Best Custom Rifle Action: What The Pros Use

I recently surveyed the 200 top-ranked shooters in the Precision Rifle Series (PRS) to learn what gear they’re running in long-range rifle matches. This large sample size represents the best long-range rifle competitors in the country.

This post will focus on the rifle part that is the absolute foundation of any rifle: the action. Perhaps no piece of gear can derail a match faster than an action. They just have to work every time without fail! So what are these guys at the very top putting their trust in? (View other What The Pros Use articles)

Let’s dive into the data!

Best Precision Rifle Action for PRS Matches

On the chart above, the various colors represent where a shooter landed in terms of season rank in the PRS. For example, black indicates shooters who finished in the top 10, the darkest blue is people who finished 11-25, and the lighter the blue, the further out they finished in overall standings. The chart legend itemizes the ranks each color represents, but basically, the darker the color, the higher the shooter’s overall ranking.

Impact Precision Action

57% of these top-ranked shooters are using an Impact Precision 737R action! That is over 3 times as many as any other brand. Impact Actions had almost as many shooters represented among the top 50 as any other brand had over all 200 shooters.

5 of the top 10 shooters were running an Impact action: #4 Austin Orgain,  #5 Austin Buschman, #6 Kyle Mccormack, #8 Ken Sanoski, and #9 Chris Kutalek. Impact also had 13 actions represented among the top 25. So, they represented 50% or more of the top-ranked shooters at every level.

So what is so compelling about an Impact action? Here are two big reasons:

• Have become the de facto standard for shouldered, pre-fit barrels. Impact holds very tight tolerances, even on assembled parts, which means you can buy pre-chambered barrels off the shelf that are ready to ship. No more sending your favorite match rifle off to be rebarreled. They were one of the first actions to guarantee that pre-fit barrels would headspace correctly on their actions, back to the original release of the 737R in 2015. Other high-end, Rem 700 based action manufacturers came out with guaranteed headspace actions around 2019, which gave Impact a significant head start. Today, pre-fit barrels for Impact actions are more common than any other action. If someone is making high-end, pre-fit barrels, you can bet they offer Impact Pre-Fits. (Learn more about pre-fit barrels)
• While Impact actions are held to tight tolerances, they also have appropriate clearances for reliability in dusty, field-style matches. Many high-end actions have minimal clearances between the bolt and the receiver, and dusty matches can cause them to run poorly or even lock up. Impact actions were designed by two veteran PRS shooters, Wade Stuteville and Tate Streater, from the ground up to be reliable in dusty, field-style PRS matches. 2022 PRS Champion Austin Buschman says, “The absolute top priority for my competition rifle and gear is reliability.”

Like almost all of the actions on this list, the Impact Precision 737R is a short action based on a Remington 700 footprint. That means you have a ton of options in terms of chassis/stocks and triggers that are compatible with it.

Since Impact was so popular, I’ll point out the list of features you’ll find standard on an Impact 737R action:

• One-piece receiver with integral recoil lug and integral 20 MOA picatinny rail. (The 20 MOA rail helps more of your scope’s elevation travel be useable. Learn more.)
• Receiver is rough machined, heat treated, bolt races electric discharge machined, and finish machined to ensure exacting dimensional tolerances
• One piece bolt is designed with proper geometry and clearance to allow smooth operation under field conditions
• Fluting on top and sides of bolt body carry dirt away while a smooth bottom portion ensures smooth cycling
• Based on Remington 700 footprint, so it’s compatible with with most stocks/chassis and you have a wide range of trigger options
• Rugged bolt stop design can take abuse while not requiring modification to stocks or chassis
• Trigger hanger allows simplified field maintenance to the trigger
• Black carbon nitride finish improves operation by increasing surface hardness and lubricity
• Compatible with both AICS and AW magazines, meaning you have the option to run a true double-stack AW magazine in them. (AW magazines are slightly shorter than AICS magazines, which can sometimes be convenient when shooting from various barricades. You should check out the new AW magazines Gray Ops just released!)

There were 5 brands of actions that had at least 5 or more of these top-ranked shooters using them, and the Impact Precision 737R short action is one of the lowest-priced options among that group with an MSRP of $1,470.

