Tempest Builds..Lets See em

BALLS!!

New barreled action arrived today, went to drop it into Manners T4 with mini chassis and the thing dosnt fit

The trigger hanger hits the chassis preventing the action screws from lining up.

Not one shy to resort to milling aluminum I removed the trigger for function check. Well the ejection port on the Tempest is larger than the cut out in stock. Running dummy rounds through it they were getting hung up on stock. Not keen on cutting CF shell.

So what stocks are you guys using? Hate AI stocks so thats not an option. Can anyone confirm if action works in MPA or KRG?

A06

Using a T4A, give Tom a call, send it and the barreled action in. They will mill it out themselves like they did mine and fit it perfectly.
 
Thats a bummer! Dropped my tempest into an MPA. Fits fine, although the bolt handle cutuout looks a little strange because the tempest handle isnt using much of it.

might be worth it to call MPA and see if they have a tempest specific bolt cutout.
 
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I asked Manners to cut me a T2 elite to the Tempest, which they did. We pillar bedded with a Badger M5 and it is a perfect fit and feeds/functions beautifully. Pretty light with a 26" Kreiger medium palma and a 3.5-15 F1 NXS. I may get a 20" proof and a 2.5-10x32 to switch barrel for a hunting rig.
 
Trying to avoid time wasted sending stock off to be modified.

Have one conformation that MPA is drop in no issue.

Can anybody confirm fit with KRG?

Might ask this guy, i think it does though. I can't see why it wouldn't having used an X-Ray before there shouldn't be an issue with the action. The trigger could however cause some issues. I had to put a relief cut in my X-Ray when i had it for he Timney 2-stage.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OeCyEhUs7yU
 
Thanks for all the info Will. Im just being a pissy bitch right now because I couldnt drop it in and start shooting. Was trying to save time by buying items that were available vs having a full spec build.

Also irritated that I no longer have access to a mill or this would have been together yesterday.

Need to just chill a bit and figure out what to do next.

More than capable of making current stock work but between hand working a relief for trigger, cutting back ejection port then repairing that with devcon and repainting and skim bedding it seems like alot more hassle than I currently have time for. Oh and would probably fill in the M-24 channel and reshape since my heavy palma is swimming in there.

BTW your avatar is hands down the best on here. Any idea when the next season is going to hit Netflix?
 
Thanks for all the info Will. Im just being a pissy bitch right now because I couldnt drop it in and start shooting. Was trying to save time by buying items that were available vs having a full spec build.

Also irritated that I no longer have access to a mill or this would have been together yesterday.

Need to just chill a bit and figure out what to do next.

More than capable of making current stock work but between hand working a relief for trigger, cutting back ejection port then repairing that with devcon and repainting and skim bedding it seems like alot more hassle than I currently have time for. Oh and would probably fill in the M-24 channel and reshape since my heavy palma is swimming in there.

BTW your avatar is hands down the best on here. Any idea when the next season is going to hit Netflix?

Honestly the turn around isn't that bad from manners. I think mine took a month mainly because they walked it over to GAP to get the breaching ring polished so it would stop gouging brass.

Haha thanks, i love me some Peeky Blinders. I don't know when the next season is, though i hope soon. Would make for plenty to watch this summer with House Of Cards airing now, GOT coming, and then Peek Blinders.
 
I asked Manners to cut me a T2 elite to the Tempest, which they did. We pillar bedded with a Badger M5 and it is a perfect fit and feeds/functions beautifully. Pretty light with a 26" Kreiger medium palma and a 3.5-15 F1 NXS. I may get a 20" proof and a 2.5-10x32 to switch barrel for a hunting rig.

Can you tell me more about this switch barrel option? Does the tempest allow for quick barrel change that I can do at home?
 
Anchor Six Zero nailed it. All threaded barrel rifles are quick change if you have the tools. I don't get wrapped up in field changeable. If I need a different caliber while in the field, I fucked up and brought the wrong rifle.
 
