Tag Archives: 6.5 creedmoor

Savage Elite Precision 110 6.5 Creedmoor

Product review, Shooting hardware, , , ,

One of the fastest growing sectors in the sport of shooting is that of precision rifle, organizations like the Precision Rifle Series (PRS) and the National Rifle League (NRL) has rapidly grown the sport worldwide.  Today I present to you one example of the rifles that are driving this craze; the rifle is a Savage Elite Precision 110 chambered in 6.5 Creedmoor, married to a Modular Driven Technologies ACC chassis. I say one example because there are so many great examples it would be daunting to list them all. Today’s subject is a great example to start with, precision shooting and long-range were once a rich man’s game using only custom built rifles. This rifle however is every bit as competitive, and is much easier to obtain for mainstream shooters looking for entry to the precision shooting circuit.

The Savage Model 110

Savage has been in the bolt-action rifle business for a long time, and in my opinion they have done a pretty good job of offering an affordable rifle that punches above its weight. Back when it was all custom rifles, Savage model 10’s and 110’s were often the choice for an effective donor action that wouldn’t break the bank.

The model we’re testing today utilizes Savages popular Accu-trigger, floating bolt-head, and tang-mounted safety. These are common and popular features for the Savage, and well tested over the past decade. On top of the tubular action is a 20 MOA scope mounting rail, also very common on long-range rifles. The base gives a canted starting point for your scope, which allows the internal movement of your reticle a wider range of travel, and helps keep it further from the extreme ends of its travel.

A twenty-six inch stainless barrel is mounted in the action, and it features a heavy profile and a one-in-eight-twist. The threaded muzzle carries a dual ported muzzle brake to help reduce recoil. Before the Fudd’s chime in about 6.5 Creedmoor’s being weak and not in need of recoil reduction, let’s make it clear; recoil reduction in competitive shooting isn’t about weakness, it’s about spotting your own hits and misses. Muzzle brakes keep you on target so you can hopefully see your impact.

The MDT ACC Chassis

MDT has been building precision rifle chassis for quite some time, and their ACC rifle chassis is one of their more popular competition models. The chassis is compatible with many of the more popular rifle actions, allowing users an upgrade. The chassis is built from aluminum, and features a skelotonized buttstock with completely adjustable positions. The adjustable pistol grip also allows customization for the user, making the rifle as comfortable as possible. The chassis is also compatible with the standard Accuracy International pattern magazines, which is a must have nowadays. The foregrip of the rifle is M-Lok compatible to allow adding accessories like weights and barricade stops, or any other ad-on that PRS type shooting utilizes. There is also a built in ARCA rail on the bottom of the foregrip, this allows the rapid attachment of other support accessories and mounting the rifle atop a tripod.

But how comfortable is it?

I wasted no time prepping the rifle to be range-ready, I added a Harris bipod mounted to an ARCA clamp for easy adjustment on the ACC ARCA rail. And for a scope, I wanted something that would match the rifle’s needs, so I mounted my Kahles 318i in a set of Vortex rings. Once everything was together, I laid behind the rifle to adjust everything to my taste and prepared for the range.

Ready for the range with Hornady Match ammunition

In the field

As I lay on the firing line, looking through my little Kahles, I couldn’t help but think; this rifle is quite comfortable. And in no time I would produce some great results because of it.

I loaded a magazine with my Hornady Match ammo, closed the bolt and focused on the target. I tightened up my grip against the trigger, and pressed till it broke. It felt great, the recoil was linear and even, I ran the bolt fast and fired another. And continued till the mag went empty.

The TiN coated bolt of the Savage 110 action was smooth as could be, but I did notice there was a slight hitch in the feed as the cartridges went forward. Every so often I would have to pause my push of the bolt and start again to get it to feed right. I think perhap it didn’t like that particular magazine because it seemed to go away when I tried it with a polymer magazine from Magpul.

