MPR Archives

Introduction

I am not new to Christensen Arms rifles, I’ve been lucky to play with several of them over the last couple years. But today we are looking at a new to me rifle; the Christensen Arms MPR 6.5 Creedmoor.

The Modern Precision Rifle (MPR) is Christensen’s version of a light-weight sharp-shooting rifle. Whether it’s used for competition shooting or as a sniper rifle, the MPR brings some very modern touches to the precision rifle market. But are those features worthy of praise?

The MPR

Christensen’s MPR is based around their stainless steel action, a two-lug action very similar to the very popular Remington 700 like many other modern actions. The rifle tested here is chambered in 6.5 Creedmoor, using a short action bolt. Like most Christensen rifles, the MPR is heavily reliant on carbon fiber.

Its carbon-wrapped match-grade barrel is largely responsible for the rifle’s lightweight, as are other parts of the chassis. At the end of the barrel it is threaded 5/8-24 and is fit with a matching muzzle brake for additional recoil reduction.

At the heart of the chassis is an aluminum block where the action is mounted. And the handguard is bolted on to the front and is made from a carbon fiber shaped tube. The MPR uses the very popular AICS pattern magazines and they feed nicely into the magwell of the rifle. Inspecting the grip looks to be a basic AR-15 type pistol grip, this is a nice feature as you can install whichever one suits your fancy.

The folding stock hinges just behind the tang of the action, I really like the way they designed the hinge mechanism. It’s quite tight and locks up as if there was no hinge at all. Just be careful to keep skin away from the area while folding or you may bleed a bit.

Fortunately the butt stock of the MPR is completely adjustable, which makes it very nice to adapt to each individual shooter. The whole thing is pretty handsome and put together very nicely.

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Rifle Setup

Surely I was going to need a good scope and at least a bipod to shoot this rifle well. I installed a Primary Arms ACSS Apollo 6-30X56 riflescope in a ZRO Delta Mount . To simplify I went with a Harris 6-9 bipod attached to the pic-rail on the bottom of the MPR handguard. For ammunition I brought along a few boxes of Hornady 140 grain match ammo. With everything put together, leveled and balanced I adjusted the rifle to fit me, and headed out for the range.

First Impressions

The Christensen Arms MPR 6.5 Creedmoor was plenty comfortable to shoot. It weighed so little compared to other similar rifles I have. As I sat behind it on a bench I ran the bolt a few times and felt the break of the trigger just to familiarize myself with it. Its bolt was easy to lift and snap shut, and the Trigger Tech trigger as usual felt outstanding.

I loaded the magazine and closed the bolt. As I broke the trigger everything felt right, the recoil was quite modest and running the bolt for round two sent the empty case flying. The M16 style extractor of the MPR does a great job getting brass out of the way for the next round.

I fired a few more shots and adjusted my scope to get a proper zero. At that point I tried to settle down as best I could and shoot a few good groups using both the Hornady and some Federal 130 grain match. I felt quite good about my shooting but I was not super excited about the grouping downrange, the first three groups of five-shots measured right around an inch. I tried again with my other ammo selection and got very similar results, my only hope is that perhaps this rifle doesn’t like what I feed it. And maybe there is something out there it will shoot better.

Into the snow

We decided to take the rifle for a hiking trip into the snow-covered Rocky Mountains, and I brought another type of Hornady ammunition to see if perhaps it faired better. With all my gear stowed on my back, my son and I headed into the cold.

The open country where we live makes an excellent place to hunt and shoot. Here in these breezy canyons I wanted to see how the MPR shot. Mainly to see how it would perform at longer distances and real-world shooting scenarios.

Normally this time of year I shoot at tiny snow patches in the dirt. But due to winter part 2, I was instead shooting at little dirt patches in the snow. The first target was about a three-inch muddy spot surrounded by white snow. I figured it would be easy to spot the impact and judge the shot.

