New Guy Question-Building a Bolt gun

[WRW1AE]

After dealing mostly with ARs for 20 years, I decided I want to build a bolt gun and get into precision rifle shooting.

I'm looking at a Terminus Zeus Action (Quick Change, short action-6.5 Creedmoor) as the start of the build. Altus has them for Pre-order and it says it is cut for AW Mags.

What Chassis systems allow the use of AW Mags?

I will probably finish it out with a Patriot Valley Arms Barrel 24" 6.5 Creedmoor M24 profile Barrel.-Any Advice here is welcome.

Glass is already purchased and will be a Nightforce NX-8 4-32X50.

 

[Steel head]

The action makes more of a difference than the Chassis for AW mags but you often need a longer mag catch because they sit up higher than AICS mags.
Talk to you chassis company’s about that.

 

[archangel485]

AW mags have the same outer dimensions as AICS mags, so they'll fit in a bottom metal or chassis designed for AICS (which is a lot), but like @Steel head said the action matters very much more than the chassis.

But FWIW, just because a Zeus is cut for AW mags does not mean it requires AW mags, you can run AICS as well. In fact, you might want to do that, even though for your cartridge AW would work. AWs are great for loading with cartridges (fast) plus they're shorter for the same capacity, but you'll notice AICS style mags are a whole lot more common and popular, so you might read into it a little before you buy a bunch of mags. There are several threads on this forum that discuss them.

On PVA, great barrels you won't be disappointed once you get it, but be prepared to wait longer than their advertised lead time. I am not super familiar with Zeus actions, but I bet there are lots of pre-fit 6.5 creedmoor barrels around.

 

[WRW1AE]

Thank you that gets me pointed in the right direction!

 

[Matt_3479]

As far as the mag situation goes, once you get AW running right they can be awesome but to get them to run right can be a task on its own and not everyone likes them.

Aics is generally plug and play, recommend going that route as well. If you want something a little more aw like but generally a bit easier like aics (still can have some feeding issues) is arc mags.

As far has chassis/stocks go. They are very personal preference. Looks, ergonomics, fit and everything. That said personally, I’ve shot and/or own mdt acc, krg bravo, krg whiskey 3, mpa ba comp, and a handful of stocks. As far as I’ve shot, the krg whiskey 3 stands out. The others are all excellent, but the krg just seems so perfect for me. A lot of nice features.

The terminus is fantastic. The quick change barrel feature, threaded trigger pins, the outstanding customer service is all excellent. Pair it up with a tt diamond and it’s awesome!

 

[WRW1AE]

Thanks, KRG Whiskey 3 is what I've been looking at but the AW Mag thing threw me a little. So basically I can run both AW and AICS. AICS looks like the route I will go since I can grab Magpul mags.

 

[Matt_3479]

Thanks, KRG Whiskey 3 is what I've been looking at but the AW Mag thing threw me a little. So basically I can run both AW and AICS. AICS looks like the route I will go since I can grab Magpul mags.

Yes you will be able to run both. I mainly run aics and arc mags in my terminus whiskey 3

 

[WRW1AE]

That's a nice set-up!