The rifle shot great besides that, it was easy to keep shots on target though the best I could get the rifle to group was around 1/2 MOA but average was more like .75 MOA. Not bad but also not what competitors would look for, competition rifles often shoot sub .5 MOA and even as small as .4 or .3 MOA.

I ran the rifle through an afternoon of shooting, burning up my ammunition. It was very enjoyable and ended up teaching me a few things. I also added a Accuracy Solutions Bipod extender to see how it affected the rifle and its shooting, the results were steadier.

The MDT chassis played a big part in the comfort and ability to shoot the rifle well. I was quite pleased with how it felt in my shoulder, and adjusted properly it was a perfect fit for me.

Pros & Cons

I guess there are few things I wish were better, first and foremost would be accuracy. The rifle is apparently not new so I have no idea how many rounds it has downrange, but it wouldn’t surprise me if it was excessive.

The magazine hiccup was also a little disheartening, though I don’t think it’d be hard to correct with a little lip adjustment. But other than that I think the rifle is an outstanding piece of work, chassis and rifle both fit very well together.

The chassis is easily and quickly adjusted to fit any shooter, and its forend is easily adapted to accept accessories with its M-Lok slots and ARCA rail at the bottom. The feel of the chassis was excellent with a naturally occuring “gas-pedal” for the thumb (if you don’t know you gotta look that one up).

The Savage action is like every other savage action I’ve ever shot, not exactly tight but still runs like a sewing machine. All these years later I still don’t particularly care for the Accu-trigger. I usually take them off on personal rifles, but I must admit it is not bad. The muzzle brake was very effective at reducing recoil, and keeping the rifle on target.

In Closure

Despite being a little bit let down by this particular rifle’s accuracy, I still overall liked this setup. With a drop in barrel replacement it could be back in sub-half MOA accuracy if needed, and everything about it would help any shooter in a competitive shooting scenario.

Continue Reading Here

 

Howa 1500 Kratos 6.5 Creedmoor

Product review, Shooting hardware, , ,

Howa has long been a trusted brand for affordable performance. In today’s article we will be discussing another model from Howa, a variant of the model 1500. The Kratos 6.5 Creedmoor is sold as a hunting rifle and introductory precision rifle, built on the durable 1500 action and placed in a synthetic stock ready for whatever activity you choose.

The Kratos
The God of war seems a bit off for the name of a hunting or match rifle, but here we are. The features that set he Kratos apart give it some excellent handling and performance. The synthetic stock feature bedded pillars in its composite structure to keep the action firmly stabilized. The model I received came with both a hinged floorplate and a detachable box magazine system that holds five rounds. The exterior of the stock features a very nice texturing that allows excellent handling, and the whole thing is finished off with an attractive camouflaged paint pattern.
The 1500 action and barrel are also Cerakoted in a tan color, which makes the whole thing quite handsome. Controls on the action include a right side safety near the bolt-shroud, and opposite that is a petite bolt-release lever. The bolt is a ninety-degree two lug type, it uses an M16 type claw extractor and a traditional plunger ejector.
The barrel itself is a twenty-two inch eight twist barrel of a fairly light profile. Nothing wrong with that for a hunting rifle, but it did seem a little light for even an entry level match rifle. This was of little concern to me, as the only plans I had for the rifle was as a hunting tool.
The muzzle of the rifle features a very slender muzzle brake with radial ports to reduce recoil. Underneath the brake were a clean set of 1/2-28 threads, perfect for mounting a suppressor. The rifle I received also came with a one-piece scope base, which would reduce the time needed to get a scope mounted and on the range.


Range Preparation
The first thing I wanted to add to the rifle was a good scope, I had a Crimson Trace Hardline 3-12 scope handy, and already in a mount. This made installing it a breeze, leaving me needing only to zero the gun and get shooting. But before that, I installed a Harris bipod and I also grabbed my Yankee Hill Machine R9 suppressor which would make a nice addition to the ensemble.