One interesting stat is that 42% of those top shooters running Impact actions said they were using a pre-fit barrel. At the end of this article, I’ll provide a breakdown of what % of each action said they were using a pre-fit. (Learn more about pre-fit barrels)

Lone Peak Arms Fuzion Action

The second most popular precision rifle action was the Lone Peak Arms Fuzion, representing 16% among this crowd of elite marksmen. That did include 3 of the guys who finished in the top 10: #2 Andy Slade, #3 Morgun King, and #7 Jeff Guerry.

The Lone Peak Fuzion full-rail short action has many features that are similar to the Impact 737R. However, I’ve noticed that some of the manufacturers making pre-fit barrels for Lone Peak Arms actions, like PROOF and Front Range Precision, have this disclaimer on their Lone Peak pre-fit barrels: “Some older actions (made before Fall 2019) do not have timed threads and headspace may vary slightly. It is recommended to double-check headspace after the barrel is installed.” So, it seems like Lone Peak made the changes necessary for their actions to accommodate pre-fit barrels around Fall 2019. (Learn more)

The Lone Peak Fuzion short action has an integral recoil lug and 20 MOA picatinny rail. The short action is also cut to accept either AICS or AW magazines. It features an M-16 style extractor and a lightweight 0.060” diameter firing pin that they advertise as providing “the fastest lock time.” (Note: Lock time is the time between when a trigger is activated and the firing pin hits the primer. It can range from 2.6 to 9.0 milliseconds in conventional bolt-action rifles, and faster is generally considered to be better.)

The Lone Peak Fuzion action has many options and variations, including a medium-length action. However, only the short action version with the full rail comes standard with the receiver body having a nitride finish. Nitride is a custom option on other Fuzion models.

One unique aspect of the Lone Peak Fuzion is the bottom of the action isn’t simply cylindrical like most Rem 700 based actions, but is what they call “multi-flat.” Basically the same faceted design that you see on the top half of the action continues on the bottom half. Brian at Lone Peak Arms told me some shooters like that feature because of how it imprints in the bedding. You can see a 5-star bedding job by TS Customs in the photo and how the multiple flat angles on the bottom of the Lone Peak action imprint into the bedding.

The Lone Peak Fuzion has an MSRP of $1,450, which is the lowest-priced option of any of the actions used by 5 or more of these top-ranked PRS shooters.

Defiance Actions

Defiance Actions were the 3rd most popular action among this group of top-ranked shooters at 9%. That included Nick Gadarzi, who finished 10th overall in the 2023 PRS Season Standings.

Defiance has been one of the most popular actions among the top PRS shooters since the PRS was founded in 2011. It was the 2nd most popular action on the very first set of “What The Pros Use” articles I published based on data from the 2012 PRS season (see the data), so Defiance actions have been represented since the very beginning!

Defiance has a ton of different model actions, but the models that are common to see in the PRS are pictured to the right, each with an integral recoil lug and an integral picatinny scope base. I did reach out to Nick Gadarzi specifically to ask which model he was running, and he told me it was the Defiance Deviant Tactical.

The Defiance Ruckus Tactical action is the latest addition to the lineup, released in late 2019. It is very similar to the Deviant, but the Ruckus has guaranteed headspace – which means you can buy pre-fit barrels for it. The Defiance Action comparison page says the Ruckus features a “One-piece bolt machined in one operation enabling guaranteed headspace tolerance of +/- .001 inches” – but the Deviant models don’t have that headspace guarantee.

What is interesting is that the Ruckus Tactical is priced $150 lower than the Deviant Tactical ($1,595 vs $1,745). I read all kinds of opinions online about why that was, but I simply called Defiance and asked them directly. They said it’s simply because the bolt on the Ruckus was moved to a more modernized machining process, and it is made in one machining process – compared to the Deviant bolt, which is an 11-step process. Of course, even at the lowered price of $1,595, the Ruckus Tactical action is still the most expensive action that 5 or more of the top 200 ranked shooters used.

