Has anyone actually received one yet? I keep getting told next month, every month. For those who may have received one what is your opinion of them?

I have had my (read this carefully) MRC SA, SS, right handed, magnum bolt face action since the week of October 20th. I can't say what the schedule is of any other style of short action is.

I wasn't in any special rush to have one finished to use for the '03 hunting season.

Early during the charter issue period Dan stated the actions would ship in the order they were purchased.

However, later he explained that as the purchase orders for the actions came in obviously there was a mix of right handed and left handed orders plus stainless and CM. He explained it doesn't make any sense to make one or 2 or 3 right handed actions then tear up that setup and gear up for 2 left handed actions, then back to building 1 right handed one and so on. That is why they have "skipped" some orders from the sequence they were placed.

Since I wasn't planning on building on mine right away I always figured I'd see 'em when they arrived.

Now that mine is here it is sitting in my gunsmith's show case just so others can look at it and decide if they want to order one. I'm in no hurry at all on the magnum action I got.

BTW - My 'smith was very complimentary on the action, its design, and its strength.

FWIW - I have a SA SS right-handed standard bolt face coming, have no idea when that one will appear.

They told me that they shipped my SA stainless mag. action (#181) to my FFL last week. We�ll see �� CP.

Received my today. HOORAY! Both me and my gunsmith are very pleased! Going to be a push to hunt with it on the 14th but we're going to try!

I'm a lefty. so I'll probably be dead from anticipation before I get mine.

I was emailed last week that my short, stainless, RH, standard bolt face would be shipped this month (November).

Lefties got a bit of bad luck. Not MRC's fault. They selected one of the most respected names in the gun biz to machine the left hand longs and shorts while the righties continued to go to the first place.

Delay...delay...delay. Machines broke down, programs not finished, and more delays. MRC managment calls these guys every other day. Hammers them. They are now about four weeks behind their worst estimate. MRC has to bear with this as the capacity of both houses is needed.

We had some similar problems with the first house way back when. The solution? Bury them in castings. When there are only 40-50 to do, they don't get excited about being behind. 700 to a 1000 makes for a little more incentive to get on the stick and solve the %$@# problems.

Also, stainless ran first on the both RH and LH. So only stainless RH orders have shipped. This is foundry issue, as Ruger only pours one alloy at a time. A passel of 4140 castings are in the pipeline now, and the first should show up MRC around mid-month. RH of course. I can't speak to the LH timetable with as much confidence, but there is some progress toward getting past the logjam at supplier "B".

Rod or Dan,
Do a whole bunch of castings arrive at the same time and the delay is mostly with the machining? Or can we also expect LH 4140 castings to come out only a little at a time?
I'm trying to be real patient here.

I have one SA SS right hand with standard bolt face and one mag bolt face in CM ordered.

It looks like if you had ordered the SS action in a magnum, that you'd have it by now or in the very near future. Hopefully, you'll get the SS standard soon, as that is what I ordered, too.

More bad news for us lefty longs...

Ruger always runs "hundreds" of castings for efficiency's sake. First run machining is slow, as every single tool pass is checked on the granite plate with a cadillac gage. Programs adjusted and next step. First two parts could take two days. Then the learning curve as the master machinist "trains" the production operator and together, they work up to volume. 100% inspection of first runs on the coordinate measuring machines. This makes the first week or two very slow. When all is right, things speed up with spot inspections and then lot samples.

Once things get cranking, the center will ship 100-200 finished bolt/receiver pairs to heat-treat (S&W) every week. Turnaround 24-48 hours. Polishing is 48-72 hours typical for the weekly lot. The rest is truck transit to Montana.

So it's the startup - the verification of CNC programs that makes things trickle at first. As the center "learns" about the part, the volume picks up gradually at first and then more swiftly. I suspect the first center could get dialed up on left hand fairly quickly because of their RH experience. If it comes to that.

The two short actions..RH Stainless Magnums....came today...Overall I am satisfied with the fit, feel and appearance. Unfortunately with one of them there is a problem with the shroud lock. I contacted MRC and they wanted it back..they paid the shipping..they stated it was a 5 minute fix and out of 300 actions mine was the third one reported.

What kind of mounts are ya'll going to go with?

Sniper-

What type of problem did you have with the shroud lock? What should I look for when I rcv mine?

Thanks from a TNDeer dude

When I worked the action..the "button" which holds the shroud in the locked position did not "pop" back but stayed depressed. This allows the shroud to rotate freely. It appears the "button" was barely hanging on the edge of an allen screw head, there is a tiny burr on the channel, the spring is weak, or a burr on the button. Whatever it is ..it is an easy fix.

That shroud lock design is highly innovative (a Williams Firearms idea), and has received many good reviews. But, like anything new and innovative, you have to feel your way out of the minefield. The spring has been beefed up already. The specs on the hole and the tooling changed. You have to cut a deep oblong hole without a taper. And the parts need to mesh closely without binding. There's a lot more people making shrouds now, so I'll bet MRC wants to track this one down quickly.

It's a strong idea that had some teething issues.

[ 11-13-2003, 07:51: Message edited by: Rod@Acrabond ]