With several hunts coming in the next few weeks, I wanted to make sure the rifle was ready for anything. Both my wife and son would also be hunting this year, and I was going to see if either of them wanted to try the new Howa as their main gun. That being the case I grabbed a couple different selections of ammunition, a Hornady 120 grain Match Load, as well as my own custom hunting load featuring the Patriot Valley arms Cayuga bullets. I’ve used these bullets many times in the past to take deer and elk, and these 122 grain bullets loaded in the 6.5 Creedmoor have dropped elk with outstanding performance.

After packing up all my gear and accessories, I took the Howa to my shooting spot. With a target hung at one hundred yards, I laid down behind the Kratos and bore-sighted the scope. I zeroed the rifle using the Hornady ammo, and also tried some 130 grain Federal Gold Medal ammunition. They all shot equally, so I tried my Cayuga hunting load as well. They averaged right at one MOA with a five shot group.

With a little refinement I figured I could tighten that up before hunting season. I would prefer the rifle shoot half MOA groups, this better consistency is very handy when shots get longer.
One thing I noticed while shooting the rifle at one hundred yards was how much I liked the two-stage trigger. You could tell it wasn’t a seven thousand dollar sniper rifle trigger, but it still was a great little trigger and better than average for a hunting rifle. I also noticed just the slightest bind on the bolt when running it, but it was also dry. I added a touch of lube to the contact points and it ran as smooth as could be.

Now that I had the rifle zeroed, I figured I would do some real world shooting. My favorite part of shooting here in the mountains is that it allows me to practice in the same scenarios that I would during a hunt. I picked out a rock about the size of a deer’s vitals, I picked it because it had the right shape, and lay surrounded by nothing but dry dirt. I ranged it with my LRF, and the range came back at four-hundred-twenty yards. It was a steep canyon and my target lay deep below me, so I dialed the elevation correction, subtracting for the incline of course. I favored into the wind which was coming down the canyon, and took up the first stage of the trigger. When my hold was just right, I pressed harder and sent the shot crushing the thin rock into the dirt.
With a fresh sense of confidence, I decided to try another shot. This one was straight across the canyon, with a good wind blowing at full-value. The laser came back with six-hundred and fifteen yards, so I again corrected my scope elevation for the distance and evaluated the wind as I lay there. A full MIL into the wind seemed a bit much, but I’ve certainly misjudged the wind before so I held the full MIL. After breaking the trigger again, I watched my bullet impact a few inches downwind of where I wanted it too. Shoulda probably held 1.1 or 1.2 MIL, but that is exactly why I like doing this, to get more experience doping the wind. Continue Reading Here…

Ruger American 6.5 Creedmoor

Product review, Shooting hardware, , ,

I have had quite a few Ruger firearms over the years, and for the most part my experience with the company has been a good one. My first real rifle was a Ruger, and both family and friends have also used a bunch of different Ruger models over the years. I have always thought Ruger produced a good firearm for the price, today we will be taking my first look at the Ruger American line of rifles. I’m curious to see if they match up to my decades of experience with Ruger.

Go Wild
There are many different Ruger American models, but the one I will be looking at today is the Go Wild model. This model comes with custom Cerakote and camouflage, and its chambered in the very popular 6.5 Creedmoor. As I opened the box I thought it had a handsome look to it, but looks don’t go very far in these mountains so I wanted to see how it performed more than anything.
I lifted the gun from the box, and the first thing I though was it seemed lighter than it looked, if that makes sense. It was noticeably lighter than I expected it to be, and other comparable rifles nearby. This is obviously a good thing in my estimation, as I had planned on having my wife use the rifle during our hunting season. She is quite petite, so smaller and lighter is better.

