In a recent post, I gave some background on Bergara and as mentioned, after learning more, I did go back to Michigan Gun Exchange and buy the Bergara B14 HMR.
The B14 HMR is made in Spain in a modern factory with CNC machines and careful quality control. This results in consistent parts with fairly tight tolerances – certainly better than years ago when parts still required a great deal of hand fitting.
With the Bergara B14, you are getting a receiver that has the same footprint as Remington 700 short action receivers. Bergara makes their own by the way plus one of their high quality button rifled barrels.
Bergara’s Performance Trigger is quite nice. It is set at 2.8 pounds at the factory and is adjustable from 2.8-4.4 pounds via an adjustment screw. I have run really light triggers in the past but 2.8 pounds is in my sweet spot and it breaks nicely when pulled.
The HMR stock has an aluminum chassis that stock is then formed around. This means the receiver has a solid platform that is not going to flex or warp.
One of the things I like about the stock is that it can be adjusted to fit the shooter and the “bottom metal” meaning the floor plate area, supports the use of an AICS-style magazine. This magazine design started with Accuracy International in their Chassis System ( hence “AICS”) and now a number of makers produce that pattern inclduing Magpul.
The base rifle comes in at 9.5 pounds and is 40 inches overall – bear in mind there are spacers in the recoil pad so between that and if you install a muzzle device, that overall length can vary.
What does it look like out of the box?
Not to be funny but what you get is a base bolt action platform that you then customize. Now you are getting a jump start in terms of having a really good stock and pretty decent trigger right out of the box.
Let’s look at some photos:
It comes in a box with a nice secure molded liner that protects everything. It looks like many other bolt action rifles albeit with a cool stock.The stock design is very well thought out and fit me very well.This is an interesting view of the bolt face. You can see the big ejector and the extractor claw off to the left plus the firing pin hole. What you also ought to notice are the wear marks on the bolt lugs. This bolt has two lugs – the protrusions on the left and the right. When you push the bolt in and then bring the bolt handle down, these lugs are travelling in the receiver into a locked position that then withstands the enormous pressure of the cartridge when it is fired. The wear marks are showing the contact points where the bolt is rubbing on the receiver as it goes into the locked position and also when it is unlocked. How well the receiver, lugs and bolt body “fit” each other contribute to how smooth the action feels. Also, the more consistent the lock up, the better the repeatable accuracy is.This is the back underside of the bolt assembly. We are looking at the firing pin to the left and the Bergara is designed to cock on open, meaning that as you open the bolt, the firing pin is pulled back and spring compressed. You’ll note there is some debris here that needs to be cleaned up. Even so, it was pretty smooth right out of the box. Scott had the rifle on display so there’s no guessing how many times the action was cycled – at least a hundred of times probably – before I bought it. Also, note the oversized bolt knob. The larger size makes manipulating the bolt easier.The receiver comes drilled and tapped for whatever Remington short action scope mount you want to use. The bolt release is sticking out at the rear, closest to us. The left close to the “B-14” in the photo is the safety lever.It comes with a very decent thick recoil pad on the far right. The black “discs” are spacers that you can add or remove to adjust the scope to your desired length of pull.Protected by a muzzle cap are the 5/8″-24 TPI threads. This is a very common thread size for .308 muzzle devices and gives you a ton of options.
Summary
I’m going to wrap this post up at this point. The base Bergara B14 HMR is a very nice rifle – sub MOA guarantee, good barrel, action was pretty smooth, decent trigger and a very slick stock. It definitely gave me a starting platform to build on and a rifle I wholeheartedly recommend. In the next post, I’ll tell you about what I added.
I hope this helps you out.
Note, I have to buy all of my parts – nothing here was paid for by sponsors, etc. I do make a small amount if you click on an ad and buy something but that is it. You’re getting my real opinion on stuff.
If you find this post useful, please share the link on Facebook, with your friends, etc. Your support is much appreciated and if you have any feedback, please email me at in**@ro*********.com. Please note that for links to other websites, I may be paid via an affiliate program such as Avantlink, Impact, Amazon and eBay.
Most of my time is spent working on ARs, AKs, and various Pistol Caliber Carbines (PCCs). Once in a while, I get a hankering for a precision rifle and take the plunge … in this case two plunges, an Aero Solus .308 with a 20″ M24 profiled barrel plus a Bergara B14 HMR also in .308. This post will focus on the Solus.
I was customizing a Zastava M77 designated marksman’s rifle (DMR) and then a sales email showed up from Aero Precision with a really good sale on the Aero Solus Bravo. Well, I decided to do some more digging to learn about the features:
You can get it in .308, 6mm or 6.5 Creedmor – I opted for .308 as I have plenty of match ammo for that caliber. Everything below is about the .308 20″ Bravo just to be clear. The Creedmor chamberings have a few differences such as barrel length.
Aero Precision makes the receiver and bolt
The receiver is patterned after a Remington 700 short action and is made from 416 stainless
The bolt is a 3-locking lug design, has a 60 degree throw and dual ejectors. It also cocks on open.
A 20 MOA 1913 Picatinny scope rail is integral with the receiver – no need to buy something there
Ballistic Advantage, a sister company to Aero, makes the barrel
The barrel is a 20 inch heavy M24 profile with a 1:10 twist, honed and lapped
The barrel is threaded 5/8-24 and comes with a protective muzzle nut
The trigger is made by TriggerTech, who I really like
And the unit on sale that I bought has a stock is the Bravo chassis system from Kinetic Research Group (KRG). It looks like a stock but an aluminum chasis is under the skin.