Defiance actions have more customization options and variations than any other brand, which can be nice – or confusing. The short-length action (Rem SA) is offered with an AW magazine cut. They also offer two different sizes of medium-length actions plus a long action. If you want to customize an action to have some niche features, Defiance seems to have endless options. You can customize the bolt knob, the bolt nose, the bolt fluting, the bolt shroud, how heavy the tang is, multiple length options, different magazine cuts, and more.

Terminus Zeus Action

5% of these top-ranked shooters were using a Terminus action, including the guy who took 1st overall, Kahl Harmon.

Kahl said that he was using a Terminus Zeus action, which is their flagship model. They describe it as “an over-engineered tactical one-piece action.” This one is a 3-lug design with a 60° throw on the bolt. Terminus does say that their Zeus action has “receiver headspace tolerance and timed threads allow pre-fit barrels to be installed by the customer.”

One unique thing about the Terminus Zeus is that the receiver and bolt are both DLC coated (Diamon-Like Carbon Coating), whereas most of the other actions and bolts on this list are nitride-coated. I called Terminus to ask about that, and Joel told me that they originally used a nitride coating on their actions. He said DLC coating is about 5 times the cost of nitride, which is why you rarely see a complete receiver that is DLC coated. DLC coating produces a higher lubricity (lower coefficient of friction) and is better at protecting the action from premature wear. He also said they saw some very slight movement in some parts as a result of nitride coating. Joel explained that the parts were checked to meet certain specs, but when dipped in the 1100° nitride bath, they would move slightly. He said the application temperature of DLC is 312°, which isn’t hot enough to move or change any of the parts. Joel did add the disclaimer that he’s not claiming nitride coating affects or moves all parts, but that was their experience and why they moved to DLC – despite the extra expense.

Another novel feature of Terminus actions is their patented threaded trigger pins, instead of the older hammered-in style pins. The Impact action features a trigger hanger, but these threaded pins seem to be another solution to simplify field maintenance of a trigger. Terminus also says they have a quick change barrel option, or you can get the Zeus with standard, full-length barrel threading.

MSRP on the Terminus Zeus is $1,575, which makes it one of the more expensive actions on this list – but not the highest.

Curtis Custom Valor Action

6 of these top 200 ranked shooters were running a Curtis Custom action. That included 3 shooters in the top 25, but there weren’t any in the top 10.

The flagship competition action from Curtis Customs is the Valor Short, which is another 3-lug design with a 60° bolt throw and has an integral recoil lug and scope rail.

Here is Curtis Custom’s summary of the Valor short action: “The VALOR is a culmination of 4 years of Development with competitive precision rifle shooting at its heart! Improvements made from past models are: Improved feeding with a proprietary Magwell design, which all but eliminates any magazine binding or interface with the bolt. Allowing both AI and AW magazine systems to work in conjunction without modification. Internal tolerance and different machine methods help improve overall bolt lift and cycle. The ejection port is lengthened to allow for longer COAL. The cocking piece is a new design that is also black nitrided for incredibly smooth operation.”

Curtis says they hold headspace dimensions within 0.001” on this action, which means you can order shouldered, pre-fit barrels for it that a customer can install (learn more). Similar to the Zeus, Curtis Customs advertises that you can get the Valor Short with a quick change barrel feature or full-thread tennon option.

Chase Curtis, the owner of Curtis Customs, told me they recently moved all of their finishing in-house, and they use a proprietary process to apply a DLC coating. Previously, Curtis actions had a nitride coating. Chase said their cost per action for the DLC coating is more than double what nitride was costing them, but he believes it’s a better finish.

The Curtis Customs Valor Short Action has an MSRP of $1,474.

Side-By-Side Spec Comparison of Top 5 Brands

Those 5 brands represent all of the actions used by 5 or more of these top 200 PRS shooters. These actions are similar in many ways, but there are also unique features or options. Several years ago, RECOIL magazine had an article with this type of side-by-side action comparison, and I found myself referencing back to it several times. So, I thought it’d be helpful to see a side-by-side comparison of the pricing and specs for each of those. You can’t find all of these specs online, so I called each manufacturer to fill in any of the blanks.

Now, I’ll share the additional action brands a few shooters said they used in my “What The Pros Use” survey.

BAT Actions

BAT actions are legendary in the Benchrest world, and 3 of these top-ranked PRS shooters use them, with 1 of those finishing in the top 50.