After loading the rifle I steadied it and focused on my point of aim nearly four hundred yards away. I pressed the trigger and the suppressed gust of pressure echoed across the canyon. I’d added my Yankee Hill Machine R9 suppressor just to see if it helped the performance of the rifle.

The contrast of dark splattered dirt across the snow, and my hit was close enough to call it good in my opinion. So I continued my search for additional targets. We repeated the process until I had exhausted my curiosity and ammunition supply.

christensen arms MPR 6.5 Creedmoor — We also shot the MPR suppressed with the **YHM R9 suppressor**

Pros and Cons

I’ll be honest up front, I wasn’t exactly sold on the aesthetics of this rifle when I first saw it. I couldn’t exactly say what I didn’t like about it. But it has certainly grown on me a bit over the last few weeks. Everybody else thought it looked great so I’ll assume its just my weird taste.

I was really hoping this rifle would shoot better than it did. To be fair it is not a new rifle so its possible that it has been rode hard and put away wet too many times. But a rifle like this should shoot half-MOA groups all day. I just couldn’t get it to reliably do that.

On the plus side, I really appreciated many of the rifles other qualities. The light weight is always appreciated. And its comfortable and adjustable chassis made shooting it very pleasant. Little features like the folding mechanism, great trigger, awesome cycling and threaded barrel made adapting the rifle to my purposes easy. And of course improved my shooting experience.

Click here to see more about the MPR

Conclusion

I must say that I liked this rifle more than I expected to. And yet I’m torn because I am simply uninterested in rifles that won’t shoot reliably sub MOA. I’m lucky to have rifles ranging from discount economy models under four hundred dollars up to production sniper rifles that cost seven thousand dollars. And even the cheap ones I can typically get to shoot consistently sub MOA and often 1/2 MOA.

The Christensen Arms MPR 6.5 Creedmoor surely could be an outstanding rifle, I’ve heard of others that shoot outstanding and accurately. If this one did, I think I’d be hard pressed to let it go. But with a street price just under twenty-four hundred dollars, I’d need more convincing.

If you like this carbon fiber rifle, check out this custom one the 257 Blackjack

Intro

Ruger joined the AR 15 market some time ago, and I’d been meaning to see how well they had done on their initial offerings. But life being what it is, I only just recently got the opportunity. Always a glutton for shooting, I jumped in with both feet.

The Legend

No not the Will Smith movie where he takes poorly aimed shots at post apocalyptic deer of some kind as they run through the city with his M4 variant. Im referring to the 350 Legend, and Will Smith would have probably done a little better against deer sized game had he been shooting 180 grain Federal blue box 350 Legend. But hey, zombie apocalypse makes for strange hunting practices.

The MPR with **US Optics scope** and **Atlas Bipod**

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350 legend ammo with a ruger mpr — .350 Legend is a great match for the Ruger MPR

The .350 Legend came from Winchester Ammunition. They tout it as the fastest straight-walled cartridge available today. The Legend looks like a straight-walled .223 case with a .35 caliber bullet at the front instead of a bottleneck. Legend ammo can be had from 140 grains all the way up to 255-grain sub-sonics, making it very adaptable to your purposes.

THE RUGER MPR

The Ruger MPR is like most AR-styled rifles, and it has all the familiar controls and features. The only difference between this and many others I’ve shot (besides the obvious .35 bore) was the use of a .350 legend magazine and a shorter gas tube.

As tested here, the rifle featured a 16-inch barrel, taking up just half of the overall length of 33 inches when the buttstock is collapsed. The rifle weighs in at 6.5 pounds and comes with Ruger’s Elite 452 two-stage trigger. The muzzle is threaded at 1/2-28 and comes with Ruger’s own radial ported muzzle brake.

The Ruger MPR paired nicely with the **R9 suppressor from YHM** and an LVPO from **U.S. Optics.**

I installed just a couple of accessories to the rifle prior to testing. First was one of my standby optics, an LVPO from U.S. Optics. Second, I added a bipod to the hand guard for better stability when needed. Lastly, I ran the rifle with two of my newest 9mm suppressors from Yankee Hill Machine, the Nitro N20 and the R9.