The stock has M-Lok slots in it for accessores – but I do have an issue and will mention it below – it is honestly not bipod ready as delivered.
The stock accomodates AICS-pattern magazines and comes with a 5-round Magpul P-Mag.
The base weight is around 9.6-10 pounds depending on the specification sheet you read – there is a lot of substance to the rifle – especially given the M24 barrel profile
Each rifle has a sub-MOA guarantee
The Solus was designed to give the common man an affordable entry-level precision rifle. I’m just fine with that because the only Accuracy International product I could ever afford was a chasis system that I dropped a Remington .300 Win Mag LR XCR barreled action in.
In 2011, I dropped a .300 Win Mag Remington XCR LR barreled action in an AICS chassis. That’s the closest I ever got to an expensive precision rifle. I must say, I’ve had some great rifles since that did not break the bank from Bergara, Ruger, Sabatti and Savage. That is a Storm Case iM3300 before Pelican bought them.
At any rate, I read good reviews plus I’ve owned a few Aero Precision M4 and M5 rifles over the years and decided to give it a try. I certainly couldn’t buy the parts and assemble it myself for the price.
The Solus arrived in the fall of 2023 and only for a quick once over, I had to put it on hold while clearing other projects off the deck. In January 2024, I finally had time to work on it – although the temperature outside was in the teens and my unheated shop wasn’t much warmer. After careful negotiation with my wife – sounds better than I begged her – I set up lights, a table and my Tipton Ultra Standing Gun Vise.
In many respects, the Solus comes ready to go other than an optic plus needing the bore cleaned and then everything properly lubricated. A user manual is included with the rifle but click here if you need to get an online copy.
I did find four things I want to share with you that made a big difference for me:
Added a Precision Armament Hypertap Muzzle Brake
My L1-L5 vertabrae and I are no longer on speaking terms so recoil mitigation means a great deal to me now. On one hand the Solus weighs quite a bit by itself – let’s say 10# ballpark and then about about 2 pounds for the scope and rings — 12 pounds can absorb a fair amount of energy. The KRG Bravo recoil pad was decent but I still wanted more and knew a muzzle brake was the answer.
I did some reading and ordered in a Precision Armament Hypertap. It can cut felt recoil by up to 88% with little to no impacts on accuracy. Click here to visit their site.
The Solus Bravo M24 is threaded. The size is 5/8-24 – meaning 5/8ths” diameter and 24 threads per inch (TPI).The Hypertap is a very interesting brake and reflects Precision Armament’s experience gathered over the years. If nothing else, visit their site to learn more. It uses two wrenches they include to get the timing right on the brake while tightening down the rear integral locking nut.On their site, read the installation instructions – there is a ton of flexibility if you want to use the identified divots to drill other holes to adjust lateral compensation. I left mine alone.
Added a Vortex Strike Eagle 5-25x56mm FFP Scope
I called up my friends at Vortex and talked about what I wanted to do with the Solus and they recommended I buy a Vortex Strike Eagle 5-25x56mm FFP scope and 34mm precision rings to go with it. With a 34mm tube and 56mm objective, a ton of light can be gathered No to mention this scope has their latest optics technology in it.
The Solus receiver has an integral 20 MOA Picatinny Rail scope mount. Look at that chunky pistol grip.A few key things for the scope – the Vortex medium height 34mm precission rings, my Wheeler scope level kit and a Wheeler green laser bore sight. The Dewalt bit screw driver set reflects my old Wheeler bits are starting to show their age and rounding over. What you don’t see is my Vortex torquing bit driver I use for optics work.I first use the Wheeler scope level set to level the rifle and barrel level. Once the barrel level is set, I can remove the level on the receiver and install the rings.I started installing the ring caps on the scope and realized I better get thee length of pull that I wanted before finalizing the scope position and level. The KRG Bravo comes with three recoil pad spacers of different thicknesses to get the length of pull I wanted.I then finalized my scope position and leveled the scope by putting a small level on the top turret and trued it to the level on the barrel. After that, I used the Wheeler green laser boresight outdoors to approximately zero the scope.Vortex recommended torque spects were set using a Vortex torquing screw driver. I always take care to reset it to zero when I am done so there isn’t a load on the limiting spring causing it to lose accuracy over time. Note the use of Torx screws. I so wish the industry would stop using hex heads that round over and move to Torx instead.
Not surprisingly the scope is incredibly bright and clear. Vortex ups their game on quality with each new generation of scope and they are all backed by their no-hassle warranty.
Added a Spigot To Run a Bipod
To be honest, the one thing that really surprised me is that the KRG Bravo is not truly hard-use bipod ready. Sure, there is a sling stud there or M-Lok slots where you can install a piece of rail section they provide. The problem is that the bottom of the rail system is just polymer and not even very thick. You’d be connecting a bipod to a polymer rail sitting on a polymer handguard that would be absorbing recoil, getting hit wen moving around, etc. It just didn’t sit well with me.
You’d think you could just mount a bipod using an M-Lok slot – right? I wouldn’t recommend it.The issue is that the polymer is a relatively thin skin that covers the actual aluminum chassis. Look at all of the holes in the chassis – they must be there for a reason.