BAT offers so many different models of bolt actions that I wanted to be able to share with my readers which model the top BAT shooter was running. So I reached out to John Indellicati, who placed 45th in the 2023 PRS Open Season Rankings using a BAT action. John said he is using the BAT TR Model with a 308 bolt face and nitride finish. I asked what he liked about it, and John said, “They are very robust and of very high quality. I like that they have an adjustable trigger hanger and have a nice tight lock-up feel. I use AW magazines, and they run very smooth once you get the mags tuned.”

I also saw BAT released the BAT Hammerhead action in January, which is their newest repeater action that is purpose-built for competition. Corson Piper, who finished 20th in the 2023 PRS Open Division Season Rankings and is currently ranked 2nd in the 2024 standings, said he recently started using the BAT Hammerhead in matches.

Here is BAT’s description of the Hammerhead: “Faster operating than ever before with our renowned BAT Precision. Featuring a shorter 75 degree bolt lift that doesn’t compromise action strength or feel. The Hammerhead includes a standard length bolt stop or a short travel bolt stop for BR/Dasher length cartridges. The shorter position reduces travel by .350″ thus improving cycling speed. An adjustable and removable screw is fitted to the magazine port to allow for the use of AICS magazines without the feed-lips contacting the bolt.”

So, the BAT Hammerhead action has a few unique features:

• It’s a two-lug action that features a 75° bolt lift (most two-lug actions are 90°). Some people prefer a reduced throw angle because they believe it’s faster to operate – which is part of the draw of a 3-lug design that has a 60° bolt lift. But there are other cons that can come with a 3-lug action. So, it seems like BAT has introduced a third option that may have the benefits of both.
• Comes with two bolt stops: standard length + another one that is reduced by 0.35” to cut down on how far you have to run the bolt for the shorter BR and Dasher cases.
• Adjustable stop to optimize the use of AICS without the feed lips contacting the bolt (while still being compatible with AW double-stack magazines)

While lots of these actions are very similar to one another, I can certainly appreciate someone bringing some novel features to the table – especially those that seem very relevant to PRS shooting.

The BAT TR model that John uses has an MSRP of $1,785, and the BAT Hammerhead has an MSRP of $1,885. That makes those the most expensive actions out of this whole list.

Zermätt Arms/Big Horn Actions

3 of these pro-level shooters said they were using an action made by Zermätt Arms (formerly known as Bighorn Arms). That included 2 in the top 100 but none in the top 50. Big Horn Actions has been a mainstay on this list of actions the top shooters have been using since the very beginning of the PRS in 2012.

These actions are controlled round feed and feature a mechanical ejector, which seems to be unique among the other actions on this list. They also feature a floating, interchangeable bolt head, meaning you can change from one size bolt face to another by simply replacing the head of the bolt. All of the Zermätt Arms actions feature a pinned picatinny scope rail instead of an integral rail, which is different from virtually all of the other actions on this list. The Zermätt Arms flagship action, the TL3 action, does feature an integral recoil lug.

The TL3 action is priced at $1,300, which makes it one of the lowest-priced actions in this lineup.

Billet Precision Rifles LS1 Action

2 shooters were using an action made by Billet Precision Rifles. That includes the owner of Billet Precision Rifles, Lane Shelley, who placed 29th overall.

Here is the description of the LS1 action: “A precision-built bolt action receiver based upon the 700 footprint. Short action caliber cut for AICS magazines with an integrated recoil lug and a 20 M0A pic rail. Finish coating available in a polish or gunmetal gray.”

MSRP on the LS1 action is listed at $1,250 on their website, which means it’s the lowest-priced action in this lineup of actions that was used by more than 1 of these top-ranked PRS shooters.

Falkor Defense Seven Action

2 shooters said they were using a Falkor Defense action, and one of those specifically noted it was the Falkor Defense 7even Short Action.

The Falkor Defense Seven short action is priced at $1,499.

Other Actions With 1 Shooter Represented

The brands mentioned above represented 95% of these 200 top-ranked PRS shooters, including any action used by more than 2 or more of the top 200 ranked shooters. But, there was a pretty long list of other actions that 1 of these shooters said they used on my survey, and those are shown below.

