New Ultralight Arms Model 20S: Light and Right

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In the early 1980s, West Virginia gunsmith Melvin Forbes set out to build a lightweight rifle for a client. Forbes put his fertile mind to work on the concept of what a rifle did and didn’t need, and developed the groundbreaking design that spawned the Ultra Light Arms company.

After a series of sales and rebirths born out of the same lightweight rifle concept, Forbes sold the final iteration, known as New Ultra Light Arms, to another firearm industry innovator: Bill Wilson. Wilson Combat has taken Forbes’s classic Model 20 rifle and given it a rebirth true to its roots. Today’s New Ultra Light Arms (NULA) rifles combine portability and performance in a way that only the late Mr. Forbes could have envisioned.

Forbes offered a variety of chamberings and action lengths in his catalog, but at this point Wilson Combat is producing only the Model 20 and 20S. The Model 20 is a short action with a 0.473-inch bolt face designed to accommodate cartridges in the .308 Win. class. Currently, rifles in .243 Win., 6.5 Creedmoor, 7mm-08 Rem., .308 Win. and .358 Win. are available.

I tested the Model 20S, which is built around cartridges with the smaller 0.378-inch bolt face. Current Model 20S offerings are .223 Wylde, .300 Ham’r, .300 BLK and .350 Legend. I tested the .300 Ham’r, one of Bill Wilson’s own creations.

The Namesake

The Model 20/20S name refers to the weight of the action: 20 ounces. To get there on the original, Forbes cut away unnecessary metal while maintaining strength and safety. Forbes scaled his actions to the specific dimensions of the cartridges in question.

The diminutive action on the 20S is just right for short-action cartridges. Not only do its sleek dimensions cut weight, they also allow for a smaller barrel shank, which keeps things in proportion and cuts additional mass thanks to a minimalist barrel contour.

Although Forbes was a mechanical genius, the machinery available to him in the 1980s was rudimentary by today’s standards. Wilson Combat’s Arkansas facilities suffer no such shortcomings, and the current Model 20/20S actions are produced on state-of-the-art CNC and EDM machines.

The receivers begin life as billets of 4140 steel and emerge as finished actions built to exacting specifications. Starting with an action that is true and dimensionally correct is like building a house on a strong foundation. It sets the stage for everything else to be done correctly.

The Action

The Model 20S is a round push-feed action with dual opposing locking lugs, similar in concept to the Remington 700. (Forbes’s original lightweight project actually began with a Remington 600 action.) The tiny bolt is machined from 4340 bar stock and is Physical Vapor Deposition (PVD) coated. The bolt face is recessed 0.135 inch, but the lugs sit flush with the leading edge of the bolt body so there is no counterbore cut into the barrel tenon.

The Model 20S action uses a Sako-style extractor along with a plunger-style ejector. The cocking piece serves as a cocking indicator, with a red stripe visible at the back of the bolt when the firing pin assembly is in the cocked position. The bolt handle is machined integrally with the bolt body and sports a Trak pattern bolt knob that looks a bit like the old fragmentation grenades.

The round-bodied receiver uses a separate recoil lug that is sandwiched between the receiver face and the barrel shank when the barrel is torqued into place. A simple push-button bolt stop is located on the left side of the tang.

The top of the receiver is drilled and tapped 8x40 for scope mounting. My rifle shipped with a set of Talley 30mm lightweight scope rings. Forbes actually designed these rings as part of the original Ultra Light Arms effort and eventually partnered with Talley Manufacturing to produce them. Made from extruded aluminum and then finish-machined, they weigh just two ounces. They are not included with the rifle but are available on the Wilson Combat website.

Barrel

The NULA Model 20S is fitted with a button-rifled Wilson Combat barrel made from 416R stainless steel. In the .300 Ham’r chambering the twist is 1:15, and both 16- and 18-inch barrels are available. I chose the 16-inch barrel because I intended to mount a suppressor.