What piqued my curiosity was seeing all of the extra holes in the bottom front of the chassis. Why were they there? Playing a hunch that there might be some kind of reinforcedd bipod connection, I visited the KRG website. Sure enough, there is.
KRG refers to them as “spigots” and they have four different types. They vary in length, what can be attached to them, etc. I bought the “minamalist” model because all I wanted was basically an aluminum bar where I could mount a Picatinny rail section.
I also had to buy a piece of aluminum rail from them. I’m sorry, but I’m just not cool with attaching a bipod to a rifle with some recoil via polymer. I’m a die-hard Atlas bipod user at this point and I buy them with the American Defense Manufacturing (ADM) clamps on them.
This is the KRG “Minimalist” spigon with an aluminum rail section attached. It is absolutely rock solid. My opinion is that this should have been included with the stock at the time of the Solus Bravo purchase or at least be given an option to purchase it. It took digging on my part to question the bipod attachment method and then to find out about the Spigot. I had to call and find out that the Minamilist didn’t include a aluminum rail section – although I could have used the polymer rail that came with the rifle, I wanted aluminum. I actually place the responsibility with Aero Precision – KRG just gave them what they asked for.
I’ll write up another post on the actual installation of the spigot. It’s pretty straight forward and the result is a rock solid bipod mount.
Last comment on the matter – I really did not expect to need to buy more accessories for a solid bipod mount – it came to about $120. Granted plenty of guys don’t use bipods but also, a lot do – including myself. I think Aero should have disclosed that a spigot was recommended for bipod use if nothing else – an option to buy one would have been even better. This is no fault of KRG’s just to be clear. They sold Aero what they asked for.
If I had known this bipod issue, I would have moved to Aero’s full blown chassis system as it wasn’t much more at the time of purchase (about $200-300 more at the time). Buying the chassis by itself now though is prohibitively expensive – at least for me – at $729-ish list. In general though, that is a pretty good price for a chassis of that type.
Call me paranoid but whenever I build something where I care about the accuracy, I want it protected in a hard case. I used to spend the money on Pelican and Storm cases (now owned by Pelican) but those things can get expensive.
I’ve been a fan of Plano All Weather cases for years now. I kid you not, I looked up in my Amazon purchase history and I bought my first one in 2014 (they were “AW2” cases back then and Plano has improved them since and now refers to them as the “All Weather Gun Cases”. I have bought quite a variety of sizes since. Why? I honestly don’t think you can buy a better case at their price. I’m not jumping out of planes but I do want my firearms protected from life’s drops, hits and whatnots. I had an overhead pipe start leaking one year and the rifles in Plano All Weather cases stayed dry.
Seriously heavy polypropylene case construction – I did receive one busted once. Amazon managed to put a fork truck tine completely throught the cardboard box, the case and out the other side. Their drivers still delivered it!! Amazon customer service sent a replacement after I showed them photos but still… Over the years, I have dropped my cases from cars, SUVs and pickups after loads shifted and then a door was opened — they held up just fine. No damage every to contents, loss of zero, etc.
The cases are water tight / dust tight with a full o-ring seal all the way around the cover
Really nice solid handes and latches
The latches are keyed and can be locked
Wheels on one end for easier transportation
Pluckable foam for fitting
Pressure valve to compensate for altitude and temperature changes – you really ought to care about this. Try taking a case from a hot range and opening it in a cold basement once it has cooled off and the air volume has shrunk – it is a bear to open without a valve. That exact example is why I always look for valves on watertight hard cases now.
TSA approved if you plan to travel with one.
Internal dimensions are 51.5″ long x 14″ wide. Depth of the top is 1.75″ and depth of the bottom is 3.25″.
This is a 52″ Plano All Weather Gun Case. In general, I really like these cases and have used them for years. Their pluckable foam allows you to quickly and easily custom fit firearms and accessories. Once fitting is done, I will spray the back of the pluckable foam layer with 3M Super 77 spray adhesive, push it down on the bottom layer and then let it set up to keep everything in place.
Summary
The Solus arrived in great shape – fit, finish, etc. were all superb. There were no surprises in terms of adding the muzzle brake and optic. Adding a bipod, which should have been a no-brainer exercise in adding a rail section to an M-Lok slot, turned into more expense but it is really nice mount – I’ll give them that.
I’d recommend the Solus barreled action and Triggertech trigger – no reservations there at all. I need to spend some time shooting the Bravo chassis at this point. The fit of a stock or chassis is a very individual fit item.
I need more time behind the rifle at the range to make a final decision about the Bravo chassis. I may decide to go hunting for a more adjustable chassis with a bit less “chunky” pistol grip.
I hope this helps you out.
Note, I have to buy all of my parts – nothing here was paid for by sponsors, etc. I do make a small amount if you click on an ad and buy something but that is it. You’re getting my real opinion on stuff.
If you find this post useful, please share the link on Facebook, with your friends, etc. Your support is much appreciated and if you have any feedback, please email me at in**@ro*********.com. Please note that for links to other websites, I may be paid via an affiliate program such as Avantlink, Impact, Amazon and eBay.