A few of these were competing in the Production Division, which means they were using a factory rifle that was under a specific price point – and they still shot well enough to place in the top 200 in the Open Division. That just shows how capable some of the factory rifles are these days. Nobody is claiming a factory action is as good as an Impact action, but these are clearly capable of precision!

• MPA Elite Action (#22 Keith Rudasill)
• Savage Factory Action (#36 Matt Alwine)
• Ruger Precision Rifle Factory Action (#50 Doug Koenig)
• American Rifle Company (I have to add that the ARC Coup De Grâce action is a feature-packed, custom action priced at $899, which is arguably the best value of any product on this list.)
• Kelbly’s
• Sgt. Of Arms
• Tikka

How Many Are Running Pre-Fit Barrels On Different Actions?

Most of these actions are guaranteed to headspace correctly on shouldered, pre-fit barrels. Not sure what that means? Read this article.

So now let’s look at how many of these top-ranked PRS shooters were actually using pre-fit barrels based on what action they were using.

First, the chart below shows every brand of action that had 5 or more shooters represented, along with what percentage of each said they were running a pre-fit barrel.

That is very interesting! 42% of the top-ranked shooters using an Impact action were using a pre-fit barrel, but the other brands have a much lower percentage of pre-fits represented.

The chart above is one view, but it doesn’t give you any insight into where those shooters using pre-fits finished. Were only the lower-ranked shooters running pre-fit barrels? The answer depends on what action you’re talking about. The chart below shows all of the people who said they were running a pre-fit barrel (not one that was custom-chambered for their action), and this chart is color-coded so we can see where they ranked.

You can see Impact Precision had 3 shooters in the top 10 and 5 in the top 25 that said they were running a pre-fit barrel on an Impact action. However, the only people running a pre-fit barrel on a Lone Peak action were ranked above 50th. There were 6 shooters using a Lone Peak action in the top 50, but none of those people were using a pre-fit barrel.

There was 1 person using a pre-fit on a Terminus, who finished 39th overall on the season, and 1 person using a pre-fit on an LS1 action from Billet Precision Rifles, who finished 29th. Other than Impact, Terminus, and Billet Precision, there weren’t any other top 50 shooters running a pre-fit on any other action.

The charts above show such a sharp difference in terms of both the % of shooters using pre-fits and the ranking of those who are that I have to wonder if these top shooters simply have more confidence in pre-fit barrels made for Impact actions than those made for other brands. Of course, that is conjecture, but I’m not sure what else to make of the trends. If you have thoughts on what might be behind this, please share those in the comments!

After I published my last article on pre-fit barrels, I can tell you this is undoubtedly a hot topic! There are lots of intelligent people with strong opinions on both sides. Clearly, these action manufacturers have taken notice and come to market with new products to support pre-fit barrels. If nothing else, it will be interesting to keep an eye on this trend over the coming years.

The Brands That Fell Off

There are a few names that were on this list of actions the pros were using for years that went missing this year. When I first published the data after the inaugural 2012 PRS season, Surgeon actions were the favorite among the top shooters. “Surgeon” is one of those old-school names that new shooters may have never even heard of at this point, and this is the first survey where there wasn’t a single one of the top riflemen who said they were using one.

Stiller Actions is one more name that was on the original list of actions and was well-represented among the precision rifle community for many years. They had fallen down the list quite a ways and only had a couple of shooters represented the last few times we looked at the data, but this marks the first year they’re no longer represented.

Accuracy International also typically had quite a few shooters represented and had since the very beginning. However, none of these top shooters said they were using an AI action this year. AI rifles are certainly capable of competing at this level. My guess as to why AI might have fallen off the list is that AI’s complete rifles are fairly expensive (starting around $6500), and they have very limited chassis/stock and trigger options. Unlike almost all other actions on this list, AI actions aren’t based on a Remington 700 footprint but are a proprietary design.

Coming Up Next

If you enjoyed this content, there is more to come! Over the next few months, I’ll be publishing a ton of data on what the top precision rifle shooters are using. Check out the other “What The Pros Use” articles that have already been published.

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