The world of bolt action firearms has gotten a shot in the arm with the onset of modern bolt action pistols. Remington came out with their Remington 700CP bolt action pistol just after Q announced their Mini Fix pistol. This is largely due to the invention of the pistol brace helping to make pistols let alone bolt action pistols more practical. When one thinks of a bolt action pistol you think of single-shot pistols like the XP100 which were made for bench rest shooting and possibly hunting with a pistol. Nosler tried to bring this back with their take on a bolt action handgun. However, it is not all that practical. Well, Black Collar Arms has put out their Pork Sword Chassis into the market to help people realize that they need a bolt action pistol in their life. Let’s take a closer look at this chassis designed specifically for a bolt action pistol.

The Pork Sword Is A Pistol Chassis

Chassis for bolt action firearms is nothing new. However, most of them are designed for a bolt action rifle. The Pork Sword was designed specifically with a pistol in mind. In fact, Black Collar Arms has an entire page dedicated to helping you figure out how to “build a Pork Sword Pistol“. The Pork Sword chassis was designed for use with Remington 700 style receivers. However, the crux is the fact that the barreled action has to be a virgin action. You cannot legally take a Remington 700 rifle, remove the stock and claim it is a pistol. Blame the ATF for this. So what options do you have? Buy a virgin action or buy a bolt action pistol like the Remington 700CP.

The Pork Sword comes in a cardboard box with an amusing drawing printed on it. Black Collar Arms also included a 6.5″ KAK .300blk barrel for this review. Below is the Remington 700CP laying next to the Pork Sword Chassis.

You can see right away the difference between the 700CP chassis and the Pork Sword. Also, the shorter KAK barrel makes a difference. The 700CP is chambered in .300blk and has a 10.5″ barrel. With the factory 700CP pistol in the Pork Sword chassis, the 700CP is similar in size as my Zenith Z5RS MP5 pistol.

In fact, the 700CP Pork Sword can fit in my 5.11 Select Carry sling pack, which was designed around an H&K MP5.

Instead of a free float handguard, the pork sword has a Tri-LOK FARend. It sits below the barrel and attaches to the chassis. It comes in an 8″ (4-MLOK slots long) length or a 12″ version that is 7 MLOK slots long for those who want to build a Pork Sword rifle or if you are running a dedicated suppressor you can have a longer FARend for mounting accessories nearer the suppressor muzzle end.

Pork Sword Close Up Details

The Pork Sword chassis has Picatinny everywhere but not where one would typically see Picatinny. The front of the chassis, just in front of the mag well, has 4 slots of Picatinny while there is a single slot on the front-facing edge of the chassis. The single slot is where the Tri-LOK FARend is attached. If you do not need to use the FARend then you can attach your bipod to the bottom rail just in front of your magazine. See the top photo of this article for that setup.

Black Collar Arms machined QD sling mounts into the chassis so you can attach a QD sling on either side.

At the rear of the chassis is a two-slot Picatinny rail and this is for attaching stocks or braces. Rear Picatinny as a stock or brace mounting point has become popular due to SIG Sauer’s MPX and MCX designs. So you can use any compatible SIG stock or a brace like the SB Tactical FSB1913.

Just in front of the rear Picatinny is the rear QD sling attachment point.

10.5″ Is Too Long (Said No One Ever)

Since Black Collar Arms was kind enough to include the 6.5″ KAK .300blk barrel pictured above, I decided to swap it onto the Remington 700CP for due diligence. I have swapped barrels on an AR but bolt action guns is a territory I have never ventured before. So I solicited the expertise of my friend Vic Medeiros of Spartan Precision Rifles. Yeah, there is no way I could have done this in my garage. The barrel vise is bolted to the shop floor and Vic has a giant receiver wrench with a long bar for added torque. He told me factory Remington receivers and barrels are notoriously hard to break loose. Vic used all his weight to break the 700CP receiver loose and said: “this one was easy”. It did not look easy to me. I am very glad he helped me.

With the shorter 6.5″ KAK .300blk barrel on the 700CP Pork Sword, the gun somewhat resembles Han Solo’s DL-44 blaster.

 

I opted for the Maxim Defense Hate Brake as my preferred muzzle device for this short bolt action pistol. The Hate Brake did an amazing job minimizing the fireball out of the 5″ PDX so I figured it would help with a 6.5″ .300blk build. I also thought that a linear comp would be good to help keep muzzle blast residue from coating the objective lens of the Vortex Diamondback Tactical 6-24×50 FFP scope.

With the shorter barrel, I can now carry the 700CP in an actual backpack. Pictured below, the 700CP fits in my Mystery Ranch Urban Assault 21 backpack. I can close the backpack and the gun does not print at all.