Ran my Tempest again at LPRC this weekend. Had my worst outing ever, actually zero'd a stage lol. Currently blaming it on the redbull i drank that morning. Still love running the action though. I think i'm 700rds in now and it just doesn't skip a beat. Actually had someone ask me about how it compared to an AI and he commented that it was extremely smooth as well. I wish there was a stage based on the number of shots you could get off the quickest...lol i like my chances in that area.
 
Ran mine this weekend at a Kansas PRS Club series match. I'm at around 1350 rounds on this action and I've only had it since April. I ended up in 3rd. Tempest did not miss a beat. Zero issues other than me have a realllll dumb mental mistake 3 stages from the end that cost me the win. Had a couple of the newer shooters asking about the action and how smooth and fast it was. The guy who got second was also running a tempest.
 
So sold both my Timneys and am looking to pick up the BnA TacSport 2-stage and their corresponding hanger. If they're not on back order too long and i can snag one i'll definitely let every one know how it feels. I'm hoping for better sear engagement than the Timney. I know most used 30 hanger on the Timney but i used 20 with maybe 5 misfires in 700rds. I know switching to the 20 certainly made the cam over a little rougher, granted i got used to it, but i'm hoping the BnA feels like the 0 hanger with a Xmark which was very smooth.
 
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Had a weird issue today at Heatstroke. My shroud went from the cocked position to the uncocked position when running to bolt in the middle of a stage. All set screws were tight (I check after the stage), it was not a trigger issue. I have no idea how it happened. I was in the middle of stage, ran the bolt and tried to run it home when it stopped about an inch or two short of being in battery. I looked at the chamber and thought I had somehow double fed it, so ripped the mag out, took the round out, mag back in, tried to run the bolt home again and noticed the shroud. So running a JAE I took the cheek piece off with the throw lever tossed it somewhere, pulled the bolt, recocked the bolt by hand, threw it back in, put the cheek piece back on, sent a round, got the impact, ran the bolt and it did it again, so I repeated the process and left the cheek piece off this time. I free recoiled it for another point, then ran out of time before engaging the last target. After the stage, I went to the side and checked everything out. I could not replicate the issue no matter what I did. No idea how it happened. Such is life. Gun ran well. I did not lol.
 
Shaner,
I feel like i had the identical issue at my match on saturday. had the same double-feed issue, and when i cleared it out, the bold was uncocked. weird timing. Gun also ran fine after that, but i'm still having issues with a sticky bolt handle on the cocking stroke. Happens with factory loads, hand loads, and aluminum snapcaps as well. I was hoping the action would break in by now, but i'm close to 1k rnds and its still rougher than a custom action should feel.
 
I've yet to have the cocking issue, sounds strange if you weren't able to replicate it.

Jz, i'd honestly have GAP look at it if it's rough to you.

I'll be at the GAP Grind in October, so I'll probably talk to George sometime that weekend. I'm just afraid they'll tell me since they didn't do the chamber work, they'll need to re-chamber and charge me. If thats the case, I'll just try to shoot out my barrel this year, get the action DLC'd, and start over next spring.
 
I'll be at the GAP Grind in October, so I'll probably talk to George sometime that weekend. I'm just afraid they'll tell me since they didn't do the chamber work, they'll need to re-chamber and charge me. If thats the case, I'll just try to shoot out my barrel this year, get the action DLC'd, and start over next spring.

That's a possibility. So it's just the cocking motion that's tough? Not actually feeding or extracting rounds? I wonder if whoever did it might have had issue with the breaching ring. Luckily that would technically be a simple fix i would think once rebarreled. You could always set the chamber back rather than go through with an entire new blank.
 
Shaner,
I feel like i had the identical issue at my match on saturday. had the same double-feed issue, and when i cleared it out, the bold was uncocked. weird timing. Gun also ran fine after that, but i'm still having issues with a sticky bolt handle on the cocking stroke. Happens with factory loads, hand loads, and aluminum snapcaps as well. I was hoping the action would break in by now, but i'm close to 1k rnds and its still rougher than a custom action should feel.