I bought the 12″ FARend, the strut that projects forward from the chassis, thinking that a longer unit would be better. For my purposes and taste, it’s just too long so I bought an 8″ model from Black Collar to replace it. I stored the 12″ just in case but an 8″ unit fits the Magpul AFG and a 5 slot Picatinny rail perfectly.
The FARend units are designed to mount MLOK units. I attached the Magpul AFG directly and then installed a 5 slot rail section just forward of that to then mount an American Defense quick release rail section. You can see the length difference between the 8″ and 12″ segments relative to the Pork Sword.
Adding a Quick Release to the Bipod
In hindsight, I should have known that I would not like the screw on clamp attachment that Magpul offers in one model. I should have bought the model that was ARMS compatible and just needed that lever system added to it. Well, I had the bipod and wanted to make do with what I already owned.
This is the Magpul model with a 1913 rail clamp. The core bipod is really nice and the clamp is just fine if you plan to screw it on and leave it. I have found that I need to mount and remove bipods quickly depending on what I am doing.
To be clear, Magpul offers different bipod models with different attachment methods – Sling Stud, M-LOK, 1913 Picatinny Rail and one ready to be mounted on the ARMS 17S quick release adapter. It’s this last model that I should have bought in hindsight. Here are the Magpul bipods with the different attachment methods and colors:
American Defense Manufacturing (ADM) makes a quick release mount with a 5 slot rail section on top that fit the bill perfectly. This unit is available from Brownells under a different part number than what is on the ADM website directly – AD-170-VPG (4102).So, I clamped the Magpul bipod to the ADM adapter. Again, had I known, I would have bought the Magpul ARMS ready model.
Savior Case
To store the Pork Sword, I bought a 28″ Savior tactical case. This is my fourth Savior back and think they are well made. There is ample padding, good stitching, and plenty of pockets to store accessores, mags and ammo. The Savior cases are on Amazon and that is where I bought mine.
This is the 28″ Savior case in olive drab. I added the Crusader cross morale patch.It holds the folded Pork Sword very nicely as you can see.
The Final Result
Note, you’ll see a wrap on the aluminum strut that I am prototyping and hope to offer in the near future.
Conclusion
I really like how it turned out. The weight and feel are great – it’s the first time I’ve liked having an AFG on a weapon. Now, I just need to get to the range some day after all this COVID madness fades.
If you find this post useful, please share the link on Facebook, with your friends, etc. Your support is much appreciated and if you have any feedback, please email me at in**@ro*********.com. Please note that for links to other websites, I may be paid via an affiliate program such as Avantlink, Impact, Amazon and eBay.
Okay, we’re coming into the last post. In the first post I covered all the parts that were used. The second covered installation of the barrel. The third post provided an overview of the trigger and chassis and now we’re almost done with the installation of the brake, optic, bipod and angled foregrip. Let’s dive in.
The Brake
The American Precision Arms Little Bastard brake is very interesting. It’s built for precision rifles and comes with a series of holes drilled in pairs on the top to allow you to dial in how you want it to vent the gasses. To start, I simply left the top exhaust holes empty.
The main side exhaust vents are pretty good size and angled backward significantly. This out to seriously arrest the recoil and I suspect I’ll feel air movement when I shoot it. The circular exhaust holes that enable the tuning are located only on the top of the brake so to be clear, you are looking at the top. The rear of the brake is actually a nut. You back it off its thread to lock it in place – think unscrewing the nut to jam it against the front lip of the barre or a jam nut. My MTU profile’d barrel has an ample shoulder to back the nut into.Here we are looking at the tunable ports from the top.
You simply thread the brake onto the end of the barrel and then unscrew the nut from the end of the brake and jam it into the shoulder of the barrel to lock it in place. For folks new to this work, use a fixed wrench and not an adjustable wrench for stuff like this. Adjustable wrenches will slip and do nasty stuff to your parts. I only use fixed wrenches on firearms now after a number of mishaps. An adjustable wrench can change a quick job into a long job real quick.
Correctly Installing 1913 Rail Base On The Action
Okay, so this is when I found out the Picatinny rail base was a separate piece. Nothing went wrong but I sure said a prayer for nothing getting botched due to my stupidity. Big Horn installs one screw so you need to install the other three and with blue loctite applied and then remove the original screw and do the same. Short screws up front and long screws in the back. I lightly snugged all four down and then torqued them to 20 inch pounds.
I applied blue loctite to each screw, snugged them all down and then torqued them all to 20 inch-pounds. Note, short screws go to the front and long screws go to the back. The Remington 700 action is thicker at the back and if you reverse this and put a long screw in the front, it will likely hit the bolt.
The American Defense AD-RECON-SL Mount
This is a great scope mount and the one key tip I can give you is to remember that the rings are asymmetrical – the bottom of the rings is thinner than the tops so don’t flip them around or you will be wondering what is going on with the alignment of the screws.
Here’s the view from the side.Here’s the base with the rings removed. One ring has a locator pin to help you get started and then just match the thickness of the top and bottom of the other half to line it up right. I installed the rings at 17 inch-pounds with blue loctite once I have the scope positioned the way I want it front to back and rotationally.Here. the 4-16×44 Vortex HST scope is located the way I want and the rings have been torqued down.For just over a year, I’ve been using this Wheeler green dot bore sight to zero the optics. It uses a rare earth magnet to attach to the end of your muzzle and will at least get you on the paper at 100 yards. I like the green dot because I can see it better during the day, the battery lasts longer and is easier to change and I don’t have to deal with the little arbors when I am changing calibers. They make a red laser version also if you really don’t feel you need the green laser.