With the gun shouldered, I ran the bolt a few times which felt better than I expected. The three-lug bolt of the American needs less lift to unlock from the breech, sixty-degrees of lift instead of the standard ninety-degrees. The smooth raceway had the bolt sliding very clean, and with the short lift it made it quick to reload.
The synthetic stock got my attention next, it came as no surprise that the stock felt a bit cheap. Its unfortunate that many gun manufacturers are using these very flexible polymer stocks, but it is also very predictable. And to be fair, if the gun shoots well I probably wont be complaining about the flexible stock too much. The barreled action has a nice Burnt Bronze Cerakote color, that goes well with the camo pattern on the stock. The muzzle of the twenty-two inch barrel is threaded 5/8-24 and comes with a radially ported brake to aid in recoil reduction. The barrel twist is a pretty standard one in eight.
The rifle is fed through a detachable box magazine compatible with AICS type magazines, this came as a pleasant surprise as I have an assortment of magazines I’d like to try in the rifle.
The tang mounted safety was easy to reach and manipulate, as was the bolt release on the left rear side of the action. The simple design was easily understood and in no time I was ready to outfit it. The gun came with a scope rail already mounted which made mounting a scope much easier. I mounted one of my scopes in a pair of Warne low rings, the US Optics TS25X fit perfectly on top of the rifle. Though I think I will also add a stock-pack to get a better cheekweld.

Range time
After getting the rifle setup with a scope, bipod and some ammo, it was time to get it hot. I arrived at one of my shooting spots with an assortment of ammunition, some Hornady Match 120 grain, as well as some Federal 130 grain Gold Medal ammunition. I had also brought some handloads of my favorite hunting load, which consisted of Cayuga solid copper bullets. I’ve used them several times in the past on both deer and elk, and if my better half was to use this rifle for hunting I wanted to see how it shot these bullets.
With a target set up at one hundred yards, I laid on my shooting mat to zero the little Ruger. Using the Hornady ammunition I zeroed the rifle, and fired a quick three-shot group.

I corrected the point of impact to correlate with my point of aim, and then it was time to have some fun. I tested my other ammo selections, and all of them shot very comparable which is always nice. I then turned my attention to the hill beyond my target, surely there was an opportunity to test this rifle at some longer ranges. With my binoculars I picked out a couple targets that were about ten inches in diameter. One of them I ranged at four-hundred and sixty yards, not too far but definitely something realistic for a deer in these mountains. After zeroing the turrets on my scope, I adjusted 2.1 MRAD of elevation to correct for the distance. The wind was dead calm, so I held center on the target, and pressed the trigger.

I hadn’t mentioned the trigger yet, but it was better than I expected it to be. I’m not a big fan of blade safeties on bolt action rifles, but this certainly hasn’t prevented a clean and easy break on this rifle. The trigger had no discernable friction, the only movement I noticed was when it broke.
I watched the bullet impact my target a little high of center, I need to chronograph these bullets from this rifle, as I think they are flying a little faster than I expected. I fired another shot to confirm, and then began a search for another even further target. I found one that measured eight-hundred yards away according to my rangefinder, this was a shot I was confident the little Ruger and I could make. I dialed 5.2 MRAD into the riflescope, and leveled up the rifle on my rear bag. Adjusting the parallax on my scope made a clear image of the target, all that was left was a clean release.
I could do this all day. The Ruger American was just a hoot to shoot, I was impressed with how much I liked it. I made this and several other shots at similar distances, until I was quite sure that the rifle would be suitable for a spot on our hunting team. The fun factor doubled when I installed my Yankee Hill Machine Nitro N20, the titanium suppressor added mere ounces to the rifle, and took away the need for hearing protection in this wide open country. Watching and hearing bullets impact at these great distances was very satisfying. Continue Reading Here…


Savage 110 6.5 Creedmoor

Product review, Shooting hardware, , ,

One of my first loves was an old savage 10FP in 308. It had all the simplicity a guy could want, and it just plain shot. I have had a bunch of Savages over the years, and I have typically had a pretty good experience with them. So when the opportunity to shoot a newer version of the model 10/110 I was eager to see how it compared to the old FP I loved so much.

My old Savage 10FP from almost twenty years ago

Savage has been around for a long time, and they have made quite a few guns in that time. One of my initial concerns with this rifle in particular was if it stood up to the classic Savages that I’ve shot over the years, I would find out soon enough.