This rifle has a very lightweight contour to minimize mass, but with one important feature. These days, it has become popular for rifle manufacturers to thread pencil-thin barrels, which can lead to accuracy problems, as that thin wall of steel relaxes at the muzzle. On the 20S, Wilson Combat’s barrel contour flares out at the muzzle, providing plenty of meat for the 5/8x24 threads and a sturdy shoulder for the suppressor to lock against. Small details like this matter.

Every Forbes ULA/NULA I ever had my hands on used a blind magazine, no doubt to save weight. This can make unloading the rifle a bit of a chore, which matters in jurisdictions where hunters’ rifles in vehicles must have empty magazines.

The Wilson Combat NULA rifles use a hinged floorplate system, and to me this is a welcome departure from the traditional Forbes design. The magazines hold 5+1 rounds, and the aluminum floorplate can be released via a button inside the trigger guard. These parts are anodized black, and they aesthetically match the Armor-Tuff and PVD coatings used on the receiver and bolt.

Stock

Forbes famously made his own stocks using a process that was cutting-edge in the 1980s. Stock construction has evolved since then, and Wilson Combat NULA rifles feature AG Composites stocks. These carbon-fiber stocks are extremely lightweight but rigid. The stocks use aluminum pillars, which means the T25 Torx action screws can be tightened significantly without fear of damaging the stock.

These stocks wear an attractive sponge-style camo finish with the carbon-fiber texture visible underneath. The sporter-style stock uses a straight comb without a cheekpiece. Length of pull is 13.5 inches, with the option of a shorter 12.75-inch version. The stock is finished with a one-inch black Pachmayr recoil pad, and it incorporates nitride sling swivel studs that won’t rust.

Forbes full-length bedded his barreled actions into the stock by hand, which is a time-consuming and therefore expensive process. With today’s higher-quality parts, hand bedding has arguably become less important—some say unnecessary. The 20S uses a free-floating barrel and the action is simply torqued onto the stock’s pillars. During my testing, I saw no indication that accuracy or point-of-impact consistency suffered as a result.

The final piece of the Model 20S puzzle is the trigger. Forbes favored the Timney, and that has been carried forward in the current version. The 20S uses the single-stage, user-adjustable Timney Elite Hunter. The one on my test sample broke consistently at 2.8 pounds with zero creep. The safety rides on the right side of the tang and locks the bolt closed when in the Safe position.

Performance

As mentioned, my test rifle was chambered in .300 Ham’r. Bill Wilson developed this cartridge as the ideal round for hunting feral hogs. Wilson hunts hogs on a daily basis on his Texas ranch and has formed some definite opinions on what works and what doesn’t.

In his experience, a .30 caliber cartridge is ideal, but the popular .300 BLK lacks sufficient velocity for the job. The .300 Ham’r is a blown-out .223 Rem. case with minimal taper and a 30-degree shoulder. The Ham’r has 25 percent more powder capacity than the BLK and creates a higher chamber pressure—57,500 vs. 55,000 psi.

The Ham’r is designed for use at supersonic velocities, with a flatter trajectory and improved terminal performance. Wilson Combat offers a wide variety of factory loads for this cartridge, ranging from the 95-grain Lehigh Defense monolithic bullet to the 150-grain Speer Ham’r Bonded.

The load I used was the Tipped Controlled Chaos. When this bullet hits fluid, as in inside an animal, the front portion shreds into curled petals that fly outward from the bullet’s path. This transfers a ton of energy, and at the same time, the base of the bullet continues in a straight line for deep penetration. The design goal is quick incapacitation, which is exactly what you’re looking for when you’re dispatching hogs.

My Setup

Wilson Combat provided me with its Silent Bandit suppressor, which I used on the Model 20S throughout the testing. This .30 caliber, six-baffle suppressor weighs 13.3 ounces and is 6.41 inches long. The suppressor uses a unique Hub mount that threads onto the muzzle and looks like an oversize muzzle brake. The suppressor itself then threads onto the Hub.