Before I had even made it to the range though, the rifle was quickly gaining my favor. Just basic handling of the gun proved it to be lighter than I was used to – a welcome feature that made it quick to shoulder and point. Fairly standard collapsible Magpul MOE stock and pistol grip felt like a perfect match to the rest of the rifle. The trigger that Ruger put in this rifle felt very serviceable at 4.5 pounds. It was great for almost any situation I would use this gun. A 45-degree safety was another nice feature I hadn’t expected.

PACKING LIGHT IN THE MOUNTAINS

After some playing around in my basement for a bit with the rifle, I decided to take it for a hike into the mountains. I purposely left without a sling because the lightness of the rifle impressed me. I wanted to see if that impression remained after hauling it around for a mile. Before leaving, I stuffed a box of Winchester 145-grain FMJ ammo into my back pocket.

The Ruger MPR proved to be an easy rifle to haul up the mountain

As I walked up the partially icy trail, it was immediately evident that this lighter rifle was far more pleasant to pack than what I was used to carrying. It was easily carried around in one hand either by the grip or around the handguard.

In what seemed like a shorter time than normal, I found myself at my shooting spot. I surveyed the landscape as I caught my breath. A bit of movement caught my eye just across the canyon from where I was perched, a young deer made its way up the opposite ridge, perhaps having heard or seen me.

PRACTICAL ACCURACY TESTING

I had previously bore-sighted the scope before leaving the house, so my plan was to see how close I was by shooting into a small dirt pile clearing approximately 100 yards in front of me. With my U.S. Optics scope zoomed into 6x, I took a few preliminary shots. Hitting just a few inches high and right. After a few minor adjustments, it was on target.

I wasn’t expecting a significant amount of recoil, as I’d shot plenty of .350 Legend in the past through my Desert Tech MDRX. But this Ruger was a significant amount lighter, so I thought this might increase the recoil I felt. Whether it was the muzzle brake or the suppressors I mounted, this rifle was a smooth and soft shooter. It was easily something I could put my 12-year-old daughter behind.

After a few rounds getting comfortable with the rifle, I decided to see just how useful the rifle would be had the deer I saw been a buck. I looked back to the spot where I had seen the deer, and there in the game trail was a patch of wet dirt. Likely, it had been snow only hours earlier before the sun had its way. The wet patch appeared to measure eight or so inches, and I figured it was as good a test as any. This was deer country at deer ranges, and the scenario could have easily played out during deer season. But was the rifle up to it?

I fired a few shots at the wet patch of earth, easily hitting it and sending mud splattering across the clean white rocks nearby. The distance was just over 180 yards. With the ability to make hits on vital-sized targets at that range, it seems like a no-brainer. This rifle would make an excellent deer rifle within the envelope of the Legend’s capabilities. With its lightweight and easy manipulation, a person could handily take down a deer inside 250 yards.

I think the six-power scope is a great partner for this rifle. It provides quick target acquisition and engagement for those shorter distances inside 300 yards. The muzzle brake provided by Ruger seems to tame the already light recoil to a very soft impulse, giving you plenty of control for multiple shots should you need them.

ACCURACY

I shot the gun on paper to see how it performed concerning accuracy, and the results seemed to be on par with what I had seen in the field. Groups averaged just under an inch at 100 yards, certainly good enough for smacking deer and hog-sized game within a reasonable distance. This gun seemed to prefer the heavier ammunition, like the 170 and 180 grain from Federal and Hornady. That is fine by me, as that seems like the appropriate proportions for the above-mentioned animals.

The Ruger MPR proved to be very accurate in formal testing as well

CONCLUSION

I was pleasantly surprised by this little package. It was light, handy, and very functional. The great benefits of the AR platform are exemplified here in what would make a perfect little ranch gun, swamp shooter, or even apocalyptic urban deer slayer.

-CBM