my TL3 is. It all depends on how the bolt is run.
     
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    I've had mine next to my TL3.

    I like the ejector on the TL3 more. It requires less effort and can be run slower than the Nucleus ejector.

    Bolt lift is lighter on TL3 but that's expected with 90 degree lift.

    I think the Nucleus is smoother but my friend thinks my TL3 is. It all depends on how the bolt is run.
    Ditto

    My sr3 feels smoother out of the box. Will see once things wear in.
     
    I've used both the Ultra 7 and the Ultra 9 quite a few times. If maximum suppression is your primary concern, the Ultra 9 is the way to go. I can comfortably shoot 6.5 Creedmoor with no ear protection (even though I know it's unsafe, I still avoid it unless I don't have any ear pro with me) using the Ultra 9.

    The Ultra 7 isn't quite as quiet, but it's still far, far better than shooting with just a plain muzzle or a brake. I would be a bit uncomfortable shooting the 7 without ear protection, but the reason I'm planning to use it instead of the 9 is because this gun has a 28" barrel instead of the 26" barrel I'm used to. With the 7" can on the end instead of the 9" can it feels like the same overall barrel length to me because they're effectively equivalent. I might try the 9" can on this one again later, but for PRS matches longer can end up being a hindrance even if it's only 2 inches.

    Is this your first time shooting with a suppressor before? If so, you'll have to keep in mind they're not quite like in the movies unless you're shooting something sub-sonic.

    Neither can has given me any POI shift though (using their 30CB to mount it), so on stages where I'm concerned about the gun possibly being too long I just unscrew it and shoot with only the brake.

    Not my first can. Also had a .6 mil elevation shift and .3 mil windage shift. Shift was consistent, but I was hoping to use it the same way you do.

    My Surefire by comparison only has a .2 mil shift despite weighing double that of the TB.