The Hub—one is included with the Silent Bandit—serves as a thread adapter. Using this system, a single suppressor can be fitted to numerous rifles with varying thread patterns. One Silent Bandit can be used with a 1/2x28 Hub, a 5/8x24 Hub or a 11/26x24 Hub. Additional Hubs are available on Wilson Combat’s website for $98.

Not only does the Silent Bandit cut the rifle’s muzzle blast and sound signature significantly—31 dB on average—it also reduces recoil. The additional weight added to the muzzle also makes the rifle more shootable under practical conditions. Since the .300 Ham’r cartridge is supersonic, there is still a downrange “crack,” but someone who’s fast with the bolt might still get a shot at a second hog.

Given that this rifle was going to be set up as a compact rig for hunting feral hogs, I went light on the scope’s magnification. I mounted a Leupold VX-5HD 1-5x24mm scope with a CDS dial and a FireDot illuminated duplex reticle.

Hog Wild Refinement

I’ve hunted hogs in the South my entire adult life, and this scope is ideal for the task. Being able to dial down to a true 1X is great when the shots are close and fast, and 5X is plenty for medium distances. The bright glass and illuminated aiming point are a must for shooting at dawn and dusk.

This scope’s only downside was a lack of top-end magnification when it came to shooting from the bench—so accuracy results should be taken with a grain of salt. Magnification limits notwithstanding, the test rifle shot well. Even at 5X, two of the three loads met or exceeded the company’s one m.o.a. standard.

The fit and finish are excellent and befitting of the price tag. Nothing about the NULA 20S looks or feels cheap.

Function was excellent as long as I was diligent about placing the cartridges fully into the rear of the magazine box. Failure to do so would sometimes cause the bolt to ride over the final round in the magazine without picking it up.

Compact and Portable

I cannot stress how compact and portable this little rifle is. “Handy” is the word that comes to mind. I do a lot of hunting that involves getting in and out of vehicles and climbing into and out of tree stands. A compact rifle such as this one is ideal for that purpose. I usually hunt with a suppressor nowadays and, even with the Silent Bandit mounted, the 20S is shorter than 41 inches overall.

Plus the 20S weighs only four pounds, 12 ounces bare, and even with the addition of the Leupold scope and the Silent Bandit it’s a mere six pounds, 13 ounces.

On at least three previous occasions, companies have attempted to bring the ULA/NULA rifles to market on a production basis. All those efforts were eventually discontinued.

Given its history as a custom gun maker and their in-house manufacturing prowess, Wilson Combat seems uniquely capable of making this project a success. The company has taken what was a hand-built $4,200 custom rifle and lowered the price significantly to right around $3,000 while maintaining, if not actually improving, quality.

The Brass Tax

The NULA Model 20S is a capable, portable, accurate and well-built rifle that combines the innovative genius of Melvin Forbes with Wilson Combat’s commitment to quality manufacturing. With the addition of a quality optic, Wilson Combat’s Silent Bandit suppressor and the Lehigh Defense Controlled Chaos, there isn’t much this little rifle can’t do.

NULA Model 20S Specs

• Type: bolt-action centerfire
• Caliber: .223 Wylde, .300 BLK, .300 Ham’r (tested), .350 Legend
• Capacity: 5+1 internal magazine w/hinged floorplate
• Barrel: 16 in. (as tested), 1:15 twist; threaded 5/8x24
• Overall Length: 35 in.
• Weight: 4 lb., 12 oz.
• Finish: Armor-Tuff, PVD, anodizing
• Stock: AG Composites carbon fiber
• Sights: none; drilled and tapped 8x40
• Safeties: 2-position
• Trigger: Timney Elite Hunter single-stage, 2.8 lb. pull (measured)
• Price: $2,995
• Manufacturer: Wilson Combat, WilsonCombat.com

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