Shooting A Pork Sword

The Pork Sword was designed for use with the SB Tactical FSB1913 folding brace. However, I did not really enjoy this. The issue is the arm of the brace is made of polymer and I noticed it flexes a bit much for my liking. I am waiting for SB Tactical to come out with their metal version of the FSB1913, something they teased at the last TriggrCon.

So instead I used my modified SB Tactical MP5 brace. I prefer this brace since it is more rigid and is extremely low profile. My buddy Keith, the enabler for so many Chenaniguns, helped me mount the SBT5A brace to a SIG MPX folding hinge back when I was in PA. I wanted a brace that folded to the left. This was back in 2017. So I mounted this modified brace to the Pork Sword chassis. The only thing that was modified was how the brace attaches to the gun. It still functions as a brace and nothing has been compromised, brace-wise.

The 700 bolt just clears the factory MPX folding hinge.

With the MP5 brace folded to the side, the Pork Sword 700CP is still very thin.

I had some minor magazine issues when I first tried the Pork Sword Chassis. The Remington 700CP comes with a polymer .223 MDT magazine. It works for .300blk. The problem I experienced was the MDT magazine was extremely difficult to remove from the Black Collar Arms chassis. In fact, it required way more strength than I was expecting. It almost felt like the magazine was stuck and would not come back out.

I messaged Black Collar Arms and they said the MDT polymer magazines are out of spec. Their guns come with Accurate Mags made for Ruger’s scout rifles. They posted this note about different magazines on their website.

Magazine Notes:

• For standard short action calibers (those .308-length ones), standard AICS pattern, single-stack magazines work. Like any of these that say “AICS” (not AX) fit. All of those brands are good, but some Magpul AICS mags need minor sanding on the top of the feed lips. They use a handful of different injection molders and some of them ride a little bit too high and will rub on the underside of the bolt, while some of them are perfect. Fixing this, if needed, is very easy and the Magpul mags remain our #1 suggestion due to high reliability, low price, and light weight.
• For mini calibers (.223 Rem, 300 BLK) in a short action, you’ll want to use magazines designed specifically for this. For instance MDT’s, Accurate Mag’s, or Ruger’s. Accurate Mag is our #1 recommendation as they fit perfectly, look awesome, and run reliably. MDT’s polymer mags are too fat at the rear — well outside of AICS specification (their metal mags are perfect) — and will require a little sanding on the rear edges to fit properly in our Chassis’ magwell. They’re good quality (other than the fit) and very reliable, though. Most of the Ruger mags require sanding in the same place (top 1/3 of the rear edges), but require less of it. Some fit fine. They are the best value and are usually reliable, though maybe not as flawlessly reliable as the others and vary a little unit-to-unit.

When I visited Spartan Precision Rifles, Vic helped me test the MDT magazine in five different bottom metals of various manufacturers. They all dropped free. So maybe the Pork Sword runs a little bit on the tight side? Rather than get worked up about this issue I just kept shooting the MDT magazine in the Pork Sword chassis. Running the MDT magazine in and out repeatedly has slowly worn away the polymer of the magazine and it is much easier to remove the magazine now. It does not drop free but I do not have to use herculean strength to rip the magazine out of the mag well now. Pictured below are the wear marks from using the MDT magazine in the Pork Sword.

The mag well has these protrusions that keep the magazine centered. The rear seems to be a little tight for the MDT polymer magazine.

600 Yards With A 6.5″ Barrel

Yes, you read that right. Six hundred yards on steel. This KAK barrel seems to like the Hornady American Gunner supersonic ammo in .300blk. It groups better than the factory 10.5″ 700CP barrel.

I tried shooting some sub-sonic ammo and they did not group very well. I do not think they stabilize well out of such a short barrel but perhaps my expectations are a little outside the capabilities of this gun? I was trying to shoot 400+ yards with subsonic .300blk ammo.

Final Thoughts

I am in love with this Remington 700CP build in the Pork Sword chassis. It is too much fun pushing it to the limits. I tried shooting it out to 800 yards but it was hit or miss. I did manage a couple of hits but with just as many misses off target.

In its current setup, the Pork Sword 700CP weighs 8lbs 11.7oz. You will not get a decent cheek weld. Maybe if I used low profile rings, I could get the scope lower and bring my cheek closer to the brace however I did not feel the need for a perfect cheek weld. The gun shoots great as is and I love how small and compact it is. The only thing I would add would be a suppressor and a bridge for mounting a night vision clip-on but I am not shooting this gun past 600 yards so a clip-on may be a little overkill.

The Pork Sword chassis retails for $299.99 on their website. They do offer complete Pork Sword pistols starting at $899.99. For more information, you can check out their website.