The Model 110

The 110 action has changed through several different generations over the decades, but this current 6.5 Creedmoor model is not too different from those of the past. Like most Savage actions, is is machined from round stock with a front and rear ring. The two lug bolt rotates the floating head into the front ring of the action, and the twenty-four inch eight-twist barrel is threaded into the front of the action. The recoil lug is sandwiched there, and the whole assembly held together with a barrel nut. At the rear of the action the safety and Accu-Trigger are attached, and the whole thing is set into the polymer stock. I’ve never been a big fan of the cheap plastic stocks on economy priced rifles, but some of the few that were despicable in my eyes have been Savages such as this one. On the bottom of the polymer stock, there is a detachable box magazine that holds three cartridges.
This model is obviously marketed as a hunting rifle, it’s weight and profile features are optimized for a hunter. That being the case I wasn’t surprised by some of the features, or a lack of others. I guess you could say that in my estimation this was a basic no-frills hunting rifle.

Outfitting

Being a hunting rifle, I wanted to setup the rifle the way I would use it. The open Rocky Mountains where I hunt are full of big spaces, and shots can be had from archery range to as far as you’d dare pull a trigger. I decided to mount my Gen 1 Vortex PST 4-16, perhaps a little old school for todays market, but these older scopes always worked great for me. I actually got one of the very first ones that came out, serial number four. I mounted the scope in a pair of Warne rings, and bore-sighted it on my kitchen counter. I attached a bipod for convenience and accuracy testing, and lubed up the action before heading out to shoot.

I wanted to give the Savage a few different ammunition options to see how it performed. Some rifles are pretty picky when it comes to shooting accurately with any given ammo, so I wanted to have as many options for success as possible. The current situation at the ammo isle is pretty sad still, I have managed to find a bunch of stuff lately but the 6.5CM is still not as common as it once was. That being the case I decide to shoot a few of the factory options I had available, as well as some of my most common handloads that have done well in my other 6.5’s. Continue Reading Here…

an average five shot group from the Savage 110

Conclusion

Bergara BMP 6.5 Creedmoor

Product review, Shooting hardware, , ,

The Remington 700 rifle has been for many years a prominent stalwart in the precision rifle world. The strong aftermarket support that has accompanied the 700’s time in the sunshine has also made it a very desirable platform for custom rifle building, and the 700 footprint has been copied and cloned by many in order to take advantage of that aftermarket.
One of the many companies that has done exactly that is Bergara, and today we are talking about one of the rifles they manufacture.


The Bergara BMP 6.5 Creedmoor

The Bergara Match Precision (BMP) is a short action rifle designed and built for competition. There are all kinds of accessories and features that make a good match gun, and Bergara certainly included many of them here.
At the core of the rifle is Bergara’s B-14 two lug action, it uses a sliding front extractor and a traditional plunger ejector. The bolt nose and breech is tapered, and the assembly slides very smoothly in the action. The front of the action has a very cunning cutout to capture the recoil lug, and keep it centered. In front of that is a twenty-four inch match grade barrel made by Bergara, and threaded 5/8-24 at the muzzle. The model I tested here came with a very nice user indexable muzzle brake, which works very well to reduce recoil. The B-14 utilizes Remington 700 accessories like scope-base rails, which made mounting my scope easy.

Details: Captured recoil lug, bolt catch, trigger adjustments, chassis detail

The second half of the rifle is the BMP chassis. We live in a chassis world now, almost every manufacturer has their own version of a chassis gun. I think Bergara did pretty good with theirs, it incorporates most of the important features a shooter would want.
Built from aluminum, the BMP chassis is not particularly light at 10.4 pounds, but most match guns aren’t light so that’s fine by me. Let’s start at the butt of the chassis and move forward.
The recoil pad is made of hard rubber, and is quickly indexed by loosening a thumbscrew just in front of it. There is very rough rubber like surface between the butt-pad and the rear face of the stock, this allows the butt-pad to be easily fit to the shooter and maintain solid lockup with minimal torque. Just in front of that is the length of pull adjustment, which is easily done by loosening a wingnut on the butt-stock to adjust to your liking. Then it is easily snugged back up for a solid feel. The adjustable cheek-piece is adjusted the same way using an identical wingnut to release the cheek-piece to be adjusted to your scope height. The whole process of fitting the chassis to my taste took only a few moments and zero trips to the owners manual.