The Magpul Angled Foregrip (AFG) and Bipod
The last three things I did was to add a small 7-section aluminum rail via MLOK out to the front and clamped the Magpul bipod to it. By the way, I really wasn’t sure if I would like the bipod because I’m a bit of an Atlas snob now but I really was impressed and will probably use them again but next time I will get one that is ready to go for an ARMS quick detach mount vs. the screw clamp model I bought. I also added the Magpul AFG because I wasn’t sure if I would like holding a bolt rifle with the relatively narrow FARend.
The Results Thus Far
Conclusion
I loved everything but that mile long FARend and the screw attachments for the Magpul bipod. I ordered the 8″ FARend and an American Defense adapter to remedy those issues and that will be the last post.
If you find this post useful, please share the link on Facebook, with your friends, etc. Your support is much appreciated and if you have any feedback, please email me at in**@ro*********.com. Please note that for links to other websites, I may be paid via an affiliate program such as Avantlink, Impact, Amazon and eBay.
I went with the Triggertech Primary Trigger because of recommendations from Black Collar Arms and in reading reviews. Now that I have it, I am very impressed. It’s a breeze to install and is incredibly crisp. One thing that is interesting is that the trigger pull adjustment has a detent and each adjustment has a “click” feel to it vs. just being a continual adjustment set screw.
Here’s the trigger. You can see I went with the straight black trigger. The safety lever that will stick out of the top of the chassis is visible and the interesting trigger pull adjustment set screw is on the bottom just forward of the trigger. The two pins in the photo are what hold the trigger in place and are supplied with the Big Horn Origin action.This is the other side of the trigger with the bolt release bar/arm (the silver diagonal). Since the Big Horn does not have this type of release, it will not be used. Notice the slight bevel on the trigger pin to aid in starting it.I keep pieces of hardwood shims and plywood near my bench so that I can properly support work pieces to avoid bending a part or marring the finish. You need to drive the two pins in to secure the trigger. I did the front one first and installed the pin with the beveled edge entering the hole first – it will help parts align as it passes through.Here’s a view of the bottom of the assembly. You can now see the trigger adjustment screw just forward of the trigger plus you can clearly see the two threaded screw holes that will be used to mount the action to the chassis. There is one on the back tang of receiver just behind the trigger assembly and the second hole is just forward of the magazine hole before the recoil lug.Next, I function tested the pistol. Note it really bugs me that I left the live ammo on the bench. Normally I do not like to have any live ammo where I am working but followed the Black Collar recommendation to ensure the bolt would close after headspacing.
It’s really important that you function test the pistol to make sure it is working right at this point. MAKE SURE IT IS UNLOADED. If any numbered step fails, you have a problem and need to investigate.
Cock the firing pin by raising and lowering the bolt knob. On the Origin – the pin will stick out the back of the bolt. This by itself is the first step – it should cock and stay cocked. If so, go to step 2.
Pull the trigger and the firing pin should be released. You will hear and feel the pin slamming home plus it will no longer be protruding out of the back of the bolt.
With the trigger pulled, work the bolt up and down and the firing pin should not cock/arm.
Take your finger off the trigger and work the bolt to cock the firing pin. Turn the safety lever to “On” or “Safe”. Try pulling the trigger – you should not be able to.
Turn the safety lever or “Off” or “Fire”. Try pulling the trigger and you should hear, feel and see that the firing pin is released and slams home.
If all of the five steps above worked, then it passes the function test.
The long silver oval is the bolt release and you can see the firing pin protruding out the back of the bolt. This indicates it is cocked/armed and I really like the immediate visual indicator plus you could feel it in the dark if you needed to.
Installing the Grip, Chassis and Brace
Next up, is the installation of the Ergo Grip onto thePork Sword chassis, and then attaching the FS1913A brace. This is all real easy compared to the preceding steps. Let’s step through it,
At this point I had the barreled action, the grip and the chassis. It seemed like it would be easiest to install the Ergo Zero Angle grip (the TDX-0) so that’s what I did and discovered a surprise.The surprise was that you need to access the screw with a head-head/allen-head wrench through a small hole they cut in the rear of the grip. They needed to do this allow for the proper angle to engage the grip screw because coming in from the bottom of the grip simply would not work for an AR-style grip. Note, I did install the big washer you see in the bottom. Call me paranoid but I was worried about whether the screw would have enough material around the screw hole to securely hold the grip so I added the 1/4″ washer just to be sure.Next, the barreled action beautifully fits right into the chassis – zero fitting was needed. The 1″ long 1/4-28 screws you see secure the action into the chassis. I added blue loctite to each, threaded them in all the way and then torqued them down to Black Collar’s recommended 55-65 inch/pounds each. They recommend being consistent in the front and the back so I went to 60 inch-pounds for both. Note, I had to use my 1/4″ torque wrench to do this as my Vortex torquing screw driver only goes up to 50 inch-pounds.This is the 12″ FARend unit that you see being installed. You remove the screw where you see the driver, slide it into place, put blue loc-tite on the end of the screw, reinstall it and then torque the screw down to 60 inch-pounds. I debated whether that would be too long or not and really wished I had bought their 8″ unit. Later on, I did buy the 8″ unit and swapped it out. I’ll show you photos of both later.The SB Tactical FS1913A brace marries up to the chassis via the rear 1913 Picatinny rail and is held in place by a rail clamp. I added blue loctite to the screw and tightened it down. They did not provide a torque spec so I torqued it to 20 inch-pounds and will see how it holds up.