Have you closely inspected the cocking cam surface and striker? Any abnormal wear or galling? These two parts are very surfave hard, and the shouldnt stick to one another. You could also see if the pin/spring has a bind. Clean and lightly lube it if necessary. I also lube the bayonet portion of the shroud, where it inserts into the bolt body. It would also be helpful to isolate if the effort is chamber/extraction related or action related.

 
Have you closely inspected the cocking cam surface and striker? Any abnormal wear or galling? These two parts are very surfave hard, and the shouldnt stick to one another. You could also see if the pin/spring has a bind. Clean and lightly lube it if necessary. I also lube the bayonet portion of the shroud, where it inserts into the bolt body. It would also be helpful to isolate if the effort is chamber/extraction related or action related.

I'll take apart the bolt tonight and see if there is any abnormal wear...will report back tomorrow.


5RWILL,
about 25% of the time, the cocking motion needs a firm pop with the palm of my hand to get it to close. Again, this is on factory rounds, hand loaded, or snap caps...so i'm not sure if its a headspacing issue or something with the bolt/action. I realize it could be any number of issues, and its fairly difficult to diagnose over a keyboard.

This really is my first venture into a custom action, and while i love the feel of it, I was hoping it would be much smoother. I see guys at competitions running more classic 2 lug R700 clones, and it looks like they are putting zero effort into running the bolt, making follow up shots much much faster.
 
5RWILL,
about 25% of the time, the cocking motion needs a firm pop with the palm of my hand to get it to close. Again, this is on factory rounds, hand loaded, or snap caps...so i'm not sure if its a headspacing issue or something with the bolt/action. I realize it could be any number of issues, and its fairly difficult to diagnose over a keyboard.

This really is my first venture into a custom action, and while i love the feel of it, I was hoping it would be much smoother. I see guys at competitions running more classic 2 lug R700 clones, and it looks like they are putting zero effort into running the bolt, making follow up shots much much faster.

It shouldn't be rough at all. While the 3-lug is a bit stiffer to run than a 2-lug mine is ridiculously smooth compared to a regular 700 and still smoother than my jewelled 700. I think most would agree something is wrong. Hate that that's your first experience with a custom. I can say that while i havne't had any action issues i had fitment issues with my Tempest.

FWIW i contacted Bullet Central about the Tac-sport 2-stage regarding their Hanger. I asked if i have to use their hanger since i saw it was labeled as a 20, rather than the 20 that came with the tempest. Dave from bullet central noted their hanger is to be used with the competition versions of the tac sport or their competition triggers if those are one in the same, as the sear for the competition triggers is too low. So i reaffirmed and he said their hanger isn't required for the tacsport with the tempest and told me to use the default 20 hanger. So that's what i'm going to try.
 
It shouldn't be rough at all. While the 3-lug is a bit stiffer to run than a 2-lug mine is ridiculously smooth compared to a regular 700 and still smoother than my jewelled 700. I think most would agree something is wrong. Hate that that's your first experience with a custom. I can say that while i havne't had any action issues i had fitment issues with my Tempest.

FWIW i contacted Bullet Central about the Tac-sport 2-stage regarding their Hanger. I asked if i have to use their hanger since i saw it was labeled as a 20, rather than the 20 that came with the tempest. Dave from bullet central noted their hanger is to be used with the competition versions of the tac sport or their competition triggers if those are one in the same, as the sear for the competition triggers is too low. So i reaffirmed and he said their hanger isn't required for the tacsport with the tempest and told me to use the default 20 hanger. So that's what i'm going to try.

Thanks again for the replies....this thread/community has been completely awesome. For my custom build, i couldn't be happier with the accuracy...its shoots lasers all day long and load development was easy street. I've got a few more matches this season, so I'll talk to George and a few other Tempest users at the GAP Grind in Oct. I'll take their feedback and send the action off if thats the case.
 
My friend and I each bought a tempest, which were sequential serial numbers. Out of the box they were both sticky as hell when running the bolt back and forth. The bolts were dragging on the bolt stop. I drenched mine in grease and woked it about a zillion times, and it freed up nicely. On my buddies, I tried an oil with suspended moly in it. Its actually an additive I use in cutting oil for my barrel machining. Anyway, one application of that and my buddies action was slick as hell, no break-in needed.
 