Moving forward on the chassis is the pistol-grip, the model I have came with a vertical MDT adjustable grip. Many people don’t care for the vertical grip, but they are wrong in my opinion. The precise adjustability of the MDT allows for perfect trigger finger placement and pull.
The adjustable trigger of the BMP felt perfect just the way it came, I felt no need to adjust it any lighter, even though that is what I usually do. At the front of the trigger guard is the wide magazine release for dropping free the AICS type magazines, the rifle came with the Magpul version which I quite like. The slippery polymer seems to allow smoother feeding than some metal magazines. The fit of the magazines seemed just a bit looser than I would expect, but at no time during my testing did they malfunction or fall out, so I guess they are perfectly fine.
The forearm of the chassis features MLok slots on all the right spots, which allows users to add and adjust any accessories they feel necessary. There are also steel insert flush cups to quickly install and remove your sling, there are correlating flush cups on the rear of the butt-stock as well. The top of the forearm seems to be drilled and tapped for a night vision optics bridge, which I was unfortunately unable to use.

Like a Glove
There were few things I felt needed to add to the BMP, but I did have to install one of my favorite accessories which is the Area419 ARCALock rail on the bottom of the forearm. On top of the rifle I mounted up one of my nicer scopes, deserving of a ride on the BMP was the Kahles 3-18X56. It was a perfect fit for the rifle, and after sliding on my Atlas Bipod I grabbed some ammo and headed for the hills.

Continue Reading Here…

The Ruger RPR 6.5 Creedmoor

Product review, Shooting hardware, , , , , ,

The RPR took the precision rifle world for quite a ride when it first came out. Ruger made an excellent move by introducing an affordable rifle into an arena that was dominated by expensive custom built rifles and actual sniper rifles. And in another stroke of genius they managed to make a rifle that appealed to the AR 15 crowd at the same time, which brought even more customers into their fold.

The RPR
The Ruger Precision Rifle utilizes a bolt action receiver that is built into a chassis. It is fed by SR-25 pattern 308 sized P-mags for the 308, 6mm, and 6.5 chambered rifles. The rifle seems to almost clone the aesthetics of the extremely popular AR 15, using the same pistol grip, and similar operation for the safety. The model I have also includes a folding butt stock for shortening the footprint of the rifle when transporting. The twenty-four inch hammer forged barrel uses 5R rifling which if you ask the internet is the only good kind of rifling. The one in eight twist barrel is ideal for launching the heavy for caliber bullets that many long range shooters prefer. The ten and a half pound rifle is about forty-five inches long unless you fold it, in which case it is thirty-five inches long.

Try It

Having been one of those in the community with a preference for the custom built rifle, it took me some time to actually give the Ruger a try. To be honest I did look down at it a bit, perhaps like many others I was angry that it shot just as good as rifles that cost twice as much or more.
But it didn’t take long for the RPR to prove its worth to those in the community, and now a days its common to see them shooting at top PRS events. I shot in the Hornady Precision Rifle Challenge this past summer and saw several RPR’s including Doug Koenig who did extremely well shooting with significantly more expensive competitors, taking home the top Production Rifle trophy.

