Kelbly’s latest addition to their line of actions is the Atlas, which is a Remington 700 clone and built to the same exacting standards as their Stolle benchrest actions. It is manufactured from 416RS stainless, with the bolt made from 4140 alloy with stainless handle. Its external dimensions duplicate the 700. Kelbly Stolle actions have always been named after various bears, hence the Kodiak, Panda, and Grizzly names. When asked, Jim Kelbly informed me that the Atlas bear once inhabited the Atlas Mountains and neighboring areas, from Morocco to Libya, and is the only bear thought to have lived in Africa. It is thought to be extinct.
comes as a single-shot, with a trigger bracket for Remington- style triggers, an aluminum bolt shroud, and a top safety cutout. Cone bolt faces are standard on 222, PPC, and 308 bolt faces, with a fl at bolt face for magnum (.532) calibers. One very important thing to understand is that you can-
not use your 700 barrels on an Atlas because of the different thread pitch (1 1/16 x 18 tpi). Kelbly didn’t say, so it is just my opinion, but I would not be surprised that this was a safety- issue decision. However, Kelbly’s can provide a spacer that will allow use of your Stolle benchrest barrels on the Atlas without rechambering. As Jim put it, “There are a lot of 6mm barrels out there with 1,500 or fewer rounds through them which would make great hunting barrels.” You get all this for $850.00! The Atlas is available only in right bolt/right port, or left bolt/left port confi gurations, just like the 700s. There are a few options available. They include: a fl uted
bolt, a magazine (which requires a fl at bolt face on 308 and magnums), an ejector, a pinned recoil lug, Cerakote fi nish on
action and bolt handle, a polished action and bolt handle, a spacer to use Stolle barrels, and a long action. When I asked Jim if his father, George, and son Ian’s re-
cent participation in 600 and 1,000 yard F Class had anything to do with the decision to build, his reply was, “Not at all. The main reason was dealer demand. The other factors had more to do with fi nding a way to fi t it into our work schedule.” My rifl esmith, Neal Waltz, recently purchased an Atlas
action. His reason was because he had an orphaned synthetic Remington 40-X benchrest stock and a number of take-off custom benchrest barrels. These had been replaced by their owners because they had thought that they were “over the hill” for benchrest competition. There is little doubt in Neal’s mind that every one of them probably would shoot well under a half inch at 100 yards, but that is just not good enough for benchrest. Neal traded some gunsmithing work with Gary Rex, (
gsrex47@gmail.com, 330-407-0206) who pillar-bedded and applied an exquisite paint job. It has the look of burl walnut and it is quite stunning. The photo does not really do it justice but gives you an idea. Waltz had several 6 PPC barrels to pick from and, after looking them over with a Hawkeye borescope, decided on a light varmint barrel that was a take-off from a competition benchrest rifl e. Neal cut off the threads and treated the takeoff barrel like it was a new blank: threading, chambering, and crowning. Since it was a used barrel it would require no break-in. Of course, the proof of all these efforts is in the shooting.
Waltz mounted a 60-power March benchrest scope and all that was left was to prepare some ammo to test with. Using some brass from another 6PPC rifl e (it had been chambered with the same reamer), Neal used some surplus 8208 along with some custom bullets he had been given. He chose a load that shot well in the other rifl e and seated the bullets to the same OAL. So, really without any special care, Neal took the rifl e to the Kelbly range, which is only a few minutes from his home. We both shoot there regularly. With no wind fl ags he proceeded to shoot two really small fi ve-shot groups at 100 yards (see photo, page 57.) The results proved without a doubt that the Atlas action can be competitive in a match, as well as outstanding for a hunting rifl e. So if you were think- ing about the purchase of an action to build up a tactical, competition, or hunting rifl e, you would be wise to consider the new Kelbly Atlas action as an option.
CONTACT Kelbly’s
7222 Dalton Fox Lake Rd., North Lawrence, OH 44666 330-683-4674 •
www.Kelbly.com
Page 58 Winter 2012
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