Swapping barreled actions into stocks

grapo

Sergeant of the Hide
Full Member
Minuteman
May 19, 2020
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I need some advice from some more experience than I am. I have a bergara b14r which I really love, as I do most of my shooting with rimfire. However I would like to start to branch out into more centerfire shooting, and was planning on picking up a standard b14 HMR in 6.5 creedmoor, to stay on the same platform for training. As I do more research I am wondering if it makes more sense to just buy a barreled action either bergara or custom, and just drop them into my chassis depending on what I want to shoot. My question is if I am careful about what I torque the screws to, how much can I expect my zero to shift from doing this? Is this a reasonable plan or would I better off with just a full rifle and not mess with swapping? Appreciate any input, thanks.
 
I planned a similar thing for an upcoming rimfire build, but decided to just get a stock for the RF instead of bouncing back and forth having to worry about chasing zero between the two platforms
 
If you install the barrel action in a stock with pillars/bedded or chassis with same torque specs then you see very minimum POI shift. If it’s more then 1/4 inch at 100 yard then your not using the same process each time.
 
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I recently pulled the factory HMR stock/mini off of a very nice shooting B14 HMR 6.5 CM and moved it to a MDT XRS. Retorqued to 60 in/lb and did not see any appreciable zero shift. Not the rule but worked for me this time. Having a dedicated rifle is better for consistency especially if you say you are training.
 
I’d get a custom barreled action. You’re poi want change much but you’ll definitely want to re-zero. I’d say get a decent QD scope mount like a larue and maximize your savings. You could save a stack of cheese if you have expensive glass and chassis. As an example, My whiskey 3 with enclosed forend cost me about $1400 and my leupold Mark 5 about $2500 so if I outfitted another the same way it would cost me nearly $4k. You could pay for a couple of custom barreled actions for that amount. Well worth the price of a few rounds to re-zero between changes in my humble opinion.