I’m looking to get an action for building a bolt gun for PRS, most likely in 6BR.

Primarily looking at a BigHorn TL3 but open to options. It seems the BigHorn might be more friendly to at home barrel replacements once setup as well.

I’m thinking:
Standard bolt face
Right hand feed/eject
Short action
Medium tang
AISC mag cut
20MOA rail

Any thing else I should consider?

Bighorn makes nice actions. If I had started with Bighorn, I would likely have all my actions from Bighorn. There are a few brand options now in the Remy 700 size actions -- but I really don't keep up with them.

I have Defiance actions and I find that they work really well. I don't see my going to a different brand down the road. I use a local gunsmith for barrel changes. Your listed options look reasonable for 6BR action. When I ordered my Defiance actions, the Defiance rep gave me options for at least double that number of features.

AW cut. Either AICS or AW mags will work. Prefer AW mags with the HRD kit. Ease of loading. Have many thousands of rounds on AW mags with a kit similar to the HRD. Only negative is if you very aggressively slam a mag in could knock the first round out, jam things up.

If you haven't already. Look up changing the cocking piece on the Bighorn to time it to your trigger. Easy to do. Great feature.

Thanks, I’m not locked into the BigHorn. Defiance Machine would make a nice weekend trip if they do tours.

Any favorite place to get AW mags?

quote:

Originally posted by offgrid:
Prefer AW mags with the HRD kit.

Your comment was the first time I’d become aware that there was a difference in AI magazines. I gather from a bit of research that AW magazines are more AR-style like with wider lips that permit loading rounds by pushing them straight down rather than having to slide them under the lips from the front—correct?

What other differences are there between AW and AICS mags? (If it’s not too complicated and you don’t mind taking the time. )

quote:

Originally posted by sigfreund:

quote:

Originally posted by offgrid:
Prefer AW mags with the HRD kit.

Your comment was the first time I’d become aware that there was a difference in AI magazines. I gather from a bit of research that AW magazines are more AR-style like with wider lips that permit loading rounds by pushing them straight down rather than having to slide them under the lips from the front—correct?

What other differences are there between AW and AICS mags? (If it’s not too complicated and you don’t mind taking the time. )

I've always appreciated your curiosity!

Yes, AW mags are similar to AR mags for loading, AICS slide under the feed lips to load. AW mags tend to fit tighter in magwells, not always drop free. I prefer AW mags for the ease of loading. When shooting off of roof top... the tall AICS can get in the way, bottom out on the mag. I don't know how many times I'm loading at a match and someone starts yacking in my ear and I lose count how many rounds I've loaded! Don't always load 10 rds. AICS, I'm stripping the rounds back out. AW, can look down and count. AW allows for a longer OAL. Back when everyone was shooting 260's, it was common to remove the front plate of the AICS to gain some OAL to shoot the long 142SMK and the like, it's spotted welded on.

Spacer kits for both I made several years ago to feed the 6BR, feed extremely well.

Bought most of my AI mags from MileHigh Shooting Supply. Like going in there, like the people.

Wow, thank you both. I had no idea what the difference was, just that they were different.

Great! Thanks for the explanation.

quote:

Any thing else I should consider?

All good recommendations above. Having a good rifle smith is the most important decision you will make. jelrod on this forum make me a rifle a few years ago. He was super helpful via email in my planning and the rifle is accurate. How accurate? 4.3 inch group at 800 yards with a node selected reload. No case annealing, no bullet matching, no distance from the lands testing, no neck turning, etc. And I'm not a real good rifle shooter.............

The rifle he made is stupid accurate with more potential for 2022.

PSA, going from 0.5MOA to 0.3MOA (in my opinion) takes a lot of $ and a lot of attention to details (time and learning).