Forbes 20 B Sheep Rifle review

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North61

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Well I wouldn't buy another. Might sell it or re-barrel in 338 Federal. Had my gunsmith test the first one and he had the same results as I had. I have an A-Bolt in 325WSM that weighs in at 1.3 pounds heavier than the Forbes that consistently shoots MOA with a small amount of load development. I take it on 90% of my trips and have so far left the Forbes at home.

I think I got spoiled with the Remington's built in the 60's through early 80's that always seemed MOA capable. However it is what it is!
 
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When I spoke with Melvin, he said he cut ties with Forbes months ago. I won't go into further details other than to say they weren't following his instructions and rules on tolerances.
 
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North61

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That makes sense to me. Melvin hasn't had much luck with the production partnerships on these but the Forbes does seem better than the old Colt models.
 

hodgeman

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The world is lousy with MOA rifles in the modern era, even some fairly light ones.

There's just no excuse for an $1800 rifle that won't shoot, not when $400 Savages and Rugers routinely do it out of the box. In the "light gun" category, a Tikka doesn't weigh much more and I've not seen a bad one yet.
 

wavygravy

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I almost got one of these a few months back. After reading the few droplets of reviews out there and talking to the guy at Forbes I decided against it, after reading this I'm glad I did. $1800 is no small fee for a gun like this, too much for a poor shooting one.
 
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There's just no excuse for an $1800 rifle that won't shoot, not when $400 Savages and Rugers routinely do it out of the box. In the "light gun" category, a Tikka doesn't weigh much more and I've not seen a bad one yet.

Completely agree. It took me about a half hour to find a sub MOA load for my wife's Tikka 30-06 w/ Leupold 4x32mm scope.
 
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North61

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Sorry to bring this up from the dead. My son has me on the sheep quest again. I bought him a left handed Tikka T3 lite in 243 and in a weekend we had three sub MOA l0ads in a rifle just 18 oz heavier than the Forbes and about half the cost. I was so impressed I bought a right handed T-3x lite for myself in 30-06 and in an afternoon had two loads that consistently shade .5" inch groups and consistently break 2" at 315 yards. I guess Forbes going out of business is some good Karma. Anyway...if you do find a used Forbes try to test fire before buying. The ergonomics are great but they can be very picky about what and how they shoot and some did have some functioning issues. If you get a good one a 5 pound rifle is a lot of fun to carry!
 
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ak12ring

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Man lots of bad reviews here... I guess I got lucky and got a shooter. My 6.5x55 shoots factory nosler AB 140s .75 and bug holes hand loaded 129gr LRABs


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 

mcseal2

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I had a Colt light rifle in 7mm Rem Mag that was a great shooter. I figured out it would shoot 140gr Ballistic tips or Accubonds loaded to 3000fps into the same POI as 160gr Accubonds loaded to 3000fps. It was great to be able to practice or deer hunt with the lighter recoiling load and step up to the 160's for elk. The safety was the biggest problem I had with it, it slipped into the fire position way to easy for me to be comfortable with it. I eventually sold it due to that issue. If it wasn't for that I'd have likely got a stiffer stock from NULA and still be shooting it.
 

dotman

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Mine is a good MOA to sub MOA shooter with reloads, not sure about factory loads. No issues at all with it like some have had. That said I would like to rebarrel it to a 6.5x284 with 22" barrel, it's currently a 270win.
 
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North61

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Bringing this back after a long rest. I found a guy who wanted to trade an almost new 24B in 25-06 for my 20B. He wanted the 20B for it's action and stock for a re-barreling project. So I did the trade. So far the 24B is averaging under an inch with 5, 3 shot groups of Hornady Whitetail factory ammo. The 117 grain SPBT is averaging 3020ft/sec. Best group is .46 worst is 1.2". Average is .85 inches. The rifle has a fairly heavy contour 24" barrel and the weight saving is in the stock and action. Balance is great. It weighs a full 10 oz more than the 20B so only 8-10 oz less than a Tikka.

With reloading this rifle should be very good.
 

Broomd

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My Forbes 20B LH in .308 is the finest all-round rifle I've ever owned and that includes my genuine NULA in .308. Blindfolded I couldn't tell the two apart. The NULA retailed at $3400, the Forbes cost me $925 new.
 
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North61

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My Forbes 20B LH in .308 is the finest all-round rifle I've ever owned and that includes my genuine NULA in .308. Blindfolded I couldn't tell the two apart. The NULA retailed at $3400, the Forbes cost me $925 new.

That's great. If my 308 shot a bit better we'd still be together. As is my new to me 24B in 25-06 printed some more sub MOA groups at 100 and a nice 2.47 inch group off the bags at 315 yards. All with Hornady Whitetail factory ammo. It is also averaging 3030ft/sec off the chronograph. Bought 3 more boxes today! 2 short videos on the 24B.

Forbes 24B: Is it my new sheep rifle? - YouTube


Hornady Factory Ammo good stuff! - YouTube
 
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