My friend and I each bought a tempest, which were sequential serial numbers. Out of the box they were both sticky as hell when running the bolt back and forth. The bolts were dragging on the bolt stop. I drenched mine in grease and woked it about a zillion times, and it freed up nicely. On my buddies, I tried an oil with suspended moly in it. Its actually an additive I use in cutting oil for my barrel machining. Anyway, one application of that and my buddies action was slick as hell, no break-in needed.

I wish i didn't have to ask this, but any chance you can point out the bolt stop?
 
Its the button in the left side of the action. A two piece affair with the rear most piece being the stop itself. It protrudes into that groove on the left side of the bolt body. If you push and hold the button, and then run the bolt as normal, you can isolate bolt drag only(cuz the stop is out of the way).

Have you ever removed the striker assembly from your bolt? Shroud, pin, spring as an assembly i mean? Its easy to do, but not intuitive if you've never been shown.
 
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Its the button in the left side of the action. A two piece affair with the rear most piece being the stop itself. It protrudes into that groove on the left side of the bolt body. If you push and hold the button, and then run the bolt as normal, you can isolate bolt drag only(cuz the stop is out of the way).

Have you ever removed the striker assembly from your bolt? Shroud, pin, spring as an assembly i mean? Its easy to do, but not intuitive if you've never been shown.

Oh ok, I was having issues with the bolt stop spring not returning it to the close position after removing the bolt, so I'll clean/lube that part. Could the bolt stop keep my bolt from camming down though? i suppose if its slightly too long it would make it difficult.

I have removed the striker assembly from the bolt body for cleaning/lubing recently. I have never taken the striker assembly apart however.
 
The end of the bolt stop should hover in the square cutout in the bolt. Like you said, too long would cause issues, but im not sure youd even feel it. Is your action nitrided?

A really close look at the cocking cam surface and the mating striker part should tell you if thats all working correctly. Moly grease is great there.
 
My friend and I each bought a tempest, which were sequential serial numbers. Out of the box they were both sticky as hell when running the bolt back and forth. The bolts were dragging on the bolt stop. I drenched mine in grease and woked it about a zillion times, and it freed up nicely. On my buddies, I tried an oil with suspended moly in it. Its actually an additive I use in cutting oil for my barrel machining. Anyway, one application of that and my buddies action was slick as hell, no break-in needed.

I might have gotten lucky with mine. Least i think i was somewhat of an early adopter, but bare mine was the smoothest action i'd ever handled. DLC retained some of that especially when lubed but it's still very smooth. I wonder if Horizon Machine/Mac Bros had some issues with a batch or something?
 
The end of the bolt stop should hover in the square cutout in the bolt. Like you said, too long would cause issues, but im not sure youd even feel it. Is your action nitrided?

A really close look at the cocking cam surface and the mating striker part should tell you if thats all working correctly. Moly grease is great there.


Yes it is a nitrided action. i also just took apart the cam/bolt internals, cleaned an re-greased...same issues. If i hold the bolt stop up, the bolt spins like a top inside the action. If i'm cycling the bolt with no ammo, its also very smooth. once i start adding basically any kind of cartidge, i start to have the issues.
 
Id leave the striker assembly out and try to isolate exactly where it's coming from. Get real specific with it too. Regarding cocking, consider dropping the trigger out to check for a bind between bolt and trigger.
 
Get ready guys, this one is going to be along one...but systematically eliminating variables is the only way i know how to troubleshoot, so here goes.

Couldn't stop thinking about what the issue could be with this action, so i figured i'd come 'work from home' for the rest of the day, and get down to serious business. Here are the details.

1. Disassembled the firing assembly from the bolt body, cleaning both well. CLP'd the spring/pin, and Frog-lubed the caming portion just below the bolt shroud. Sorry if i got the terminology mixed up. Figured a good cleaning/lube is a great place to start.

2. Thought that possibly my once fired ammo could have stretched too much, so decided to check headspacing. Since i'm also new to reloading for this rifle, i followed this video: https://youtu.be/ldtbsym650k Took the firing assembly back out of the bolt body and confirmed that my FL sizer / headspacing is spot on...bolt handle 'floats' up and down with the round in the chamber. RESOLVED.

