Looking at building a new hunting rifle in 6.5 PRC and am stuck between the tried and true Impact or venturing off onto the Wombat. Was wondering if anybody had much experience with the Wombat and could chime in on some pros and cons on these 2 actions and why I should choose one or the other.
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Impact NBK vs Stiller Wombat
- Thread starter zmen
- Start date
Is the Wombat receiver machined as one piece or is the rail pinned? In my honest opinion, I would never consider an action that is not fully integral.
I believe the rail on the Wombat is not integral which is a downside to me for a hunting rifle.
From what I have seen it seems to just be and interchangeable rail. Comes with a 20 MOA rail but can throw what ever you want on it.
If I were you, I'd go with the tried and true Impact action. Or, you could look at Defiance. They have several actions that would be great for a hunting rifle.
What happens to your hunt if the fasteners holding that rail in place come loose?
Not all interchangeable rails are bad, ARC for example keyed them on their actions with interchangeable rails (Mausingfield). Even if the fasteners come loose, that rail isn't going anywhere.
Most others will result in a big zero shift and unpredictability in POI.
Between the two, I'd definitely go Impact. Wombat doesn't have integral rail or lug, and impact has widely available prefits. If you are open to other actions, you might look at some of the lighter weight options from Lone Peak, Kelbly, or maybe defiance. Do a little googling, and you should be able to find an NBK or Nanook or maybe Anti-X for for the same price or less than that Wombat.
Actually funny story that this reply just reminded me of and probably just took the Wombat out of the question for me. I have CA ridgeline FFT and had that EXACT issue happen. Screws had Loctite and still had wiggled loose. Luckily I noticed before any shots were taken.
I had it happen at a PRS match with an older Defiance Rebel action. Not fun. At least it happened right at the end of the match for me.
I think going integral (or at least a keyed rail) would be smart for a hunting rifle.
The Stiller pricing puts these in direct competition with the Borden actions, my personal favorite. This will be a very hard uphill battle, to say the least! The action market, in today's world, is quite flooded. Only the very best, quality wise and price wise are going to survive. Bat, Borden, and Kelbly are at the top of the heap to my way of thinking. Time will tell, but Stiller has their work cut out for them. I really don't think this strange variation is going to help matters!
I have gone full circle on the integral rail thing.
Obviously an integrally machined rail is not going to come loose but I don't like the limited rail length.
Going back to the old Surgeon RSR and the Defiance Rebels, some actions have upgraded screws and also two hardened locator pins that insure the mounting screws don't have to take any of the shear load. I have 100% faith in those systems.
The cheaper and/or poorly designed Pic rail bases are another story.
With properly designed rails that are correctly mated to the receiver, there should be no worries. I would imagine that you have more potential failure points in the rings than such a base.
I would encourage the OP to go with the Impact for sure but not because of the integral rail. It's just a better product. Just the differences in bolt stops would push me to the Impact over the Stiller.
Very well said and some great points.
Appreciate your insight as always Mr. Cross.
Many years back, before the advent of integral rails, and pinned mounts I had an issue with mount screws loosening. Solved it by using golf club epoxy to glue the mounts and screws, problem solved. Golf club epoxy has a high shear strength, year of hitting a golf ball is pretty high impact and probably a lot more that recoil. Mounts/rails can be removed using a heat gun which softens the epoxy at around 300 degrees F which will not harm the action so they can be changed.
The potential problem with integral rails is they are integral, can't change them out if they aren't long enough, not quite in the desired position or if later you want a 20 or 30 degree instead of a flat. On the other hand they are pretty much bomb proof.
If I were to build another rifle for a single purpose and needed the most absolute solid design I would use an integral rail action IF the rail matched what I needed. On the other hand the glue ons have never failed me, admittedly a small sample size.
The potential problem with integral rails is they are integral, can't change them out if they aren't long enough, not quite in the desired position or if later you want a 20 or 30 degree instead of a flat. On the other hand they are pretty much bomb proof.
If I were to build another rifle for a single purpose and needed the most absolute solid design I would use an integral rail action IF the rail matched what I needed. On the other hand the glue ons have never failed me, admittedly a small sample size.
Pinned and screwed rails are fine if done correctly. A touch of loc tite under the rail and on the screws will hold it together very well.
All that said after owning a GA Precision/Impact 737 I don't think I would ever go back.
All that said after owning a GA Precision/Impact 737 I don't think I would ever go back.