If you find this post useful, please share the link on Facebook, with your friends, etc. Your support is much appreciated and if you have any feedback, please email me at in**@ro*********.com. Please note that for links to other websites, I may be paid via an affiliate program such as Avantlink, Impact, Amazon and eBay.
In the last post, I outlined the major parts of the Pork Sword pistol I planned to build. As it turns out, building a Pork Sword is very straight forward and I had fun doing it.
Research
As always, I did some research before I did the actual build. First off, Black Collar Arms has a nice “how-to” page and the following video tells you about 80% of what you need to know:
The only other thing I needed to look up was what to do for the trigger – as I mentioned in the last post, it has been quite a few years since I owned and installed a trigger in a Remington 700 XCR LR so I did some reading. This Brownells video really helped me visualize what was needed:
Armed with the above knowledge and a well done one page instruction sheet from Black Collar that comes with the Pork Sword chassis, I tackled the build. Let me again emphasize, this is very straight forward.
The Action, The Wrench & A Confession
You know, sometimes I’m not too smart. A cognitive bias is something where your brain plays tricks on you and there are a number of different ones. Today’s confession involves one known as a “confirmation bias” which is where you think one thing and then everything that confirms your belief you accept and stuff contrary to that belief is discarded. Yeah, that caught me here and let me tell you why.
When I bought the Big Horn Origin, I thought the scope rail was a machined part of the receiver. I assumed that – yeah, the old “you make an ass out of u and me when you assume” saying is alive and well. When the action arrived, I looked at it and thought “Oh, that looks nice” and in a little parts bag with the two trigger pins were three scope mount screws – “Oh, I wonder why those are there?” I literally wondered that.
Seriously though, the Big Horn Origin is a work of art. No sloppiness in the action and very smooth. The fitment of the parts is exceptional. Nothing was jumping out at my tired brain saying “hey idiot, the scope mount and receiver are separate parts!”
View of the ejection port side of the receiver.View of the bottomNote the streamlined bolt release and how nice the scope mount is sitting on the receiver.Here’s the recoil lug that screws in with the barrel. Note the indexing pin.
Half-asleep the morning of the build, I got out the action wrench, put it in the vise and added two layers of gorilla duct tape to protect the action. I installed the action upside down so I could juggle the headspace gages easier and then I cranked the action wrench screws down to 10 foot pounds each. Now I got lucky because I put the tape there to protect the scope mount.
Only after I installed the barrel and was more awake did I notice how very lucky I got. The scope mount was removable and only one screw had been installed so the big dummy (me) would see the missing screws in the mount, that they were in the baggy and know to remove the rail before installing the barrel. Yeah, I missed that one but got real, real lucky because of the tape and that not a ton of torque is needed for a new receiver and installing a new “Remage” style barrel.
Remage means you thread the barrel in like normal (the “Rem” part of the name), set the headspace and then torque down the barrel not like a Savage (the “age” part of the name).
Bottom line, my mind played a nasty little trick – because I thought the action and mount were one piece I discarded all information that was pointing out they were two pieces. Don’t be me – take them apart before putting them in the wrench.
This is the Wheeler Action Wrecnh #2 for the Remington 700 – part number 414521. It is basically a clamshell vise/clamp with a solid steel handle. It’s very beefy and I hear it is because the Remington barrels can be a real bear to take off. In our case, we just need the clamp portion and will install the lower part in a vise.Boy am I glad I put in the two layers of tape to protect the scope mount. For everyone else, remove the scope mount first!! The tape definitely protected the finish though and that is what I was after.This photo was taken before I installed the tape but is the best one I have showing the action wrench in the vise. The small center bolt is centering the action and is actually screwed into the action. The two big beefy bolts are what hold the receiver. They will be at 10 foot/pounds each. Again dear reader, don’t do what I did – remove the scope mount before putting it in the wrench.Here, you can see the tape. I was careful to snug the wrench’s bolts down evenly and that the receiver was sitting properly to not get damaged. I installed it this way to make it easier for me to get the headspace gages in and out.
Installing The Barrel
The barrel is simply badass. Sorry, I love a huge solid chunk of steel that is beautifully machined and finished. I’m just weird that way 🙂 The guys at X-Caliber did a great job for me. The make a barrel that is made for the Big Horn Origin, they have tons of barrel profiles and just a ton of options – click here for the Big Horn page. Seriously, the next time I do another full on custom build, I’m going back to X-Caliber for the barrel. They make just a ton of different barrels is what it boils down to.