I figured it was time for me to open up to the Ruger, so I took the opportunity when it came. I opened up the box, to find the all black rifle complete with a magazine, bipod and a few other items. I took a few minutes to familiarize myself with the rifle, and get a feel for the controls and such. For me there are couple things that stand out when first handling a rifle, the first one is throwing the bolt. I shouldered the rifle and ran the bolt a few times, you can tell a lot about a rifle by the feel of the bolt-throw. The Ruger was smooth and had a positive lockup feel when closed into battery, you could also feel a metal on plastic sensation a little bit which I assumed to be the piece at the rear of the bolt. Not that there was anything negative about it, as plastic on metal frequently gives a low-friction feeling which I do like. The bolt lift was not bad, but did take a little bit of getting used to. Not bad, obviously not as good as some of the other rifle actions frequently used today.
The next feature that seals the deal for me is the trigger pull. I don’t consider myself a trigger snob but I do enjoy a perfect trigger whenever I can. The trigger on the RPR was a good one, clean and without the abrasive skipping often felt on triggers of lower tiered firearms. I’ve never been a big fan of blade safeties, when they first came out many years ago, the first thing I did was figure out how to remove them. That being said I wasn’t so hateful of this one to look for a way to remove it.
The main safety was in the same place your traditional AR style rifle safety goes, which made it very convenient and familiar to use. It wouldn’t hurt my feelings if they put it on both sides like AR’s often do, but certainly not a deal breaker. The RPR runs on 308 sized P-Mags, and it came with a ten-round magazine. I would later try the twenty-round ones as well, just in case you ever needed to do some long strings of fire.
The folding buttstock of the rifle made it much shorter for transportation, and doubled as a quick way to remove the bolt for inspection, lube, or cleaning. Up front we had the hammer-forged twenty-four inch barrel inside a free-floated handguard. The muzzle of the barrel is threaded 5/8-24, which was great because I planned on mounting some stuff there.
The handguard on my particular rifle uses KeyMod for accessory attachment, but they are also available in the more modern and useful M-Lok. I secured the Atlas bipod to the pic rail underneath, and then I was ready to mount up a riflescope. Continue Reading Here…

A good rifle deserves an even better scope

rifle details; notice QD sling cup behind the grip, and locking mechanism for folding stock just above it

Browning X-Bolt Hells Canyon 6.5 Creedmoor

Product review, Shooting hardware, Uncategorized, , ,

When I first saw the Browning X-bolt Hell’s Canyon at SHOT Show, I remember thinking to myself that many folks were going to eat it up. And as years have passed it surely has become one of the most talked about hunting rifles out there. So when I finally got a chance to check it out myself, I was eager to see if all the hype was well founded. I had already been playing with a different X-bolt model, so I was pretty familiar with it before I even opened the box. What I didn’t realize was just how deep into Hell’s Canyon I would descend.

First Impression
My very first impression of the rifle was not unlike my feeling when I saw it at SHOT Show, it was just a plain handsome rifle. A bronze colored Cerakote job and similar A-TACS camo pattern clearly sets this rifle apart on the rifle rack. The fluted barrel and it’s inconspicuous muzzle brake flow seamlessly into the receiver, all of which is set nicely into the camouflaged composite stock. A nice soft recoil pad at the back was a welcome feature, as was the detachable box magazine. And like other X-bolts I’ve shot, it was just smooth. The sixty-degree bolt design makes shorter and faster operation, and the gold-plated trigger breaks as clean as most any hunting rifle I’ve ever pulled from a shelf. The X Bolt action features a bolt release button to unlock the bolt when the safety is on, a very cunning and intuitive design. If this rifle shot as good as it looked, I was going be hard pressed to let go of it.

Setup
I wanted to get straight to the range with this rifle, but first I had to get a scope mounted. I went with a one-piece scope base that uses eight screws to hold it down to the top of the receiver. I found this to be a superior mounting system than the traditional four screws that most manufacturers use to mount scope bases.

I tried a couple different mounting systems and riflescopes, first a Nikon 4-16 scope which worked great, but was too high. I ended up with the system that seemed to work the best, a Crimson Trace 3-12 mounted in Warne rings and bases.
I had a small amount of Hornady American Gunner 6.5CM ammo that I could test in the rifle, but I wanted to try more than one thing just in case the rifle didn’t care for it. So I sat at my loading bench to crank out another couple options hoping at least one of them would provide me with the exceptional accuracy I was hoping for. After that, I installed a Harris bipod so I could get this rifle into the field and shooting.

Continue Reading Here…