3. While testing the headspacing, I noticed that it was very difficult to get the round to seat in the chamber during the first push, but if i backed the bolt out 1/3 and sent it back into the chamber, it was like butter. after further investigation, i noticed that the extractor spring was so tight that it was causing the rim of the cartridge to not enter the bolt face easily. I spent a few minutes tuning the extractor spring, and boom 100x better. RESOLVED.

4. Moved on and reassembled my bolt. Loaded up 5 rounds of sized brass w/o primers, and started testing. Noticed that the bolt seemed to be scraping my AIAW magazine some. Magazines are firmly engaged in my DBM after I trimmed the mag catch/latch when i first installed it. Switched to my 2nd AIAW magazine to test that one, and boom, no more scraping. Bolt slides easily over the magazine. looks like I'll need to sand down the lips on one of my mags. RESOLVED.

End result is that I've test cycled 100 rounds and while it doesn't feel 100% smooth (as a custom action should feel), it feels 100x more reliable to cycle rounds that it did before. I'd say it was a productive 'work' day.

I just want to offer my continued thanks to everyone that keeps offering advice and encouragement...This is such a great community to be a part of!
 
It hitting the AW mag follower (i'm assuming that's what's rubbing) is pretty normal. My bolt after a match actually is gold from the brass rubbing against it all day, dry firing i hit the follower everytime. I could trim the latch some more but it's been reliable so i leave it alone.

Glad it's getting better. Still bothers me that it doesn't feel like a custom should. I'd still have George, someone at GAP, or a quality smith look at it.

I've never had any of the issues recently mentioned, though i know for a fact i don't shoot as much as some, with only 700rds down the tube you can probably guess my shooting is pretty limited. Only widespread issue i've run into was firing pin protrusion issues. Which i eventually sorted, but it seems that's a wide spread issue on trigger/hanger combination.
 
Get ready guys, this one is going to be along one...but systematically eliminating variables is the only way i know how to troubleshoot, so here goes.

Couldn't stop thinking about what the issue could be with this action, so i figured i'd come 'work from home' for the rest of the day, and get down to serious business. Here are the details.

1. Disassembled the firing assembly from the bolt body, cleaning both well. CLP'd the spring/pin, and Frog-lubed the caming portion just below the bolt shroud. Sorry if i got the terminology mixed up. Figured a good cleaning/lube is a great place to start.

2. Thought that possibly my once fired ammo could have stretched too much, so decided to check headspacing. Since i'm also new to reloading for this rifle, i followed this video: https://youtu.be/ldtbsym650k Took the firing assembly back out of the bolt body and confirmed that my FL sizer / headspacing is spot on...bolt handle 'floats' up and down with the round in the chamber. RESOLVED.

3. While testing the headspacing, I noticed that it was very difficult to get the round to seat in the chamber during the first push, but if i backed the bolt out 1/3 and sent it back into the chamber, it was like butter. after further investigation, i noticed that the extractor spring was so tight that it was causing the rim of the cartridge to not enter the bolt face easily. I spent a few minutes tuning the extractor spring, and boom 100x better. RESOLVED.

4. Moved on and reassembled my bolt. Loaded up 5 rounds of sized brass w/o primers, and started testing. Noticed that the bolt seemed to be scraping my AIAW magazine some. Magazines are firmly engaged in my DBM after I trimmed the mag catch/latch when i first installed it. Switched to my 2nd AIAW magazine to test that one, and boom, no more scraping. Bolt slides easily over the magazine. looks like I'll need to sand down the lips on one of my mags. RESOLVED.

End result is that I've test cycled 100 rounds and while it doesn't feel 100% smooth (as a custom action should feel), it feels 100x more reliable to cycle rounds that it did before. I'd say it was a productive 'work' day.

I just want to offer my continued thanks to everyone that keeps offering advice and encouragement...This is such a great community to be a part of!


That's some progress for sure! Can you be more specific on what part of the bolt manipulation isnt as smooth as you like?
 