So you can see the muzzle nut over the 5/8-24 threads, the Savage-style barrel nut and the Remington-style threads peeking out from under the green rubber thread protector. By the way, see the small black scope mount screws in the silver tray above? Yeah, their purpose hadn’t dawned on me yet 🙂
In case you are wondering about the exact specs of the barrel, here they are:
Model: Big Horn Pre-fit
Barrel Steel: 416R Stainless Steel
Barrel Length: 12″
Caliber: .308
Twist: 1:10
6 groove
Contour: #11 Marksmanship Training Unit (MTU)
Threads: 5/8″ x 24 TPI
Finish: Cerakote Graphite Black
Barrel Nut: 1-1/16″ x 20 TPI for Big Horn actions
The total was just under $500
Per the instructions in the Black Collar Arms video, I coated the threads that would go into the receiver with Anti-Seize and the thread where the barrel nut would go with Blue Loctite.Here’s the Clymer GO gage already in the bolt. I installed the barrel down tight and backed it off just a bit. Note how the recoil lug is in position as well. I carefully slid the barrel in through it. The pin seen at the 12 o’clock position helps keep it properly centered as you torque down the barrel.I confirmed both GO and NOGO before torguing down the barrel nut. You can see the recoil lug is now firmly in position as well.Building a precision rifle is not the time to go “Bubba tight”. The barrel nut needs to be torqued down to 55 foot-pounds and the barrel nut needs a 1-1/4″ crowsfoot wrench head to be tightened properly.Here are the two Clymer gages.Okay, so you do the headspace before the nut and after torquing it down. My first try at tightening the barrel nut didn’t work out because I didn’t have a good enough grip to keep the barrel from turning. The second try worked – I hit the torque spec and the headspace passed with GO (meaning the bolt fully closed) and NO-GO (meaning the bolt would not fully close). Black Collar recommended testing the bolt to make sure it would close on ammo. I normally do not keep live ammo on my bench just to be safe but I went and grabbed some S&B SPCE soft point hunting ammo and Federal T762TNB1 130 grain open tip match. The bolt closed firmly on both.
By the way, the Picatinny Rail held up just fine. I’m convinced it was a combination of the tape, setting it up carefully, relatively light torque load and a ton of luck that kept me from screwing it up. If you are planning one of these builds, just confirm whether the mount is integral or not and simplify your life 🙂
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I was surfing around on the web one day looking at interesting builds and ran across something I had never seen before – a Pork Sword pistol. It looked like a short barreled bolt gun on a chassis with a pistol brace, scope and can. What in the heck? So it sure made me curious and I searched on “Pork Sword”. It is totally a thing and I’m surprised it hasn’t caught on yet.
Turns out there is a company called Black Collar Arms that is making the parts and also producing rifles and pistols. What I had seen was a braced pistol based on a Remington 700-foot print receiver on their minimalist Pork Sword chassis with a short barrel. At this point, I was hooked. I like bolt guns and really like building unique stuff. They’ve posted quite a few photos of firearms they have built as well as customer guns – click here.
The concept behind the Pork Sword is simple – create a compact weapon in a caliber that packs a punch without needing to go the registered shot barreled receiver (SBR) rifle route by building a pistol with brace. A Pork Sword would be ideal for hog hunting, hunting in heavy brush, survival situations or even urban engagements. Because it uses a short action Remington 700 receiver, you have tons of caliber choices plus you can decide the barrel length – you can make a firearm that is tailored to your needs.
It had been years since I last owned a Remington 700 XCR LR and all I had done was swap the trigger and stock on it so I remembered very little about how they were made. Sure most bolt guns are similar but the Devil is in the details.
I called Black Collar Arms a couple of time and they were really cool and talked me through a lot of considerations. They offered to either build one for me or sell me the parts and I told them building was really my thing and so we had a great talk. I called them two times, talked to two different guys and they were really helpful — I definitely got good vibes from them.
The logo is awesome!! They charge extra to have it on the chassis and while I really like it, I opted to not have it engraved on my unit.
This build was going to be an investment so I didn’t want to screw up. On top of talking with them, I also did a lot of digging based on what the guys at Black Collar told me and what they had for sale. I then assembled a parts list and slowly started accumulating stuff for close to four agonizing months. I’m not a very patient guy so slowly getting the stuff was a new experience vs. jumping right in with both feet.
I probably researched this project more than most with lots of calls direct to vendors to better understand what they had to offer. My goal is a 1/4″ group at 100 yards and 1″ at 400. That would be about 1/4″ minute of angle (MOA) and is a mean feat. It requires that all the parts come together the right way – caliber selection, chassis, action, barrel, trigger, brake, etc.
If you plan to build a pistol start with a new receiver and not a rifle
From a NFA legality perspective, you are building a pistol so that means you must start with a receiver or pistol but absolutely not a rifle. Once a serial number is classified as a rifle it can’t be a pistol and would have to go the SBR (short barreled rifle) registration route. Again, if you plan on building a pistol and using a brace, start with an action/receiver or a barreled action but never with a rifle. If you do not understand what I am talking about then do not proceed until you understand the difference between a pistol build and what would require registration as a SBR prior to building.
Action/Receiver Comment
By the way, the chassis can use Remington 700 receivers as well as others that fit. That sounds odd but not all third party receivers that say they are “Remington 700 compatible” necessarily have the exact same footprint plus you are going to need a recoil lug. I went with a Big Horn Origin that has a Remmage type of barrel mount meaning you thread the barrel into the receiver and set the headspace and you then tighten down the barrel nut to lock it in place. It’s a slick method. Here are other potential action vendors to consider: Defiance, Alamo Precision Rifles, Surgeon, Impact Precision, Accuracy International, Gunwerks, Bighorn Arms, Pacific Tool and Gauge, Thompson Leh, BAT Machine, Impact Precision, GA Precision, Stiller, Kelbly’s, American Rifle Company, Badger Ordnance, Viper Actions, and Bergara. Again, confirm it will fit before you buy anything.
