Barnard P or Millennium action

[Phil.D]

Hi everyone . I am starting up Target Rifle shooting for the first time and have been offered two choices, one being a Barnard P action and the other being a Millennium action both are in great condition. any thoughts on which one would be the better action?
Thanks Phil

[SCJ429]

I have a Barnard and have never heard of Millennium. Only drawback on the extremely popular Barnard is that the factory went broke recently or so I am told.

[Wyliecoyote]

I would go the Barnard simply because the chances of getting spare parts may be easier and there is a possibility that Barnard will fire up again. Robert Chombart is the designer of the Millenium action as well as the CG Inch action from West Aus that are both now defunct. Neither were anything new or earth shattering other than the ridiculous hype with both and that the Millenium had to be set in its special alloy block that had Urethane bedding surfaces that claimed to tame harmonics. Load of crap as the best one i ever saw was bedded in Devcon in a Mastin stock. A $1000 dollar action that was priced off the planet because of the hype that was associated with it. I'd go the Barnard simply because if the company doesn't fire up, that action is worth a lot of money as they are very highly sought after. The Millenium will depreciate as they have already. The other action to steer clear of is the Quad. Never saw one that didn't have badly galled locking lugs.

[straightshooter]

In general Wyliecoyote is right, you won't go much wrong with a Barnard.
I would suggest you consider the two complete 'packages' on offer and their asking price.
If the millennial comes with the original adjustable stock and a previous owner had the sense to change over to a Davies trigger then there is nothing wrong with that package especially if it comes at an attractive price. To the best of my knowledge the only involvement Robert Chombart had with the Millennial rifle was to design or supply the trigger. The action is an 'Homage' if not a straight copy of an RPA action. Unfortunately the Chombart trigger design never anticipated a reduction of the minimum trigger weight from 1.5kg to 500 grams.
The RPA Quadlock is another story. I am unsure of the galling issue but all have one particular problem to a lesser or greater degree. That is the bore inside the bolt is crooked. No doubt due to the use of some excessively expedient method of production. The effect on good ignition can be mild or severe. In the mild case some light sanding and polishing and judicious positioning of the firing pin will do the trick. In the worst cases J. Corbett (the importer) sent them to Keith Hills for major repairs.
Please note, my opinions are based on exposure to 1 only Millennial and 1 only Quadlock.

[Wyliecoyote]

I think Chombart has a selective approach to the Millenium rifle (for those that don't know the rifle was the concept and not the action and as such you could only get complete rifles initially). If it won or did well at some comp it was "his" design concept that did it without regard to the trigger puller. As for the trigger as you say, not something one would be skyting about and as usual totally over engineered with the concept of my reinvention of the wheel is better. Much like that of the Lithgow. Luckily Barry Davies came to the rescue. Never saw eye to eye with Barry but he was a smart innovator.

[SCJ429]

If I was considering an action and Barnard wasn’t an option I would get a BAT Machine or Stolle.

[Larry]

Really I think the only actions that could be considered as an alternative to the Barnard is a Borden or Kelby. The old target actions like the quad lock ect just never really lived up to the same quality as the Barnard. An easy choice get one while you can you wont regret it ever.

[Phil.D]

thanks for the all advice. I went with the Barnard it seemed like a better action to shoot with, now I just need to find a better chassis to put it in

[SCJ429]

I have seen them fitted to the Anschutz Precise chassis.