I agree with the statement above. I'd be calling GAP asap and getting whatever the issue are resolved. An action this expensive should not have that much tinkering to get it to run as it needs to. Glad its headed in the right direction though.
 
As always guys, thanks for the help. I'll give GAP a call in the next few days and keep you all posted. After the work yesterday, i'm about 80% functional, with still some what seems like camming issues on lock and unlock. I'll try to get a video of the action running over the weekend, and post a link.
 
So a few weeks more of investigation, and I think I've finally figured out why my bolt gets caught about an inch before fully seating. It feels like the neck/shoulder of my 6.5CM gets hung up upon entering the chamber. I can confirm that the barrel does have the chamfer cut into it per the install diagram, but it still seems to be getting hung up on the edge of the barrel/chamber. Anybody else see anything like this? Does anyone know if your smith had to make any additional changes to the barrel/Chamber upon install? I know the action itself looks like it has some M4 style feed ramps, but maybe the barrel/chamber needs a similar cut into it.
 
I wonder if it's the breaching ring? I had mine polished due to harsh scratches on brass. Though i wonder if it was somehow out of spec or misaligned that it would cause problems, i certainly could see it doing so. Though i'd think there would be other underlying issues.
 
I wonder if it's the breaching ring? I had mine polished due to harsh scratches on brass. Though i wonder if it was somehow out of spec or misaligned that it would cause problems, i certainly could see it doing so. Though i'd think there would be other underlying issues.

I thought it might have been the smith not chamfering the barrel, but I was wrong. I have no idea why his won't feed. I'd be talking to George to get it figured out.
 
As far as the breach ring goes, I've never seen and deep scratches on my brass. Where were the scratches before polishing? Where on the breach ring did your smith actually polish? Just take the edge off the sharp/machined corners?
 
As far as the breach ring goes, I've never seen and deep scratches on my brass. Where were the scratches before polishing? Where on the breach ring did your smith actually polish? Just take the edge off the sharp/machined corners?

I had deep scratches on my brass when i first got it. When i sent it to manners to have it inlet to the mini-chassis i called GAP and let Manners walk it over and for like 30$ they polished the breaching ring. I've not actually seen it, the scratches aren't deep anymore though.
 
Spoke to GAP support yesterday, suggested looking into the breach ring, even though I've never had any noticable scratches on 400rnds of Hornady brass. Without taking the barrel off, I can see some very sharp edges on the breach ring, and my only guess at this point is that it might be getting hung up on the leading edge of the case rim. The case rims on my test/dummy rounds do look pretty beat up, but they've also been cycled 500x during my troubleshooting. I have a barrel vise coming in the next few days, so I'm planning on yanking the barrel and taking a closer look, then possibly smoothing some of the edges of the breach ring down and polishing it up.

GAP did say they would talk internally today and give me a call back with any more suggestions. Progress!
 
Spoke to GAP support yesterday, suggested looking into the breach ring, even though I've never had any noticable scratches on 400rnds of Hornady brass. Without taking the barrel off, I can see some very sharp edges on the breach ring, and my only guess at this point is that it might be getting hung up on the leading edge of the case rim. The case rims on my test/dummy rounds do look pretty beat up, but they've also been cycled 500x during my troubleshooting. I have a barrel vise coming in the next few days, so I'm planning on yanking the barrel and taking a closer look, then possibly smoothing some of the edges of the breach ring down and polishing it up.

GAP did say they would talk internally today and give me a call back with any more suggestions. Progress!

Glad to hear you're narrowing down the issues. While it might cost a little i think GAP would help you out if it needs repair. They didn't charge me much just to polish the ring, despite that they didn't do the work on the barreled action itself. I know it has to have been frustrating. I never had any hiccups or malfunction inducing issues with my build but i had my fair share of send offs. Whether it was the timney CE not fitting, the Tempest not fitting, wrong action screws, etc.
 
its definitely been a little frustrating, but i can accept 'hiccups' when mixing/matching custom components. When the rifle does work, it's more that worth the time/effort/money. I'm not going to give up on it!