Big Horn Origin Short Action – This includes the scope rail and I bought this from Northland Shooter Supply (NSUS). Note, Big Horn’s name is changing to Zermatt Arms. I talked to Big Horn directly but bought it from NSUS in the hopes of getting it sooner. NSUS often has them in stock but I had about a 4-6 week wait until mine came in because they had run out of inventory and the owner was very up front with me that I might need to wait a while before I ordered.
X-Caliber Pre Fit Big Horn 12.5″ .308 MTU-profile Barrel with 5/8-24 threads – I bought this direct from X-Caliber when they were having a sale. I needed to talk to them because they have a ton of options and most of them I had no idea what to get so they were a huge help. Their lead times vary but I think it took about 3-4 weeks for them to send me the barrel.
TriggerTech Primary Trigger – These things are so sweet!! They drop right in and are very easy to adjust from 1.5 to 4 pounds of pull and are very crisp. I went with a black straight blade trigger purely out of preference. They offer flat/straight and curved triggers as well as colored black or stainless.
SB Tactical FS1913A Brace – These are relatively new braces from SB Tactical with a long strut, a folding mechanism and fairly stout arm brace assembly at the end. Please note the “A” in the model number I bought. The first version of this brace (FS1913 without the “A”) has a polymer strut that can flex. The FS1913A has an aluminum strut and is stiffer. Given my plans to shoot a .308, I definitely wanted stiffer. You may need to shop a bit – I bought mine from Natchez. If the price is under $199, it’s probably the polymer unit. If you are going with a lighter recoiling round, the polymer ought to be fine.
Ergo Tactical Deluxe Zero Angle Grip – I’ve always liked target stocks with near vertical grips so I opted for this model.
APA Little Bastard brake – this is a tunable brake for precision rifles. I will get a suppressor down the road but for now, I’ll run this brake.
Magpul AFG – Normally I am not a huge fan of angled fore grips but think I may want something to hold on to. I’m really not sure if I will keep it on the rifle long-term but we’ll see.
Magpul bipod – I dismissed this bipod when I first heard about it but guys reported liking it so I figured I better check it out. I bought the Picatinny rail version so I could remove it readily. In hindsight I should have bought the one that was ARMS lever ready but that is a topic for another post. There are a ton of color and options combinations you can consider. As you can see in the photo at the top of the page, I went with black and I did use a small section of Magpul M-Lok aluminum rail to mount it.
AD Recon SL 30mm Scope mount – I like quality quick detach scope mounts. There are two big differences between a quality mount like an ADM and a cheap one. First, when you remove the optic and mount from the rifle and then re-attach them, the zero holds true for a good mount and not a cheap one. Second, the cheap ones tend to wear and bend on the throw lever cams and plates over time and then the accuracy gets worse.
Vortex 4-16×44 HST MRAD scope – I am a huge fan of Vortex scopes and thing you get a lot of quality glass at a reasonable price. I opted for a medium physical size scope. My first choice would have been a PST Gen 2 5-25×50 but I couldn’t quite swing it right now. I may well change to this scope down the road.
Magpul PMAG 7.62×51 AC Magazines – the Pork Sword chassis uses the AC short action series of PMAG 7.62×51 magazines. I bought a couple of 5-round magazines and a couple of 10-round magazines.
Tools Needed
Wheeler Remington 700 Action Wrench – this holds the bolt action while you do the barrel work. I didn’t have one and it was definitely a worthwhile purchase.
Clymer .308 GO and NO-GO Headspace Gages – normally I use Manson out of habit. Clymer has a good reputation and one tip I was told long ago is to go with the same brand of gage for a given caliber. So I went with Clymer for both the GO and NO-GO gages because they were in stock.
Wheeler Professional Laser Bore Sighter – I’ve been using a green laser model for about a year now and really like it. The green is very visible further away but they also have a red laser model at a lower price if you aren’t interested in paying extra for the green laser.
The following tools aren’t firearm specific but will help with the build:
1-1/4″ Crowfoot Wrench – you’ll need this to torque the barrel nut to spec. Confirm the size you need with the barrel maker. I didn’t have one this size and needed to buy it.
1/2″ Torque Wrench – Get one that starts at 10 foot/lbs and goes at 100. That gives you a really versatile range. The action wrench bolts are 10 foot/pounds each and then we you bring the barrel nut down, it’s 50-55 foot/pounds.
1/4″ Torquing Screwdriver – Get a good one. I highly recommend the Vortex Optics unit because it is a precision tool for the optics work but it does max out at 50 inch-pounds and the action screws need 55-65 inch/pounds (note that is inch/pounds and not foot/pounds).
1/4″ Torque Wrench – I used a clicker-style torque wrench for the action screws that I installed at 60-in-pounds.
Vise – have a good enough one bolted to a surface that can hold the action wrench and your life will be way easier.
Blue Loctite – Firearms can shake just about any fastener loose so use Blue Loctite, or your favorite medium strength thread locker, to keep them from rattling loose.
SAE Allen Wrench Bits – If I recall right, all of the hex head screws were SAE and you’ll want the bits so you can torque them down to spec with the torquing screw driver.
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