The Zermatt Arms RimX is one of the latest Remington 700 footprint offerings in the rimfire world. A lot of people ask, what is the big deal about a R700 footprint rimfire action? Having a R700 footprint action means that you will be able to virtually use all the same parts and accessories that your centerfire rifle may use (barrel excluded). This RimX is in the Masterpiece Arms Matrix chassis inlet for the R700 footprint. If you wanted to, you could easily drop a centerfire barrelled action into the same chassis.

Barrel
The barrel in this build is a Mullerworks 20″, 5R button rifled, 1:16 twist with an M24 profile. This barrel is threaded in 5/8-24 so that will accept almost any brake that is used on a centerfire rifle. The barrel was finished by Patriot Valley Arms with a Eachus Match chamber. Lapua Center-X, Midas+ and SK Rifle Match run very well with this chamber. At the time of writing, I have yet to test with Eley Tenex, Match, or Edge.


Bolt
The bolt design has been throughly thought through on the RimX. The font end of the bolt will spin freely, along with the firing pin. The firing pin is hooked into the shaft with the spring and floats freely around it. This design makes disassembly of the bolt very easy. Replacement if the firing pin is also a simple task. You can choose a specific Zermatt Arms bolt handle/knob when ordering, but handle/knob on this build has been replaced with the Area 419 adapter and knob. Adding the Area 419 adapter allows for a wider range of knobs to be used with the action. Without the adapter, only a Zermatt Arms handle/knob can be used.
There are a few things about the bolt that should be known by those seriously considering a RimX. Because of the control feed design, the extractor was strengthened, but at the cost of not being able to single feed rounds. Personally I would rather have a stronger extractor over the ability to single feed rounds. The other item is Zermatt Arms discourages dry firing the action. I contacted Zermatt Arms about why they discourged it. The recommendation comes from dry firing wearing out the firing pin at the linkage between the pin and the shaft. If you want to dry fire, you can easily take the pin, use snap caps, or order a few spare pins to keep in your bag. None of which are difficult.


Extraction is helped by the small blade that you see in the action. As the bolt comes back, the blade removes the spent case from the bolt face. This blade is easily replaced, or removed. If you are assembling your own rifle, it has to be removed for the action wrench to fit.

Magazine
The magazine for the RimX is made from machined aluminum and is a clamshell design. It’s very easy to take the magazine apart for cleaning. On the back there is an adjustable catch so you can get the mag feeding perfectly based on the stock/chassis being used. Adjustment of the catch is very easy, as it’s just one torx screw that needs to be loosened.
If you do not adjust your mag you could have very poor feeding. If you set the mag to sit lower in the action, it will barely feed. This is because the bullet hits the top of the inside of the chamber and gets stuck before being captured by the bolt. When adjusted properly, the tip bullet will go into the chamber slightly, snap into the bolt then feed smoothly into the chamber.


Trigger
Because this rifle is based on the Remington 700 footprint, it accepts any trigger that will work with a R700 action. The Triggertech Diamond that is being used has functioned perfectly with the RimX action.

Performance
This rifle flat out shoots. At time of writing only Lapua and SK ammunition has been tested for accuracy. The best results have been found with Lapua Center-X. During the tests a 3″ plate at 250 yards, and an 8″ plate at 300 yards were easily hit with consistency.



Overall the RimX has just about everything you could want in a high performance 22LR rifle. So far the RimX has been the best shooting 22LR rifle I have owned to date. With the amount of R700 parts and accessories on the market, you can really turn this rifle into whatever you want.
For more information about ordering a RimX, contact sales@gobigtactical.ca, or visit the website.


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