Guys, looking for opinions and ideas on an affordable bolt trainer in .223. Needs to have 10+ capacity, needs to be dead reliable, needs to be heavier barrel, needs to have adjustable stock to fit all types, needs to be fast twisted. And I would prefer stainless but the catch is that it needs to be economical because it's going to get beat. I will try to take care of it but you know how it is when other people use your stuff...so what's it going to be?
.223 Trainer for kids.
- Thread starter CJS-6.5
- Start date
.223.
10+ capacity
dead reliable
heavy barrel
adjustable stock
fast twisted
prefer stainless
What's your budget??
If you find that rifle for a price you consider cheap/affordable/inexpensive then let me know and I'll but one too!!!
I was going to suggest getting a Howa action and putting it in an Archangel stock (would meet most of your requirements) but Brownell's doesn't have the .223 heavy barrel on sale anymore so it's around $500 just for that.
10+ capacity
dead reliable
heavy barrel
adjustable stock
fast twisted
prefer stainless
What's your budget??
If you find that rifle for a price you consider cheap/affordable/inexpensive then let me know and I'll but one too!!!
I was going to suggest getting a Howa action and putting it in an Archangel stock (would meet most of your requirements) but Brownell's doesn't have the .223 heavy barrel on sale anymore so it's around $500 just for that.
Good luck hitting all those criteria without going custom.
Heavy barrel but lightweight? Kinda mutually exclusive...
10 rounds? Easy. 10+? Not as easy.
Stock adjustable to fit all types? Like a 5yo kid and a chubby 9yo, or like a 5yo and a grown ass man?
$1000? Now you're getting a bit picky.
Heavy barrel but lightweight? Kinda mutually exclusive...
10 rounds? Easy. 10+? Not as easy.
Stock adjustable to fit all types? Like a 5yo kid and a chubby 9yo, or like a 5yo and a grown ass man?
$1000? Now you're getting a bit picky.
Also heavier barrel can be lightweight if its shorter. And a short kid needs a short barrel. ?
The day after I stop liking boobs.
Finished this for my 8 year old recently:
It's a Ruger American Ranch rifle. Came in just shy of $1000 with some bargain hunting. It's heavier than it looks even with the lighter medium weight 16" barrel. It was a pain to get mags to feed. It does shoot well. Really like the Magpul stock for the price.
Now some action pics!
Nice! You just gave me a bunch of ideas...exactly what I was looking for.
Yeah that combo was on my radar too, and in all honesty is what I really wanted, but I managed to stick with the short/lighter-ish criteria, and the wife preffered the total cost on this one as well.
Has Remington finally updated the 1:9 twist to 1:8 yet? I haven't looked lately, but that would make it a much more viable option. Remington does mean a trigger upgrade is mandatory also.
Nah...I looked at that. Still 1:9. Some manufacturers are too slow to figure out what the market what's until after it's too late. With how cheap 223 is to reload I would have thought every production gun manufacturer would be all over it for a precision trainer. Ruger did it for a year or two and then quit.
Growing up and still to a degree, LOP was almost always a huge turn off for me (currently 5’8”, 215, LOP @ 13”). In that light I would look at something with at least a spacer system (Magpul/KRG/MCM/MCS) or an AR type adjustable LOP (MDT/XLR/etc.). Minimum 12” LOP if not shorter depending on the size of your kids.
I have personally always struggled with the standard 13.5”+ stocks while prone trying to cycle a bolt.
Weight never seriously bothered me as a kid as long as the balance was there. Nose heavy guns ain’t fun for nobody, maybe an F-Class shooter.
I have personally always struggled with the standard 13.5”+ stocks while prone trying to cycle a bolt.
Weight never seriously bothered me as a kid as long as the balance was there. Nose heavy guns ain’t fun for nobody, maybe an F-Class shooter.
I got a Tikka T3x for my kids, it's in a Boyd's AT1 stock. It's still running the factory Tikka 4 round mag only since I've been to busy to go to the 10 round. I did put a Sterk ball bolt handle on it. They do real good with it!
a Howa mini barreled action from Brownells and a MDT chassis would be another option. I’ve looked at them for my daughter but they don’t have any lefties.
I'd start with a T3, then build it up over time. Buy used to save $. I'm not very handy but I did my own adjustable LOP and adjustable cheek piece with $10 worth of hardware that I had laying around. Wood or laminated wood stocks are easy to modify and that's what I worked off of.
That Athlon Talos BTR 4-14x44 is a great starter scope!
That Athlon Talos BTR 4-14x44 is a great starter scope!
We finally got the Magpul for my son's RAP. I ordered it last November from Optics Planet with an coupon. Less than $230 shipped. He was shooting for less than $1k and ended up overshooting that. He has a Helos on it. I don't like that you can't remove the bolt without taking the action out of the stock.
If it were mine, I would take a file/dremel to it, he still doesn't want to scratch his new stock.
Oh man, my blood pressure shot up just thinking about it.
The rounds sat too low, the bolt didn't even come close to hitting so I thought I would sand the inside of the feed lips to widen them out, thus getting the rounds to sit higher. But by the time they were up high enough for bolt contact they were barely held in the magazine. And worse yet I accidentally made the lips wider towards the front and they popped up out of the mag with only a tiny bit of forward movement and then went every direction except into the chamber. I also filed on some things to change the mag angle a bit, I'll spare you the details because it only accomplished making the magazine uglier.
At this point I had an idea of what I should've done from the start, but first I had to fix the feed lips. By "fix" what I mean is that I heated them to the point they were malleable and stretched and formed them to the original shape/size.
Don't do any of the above.
All that needs to be done is to notch the upper rear corners maybe an 1/8" to allow the mag to sit higher. Then add that 1/8" onto the catch bump so that it locks in and remains at the new height. I did it with bondo thinking I would test the concept and would eventually need to do something different but it's actually held up great. I'll be doing something more attractive in the form of a tiny set screw next time though.
The rounds sat too low, the bolt didn't even come close to hitting so I thought I would sand the inside of the feed lips to widen them out, thus getting the rounds to sit higher. But by the time they were up high enough for bolt contact they were barely held in the magazine. And worse yet I accidentally made the lips wider towards the front and they popped up out of the mag with only a tiny bit of forward movement and then went every direction except into the chamber. I also filed on some things to change the mag angle a bit, I'll spare you the details because it only accomplished making the magazine uglier.
At this point I had an idea of what I should've done from the start, but first I had to fix the feed lips. By "fix" what I mean is that I heated them to the point they were malleable and stretched and formed them to the original shape/size.
Don't do any of the above.
All that needs to be done is to notch the upper rear corners maybe an 1/8" to allow the mag to sit higher. Then add that 1/8" onto the catch bump so that it locks in and remains at the new height. I did it with bondo thinking I would test the concept and would eventually need to do something different but it's actually held up great. I'll be doing something more attractive in the form of a tiny set screw next time though.
I have thought about picking one of these up in 300 BO for a short suppressed truck gun. The new ones with the AR mags wouldn't be too bad.
I think I recall reading that Howa was going to have some fast twist .223 barreled actions soon. One of those plus a KRG Bravo and some AICS pattern mags would be my suggestion.
I have a Tikka lite 223 with 1:8 twist, cut down to 20" and dropped into a Brownells MDT chassis with an XLR buttstock. Pretty sweet combo.
